Oedipus' Contribution

In the poem Oedipus, Oedipus finds himself in a dilemma that relates directly to the relationships in his family. In the background before the story, we learn that his real parents, Laius and Jocasta, abandoned him from fear of a prophesy. Therefore, one can attribute his final outcome to his original abandonment. If the family was not severed, then maybe Oedipus’ downfall could have been avoided. We can conclude that family separation has possible, unforeseeable, tragic outcomes on the individual and society. Another element of Oedipus’ family background that leads to his demise is deception. He was not told that he was the son of Laius. If Polybus really loved Oedipus as a son and a part of the family, then he should have been honest with him. Due to lack of honesty, Oedipus ran away to find out the truth. When he was finally able to find the truth, it was too late. Due to lack of transparency on Polybus’ part, his family collapsed. Consequently, we can also conclude that honesty is essential within the family unit to prevent future demise. That coincides with Wallace Gray’s comment, “Oedipus is a man who doesn’t know the most important thing in his life: his identity.” Identity partially comes from family; therefore, Oedipus’ lack of identity is somewhat caused by his lack of knowledge regarding his true family.

Now that we analyzed aspects of the family unit in Oedipus, we notice those aspects’ affects on society. Due to the great influence that Oedipus has on his society, the influence of his family background is accentuated. In this case, we see the affects of negative family characteristics. Oedipus’ misunderstanding of his history leads to a plague on his city. Even though he did not know of his crime against his father, his crime led to death and disease for others. His blindness also affected his children and their children. Due to lack of family unity, Oedipus passed on the generational curse. His daughters would not have suitors because of his reputation, and from there, repercussions continue even into the next generations.