My Own Questions About Oedipus the King by Sophocles

Since Oedipus was warned of his fate and tried to steer clear of it, that avoidance sent him straight to them.

If he would have never left Corinth would he have ever even encountered his mother and father?

I believe that our human nature is to fight for what we don’t think we want to happen. In that attempt to fight for what we think is the right way for us we just drive that fate right to our destiny.

So knowing that most believe in fate, if we just let life happen and stop trying to fight it would we ever really live out the fate put upon us?

If Oedipus would not have been lied to from the beginning would he have been able to avoid his fate?

I am a firm believer in listening to and following the “signs” in life. It is hard to recognize them especially with our busy hectic lives. Plus sometimes we get so caught up wanting one thing so bad we just ignore the signs. When things go bad you remember those signs then and say “I had a bad feeling or it was weird that this and this happened but I just thought it was nothing, I wish I would have listened.

I recently heeded these warning signs. I was getting ready to pursue my paramedic degree and a few weeks before my meeting it was so weird the things that were going on. I heard on the radio about a woman that was a paramedic that got 3 ribs broke and a concussion trying to help a drunk man, then the next week my son came home from school and told me about a paramedic woman that came to their class to talk about her job. He told me all the bad experiences she had like getting her nose and arm broke just trying to help people who fought her instead.

I knew these were my signs and I quickly withdrew my application (which was really hard to push myself to do) and since then have not heard one thing about paramedics.

I truly feel that if I would have ignored the warnings and went along since I really “wanted” to do this something tragic would have occurred.

Was there ever a time that you ignored the signs or tried to avoid your fate and ended up regretting it? Explain.

From what I know from my Microbiology class the plague that was probably upon this city was the bubonic plague, or Black Death. The characteristic are exactly the same and this has been the death of many people in history especially of these type living conditions. It spreads very rapidly and through close contact. Today it is only curable if antibiotics are given within 24 hours of the first symptom. Antibiotics were not created during this time though so people easily contracted it and died.

The Creon’s task was “drive out pollution sheltered in our land” (this could have meant the dead bodies they had piled up since even dead they could transmit the disease and also rid their city of rats which are where the organism originates from) “and do not shelter what is incurable” (this could have meant not to shelter the ones who are already sick because once they got it there was nothing they could do but transmit it even more). “We must banish or murder to free ourselves from a murder (the Plague) that blows storms through the city.” (The only way to get rid of the “murder,” the plague was to either banish the sick out or their city or murder all that were sick and get rid of the bodies) “What we pursue, that can be caught; but not what we neglect.” (If the pursue and do as they say they can catch the disease from spreading and stop it in its tracks, but if they neglect to do this they will not be able to stop it until everyone is dead)

So with this knowledge do you think Creon might have misinterpreted the task that the Lord Phoebus set for them?