Sophocles’ use of feet imagery in Oedipus the King is nothing short of ironic. Feet serve to carry us forward, and to move us away from that which threatens us. But in the play, feet serve to hold Oedipus captive. They bind him to his dreadful fate, holding him hostage to the future proclaimed of him at Delphi. From birth, Oedipus is literally bound by his feet: Laius and Jocasta have the infant’s feet pinned together at his ankles. This ultimately renders him scarred for life. This impediment is both literal and symbolic, as his struggles walking are representative of his inability to escape the inevitable. The scars also earn him his name – Oedipus literally means “swollen feet” in Ancient Greek.
Throughout the play, Oedipus’ feet not only hold him captive to his destiny, but also carry him toward it. After visiting the Oracle at Delphi, he flees Corinth on foot, only to unknowingly fulfill one aspect of his foretold demise, the murder of his father. Even after the play’s cathartic climax comes to fruition, Sophocles continues to employ foot imagery as a means of illustrating the path of suffering that Oedipus is set to follow. On foot, he commences his exile from Thebes. Each step he takes exacerbates the pain and shame that he is fated to encounter.
I like how you focused on the irony of feet, and how instead of carrying Oedipus forward to a free future, it is moving him toward a fate he cannot escape. It's kind of contradictory: it's keeping him hostage while moving him forward. And I didn't even think about the role of feet in relationship to his post-exile journey. It adds an additional layer to the burden his feet cause him, as he will exhibit his "telltale limp" in his shameful walk of exile.
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