Oedipus as the Hero Archetype The character Oedipus in Sophocles' Oedipus the King follows a literary pattern known as the hero archetype. The hero archetype is a role model involved in transformation and redemption. Manifested in three phases called quest, initiation, and sacrifice, Oedipus transforms from the city's redeemer due to its fall. These three phases are clearly revealed, and although they are separate entities, each is intertwined. Before the story begins Oedipus begins the first phase, known as the quest. Oedipus learns from the oracle of Delphi that it is his destiny to kill his father and marry his mother. To avoid this fate, he leaves the only family and home he has ever known. He travels far and arrives in Thebes in a time of great turmoil, the men of the city are devoured by a sphinx who requires the resolution of a riddle. Oedipus saves the city by answering this riddle. Twenty years later we enter the story and find the city under the cloud of a plague. The oracle of Apollo has decreed that the only way to end the plague is to find the killer of the predecessor to the throne, Laius. Oedipus vows to find this killer and cause of the plague to save his city. Oedipus enters the separation part of the second phase, initiation, when the blind "seer" Tiresias accuses Oedipus himself of being the cause of the plague. Oedipus goes through denial and then separates from himself through self-examination. Although his wife/mother, Jocasta, has warned him to refrain from the search, Oedipus continues to search for the truth. This search for the truth leads to the transformation in which Oedipus realizes that he is responsible. He had killed his father (even though he didn't know Laius was his father at the time) and married his mother (he also didn't know this), thus causing the plague. This knowledge was too much for Jocasta to bear and so she committed suicide. At the sight of this event, Oedipus feels an immediate and unbearable sense of guilt and becomes blind to the evils he has caused. At this point Oedipus enters the return phase of the initiation and realizes that he must live up to his decree and banish himself from the city to save his people. The third phase, the sacrifice, is symbolized by Oedipus' departure from the city.