Oedipus the King

King Oedipus is a highly significant work in Greek tragedy. The theme of fate remains
relevant for centuries, still resonating with readers and immortalizing itself by prompting
introspection. In terms of its subject matter, approach, process, and impact on the reader,
Oedipus is perhaps one of the most captivating works. The protagonist, climax, falling action,
and the debates that take place are delicately woven and reflected in the work. There exists a
mythological illusion known as the Oedipus complex about this work. Freud uses the Oedipus
myth as the most fundamental fear of our subconscious: the fear of incest...

The Oedipus complex is an expression in psychoanalytic theory proposed by the

founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. The term "Oedipus" comes from the Greek myth
of Oedipus, who unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother. The Oedipus complex is
a concept that expresses unconscious desires towards the opposite-sex parent during the
child's approximate age of 3-6 years. It is natural for the child to feel love and establish a
bond with their parents. However, sometimes these feelings manifest themselves in the child
as interest, desire, excessive attachment, and possessiveness towards the opposite-sex parent.
Additionally, the child may exhibit unconscious behaviors such as competition with or
jealousy towards the same-sex parent. This situation is the fundamental characteristic of the
concept known as the Oedipus complex. The counterpart of the Oedipus complex in women is
referred to as the "Electra complex." According to the Electra complex, girls may feel intense
interest and desire towards their fathers, similar to the Oedipus complex, while also
experiencing jealousy towards their mothers. This is how the story of Oedipus begins and
unfolds.

Oedipus's tragic life begins before he is even born. His father and mother learn of a
prophecy that the child to be born kills his own father and marries his mother. Fearing this
prophecy, the parents decide to abandon the child, piercing his ankles and leaving him to die.
This is how Oedipus gets his name. However, the slave tasked with abandoning Oedipus
shows mercy and delivers him to another king who has no children. This king names Oedipus,
meaning "swollen foot." At the beginning of the play, we see Oedipus's arrogant and self-
righteous identity. When people come to Oedipus to complain, he elevates himself by saying
the following words:

“I did not think it fit that I should hear of this from messengers

but came myself, -- I Oedipus whom all men call the great” (Oedipus the King)
 In his arrogance, Oedipus is not entirely unjustified because even his own people
elevate him due to their gratitude. At the beginning of the work, Oedipus praises the gods,
but at the end, he curses them because he is cursed by the gods, showing his fluctuating
character. Another aspect of Oedipus's character is his ambitious and persistent nature. In the
play, when Teiresias refuses to divulge what he knows for Oedipus's benefit, Oedipus insists
and accuses Teiresias of being a traitor for not speaking. In the later parts of the work,
Oedipus's angry side emerges. Despite not knowing the truth, he believes that Creon has
betrayed him. Thinking that Creon covets the throne and intends to kill him, Oedipus wants
to either exile or kill Creon from Thebes. Due to his rage, he unjustly banishes an innocent
man from his homeland.

His anger blinds Oedipus. This is his fate; he suffers the consequences of his conscious
or unconscious actions. At the end of the work, when he faces the truth, he blinds himself
with his own hands, which is highly symbolic. Throughout the work, his eyes are not
functioning; he believes he sees when in reality, he sees nothing. When he realizes this, he
blinds himself. Oedipus's fate is filled with tragedies. Being cursed before birth, abandoned
to die by his family as a small baby - these are indications of a tragic life. Raised as an
adopted child, Oedipus departs from his adoptive home toward his own fate and curse. Like
Oedipus, we cannot solely blame fate and the gods because his free will contributes to
shaping his destiny. Leaving his home and adoptive family, Oedipus kills his biological
father at a crossroads, which Sophocles describes as a "three-way crossroad." The three-way
crossroad is a powerful image because Oedipus is given a choice. Despite being able to
divert his destiny, he chooses the inevitable. Oedipus may have escaped the city and people,
but he could not escape his fate and curse.

The peripeteia of the play is the prophecy that Oedipus later learns the truth about. A
male child will be born who will kill his father and marry his mother... Father Laius and
mother Jocasta correctly interpret the prophecy. However, Oedipus misinterprets the
prophecy due to not being aware of his own situation, and the incorrect interpretation results
in the fulfillment of the prophecy. This leads us to interpret Oedipus's hamartia.

Oedipus's hamartia is his fatal flaw that determines his fate. His hamartia is an
unconscious act he commits in an attempt to escape his own destiny. The main conflict
involves the struggle between Oedipus's self-awareness and his confrontation with his
destiny. Oedipus's efforts to prevent the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his
mother ultimately lead to its fulfillment. According to George Thomson, if it weren't for
Oedipus's excessiveness, this fate might not have come to pass. "Yet this error is no more
than an excess of his greatest quality: the excessive effort he puts into serving the people."
(Aeschylus and Athens). In Halit Fahri Ozansoy's interpretation, in addition to the fulfillment
of fate, Oedipus's actions also contribute to his fate. "If we remove Oedipus's determination
and will, the whole tragedy collapses instantly." (Greek Theater - Tragedy). Based on what
has been said, we can conclude that Oedipus's hamartia is committed through his ambitious
and determined nature. The identity he regrets is his identity as a son because he did not
know he was being with his mother and killing his biological father, and he regretted these
actions when he learned the truth.

When we examine the final stages of the play, despite not being his fault, Oedipus
blinds himself out of shame and remorse he experiences. Initially having a close relationship
with the gods, Oedipus now reproaches them and blames the gods because of his own actions
will results in his fate. Despite feeling so much remorse and being unable to face his people
and daughters, Oedipus desires to either be exiled from the land or killed. Though he feels
ashamed in front of his daughters, he sees them as victims of the prophecy that befell him,
and he feels sorry for them. However, the prophecy belongs to his family, not just to him.
Oedipus regrets not being like his family and feels sorry for what he has brought upon his
own children.

Thinking independently of Sophocles, who is actually the source of the prophecy?

Sophocles did not concern himself with the origin of the curse. From another perspective,
Oedipus's tragedy is actually his father's tragedy. The son pays for the father's sin. His only
fault is not knowing, or as his mother says in the play, meddling too much in affairs. If we
look at the work from Laius's point of view, Laius, like his son Oedipus, was raised by
another king and fell in love with the young son of the king he grew up with, Khrysippos.
When his feelings were not reciprocated, he forcibly took him. Unable to bear this shame,
the young boy killed himself. Father Phelops also cursed the entire line of Laius. Oedipus's
curse is actually Laius's curse, and Oedipus is not the only one trying to escape the curse.
The escape attempt began from the beginning. When Laius abandoned his son to death, he
was actually trying to escape his own curse.

Eyüp Karaağaç
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https://www.neokuyorum.org/sophoklesin-kral-oidipus-metni-hakkindaki-yorumlarin-sentezi/
THOMSON, George, Aeschylus and Athens, Translate. Mehmet H. Doğan, Payel Yay.,

İstanbul, 2004.

OZANSOY, Halit Fahri, Greek Theater- Tragedy, Ahmet Sait Oğlu Kitabevi, İstanbul, 1946

AİSKHLYOS,Thebaiye karşı yediler,Translate.Yılmaz Onay