The story of Oedipus: The king and queen of Thebes were desperate for a child and, after numerous failed attempts, went to an Oracle to receive advice about their problem. The Oracle told them that any son that was born to the king and queen would eventually kill the king. Soon, the queen (Jocasta) became pregnant with a boy (naturally) and so, in order to prevent the prophecy from becoming fact, the kind and queen gave their son to a servant to kill. The servant, however, gave the child to a shepherd who raises the child with his wife. Years later, the son (named Oedipus) was made aware of a prophecy about him that would cause him to kill his father and marry his mother. In an effort to prove the prophecy wrong, Oedipus fled home and headed to nearby Thebes. On the way, he encounters: a man whom (through circumstances) Oedipus kills and a sphinx (which has been causing a problem for Thebes) that Oedipus successfully defeats which allows him to become king of Thebes thereby marrying the queen. Though he did not know if immediately, through trying to prove the prophecy wrong, Oedipus did in fact kill his father and marry his mother. He later went on to blind himself using a pin, is exiled, and wanders in the woods for many years; but that’s a different story.
Hamlet is often analyzed as having Oedipal undertones (Oedipus being Hamlet and Jocasta being Gertrude). Can you analyze Hamlet is this way/see this as being at all likely? Why or why not?
