Why is 'Oedipus Rex' considered the epitome of Greek tragedy?

Answer 1

Dude and O what a T R A G E D Y !!! ...esp the part where he consults the Oracle Of Delphi ,spurned on by the suspicion that King Polybus & the Queen are not his parents, and the Oracle lets slip that hes going to bed his mother and murder his "sire" , of course revolted by this , he leaves his adopted parents , and so the tsunami of FATE , the gates that held back destiny , as he caressed the wheat fields on those summer days , lush green grass , babbling streams , happy playful jocularity , pass through his fingers as if an ogre of optimism wills to cup and drink from a stream of Mercury , as that fast super liquid metal of solid shimmer , slips through the might of true hearts , that can never achieve justice , for whispering voices have doomed their fate so.

After the innocuous , unassuming , everyday hustle bustle , chariot encounter HE MURDERS HIS FATHER !...Tragic , more so when you reason that Oedipus is such a man that he left his ROYAL household behind in fear , that this kind of catastrophe might happen .Its the awe , of being dragged along by a current and there's nothing you can do , its like watching a NIGHTMARE , but the action hero is YOU , in his mortal might , he who can commit morale decision {like he left his parents , thinking it could be them} in his physical power {as in the murder of another man , Laius his father , unbeknownst to Oedipus}and yet still this rushing current of an estranged undesired fate , twits & turns everything , if you think about it , even if you knew , what can you do ! Another horror of the time , "not knowing" , as conveyed to us in the part where he discloses the "Riddle of the Sphinx" {"Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?" She strangled and devoured anyone unable to answer. Oedipus solved the riddle by answering: "Man-who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then walks with a cane in old age".} What irony , not knowing could spell death , and the whole crux of the play is that his parents KNEW!!! , willed to save this man{which Oedipus grew up to be } and themselves by committing infanticide.

The distraught Sphinx throws herself off the cliff side. 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.Again this constant HORRIFYING theme , THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW , stemming from a play where THEY DID KNOW AND THOUGHT THAT THEY {including Oedipus} HAD ACTED TO AVOID TRAGEDY .................. wow !

... 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, Lauis, had never been caught. Oedipus vows to find the murderer and curses him for the plague that he has caused. I mean that is just such an unbelievable twist , Oedipus is in search of his fathers killer ! It just defies FICTION , again reasserting itself as a master of tragic performance , that can only be summed up in the phrase that "Sometimes TRUTH is stranger than FICTION" which brings home the reality of such a tragedy.

Tiresias the prophet 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.I mean can you really just mentally digest the ongoing theme , the prophet who Oedipus consults IS BLIND !!!...And to talk about NOT KNOWING , the prophet refuses to say , only telling Oedipus to call of his search for the killer of the King , WHO IS INFACT OEDPISU S REAL FATHER , BUT OEDIPUS DOES N O T KNOW !!! O the tragedy of the mortal condition , truly it can be said "Ignorance is bliss"

Oedipus's wife Jocasta {his MOM} 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.

TAA DAA TAAA DAAAAAAAA , ALARM BELLS RING ... Thrusting tragedy after slashing catastrophe , it is as if it were symphony .Now Oedipus discovers , that it was him , on that crossroads , and that bit of WWF Wrestling and a spot of rush hour commuter murder , WAS IN FACT HIS FATHER !!!

NOTE: How at the time , the King was on his way to Delphi , a place famed for its , fore SIGHT , hind SIGHT , , ,{"Let us not again wonder our destiny , for it is through the cloak of ignorance that a mans life we shall see" 1725}

Well , Oedipus finds out , his MOM , hangs herself , he storms round the palace asking for a sword {there's really no need for him to do this , i mean he is royalty , not short of a few pennies,but this is what nobility and having scruples does to you} he sees his MOMs body , takes it down , and with the gold pins that fastened her dress , STABS his eyes out ... O how very tragic , O how very torturous , O how very forlorn in misery & despair he must be to loose his SIGHT {because he never knew , he really genuinely did not know}

On an empty stage the chorus repeat the common Greek maxim, that no man should be considered fortunate until he is dead .Because that man realises that there are powers , be they preternatural or or natural , THAT ARE OUT OF YOUR CONTROL , like the statue of justice which is blind folded , for fear of discrimination , but surely the Gods {in there piety should have divinely intervened, seeing how it was set in polytheistic early Athenian society , surely they could see} ...

Of course , I could go on , but I hope in this summarily created synopsis , Ive to some extent conveyed to you the reason , why Oedipus Rex is considered one of the most spledid tragic plays of ancient Greece ... :]