Personally, Oedipus, a play written by Sophocles, is an intriguing read. What originally stuck out and caught my attention was a psychological concept named after the play. The Oedipus complex is a Freudian term describing a child’s desire for their opposite-sex parent and jealously and hatred towards their same-sex parent. Although the complex has very little evidence to support its theory and is likely to be made up, throughout reading Oedipus, it unsettled me. The idea of something that happened to Oedipus, him killing his father and falling in love with his mother, or something as traumatizing and as unnerving happening to me triggered the recollection of many childhood and current memories, desperate in trying not to find any similarities between the two storylines. The idea itself disgusted and repulsed me, but towards the end of the play, it really made me empathize with Oedipus. It allowed me to connect and understand Oedipus and his choices on a deeper level, as well as evoke a sense of sympathy from me towards his unfortunate fate.
This new revelation made me reflect on my attitudes first reading the play and it can be said that I did have an arrogant and self-centered view, criticizing, looking down upon and belittling Oedipus’ choices and decisions, only really empathizing with Oedipus when imagining the same scenario happening to myself.