Oedipus and the City

A City, like New York is beautiful and very civilized in the eyes and minds of every tourist that visits it. From Empire State Building to Madison Square garden, are the famous buildings that present the city as one of the most urbanized place in the world. Just like the city, Oedipus is very civilized and well-cultured man. In Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, the king, Oedipus, is portrayed as a hero, that leads the legacy of his grandfather, Cadmus, with full literacy and achievements that changed the lives of Thebans.

Yet, even though, the connection of civilization and culture is made between the city and Oedipus, that establishes another negative connection between the two; the characters behind both Oedipus and the city. City is filled with ugly truths and unnatural things. People in New York City dresses better than any other cultures in the world and presents themselves as well-cultured people with set morals and manners, yet in reality, all the crimes, betrayals and sinful events are rooted from those people. The inner truth, hence, is disturbing. Oedipus too, is civilized in terms of his fame and achievements, yet, when his fate, of killing his own father, and marrying his mother, is revealed, and found to be true, he is just like any other people in New York City.

Beyond the ugly truths of both New York City and Oedipus, another big parallel connection between the two is the unnatural events and actions. Oedipus illustrates his unnatural fate by being involved in baby killers, and by marrying his mother. Now, look at the people in the city. It is now natural that people cut down trees and kill animals to replace them with big roads and buildings. It is true that the factories and roads are big factors to civilization and also the partial prevention of extinction of mankind, in other words, the eternal survival of the kind. The civilization has made people stronger, and Oedipus’ effort to go around his fate, somehow brought him to a position of king over the Thebes. Yet, it is unnatural and ironic too, when we consider the side-effects that has brought by such civilization. It destroyed what was really natural before, such as the environment and ecosystem, and created harm to ourselves with pollutions, traffic and crimes. Mankind tries to change their lives by changes, yet ends up harming themselves. Like Oedipus, by going around a fate like thought, an end, people lost what was really important and made the unnatural, the natural.