The Selfishness Of Oedipus

"Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race," as quoted by William E. Gladstone, supports my thought that selfishness is what causes most of our problems in the modern world. Currently, we are living in an era that is filled with much gluttony and selfishness. However, selfishness is a trait that all of us possess, but the amount of selfishness that we have can determine the type of person we are. For instance, parents should always put their children's needs before their own. Selfish parents would rather buy materialistic items for themselves than anything useful for their children. In Sophocles's "Oedipus Rex," the protagonist is literally blinded by his own arrogance. This attitude begins before he even travels to Thebes, and that is apparent due to the circumstances of his father's death. Oedipus seals his own fate with his egotistical attitude and he cannot change his destiny after everything is set into motion. During his journey on the road to enlightenment, Oedipus's selfishness causes him to transcend from being completely ignorant of his fate to holding on to the last shreds of denial to having an overwhelming sense of realization.

The selfishness that Oedipus possesses causes him to have abundance of ignorance. This combination is what leads to his father's death. After fleeing Corinth and his foster family, Oedipus gets into a skirmish with an older man. The reason for the fight was because, "The groom leading the horses forced me off the road at his lord's command" (1336). Oedipus is filled with a rage after being insulted by the lord and feels the need to act. The two men fight, but Oedipus ends up being too much for the older man, and he kills him. What Oedipus is unaware of is that the man was actually his birth father and by killing him, Oedipus has started on the path of his own destruction. Not only does Oedipus kill his father, but also everyone else, "I killed them all" (1336). The other men had no part in the scuffle, but in his rage, he did not care who he was killing.

As Oedipus becomes king, his selfishness only grows, as does his denial. As the king, he gained the burden of Thebes whenever a problem arose. To find a way to rid his city of the plague, he sent Kreon so that he would have some answers and be able to place the blame on something or someone. Oedipus shows the immensity of his selfishness by turning the pain of the people to the pain of himself, "I know that you are deathly sick; and yet, sick as you are, not one is as sick as I" (1314). He then goes on to say that, while you are just one person sick and dying that is nothing compared to him, who is not sick but has to mourn for many. After Kreon returns, Oedipus begins the investigation on the circumstances of Laпos's death. Oedipus meets with the blind seer, Teiresias and explains his predicament. The seer knows that he should not have come and tries to withhold his knowledge from Oedipus. After much persistence from Oedipus, Teiresias reveals to him that he, Oedipus, is the murderer that he seeks, "You yourself are the pollution of this country" (1323). Oedipus immediately discards this and accuses him of lying and plotting with Kreon. He is consumed by the thought that Kreon wants to become

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