The Punishment of the King/Oedipus Rex

        At the end of Sophocles Oedipus Rex, Oedipus, king of Thebes, ends up banished forever from his kingdom. Addition altogethery, Oedipus physically puts out his own eyes, for several reasons which will be discussed later. The challenge is: Did Oedipus deserve his punishments? There are many factors that must be considered in answering this, including how Oedipus himself felt about his situation. His blinding was as much symbolic as it was physical pain. After all factors have been considered, I think that exactly Oedipus banishment was the requisite punishment..

        

        It is important to keep in mind the whole sanctioned reasoning for Oedipus search for Laius killers: he wished to put an end to a deadly plague, and that plague would only be stopped when verbalise murderer is killed, or driven from the land (pp 4-5). Thusly, when it is revealed that Oedipus himself murdered Laius, because banishment seems to be the only option. Death, in my mind, is not valid simply because of what it might do to the kingdoms people. correct though it seems that Oedipus has not been a particularly good monarch, in fact his only major accomplishment seems to be killing the Sphinx all those old age ago, having a king put to death could have knockout repercussions on the rest of the kingdom.



So in the end, the only manner to cure the plague and keep the kingdom stable seems to be the banishment of Oedipus. In this case, the question of whether or not he deserved to be punished seems irrelevant; Oedipus only last was to stop the plague and by leaving, he has accomplished that goal. ostracism was the only choice.

        But what exactly was Oedipus being punished for? Even after re-reading the play, this still seems to be a gray area. Incest? Immoral, to...

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