Justice in Oedipus the King :: Oedipus Rex Essays

Justice in Oedipus the King        After course session Oedipus the King, one may think that in this story, there was no justice, and zip could avoid their point.  King Laius and nance Jocasta, fearing the prophecy of the Delphic oracle, had the young Oedipus left on Mount Cithaeron to die, however the father dies and the son marries the mother anyway. Oedipus, plainly a good person, also tries to avoid the second prophecy, only to pull through the first.  But even through all this, I have through most research and feel that there was justice in Oedipus, The King, and their fate wasnt completely sealed.        First, the murder of King Laius.  Laius seemed to die a unwarranted death, but he was not necessarily in complete innocence, for he had make some malicious things earlier in his life, such as the essay murder of his son, Oedipus, and the kidnapping and rape of Chrysippus,  a young man Laius pelt in love with before Jocasta.  And Oedipus wasnt as guilty under ancient classical law as he is under our modern laws.  It was every Greeks duty to harm his/her enemies, and as far as Oedipus knew, King Laius was an enemy.        Queen Jocasta wasnt exactly guiltless, either.  The great Queen had also tried with King Laius to run through their son, and had no respect for the prophecies of Apollo  A prophet?  Listen to me and learn some peace of mind  no skill in the world, nothing benevolent can penetrate the future.  She was also the other half of a mother-son marriage.   Greek law considered the act, not the motive - meaning that even though she nor Oedipus knew they were related, they act the crime.        Finally, Oedipuss guilt.  In some ways, Oedipus was the most guilty of them all.  Consider his hubris.  He regarded himself as almost a god, assuming that since he alone had solved the sphinxs riddle, he was the one of the gods favorites.  He was very quick to judge, and judged on the most sparse of evidence.  He calls on Tiresias to tell him what he should do, and when he doesnt like what he hears, Oedipus says, Your words are nothing - futile, and