On Oedipus Rex
On Oedipus Rex
Sir William Blackstone once said, “That the King can do no wrong is a necessary and fundamental principle of [the government].” In the novel Oedipus Rex by Sophocles this statement still remains true. The people of Thebes must think of Oedipus as perfect for complete order to be obtained. But, Oedipus has been known to be short-tempered, and he seems to be overly proud of himself. Also, He makes rash decisions as king. That is why; Oedipus is not a suitable king.
Oedipus is quick to anger. His anger shows weakness to his people. The common people saw that “ his words… were spoken except in anger”2(p. 21) as he confronted Creon. When the people saw his anger make him say things without thought, they realized that he had a weakness. This weakness made the people see him as less of a sacred person. Therefore, Oedipus begins to lose the respect of his people and that loses him the control over his land. Also, Oedipus’ anger causes him to make accusations without knowledge. Oedipus claims that “ [Creon} planned it, [Creon] had it done”(p. 18) before he knew all the facts. By making accusations in anger Oedipus could make a bad decision that a levelheaded king would not make. He could cause the downfall of Thebes because he does not have all the knowledge and his anger would cause him to make an accusation that would have a bad impact on Thebes. Finally, His anger results in him denying things he cannot handle. When he is faced with things he doesn’t like he dismisses it by calling “[w]hatever you say is worthless.”2(p. 19) This causes him to ignore very important facts that a king has to deal with just because they are unpleasant to him, and make him angry. This will leave many things that need attention, unattended, and it will cause the downfall of Thebes because of all the problems he doesn’t deal with.
Another characteristic flaw of Oedipus is that Oedipus shows signs of Hubris. Because of this flaw, he makes the gods angry with him. As he is talking to his people he “associate[s] [him]self with the oracle.”2 (p. 13) If the gods are angry with the king they will cause awful things to happen to the people. His Arrogance causes his kingdom to suffer and this makes them unhappy with...