Oedipus Journal #1

Comparison: "Although doubt is not a pleasant condition, certainty is absurd one." In the light of this statement, explore the impressions of doubt and/or certainty conveyed in a work you have studied. 

In the tragety Oedipus The King the new king of Thebes is named Oedipus. There is a tragety occuring throughout the land, which is a plague spreading and taking over the city. In order to solve this problem and to stop the killing of many citizens, the ruler(Oedipus) sends Creon(brother of Josaca) to call upon the Gods to give him the cure to this disease. When Creon returns with the news from the Gods, Oedipus is puzzled. The Gods said that they must find and kill who ever murdered the previous king of Thebes, in order to stop the disease. This puzzled Oedipus because he did not know who the man guilty of this, was. So he ordered the blind profit to come to him and tell Oedipus what man did this. Once there the profit did not want to tell the king who really did this terrible crime, but once it was pushed out of him, the profit pronounced that it was Oedipus that committed this terrible crime. 

After the profit anounces this to the entire city that witnessed this conversation, all the towns people had seeds of doubt planted in their minds. They did not know who to believe, their leader, or the trusted profit. After finding out this news, the town responds by stating, "Never will I convict my king, never in my heart."(line 572 pg 187). This line is expressing that even though there might be doubt in their minds, they state that they believe their king with all of their heart. This line clearly proves that even though doubt is unpleasant, meaning standing up to their king may be unpleasant, they still must do it because if they completely believe their king without any doubt, they could make a huge mistake. There is nothing proving that he is guilty of this crime other then the profit's word, but there is also not anything proving that he did not do it either. This is simply stating that doubt in a person that one is expected to never doubt, is not always bad. It could be bad to ignore doubt, and be completely faithful in somone without the slightest bit of doubt, if there is reason to be doubtful.