The moral of Oedipus Rex is that pride goes before the fall. Oedipus has immense pride, so much pride that he believes he can outsmart the gods who prophesied, via the oracle of Delphi, that he would kill his father and marry his mother. When the oracle gave him this prophecy, he decided that he would simply not return home to Corinth, and he would avoid his parents Polybus and Merope, so that the oracle's words could not come true. However, it is actually this proud decision that enables the prophecy to come to fruition. Oedipus doesn't know that he is adopted and that Polybus and Merope are not his birth parents, so when he decides to go to Thebes instead of home to Corinth, his pride—thinking that he knows more than the gods who inspire the oracle—leads him into the very danger he sought to avoid.
Further, when he calls...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
the prophetTeiresias to town to speak with him, Oedipus refuses to accept the prophet's words and, again, becomes proudly angry when the prophet insists that he knows better than Oedipus. Teiresias tries to protect Oedipus from the truth, and Oedipus sees only that the prophet refuses to answer his questions. Again, he thinks he knows best, better than a man who is given the divine gift of prophecy from the gods. This pride leads to his downfall.
Videos
The moral of the play is that you cannot escape fate, no matter how hard you try. Jocasta and Laius thought they could outsmart fate by exposing their infant son to the elements, which would lead to his death. They didn't count on fate's stepping in and having a kind-hearted shepherd give the baby to another shepherd, who eventually gave the child to King Polybos. Oedipus, thinking he was the son of Polybos, would never imagine killing his own father. But that's what he did when he killed Laius. And everyone was horrified when they learned that fate had succeeded in fully carrying out the prophecy by having Oedipus marrying and have children with his own mother.
To paraphrase the old commercial, "It's not nice to fool Fate!"
Visit the links below for more information.
What does Oedipus Rex teach us?
The principal lesson of Oedipus Rex is that there is no escape from the workings of fate. Tragedy overtakes the best and wisest of humanity. King Laius attempted to ensure that he would not be killed by his son, as the Oracle prophesied, but Oedipus survived to kill him anyway. Oedipus, like Laius, cannot escape his fate, and there is a tragic irony in the determination with which he spends most of the play tracking down a killer who turns out to be none other than himself.
The ancient Greeks believed that even the gods were subject to fate, so no mortal, however wise or virtuous, could hope to escape. The Spanish philosopher and classicist Miguel da Unamuno referred to this idea as "the tragic sense of life" and felt that it was being lost in twentieth-century culture. Possibly because life has become much more comfortable for many people, there is a widespread idea that if you do the right things, you will succeed. If you fail, either you or someone else must be to blame for that failure. This is a way of thinking that became popular in the nineteenth century, with such books as Self-Help by Samuel Smiles preaching a gospel of individualism and responsibility. Oedipus Rex argues against this type of thinking, teaching that tragedy is part of life.