answersLogoWhite

0


Best Answer

banishment from Thebes.

User Avatar

Wiki User

14y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: What punishment does Oedipus call down on the murderer of laius?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp
Continue Learning about Performing Arts

What is Oedipus' hubris in 'Oedipus Rex'?

Neglecting to undergo cleansing rituals, threatening his royal advisor and royal colleague and trying to choose his own punishment are examples of Oedipus' hubris in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, hubris refers to "an exaggerated sense of self, arrogance, pride." The description fits Oedipus. For example, Oedipus kills five strangers and arrogantly makes no confession, seeks no punishment and undergoes no cleansing rituals. He then moves on to Thebes, where he arrogantly neglects to carry out investigations and purification procedures regarding the recent, mysterious murder of his royal predecessor, King Laius.Years later, when Oedipus is forced to find and punish the guilty in Laius' death, he does not like what Teiresias the blind prophet says. He arrogantly decides that his royal advisor must be conspiring with his royal colleague and brother-in-law, Creon, to seize the crown and throne of Thebes. When he is overthrown for being Laius' killer, his mother's husband and his children's half-brother, Oedipus arrogantly tries to force the issue of receiving a punishment of exile instead of execution. It is understandable that he is fighting for his life, but unfortunately that is not his call to make: decisions regarding exact punishment are up to the gods.


Does Oedipus take his children into exile in 'Oedipus Rex'?

Yes, Oedipus is accompanied by his children in exile in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, the audience does not know whether or not Theban King Oedipus lives and if he lives whether or not he goes into exile in the company of his children, the Princesses Antigone and Ismene. Oedipus tries to force his royal successor, King Laius, to exile him to the mountains outside Thebes. But the choice of exile over execution as punishment of criminal acts and immoral behavior will have to await the expression of divine will since this is a call that only the gods get to make.


What acts of hubris do Jocasta and Oedipus commit in 'Oedipus Rex'?

Trying to stop a divinely ordained murder investigation and neglecting to undergo cleansing rituals are examples of acts of hubris respectively committed by Jocasta and Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta tries to stop her second husband, King Oedipus, in his investigation of the murder of her first husband, King Laius. She does so because she realizes that something horrifying and humiliating is about to be revealed. But that is not her call to make since the Apolline oracle states that the pestilence in Thebes will end only with the identification and punishment of the guilty in Laius' murder.Additionally, Oedipus neglects to follow proper purification procedures after killing five people. He is supposed to admit his crime and accept his punishment. Instead, he goes to Thebes, defeats the monstrous Sphinx and marries the older, recently widowed Theban queen. But he does absolutely nothing to carry out cleansing rituals regarding the recent, unsolved slaughter of King Laius and his escort party. These two lapses are arrogant breaches of the conduct code between gods and mortals.


Why does Oedipus call Teiresias a liar in 'Oedipus Rex'?

Because he does not see how he can kill a man whom he does not remember meeting is the reason why Oedipus calls Teiresias a liar in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, the Apolline oracle says that the pestilence in Thebes will end only with the identification and punishment of the guilty in the unsolved murder of Theban King Creon. Oedipus, Thebes' currently reigning king, seeks help from Teiresias the blind prophet, royal advisor to all of Thebes' kings since the city's founding by Cadmus. Teiresias says that the killer is Oedipus, but Laius already is dead when Oedipus moves to Thebes. Oedipus therefore does not see how the blind seer can be telling the truth.


Why do they call Oedipus the Savior of Thebes in 'Oedipus Rex'?

That he defeats the monstrous Sphinx is the reason why Oedipus is called the savior of Thebes in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, the Sphinx shows up at Thebes after Theban King Laius is murdered while on the way to consult the Delphic oracle. She requires upon pain of death the answer to a riddle whose solution escapes Thebans. But Oedipus figures out the solution, which causes the Sphinx to throw herself over a cliff and which thereby saves Thebes before the Sphinx ends all life in the city.

Related questions

Did jocasta and laius have 5 kids?

No, only one, and he was Oedipus, although some call the Sphinx a daughter of Laius. Jocasta had by Oedipus children his daughters Ismene, Antigone and sons Polynices and Eteocles.


Why is it necessary to call Oedipus great in 'Oedipus Rex'?

That he promises to end the pestilence by solving a murder at great personal cost is the reason why it is necessary to call Oedipus great in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, the pestilence in Thebes will end with the identification and punishment of the guilty in the murder of Theban King Laius, King Oedipus' royal predecessor. Oedipus prioritizes the well-being of his subjects and promises to head the investigation all the way to the end. He carries through on that promise by steadfastly investigating leads even though they identify him as the killer.


