Betrayal is an act often inflicted upon Greek characters, and is already a prominent theme in Oedipus the King. The audience is forced to feel some kind of sympathy for Oedipus, being as he has no clue that he killed his father and married his mother for a good portion of the play. Oedipus' birth parents were notified by an oracle that Oedipus' fate was to murder his father and sleep with his mother. Having this knowledge, they then pin his ankles together and leave him in the forest to die. Little do they know, their attempt to break free from their fate is what ultimately makes the fate become a reality. Oedipus would not have killed his father when he was traveling along a path if he was not a stranger to him, and would never had ended up marrying his mother if they hadn't betrayed him in the first place. Jocasta begins to realize this when Oedipus starts catching on to what may be happening and starts searching for the shepherd who had found him. She begs him to "Stop-in the name of god,/ if you love your own life, call off this search!" (1163-1164). This part of the play could be related to the modern saying, "What goes around, comes around."
The political cartoon below is from an article that discusses whether the Thanksgiving should be a day of celebration or mourning, because Europeans had tricked and killed many Native Americans on their 'great journey' through the Americas. The Europeans at the time thought that they were exploring for the good of everyone involved, even the Natives that they had been exposing to diseases and killing in battles, although they were really committing a genocide. This relates to Oedipus the King because Oedipus' parents thought they were doing the right thing and 'saving' Oedipus from his fate, although they had done exactly the opposite.
http://www.floppingaces.net/2007/11/22/the-real-thanksgiving/
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