The document provides an analysis of the similarities and differences between the biblical story of King David from 2 Samuel and the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Both stories involve a king committing murder and a prophet confronting the king about his sin. However, Oedipus believes his actions were predestined by fate while David accepts responsibility. Additionally, the document analyzes character flaws that contribute to the downfall of Oedipus, his mother Jocasta, and others in the story.

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Box # 108
Sandra Cash
Professor Bouchard
ENG 132
Paper # 5 Thoughts on “Oedipus Rex”
February 15, 2012
Thoughts on “Oedipus Rex”
While looking at this through a biblical lens, Oedipus Rex seems to be another version of
Second Samuel chapters eleven and twelve. There are some differences, but the plot of this story
is almost completely the same as in Second Samuel chapters eleven and twelve. Although, there
is the difference, since that the Greeks believed in fate instead of free will. This makes Oedipus
think he was just born for all the horrible deeds he did, and that he could never have stopped it.
The difference is that David accepts that it was by his own free will that he made a mistake and
now must accept the consequence of his mistake. Lastly, the characters in this story all have
some flaw that causes problems.
Both of these stories deal with kings, to whom a prophet comes to them to tell them that
they have committed a horrible sin that the gods or God is not pleased with them. The sin that
both the stories deal with is murder: Oedipus murders his father, and David murders Bathsheba’s
husband. Both Oedipus and David, after hearing what the prophet has to say, condemn the man,
and say that he should die. What they do not realize is that they are condemning themselves, for
the prophet is really talking about their sins, not someone else’s.

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Now the motive of these murders differs for each story. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus says he
murdered the man, which turns out to be his father, because of this:
“There were three highways coming together at a place I passed; and there a
herald came toward me, and a chariot. Drawn by horses, with a man such as you describe
seated in it. The groom leading the horses forced me off the road at his lord’s command;
but as this charioteer lurched over toward me I struck him in my rage. The old man saw
me and brought his double goad down upon my head as I came abreast. He was paid
back, and more! Swinging my club in this right hand I knocked him out of his car, and he
rolled on the ground. I killed him.” (Sophocles, p. 979)
Oedipus murders his father because he nearly ran him over on the highway. David murders
Bathsheba’s husband because Bathsheba became pregnant with David’s child, and because he
wanted her as his wife (BibleGateway.com 1). They both then took the widow as their wife, only
Oedipus later finds out that it is his mother.
Later, once they have realized that it is their sins that the prophet talked about they both
have consequences. In David’s case, he asks God for forgiveness, and God does forgive him, but
David still has the consequence of losing the son that he fathered with Bathsheba. As for
Oedipus, he makes himself blind, and is sent out from Thebes. Oedipus is exiled, so that the gods
will not curse the town of Thebes for his horrible sins.
Oedipus has a couple of flaws that are his undoing. First, he is very rash, this is shown
when he accuses his brother-in-law Creon of treason. It is also shown when he explains why he
murdered the man that almost ran him off the highway. Second, he is very prideful; his pride
comes from killing the sphinx. Oedipus is not the only character in this story that has a major
flaw, which is their undoing. Oedipus’ wife, Locaste, seems to deny the truth. She hides in her
ignorance, so she will not have to deal with the fact that she has married and had kids with her

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own son. Later, once she can not deny the truth any longer, she kills herself. Even Oedipus’s
adopted parents have a flaw. Their flaw was the fact that they did not tell Oedipus that he wasn’t
their biological son. If they had told him this, he might not have left them. He said he left his
parents in fear of a prophecy, that he would kill his father. Then there is the towns people, they
did not care that their king was murdered. They only cared that Oedipus had killed the sphinx;
they did not care about their king enough to find out who had murdered him. Lastly, the prophet
Teiresias also has the flaw in the sense that he did not want to tell Oedipus why Thebes will come
on hard times. He seems at first too afraid to anger Oedipus, but later when Oedipus starts to say
that Teiresias is crazy, and then in his anger he tells Oedipus his prophecy.
Oedipus Rex, if looked at through a biblical lens, seems to be a different version of David
when the prophet Nathan confronts David about Bathsheba. Part of the difference is a cultural
difference, in the sense that the Greeks believe in fate, where as in the story of David it was by
his own free will that he sinned. Lastly, the characters in this story have a flaw that is their
undoing. Their flaws seem to be shown in a way as if teaching the audience.

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Works Cited
BibleGateway.com. n.d. 16 February 2012 <http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?
search=2%20Samuel+11&version=NIV>.
BibleGateway.com. n.d. 16 February 2012
<http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%2012%20&ersion=NI>.
Sophocles. "Oedipus Rex." DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Approaches to Fictioin, Poetry,
and Drama. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. 959-998.