What is Oedipus' hubris in 'Oedipus Rex'?

Neglecting to undergo cleansing rituals, threatening his royal advisor and royal colleague and trying to choose his own punishment are examples of Oedipus' hubris in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, hubris refers to "an exaggerated sense of self, arrogance, pride." The description fits Oedipus. For example, Oedipus kills five strangers and arrogantly makes no confession, seeks no punishment and undergoes no cleansing rituals. He then moves on to Thebes, where he arrogantly neglects to carry out investigations and purification procedures regarding the recent, mysterious murder of his royal predecessor, King Laius.Years later, when Oedipus is forced to find and punish the guilty in Laius' death, he does not like what Teiresias the blind prophet says. He arrogantly decides that his royal advisor must be conspiring with his royal colleague and brother-in-law, Creon, to seize the crown and throne of Thebes. When he is overthrown for being Laius' killer, his mother's husband and his children's half-brother, Oedipus arrogantly tries to force the issue of receiving a punishment of exile instead of execution. It is understandable that he is fighting for his life, but unfortunately that is not his call to make: decisions regarding exact punishment are up to the gods.


Does Oedipus take his children into exile in 'Oedipus Rex'?

Yes, Oedipus is accompanied by his children in exile in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, the audience does not know whether or not Theban King Oedipus lives and if he lives whether or not he goes into exile in the company of his children, the Princesses Antigone and Ismene. Oedipus tries to force his royal successor, King Laius, to exile him to the mountains outside Thebes. But the choice of exile over execution as punishment of criminal acts and immoral behavior will have to await the expression of divine will since this is a call that only the gods get to make.


What acts of hubris do Jocasta and Oedipus commit in 'Oedipus Rex'?

Trying to stop a divinely ordained murder investigation and neglecting to undergo cleansing rituals are examples of acts of hubris respectively committed by Jocasta and Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta tries to stop her second husband, King Oedipus, in his investigation of the murder of her first husband, King Laius. She does so because she realizes that something horrifying and humiliating is about to be revealed. But that is not her call to make since the Apolline oracle states that the pestilence in Thebes will end only with the identification and punishment of the guilty in Laius' murder.Additionally, Oedipus neglects to follow proper purification procedures after killing five people. He is supposed to admit his crime and accept his punishment. Instead, he goes to Thebes, defeats the monstrous Sphinx and marries the older, recently widowed Theban queen. But he does absolutely nothing to carry out cleansing rituals regarding the recent, unsolved slaughter of King Laius and his escort party. These two lapses are arrogant breaches of the conduct code between gods and mortals.


Why does Oedipus call Teiresias a liar in 'Oedipus Rex'?

Because he does not see how he can kill a man whom he does not remember meeting is the reason why Oedipus calls Teiresias a liar in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, the Apolline oracle says that the pestilence in Thebes will end only with the identification and punishment of the guilty in the unsolved murder of Theban King Creon. Oedipus, Thebes' currently reigning king, seeks help from Teiresias the blind prophet, royal advisor to all of Thebes' kings since the city's founding by Cadmus. Teiresias says that the killer is Oedipus, but Laius already is dead when Oedipus moves to Thebes. Oedipus therefore does not see how the blind seer can be telling the truth.


Why do they call Oedipus the Savior of Thebes in 'Oedipus Rex'?

That he defeats the monstrous Sphinx is the reason why Oedipus is called the savior of Thebes in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, the Sphinx shows up at Thebes after Theban King Laius is murdered while on the way to consult the Delphic oracle. She requires upon pain of death the answer to a riddle whose solution escapes Thebans. But Oedipus figures out the solution, which causes the Sphinx to throw herself over a cliff and which thereby saves Thebes before the Sphinx ends all life in the city.


What do you call one who kills others?

Murderer


What do you call to the criminals that possess murder?

Murderer


What do you call someone who kills sister?

a murderer.


What did Abel Tasman call Murderer's Bay?

He called it Murderer's Bay. It is now called Golden Bay.


What are some of Oedipus' and Jocasta's traits?

