Oedipus

=__//OEDIPUS//__=

Before Oedipus:
Laius and Jocasta, are the king and queen of Thebes. One day an oracle from Delphi happened to pass by while Laius was drunk and prophesied that when Laius and Jocasta bears a son, the son will kill his father and take his mother as his wife. But lairs disregarded the oracle because he was flushed with "the divine beverage" and he had intercourse with his wife who later on conceived a son.

Birth:
When the child was born, Laius remembered about the oracle and called a shepherd to leave him in the woods and pin the baby's feet together as not to crawl away. however, the baby was found and was taken to the King Polybus and Queen Perboea of Corinth who wanted a son, but couldn't produce one and so they adopted him. But as he grew up, he started to doubt that Polybus and Perboea were his parents so he went to Delphi and consulted an oracle, the same oracle who foretold the prophesy to his real father. The oracle, instead of telling him the identity of his real parents, retold the prophesy to him.

The prophesy fullfilled:
Oedipus, very horrified, escaped Corinth and ran away (since he still thought Polybus and Perboea were his parents.) As he was riding down the road with his chariot, he found him self in a crossroads. Another chariot came to the crossroads at the same time, but it went through without letting Oedipus go first. So Oedipus, enraged, drew out his sword and killed the man riding the chariot which turns out to be Laius, his real father. He found himself in thebes, a Sphinx sat there in front of Thebes asking a riddle to travelers, if answered wrongly, the person will be eaten by the sphinx. (What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at noon, and three feet in the evening?) The answer is (highlight): A man, go figure out why. Oedipus was able to solve it. So the people of Thebes made him they're king since the sphinx brought a plague to the land and addition to that, he was wed to the widowed Jocasta (his mother.) They married and had four children. (two boys and two girls)

Death of Oedipus:
After many years went by, another plague arose in the land, and Oedipus sent a messenger to the oracle in Delphi for answers why the gods were so enraged. The oracle said that there was a "screwed up" family in Thebes. (sorry I do not know how else to put it in simpler terms) SO after some investigation, Oedipus realized that he married his own mother and so he tore the brooches from his mother's garment and blinded himself. His mother and wife then hung herself while their two sons alternated as kings.

Words from Oedipus 1.T he **Oedipus complex**, in psychoanalytic theory, is a group of largely unconscious (dynamically repressed) ideas and feelings which concentrate on the desire to possess the parent of the opposite sex and eliminate the parent of the same sex.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_complex Terms that use Oedipus: Oedipus Complex- falling in love with one's own mother

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