Throught Oedipus Rex, Oedipus displays his heroism many times. From the Prologue of the play to the moment in which he leaves Thebes, Oedipus’ heroics become extremely apparent; however, at the same time, the decisions which make Oedipus a hero ultimately become the decisions which bring him to shamefulness and exile. From before Oedipus was born, he was doomed to become the child who would kill his father and marry his mother, a very cursed fate.
Throughout his life, the readers learn that Oedipus tries his hardest to avoid this dreadful proclamation; however, the gods were against him before he was even in his mother’s womb, so Oedipus and the readers quickly learn that there would be no way for him to avoid his destiny. Before the play begins, we learn of Oedipus’ heroism. Thebes had been tortured by the Sphinx, who would consume a townsman for every day that his riddle remained unsolved. Then humble Oedipus arrived in Thebes, solved this un-answerable riddle, and was immediately deemed a hero, and promoted to king of Thebes, taking his late father’s place at the throne.
In the begining of the play, Oedipus’ heroism shows once more when he promises to end his city’s terrible plague, a plague which has been destroying every living thing. He soon finds out that the only way to end the plague would be to identify King Laius murderer and either banish him or exile him. Oedipus vowed to find the killer, and as he would soon find out, his valiant search would lead him right to himself. Oedipus is a very honest and persistent man. From the instant in which he questions Teiresias about the murder, we see that he is very persistent in trying to find the answer.
Even when Teiresias begs Oedipus to stop questioning him, Oedipus forces the truth-teller to speak the truth. He goes as far as to threaten to kill Teiresias to give him the news which would accuse Oedipus as the murderer that he seeks. Oedipus, of course, does not believe this news, and still tries to get to the bottom of this murder mystery. Each person that he questions unravels another piece of information which would eventually confirm Teiresias’ accusation that Oedipus was the murderer.
No matter how many people advised Oedipus to quit the search and forget about it, Oedipus remained determined to solve the question. Teiresias, the shephard, the messenger, and his own wife advise him not to continue his investigation. When Jocaste pleads with him to stop the search, Oedipus he demands that she let him continue. These show signs of a true hero. Oedipus put the benefit of his own land before he did. If Oedipus had any thoughts that he could be the murderer, it didn’t matter to him.
He would not give up until he fufiled his promise to find the murderer. When the shephard who found Oedipus confirmed that Oedipus had killed his father, and indeed married his mother, Oedipus was clearly destroyed. However, like a true hero would, Oedipus accepted his punishment of exile and made plans to leave. He did not leave, however, without making sure that his children would be taken care of, and that his wife/mother had a proper funeral. He made his brother-in-law Creon promise him that. Oedipus was not done with his brilliant display of heroism yet.
He blinded himself so that he would never see the world in which he brought such destruction to. Although Oedipus did kill his father and marry his mother, he did not do these things conscienciously, and further more, he purified his city. He rid the city of the Sphinx, rid his city of the plague, solved the mystery of who killed Laius, and also found out about his true identity all in a matter of hours. Although he was condemned to banishment, and was very disheartened, he left Thebes as a great hero of that city.
As Oedipus was leaving Thebes, one would expect that people would be happy to see him go. After all, he murdered their precious king, and was the cause of his city’s plague. However, this was not the case. People were sad to see him leave. The city was sad. They all prayed that he would somehow find peace at the end of his journey. Choragos begged the men of Thebes to pray that he find life in this time of death. He entered Thebes as someone who was not known by many people, and left Thebes as a hero known to all mankind to this very day.