BackgroundMuch of the myth of Oedipus takes place before the opening scene of the play. In his youth, Laius was a guest of King Pelops of Elis, and became the tutor of Chrysippus, youngest of the king's sons, in chariot racing. He then violated the sacred laws of hospitality by abducting and raping Chrysippus. This cast a doom over him and over his descendants. The protagonist of the tragedy is the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. After Laius learns from an oracle that "he is doomed/To perish by the hand of his own son," he binds tightly together with a pin the feet of the infant Oedipus and orders Jocasta to kill the infant. Hesitant to do so, she demands a servant to commit the act for her. Instead, the servant abandons the baby in the fields, leaving the baby's fate to the gods. A shepherd rescues the infant and names him Oedipus (or "swollen feet"). Intending to raise the baby himself, but not possessing of the means to do so, the shepherd gives it to a fellow shepherd from a distant land, who spends the summers sharing pastureland with his flocks. The second shepherd carries the baby with him to Corinth, where Oedipus is taken in and raised in the court of the childless KingPolybus of Corinth as if he were his own.As a young man in Corinth, Oedipus hears a rumour that he is not the biological son of Polybus and his wife Merope. When Oedipus calls them out on this, they deny it, but, still suspicious, he asks the Delphic Oracle who his parents really are. The Oracle seems to ignore this question, telling him instead that he is destined to "Mate with [his] own mother, and shed/With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own sire." Desperate to avoid his foretold fate, Oedipus leaves Corinth in the belief that Polybus and Merope are indeed his true parents and that, once away from them, he will never harm them.On the road to Thebes, he meets Laius, his true father. Unaware of each other's identities, they quarrel over whose chariot has right-of-way. King Laius moves to strike the insolent youth with his sceptre, but Oedipus throws him down from the chariot and kills him, thus fulfilling part of the oracle's prophecy. Shortly after, he solves the riddle of the Sphinx, which has baffled many a diviner: "What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?"To this Oedipus replies, "Man" (who crawls on all fours as an infant, walks upright later, and needs a walking stick in old age), and the distraught Sphinx throws herself off the cliffside. Oedipus's reward for freeing the kingdom of Thebes from her curse is the kingship and the hand of Queen Dowager Jocasta, his biological mother. The prophecy is thus fulfilled, although none of the main characters know it.The action of the playA priest and the chorus of Thebans arrive at the palace to call upon their King, Oedipus, to aid them with the plague of Apollo ravaging the city. Oedipus had sent his brother-in-law Creon to ask help of the oracle at Delphi, and he returns at that moment. Creon says the plague is the result of religious pollution, caused because the murderer of their former King, Laius, had never been caught. Oedipus vows to find the murderer and curses him for the plague that he has caused. Oedipus summons the blind prophet Tiresias for help. When Tiresias arrives he claims to know the answers to Oedipus's questions, but refuses to speak, instead telling Oedipus to abandon his search. Oedipus is enraged by Tiresias's refusal, and says the prophet must be complicit in the murder. Outraged, Tiresias tells the king that Oedipus himself is the murderer. Oedipus cannot see how this could be, and concludes that the prophet must have been paid off by Creon in an attempt to undermine him. The two argue vehemently and eventually Tiresias leaves, muttering darkly that when the murderer is discovered he shall be a native citizen of Thebes; brother and father to his own children; and son and husband to his own mother.Creon arrives to face Oedipus's accusations. The King demands that Creon be executed, however the chorus convince him to let Creon live. Oedipus's wife Jocasta enters, and attempts to comfort Oedipus, telling him he should take no notice of prophets. Many years ago she and Laius received an oracle which never came true. It was said that Laius would be killed by his own son, but, as all Thebes knows, Laius was killed by bandits at a crossroads on the way to Delphi.The mention of this crossroads causes Oedipus to pause and ask for more details. He asks Jocasta what Laius looked like, and suddenly becomes worried that Tiresias's accusations were true. Oedipus then sends for the one surviving witness of the attack to be brought to the palace from the fields where he now works as a shepherd. Jocasta, confused, asks Oedipus what is the matter, and he tells her.Many years ago, at a banquet in Corinth, a man drunkenly accused Oedipus of not being his father's son. Bothered by the comment Oedipus went to Delphi and asked the oracle about his parentage. Instead of answers he was given a prophecy that he would one day murder his father and sleep with his mother. Upon hearing this he resolved to quit Corinth and never return. While travelling he came to the very crossroads where Laius was killed, and encountered a carriage which attempted to drive him off the road. An argument ensued and Oedipus killed the travellers, including a man who matches Jocasta's description of Laius.Oedipus has