The Punishment of Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex) :: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex

The Punishment of Oedipus the King         At the end of Sophocles Oedipus Rex, Oedipus, king of Thebes, ends up banished forever from his kingdom. Additionally, Oedipus physically puts out his own eyes, for several reasons which will be discussed later. The question is Did Oedipus deserve his punishments? There are many factors that must be considered in answering this, including how Oedipus himself mat up about his situation. His blinding was as much symbolic as it was physical pain. After all factors have been considered, I think that however Oedipus banishment was the requirement punishment..         It is important to keep in mind the whole basic reasoning for Oedipus search for Laius killers he wished to put an end to a deadly plague, and that plague would only be stopped when said murderer is  killed, or driven from the land (pp 4-5). Thusly, when it is revealed that Oedipus himself murdered Laius, then banishment s eems to be the only option. Death, in my mind, is not well-grounded simply because of what it might do to the kingdoms people. still though it seems that Oedipus has not been a particularly good monarch, in fact his only major accomplishment seems to be killing the Sphinx all those years ago, having a king put to death could have serious repercussions on the rest of the kingdom. So in the end, the only representation to cure the plague and keep the kingdom stable seems to be the banishment of Oedipus. In this case, the question of whether or not he deserved to be punished seems irrelevant Oedipus only goal was to stop the plague and by leaving, he has accomplished that goal. Banishment was the only choice.         But what exactly was Oedipus being punished for? Even after re- reading the play, this still seems to be a gray area. Incest? Immoral, to be sure, but Oedipus was obviously ignorant to his actions, and to my knowledge, in Sophoclean times, th ere was no written law against it and therefore no punishment for it. Oedipus punishment may have been for killing Laius, but how could you punish someone for being a victim of fate? Greeks believed at the time of the plays writing that a mans life was woven by the 3 fates (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) and that he was