Oedipus Sophocles Essay Oedipus the King is a tragic play that recounts Oedipus's tragic discovery that he killed his father and married his mother. The story of Oedipus was well known to the Athenians. Oedipus is the embodiment of the perfect Athenian. He is confident, intelligent and strong-willed. Ironically, it is precisely these traits that provoke his tragic discovery. Oedipus gained the rule of Thebes by answering the riddle of the Sphinx. Sophocles used the riddle of the sphinx as a metaphor for the 3 phases of Oedipus' life and further characterized him as a tragic man. The Sphinx posed the following riddle to all those who came to obtain the reign of Thebes: What walks on 4 feet and 2 feet and 3 feet and has only one voice, when he walks on the most feet, he is the weakest? Oedipus responded correctly to Man and became king of Thebes. This riddle is a metaphor for the life of Oedipus. When a child crawls on his hands and knees, these are the four feet that the Sphinx refers to. Moreover, man is at his weakest when he is a small child. He depends solely on others for his food and well-being. Oedipus was the child of Jocasta and King Laius who was taken to the mountain by a shepherd to be killed so that the god Apollo's omen that Laius' son would kill him and sleep with Jocasta would not come true. Oedipus was then the weakest in his life. If the shepherd had not sacrificed his life and entrusted him to Polybius to raise as his own, Oedipus would have died. Man walks on 2 feet when he grows up. This is a metaphor for Oedipus when he reaches adulthood and leaves Corinth to escape the oracle. Oedipus meets a group of travelers and, furious, kills them. Oedipus inadvertently killed his own father. Oedipus then answers the riddle of the sphinx and becomes king of Thebes. On becoming king of Thebes he married Jocasta, the queen of Thebes and his own mother. Several years later, after having children with Jocasta, a plague kills many inhabitants of Thebes. The gods ask Oedipus to find Laius's murderer. He is very diligent in his investigation and finally arrives at the horrible truth that he himself is the murderer. Jocasta kills herself when she realizes horribly that she slept with her son and Oedipus blinds himself when he finally sees the truth. This answers the last part of the Sphinx riddle because Oedipus will have to walk with a cane for the rest of his life because of his blindness, this will give him the 3 feet that man walks with at the end of his years. Oedipus used his intelligence and diligence to answer the riddle of the Sphinx. Many of Thebes' smartest young men were killed trying to answer the riddle, but Oedipus proved that his intelligence was superior to theirs. Oedipus uses the same intelligence and perseverance to find Laius's murderer. He does not give up his research even when Jocasta advises him to stop and leave the matter unresolved. He calls the shepherd and questions him until he discovers the horrible truth that he is the killer. Oedipus's intelligence was ultimately his flaw. Also, if Oedipus had not been so courageous, he would never have dared to answer the riddle of the Sphinx. So even if he had killed his father, he would never have become king of Thebes or slept with his mother. Furthermore, if Oedipus had had the courage but not the intelligence, the Spinx would have killed him for answering the riddle incorrectly. Sophocles used this to characterize Oedipus as a tragic man, because he made his tragic discovery not because of an evil act or trait, but because of the person he was. Oedipus' traits that gave him wealth and power ultimately led to his tragic end. Furthermore, the god.