hope, however, because the story is that Laius was murdered by several robbers. If the shepherd confirms that Laius was attacked by many men, then Oedipus is in the clear.A man arrives from Corinth with the message that Oedipus's father has died. Oedipus, to the surprise of the messenger, is made ecstatic by this news, for it proves one half of the prophecy false, for now he can never kill his father. However he still fears that he may somehow commit incest with his mother. The messenger, eager to ease Oedipus's mind, tells him not to worry, because Merope the Queen of Corinth was not in fact his real mother.It emerges that this messenger was formerly a shepherd on Mount Cithaeron, and that he was given a baby, which the childless Polybus then adopted. The baby, he says, was given to him by another shepherd from the Laius household, who had been told to get rid of the child. Oedipus asks the chorus if anyone knows who this man was, or where he might be now. They respond that he is the same shepherd who was witness to the murder of Laius, and whom Oedipus had already sent for. Jocasta, who has by now realized the truth, desperately begs Oedipus to stop asking questions, but he refuses and Jocasta runs into the palace.When the shepherd arrives Oedipus questions him, but he begs to be allowed to leave without answering further. Oedipus presses him however, finally threatening him with torture or execution. It emerges that the child he gave away was Laius's own son, and that Jocasta had given the baby to the shepherd to secretly be exposed upon the mountainside. This was done in fear of the prophecy that Jocasta said had never come true: that the child would kill its father.Everything is at last revealed, and Oedipus curses himself and fate before leaving the stage. The chorus laments how even a great man can be felled by fate, and shortly afterwards a servant exits the palace to speak of what has happened inside. When Jocasta entered the house she ran to the palace bedroom and hanged herself there. Shortly afterwards Oedipus enters in a fury, calling on his servants to bring him a sword so that he might kill himself. He then rages through the house until he comes upon Jocasta's body. Giving a cry, Oedipus takes her down and removes the long gold pins that held her dress together, before plunging them into his own eyes in despair.A blind Oedipus now exits the palace and begs to be exiled as soon as possible. Creon enters, saying that Oedipus shall be taken into the house until oracles can be consulted regarding what is best to be done. Oedipus's two daughters (and half-sisters), Antigone and Ismene, are sent out and Oedipus laments that they should be born to such a cursed family. He asks Creon to watch over them and Creon agrees, before sending Oedipus back into the palace.On an empty stage the chorus repeat the common Greek maxim, that no man should be considered fortunate until he is dead.[3]Relationship with the mythic traditionThe two cities of Troy and Thebes were the major focus of Greek epic poetry. The events surrounding the Trojan War were chronicled in the Epic Cycle, of which much remains, and those about Thebes in the Theban Cycle, which have been lost. The Theban Cycle recounted the sequence of tragedies that befell the house of Laius, of which the story of Oedipus is a part.In Homer's Odyssey (XI.271ff.) we get our earliest account of the Oedipus myth when Odysseus encounters Jocasta (named Epicaste) in the underworld. Homer briefly summarises the story of Oedipus, including the incest, patricide, and Jocasta's subsequent suicide. However in the Homeric version Oedipus remains King of Thebes after the revelation and neither blinds himself, nor is sent into exile. In particular, it is said that the gods made the matter known, whilst in Oedipus the King Oedipus very much discovers the truth himself.[4]In 467 BC, Sophocles's fellow tragedian Aeschylus won first prize at the City Dionysia with a trilogy about the House of Laius, comprising Laius, Oedipus and Seven against Thebes (the only play which survives). Since he did not write connected trilogies as Aeschylus did, Oedipus the Kingfocuses on the titular character while hinting at the larger myth obliquely.Themes and motifsFate and free willFate is a theme that often occurs in Greek writing, tragedies in particular. The idea that attempting to avoid an oracle is the very thing which brings it about is a common motif in many Greek myths, and similarities to Oedipus can for example be seen in the myth of the birth of Perseus. Two oracles in particular dominate the plot of Oedipus the King. In lines 711 to 714, Jocasta relates the prophecy that was told to Laius before the birth of Oedipus. Namely:(The oracle) told himthat it was his fate that he should die a victimat the hands of his own son, a son to be bornof Laius and me.The oracle told to Laius tells only of the patricide; the incest is missing. Prompted by Jocasta's recollection, Oedipus reveals the prophecy which caused him to leave Corinth (791-93):that I was fated to lie with my mother,and show to daylight an accursed breedwhich men would not endure, and I was doomedto be murderer of the father that begot me.The implication of Laius's oracle is ambiguous. A prominent school of thought argues that the presentation of Laius's oracle in this play differs from that found in (e.g.) Aeschylus's Oedipus trilogy produced in 467 BC. Helaine Smith argues:Sophocles had the option of making the oracle to Laius conditional (if Laius has a son,that son will kill him) or unconditional (Laius will have a son who will kill him). BothAeschylus and Euripides write plays in which the oracle is conditional; Sophocles...chooses to make Laius's oracle unconditional and thus removes culpability for his sinsfrom Oedipus, for he could not have done other than what he did, no matter what action he took.This interpretation has a long pedigree and several adherents.