The structure of an average American's family tree is pretty simple. A mom and a dad, their parents and parents of their parents, their kids and then spouses of kids and their parents. Nobody was initially related to each other and unless it is a married couple who came from two different families, there are no sexual relationships whatsoever. In the Greek tragedy "Oedipus the King" , Sophocles wrote about the ruler of Thebes who crossed the line of relations ...view middle of the document...
Oedipus, the main character who married his mother, killed his father and had his mother's kids wasn't even aware of the crime he was committing. He was relatively happy with his family and loved them a lot. He had a lot of respect for Jocasta, his wife and showed it to her. The fact that she was his mother might have been one of the reasons he love her so much, but it is impossible to say, because he might have loved her the same or even stronger without her being his flesh and blood.Oedipus is shown as a good man who doesn't want to have anything to do with his destiny. He says, "Let it not happen, not that, I beg you, holy majesty of God, may I never see that day! May I disappear from among men without trace before I see such a stain of misfortune come upon me!" As in any Greek tragedy, premonitions came true and he had to suffer because of it. In his case, he choose to live in torture by blinding himself.Even though this play was written a long time ago, the family structure is very similar to ours. It was a shame to marry a parent and it was even more dishonorable to have kids with that person. King Oedipus showed that it's impossible to have sexual relations within one family and that only death, shame and suffering could come out of a relationships like that.
