Prophecy and Ocassion in Oedipus Tyrannus

Abstract

This article focuses on the place and importance of pity in Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus. Although the feeling of pity or compassion is just the basic emotional reaction expected from the audience, it is the most important element that takes place in the center of the plot of Oedipus Tyrannus and determines the course of events in the tragedy. Sophocles made some important changes about the Oedipus myth in the tragedy of Oedipus Tyrannus and reconstructed the plot of the tragedy in an original way. Our main claim here is this: The main character's pity is the basis of the critical changes Sophocles made in the myth. For just as the feeling of pity was decisive when Laios’ slave did not leave the baby Oedipus on the mountain, but gave it to the Corinthian messenger to raise him, there is also the intense fear and pity behind Oedipus’ important decisions that led him to investigate the cause of the great plague epidemic in the city of Thebes and left the administration to Creon.