Critique Oedipus Rex

Yair Lopez Prof. Madara 2/27/2012 Section 07 Critique of Oedipus Rex Is Oedipus Rex one of the most important pieces of literature of all time? This Athenian tragedy was written by Sophocles and was first performed in 449 BC. This piece is about a king named Oedipus who in the course of the story finds out that he killed his father and married his mother.

I enjoyed a lot of parts of this story especially when he made the decision you leave Corinth because he was told about the prophecy and when he was worried about the Thebe’s citizens and wanted to do anything possible to end their suffering; however I was not too excited about the ending of the story. The Story began with Oedipus being surrounded by Thebes’s citizens who were suffering because of a plague that was invading their territory. In order for the plague to be gone an oracle said that the murderer of Laius must be driven out.

In a long quest to find Laius’s murderer Tiresias, a blind prophet, reveals to Oedipus that he is the one that killed Laius, who is his father, and married Jocasta, his mother. When they finally found out that the prophecy was right, Jocasta killed herself and Oedipus took his eyes off. This would summarize most important parts of this classic piece. One of the things I liked in this story is the decision of Oedipus of leaving his hometown Corinth because he thought that that way he was going to protect the ones he thought who were his parents (942-957).

I personally admired this character’s decision because it is not easy to leave your hometown with the people you love for their own safety. If I was in Oedipus’s predicament I really wouldn’t knew what to do. He proved that he is the kind of person that does whatever it takes for the safety of their love ones and a person with the mentality should be praised. This is one of the events I liked the most in this masterpiece. Another event that I enjoyed was when he cared about his citizens and wanted the plague to be over to end their suffering (249-320).

Not too many kings are known for their caring and consideration of their own people, but Oedipus proved that he is not the stereotypical cruel king and he wanted to do everything he could to end his people’s suffering. Nowadays we have in some countries presidents that really care about neither the health nor the life of their citizens. In my opinion, in order to be an admirable leader, that person must care about their people jus like if they were their own family and Oedipus in this is the perfect example of an admirable and honorable leader.

With leaders like him this this world would be a better place. This event is the one I most like about this story because we don’t see too many king concerning about their people like Oedipus did. In every story there’s a part that the reader either doesn’t like or knows that something could be better. In my opinion, the end of the story could be a lot better than what it is. The story ends with Jocasta committing suicide and Oedipus taking his eyes off (1475-1586). During the whole story I was thinking of how will the story end and was impatiently waiting to read the ending of the story.

When I finished reading the story I was disappointed and I started thinking in better endings that this story could have. Every story is always recognized in the way it ends because that’s the part that the reader is always waiting for and the whole reason we read the entire piece is to knoe the end of all the drama. With this being said, a better ending of this story in my opinion would transform this from a good to a great literary piece. This was the only thing I disliked about the story, but unfortunately for me the ending is the most important part of the story.

In conclusion, Oedipus Rex is a very entertaining and enjoyable piece of literature who could be a little better by just putting more effort and creativity. The answer to the question stated in the introduction is that is definitely one of the best literary pieces ever, but the best of all time is too much for it. However, if I has to recommend a book this one will be without a doubt one of my considerations, especially to a politician, even though I know they will be disappointed with the ending of it. Work Cited Page Oedipus Rex. Vol. 1. Ed. Peter Simon. Second ed. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company Inc. , 1956. 570-613. Print.