[5] It finds support in Jocasta's repetition of the oracle at lines 854-55: "Loxias declared that the king should be killed by/ his own son." In the Greek, Jocasta uses the verb chrênai: "to be fated, necessary." This iteration of the oracle seems to suggest that it was unconditional and inevitable. Other scholars have nonetheless argued that Sophocles follows tradition in making Laius's oracle conditional, and thus avoidable. They point to Jocasta's initial disclosure of the oracle at lines 711-14. In the Greek, the oracle cautions: hôs auton hexoi moira pros paidos thanein/ hostis genoit emou te kakeinou para. The two verbs in boldface indicate what is called a "future more vivid" condition: if a child is born to Laius, his fate to be killed by that child will overtake him.[6]Whatever the meaning of Laius's oracle, the one delivered to Oedipus is clearly unconditional. Given our modern conception of fate and fatalism, readers of the play have a tendency to view Oedipus as a mere puppet controlled by greater forces, a man crushed by the gods and fate for no good reason. This, however, is not an entirely accurate reading. While it is a mythological truism that oracles exist to be fulfilled, oracles do not cause the events that lead up to the outcome. In his landmark essay "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex",[7] E.R. Dodds draws a comparison with Jesus's prophecy at the Last Supper that Peter would deny him three times. Jesus knows that Peter will do this, but we as readers would in no way suggest that Peter was a puppet of fate being forced to deny Christ. Free will and predestination are by no means mutually exclusive, and such is theThe oracle delivered to Oedipus what is often called a "self-fulfilling prophecy", in that the prophecy itself sets in motion events that conclude with its own fulfilment.[8] This, however, is not to say that Oedipus is a victim of fate and has no free will. The oracle inspires a series of specific choices, freely made by Oedipus, which lead him to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus chooses not to return to Corinth after hearing the oracle, just as he chooses to head toward Thebes, to kill Laius, to marry and to take Jocasta specifically as his bride; in response to the plague at Thebes, he chooses to send Creon to the Oracle for advice and then to follow that advice, initiating the investigation into Laius's murder. None of these choices is predetermined.Another characteristic of oracles in myth is that they are almost always misunderstood by those who hear them; hence Oedipus's misunderstanding the significance of the Delphic Oracle. He visits Delphi to find out who his real parents are and assumes that the Oracle refuses to answer that question, offering instead an unrelated prophecy which forecasts patricide and incest. Oedipus's assumption is incorrect: the Oracle does answer his question. Stated less elliptically, the answer to his question reads thus:Polybus and Merope are not your parents. You will one day kill a man who will turn out to be your real father. The woman you will eventually marry is your real mother case with Oedipus.State controlThe exploration of this theme in Oedipus the King is paralleled by the examination of the conflict between the individual and the state in Antigone. The dilemma that Oedipus faces here is similar to that of the tyrannical Creon: each man has, as king, made a decision that his subjects question or disobey; each king also misconstrues both his own role as a sovereign and the role of the rebel. When informed by the blind prophet Tiresias that religious forces are against him, each king claims that the priest has been corrupted. It is here, however, that their similarities come to an end: while Creon, seeing the havoc he has wreaked, tries to amend his mistakes, Oedipus refuses to listen to anyone.[9] Sight and blindnessLiteral and metaphorical references to eyesight appear throughout Oedipus the King. Clear vision serves as a metaphor for insight and knowledge, but the clear-eyed Oedipus is blind to the truth about his origins and inadvertent crimes. The prophet Tiresias, on the other hand, although literally blind, "sees" the truth and relays what is revealed to him. Only after Oedipus has physically blinded himself does he gain a limited prophetic ability, as seen in Oedipus at Colonus. It is deliberately ironic that the "seer" can "see" better than Oedipus, despite being blind. In one line (Oedipus Rex, 469), Tiresias says: "So, you mock my blindness? Let me tell you this. You [Oedipus] with your precious eyes, you're blind to the corruption of your life..."(Robert Fagles 1984)Uncertainty in InvestigationOedipus comes to the conclusion that he murdered his father and married his mother. While generally viewed as true, recent interpretation suggests this may not be the case. The argument hinges on Oedipus failing to clarify with the shepherd that he was in fact the murderer. (C.D.C. Reeve, 2006)