For Friday January 8th, 2010

Part 1 Prompt 1

Oedipus’ story is very interesting and at the same time, it is also very disturbing! When Oedipus was born, it was said that he was under a terrible curse. The curse had to do with his fate. Oedipus’ fate was that when he was older he would kill his father, who happened to be King Laius, and he would also marry his own mother. King Laius and Queen Jocasta decided that they didn’t want that to happen and so they sent Oedipus off with one of their servants. They told the servant to take the baby, pierce and tie together his ankles, and then...kill him. The servant said he would obey. Luckily the servant pitied Oedipus. He didn’t have the heart to kill him and so the servant passed Oedipus along to another shepherd. The shepherd then passed him off to King Polybus. Good news right? No. When Oedipus heard about his fate he left Corinth because he didn’t want to kill King Polybus, who he thought was his father, or marry his mother. So it happens, Oedipus ended up killing King Laius and marring Queen Jocasta. Oedipus was finally happy. He thought that he had escaped his fate, however, this was not the case. Eventually, a messenger came and delivered the news to Oedipus. When they found out, Queen Jocasta committed suicide and Oedipus jabbed sharp brooches into his eyes, which caused him to go blind. Should Oedipus be found guilty? I think not. Oedipus honestly tried to escape his fate. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. Another reason why he cant be found guilty is because the gods intervened. It is not fair to say that someone is guilty if they didn’t have any free will.

Part 2 Foreshadowing

1. "I say that you yourself are the very man your looking for."

2. "For the accused polluter of this land is you."

*Makhayla Rose*