This study will argue that Oedipus, in Sophocles' play Oedipus the King, was correct in his decision not to commit suicide. This holds true whether one concludes that Oedipus was a pawn in the hands of the gods, who, like all human beings, must simply accept the fate they have given to him, or a relatively free individual who must take responsibility for his actions. If one believes that the play presents Oedipus as a victim of the gods, then his murder of his father and marriage to his mother were foreordained events over which he had no control, and therefore he should not kill himself in response to the discovery of the truth. If one believes that Oedipus is relatively free to choose his actions, and is therefore responsible, then he should remain alive to repay his debt to society in some way and to perhaps acquire some wisdom which he would obviously never gain were he to kill himself. He would not be helping the family or the city he loves so deeply by killing himself. In addition, Oedipus should not have killed himself because to do so would have been to defy the very curse he himself vowed against the killer of Laius. In that context, he had to accept exile, ostracism, and/or spill his own blood in atonement for the murder.
If one concludes that Oedipus was fated by the gods to experience the tragedies of his life, for whatever reason the gods decree, then he can hardly be held responsible and should not, in effect, execute himself in response. Oedipus is essentially a good man and a caring leader, as shown in his compassionate and anguished response to the suffering of his people as the result of a plague brought on, as it turns out, by the gods in a kind of communal punishment for the fact that the killer of the former king, Laius, now lives in Thebes. Oedipus declares, "My spirit groans for city and myself and you at once" (Sophocles 13). Oedipus vows to find the killer and liberate the city from the plague. If Oedipus...