Oedipus and Abraham

Hampden-Sydney College   Western Culture 101 Pontuso First Paper Topic in class The gods can be very controlling, they like to have everything their own way. God seems to be a very controlling person when t boils down to. If I was callued upon by the Gods and given a ultamatem to either decide to kill my father and marry my mother, or kill my son, I am sorry but im going to have to kill my son. This is a tough decision, but the story of Oedipus has just taught me otherwise. I do not want to fall into the same trap that Oedipus fell into. He spend so much time and effort trying to ensure the prophency does not come true, but actually dug himself a bigger hole than he even expected. P1: The story of Oedipus is a very interesting and complicated one. Oedipus is the ruler of Thebes and the city has be struck by a plague. Oedipus’ cousin, Creon, who has been sent to ask the oracle’s advice on what to do has returned and has news of how to rid the plague: murder the murderer of Laius, the previous king of Thebes. Before Oedipus became the ruler of Thebes he had moved from his home city, he had learned from the oracle that his prophency was to kill his father and marry his mother. Of course Oedipus did not like the news he had leanred and fleed his hometown. The problem is, he does not know that he is adopted, and his parents never told him. On the way to Thebes, he runs into another traveler, Laius, who bumps him off the road. Both Laius and Oedipus are very hot headed and they immediately hop out of the car to blow off some steam at one another. Push goes to shove and eventually Oedipus kills Laius, unkowingingly his father at the time, and all of his bodyguards. He continues to Thebes, but In Arbrahams decision, God directly contacts him in order to tell him personally what his next order from him will be. It just so happens that this order is to destroy the one thing Abraham loves most: his son. As Abraham always does, he listens to God; he takes his son Issac up the hill to the altar and begins the sacrifice. Inches away from killing his beloved son, an angel apperar