Oedipus Rex by Sophocles is a work heavily focused on justice. Oedipus, as the king of Thebes, discovers that the only way he can save his beloved city and its people from a rampant plague is to seek and accordingly punish his predecessor’s killer. Oedipus is determined to find justice for the city by harshly punishing the murderer, which he is successful in, but he in turn is penalized with harsh and irreversible consequences.
The most pronounce theme in the play is that human beings are relatively powerless before fate and the gods. Although Oedipus tries his entire life to do what is right, by running away from home to save his adopted parents, killing the sphinx, and chasing a murderer, he ultimately faces a horrible end caused by his…