FREE ESSAY ON OEDIPUS IS INNOCENT

OEDIPUS IS INNOCENT

Because Oedipus knows nothing about the past of Thebes, he is not an assassin. Oedipus
committed murder but unknowingly of who King Laius was. Oedipus' honor was his claim
against the murder. Had it been the other way around and Oedipus had lost the battle,
King Laius' alibi would have also been for reasons of honor: for reasons of royalty.
Oedipus was royalty and knew it as well did King Laius. The main idea behind Oedipus'
innocence is this "royalty." 
Regardless of either of their class standings a fight occurred and the one to start had
been King Laius' men, or group, the fact that they lost is not the fault of Oedipus. In
other words, King Laius and his men wanted to discipline Oedipus for not showing honor
towards a king. Yet, in return, Oedipus wanted respect in return from King Laius and his
men. They were both rightfully due the same amount of respect yet King Laius' and his men
felt they were entitled to pass first. The first blow came from the driver of King Laius'
chariot. This shows how Oedipus reacted in defense and feared for his life as well as his
honor.
Oedipus is an innocent man whose fate was also his destiny. There was no way to stop the
prophecy no matter what action was taken. Throughout his life he ruled for his people. He
was looked at as a "mortal set apart to face life's common issues and the trials, which
the gods dispensed to men" (3). He was the hero, the one that everyone looked to in a
time of need. It can be said of his case that the good should outweigh the bad. That
Oedipus reacted as any other would. Though the prophecy is what he was running from, the
prophecy is what he ran into. 
Oedipus did not want his fate to be his destiny. He wanted to be honest...to be a savior.
He wanted to be a ruler...to do for others as he would want for himself. His honor was
his destiny. As far as he knew he left from Corinth to prevent this humiliation of
wedding his mother and killing his father. He wanted to be true and always be looked at
with respect, even when he traveled. He told his people of Thebes how they "suffer...but
not one among them suffers more than him" (4). Not one of them "grieves as much as he
does alone" (4) He continues later on again to say "I sorrow more for them than for
myself" (4). He feels every ones pain. He is a true leader one who puts his people before
himself. One who understands what it is to be a ruler of a kingdom. 
His innocence is obvious. He does what needs to be done. Had he been guilty of murder or
of any other crime he would not have gone through the process of finding the truth behind
King Laius' murder. He tells Creon "you will find me a firm ally, and together we shall
exact vengeance for our land and for the god...And with the help of God, we shall find
success - or ruin" (5) He knew what his duty was and that was what he wanted to follow.
He needed to save thousands of people and Oedipus would go to any means to save them.
This is an innocent person and a trustworthy King. "My words are uttered as a stranger to
the act, a stranger to its tale"(7). He tells us that he cannot solve the "riddle the
very skill that proved him great" (11). He cannot do it alone. Why is this? If he is so
guilty of this crime and he is the "murderer that he seeks" then why does he go on with
the search? (10). The reason is that he does not know that he has caused the grief for
his people. He does not know that he is the murderer. "Ask what you wish. I am not the
murderer.", is what he uttered to Creon because he believed that he was not the murderer
(14). 
The fault behind Oedipus' fate lies partly on Apollo and on the prophecy that he was
told. Had he been blind to that prophecy he would have remained in Corinth and ruled as a
true ruler. He would not have wed his mother nor murdered his father. But why do these
things happen to Oedipus? Why when he tries to be the best does he get the worst? His
fate led him there. He was doomed to follow the prophecy at his birth.
How can we blame Oedipus for committing murder when his father was the one who wanted
Oedipus dead? King Laius wanted his son dead because he valued his own life before the
life of his child. He listened to the prophecy and tried to go against the gods, he tried
to prove fate wrong. And as we can see from both King Laius' aspect and from Oedipus'
side their fate was the reality of the story.
"Who are my parents?" were Oedipus' words to Teiresias when he mentioned them to Oedipus
(11). Though Oedipus wanted to know who the murderer of Laius was, he also came to
realize that Teiresias knew something else that Oedipus wanted to hear. Oedipus knew
there was something that caused Teiresias to say those things. He also knew that his
position as a King was desired by many. This jealousy from some also caused Oedipus to
look for facts before he just listened to one person. 
As Sheppard mentions of Oedipus' innocence "the hero, when he stands revealed as the
murderer of his father and the husband of his mother, feels himself utterly vile,
polluted, and the polluter of all who have dealings with him" (191). He knows now that
the threats he had made against the murderer originally are the threats that he now sees
against himself. He told his people that he "shall not rest until he dispels the
defilement" (5). The murderer "will be banished from the land. This man must be denied
entrance into their homes" (8). Though he makes these threats and moreover he does this
to help the people have the courage to find the murderer. When Oedipus is discovered as
the murderer what can he do but follow the judgement he set for the murderer. 
Oedipus does act harshly against himself because he did not know what he was getting
involved in before he went to Thebes. He was fleeing from his fate as he thought but
actually he ran right into it. He took his own sight and felt he was now facing the "vile
damnation" that he believed he deserved (8). He determined his own punishment, which
seems wrong. Then again how could he go on with his life and see his children who were
also his siblings? How could he look at the people he ruled or had ruled knowing he
caused them grief he caused the plague on Thebes? He looked at these ideas and he saw his
honor as his guide. He honored the people he ruled and the mother and father that he
knew, as well as the wife that he married and the children she beared. He knew that he
did commit a murder and that he did kill a King, his father.
Oedipus is an innocent man who listened to a prophecy. "Ask what you wish. I am not the
murderer" (14). Oedipus, until about the end, believed himself as innocent and that he
was. "O God! Am I cursed and cannot see it?" (18). He didn't know where to turn was he
being told the truth? He was but that wasn't what he wanted to hear for a few reasons.
One he wanted proof that he did commit the murder. And second he wanted to know if the
prophecy came true and learning the truth would get him there. 
The accusations against him where not as they seem. Yes...he did commit a murder on his
way to Thebes, but who is to say that he was wrong? Who shall judge his life's fate as
his fault and his alone? Did the gods not hold some blame? Did Apollo not get the ball
rolling by telling Jocasta and Laius what the future would bring them? Yes! That is the
key to Oedipus' innocence. His fate belonged in the hands of Apollo and Apollo let the
secret out.
Bibliography
Sophocles. Oedipus Tyrannus. Trans. Luci Berkowitz and Theodore F. Brunner. New York:
Norton & Co. 1970: 3-18.
Sheppard, J. T. The Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press. 1920: xxic-xl.