Oedipus Rex

            
             Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, is the story of a king named Oedipus. Oedipus is known throughout the world for two reasons, he killed his own father and married his mother. However, that might have not been the case if Oedipus was a woman. The story of Oedipus would be an entirely different subject all together. For one thing the murder of King Laius would have been changed, Oedipus" coronation would have never taken place, and the marriage of Oedipus to Jocasta would have never taken place, or the atrocity that befell him.
             In Oedipus Rex, when Oedipus is traveling from Corinth he encounters a man in a carriage. The man was cruel and hit Oedipus as he walked,.
             I was encountered by a herald and a carriage with a man in it, and as I passed he struck me from his carriage. But he was paid in full and presently my stick had struck him backwards from the car and he rolled out. And then I killed them all. (450).
             If Oedipus had been a woman, this event might not have occurred. Oedipus as a woman would not have been struck by the man in the carriage, who happens to be Laius, king of Thebes and Oedipus" biological father. In turn the prophecy of Oedipus killing his father would not have been fulfilled.
             Oedipus" enthronement was granted by his answering of Creon's offer. He was the only one to answer the Sphinx's riddle, "What is it that walks on four legs at dawn, two legs at midday, and three legs in the evening, and has only one voice; when it walks on most legs, it is weakest." (434).
             The answer, as Oedipus came to find out, is a man. If Oedipus was female, she would not have married Jocasta, thus eliminating Oedipus" prophesied destiny to marry his mother.
             If Oedipus was a woman, hence ending the prophecy of killing his father and marring his mother, she would not have suffered the same tragic and violent fate if she were a he. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus" mother and wife, Jocasta, is so stricken with horror when she discovers that her husband is actually her son that she ends her life.