Oedipus the King - trouble developing a thesis statement

Even though I thoroughly enjoyed this reading, I am having alot of trouble developing a thesis statement. I did gather that the moral of the story is to not judge someone's life until it is fully lived. I say this because his citizens of Thebes view him as a hero because he solved the riddle and saved the city from the Sphinx, but later on the Messenger tells him who he is and what he has done which makes him a very troubled,wrong man. Is there anyway I could somehow state that as my thesis statement?

And there you go. The real question is whether or not you can find sufficient evidence to prove that this is the point of the play. Certainly it is not, to my knowledge, the standard reading of it, though you may be able to come up with a solid case for it anyway.

Yes, that is a unique reading of that classic play. Can you say why you feel this is the main moral of the story? You mention the revelation that changes Oedipus' view of himself. But should this revelation change our view of him?

What is the assignment? An essay on the moral of the story?

Honestly? I don't think that the moral of the story is not to judge someone's life until it is fully lived. The saving of Thebes/triumph over the Sphinx certainly is an important part of the story, but then Thebes is overtaken by plague—a plague that won't end until the murderer of Laius is punished. Jocasta kills herself, Oedipus stabs his eyes with pins (is that where we get, "cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye"?), and tragedy abounds. If the story were to *end* with Thebes's salvation from the Sphinx—if that were Oedipus's raison d'être— you could make the claim not to judge someone's life until it is fully lived. With the ending of the story being so tragic, I think it would be difficult to substantiate that thesis.

What is the moral of the story? I am not sure. I think that a case could be made for several . . .do not judge yourself harshly for things that are out of your control (could a little family therapy avoided the suicide and self-mutilation?). You cannot run from your fate. Ignorance is bliss (in this case, marital bliss). Follow orders (Oedipus cursed the shepherd that saved him because none of the tragedies would have happened if he has died on the mountain). Self discovery is not a good thing. Use your head (if Oedipus was really that worried about killing his father and marrying his mother, perhaps he should have always maintained his temper and lived his life as a bachelor).

If you are having a hard time developing and supporting a thesis statement, it might be easier to take a different direction. Good luck with it!

Those are all good ideas, Notoman.

It's important to remember that the writer of Oedipus the King had a very different world view than many people today. The belief in fate, for example, was very strong. And so the moral that the author had in mind may be very different than we can even imagine. Of course, one of the joys of art is that different people can draw different conclusions from the same work. That's why Notoman's question about the assignment is important. If you only have to say what you got out of the story, that is different than having to say what you believe the author was trying to communicate.

At this point, you may want to post your outline (if you have one) to make sure that you have sufficient evidence for your thesis. As most of the posts here indicate, you are trying something that is a bit different. That's not necessarily bad, but if you don't craft a strong case for your thesis, you are likely to lose even more marks than such a failure would normally incur if you had a standard thesis.

It is how the author was trying to communicate to the readers and I understand more thoroughly on how to compose a thesis statement based on how the plague of the city brought Thebe's citzens to call upon help towards Oedipus. During many episodes throughout the story, Creon tells Oedipus of what to do to get rid of the plague which leads to Oedipus discovering who he really is. Thank you all for your comments! I really do appreciate it!

There is never a right view with thesis statements, as long as you are capable of making an adequate defense for yours.

Right. The author of Oedipus the King is not around to say what he meant to do, so any defensible thesis is acceptable. If the author is around, or has said what s/he meant to do, and one has a different reading, that's still acceptable, although there we verge into post-modern thinking about texts functioning independently of their authors' intentions.

Again, though, you might want to post your outline so that we can let you know if you are on track to creating such a defense.

I can't believe I'm about to write this, but . . . there is nothing wrong with a little bit of post-modern thinking. As long as people remember that texts were written by authors for a reason, and that that purpose is likely to limit the range of defensible readings of them. The problem comes when people insist that texts function entirely independently of the author's intentions.