The symbol of the pierced ankle in Oedipus Rex The classification of Oedipus Rex as a tragedy requires that it meet certain criteria relating to the main character, Oedipus. Oedipus must have no control over the situation he finds himself in, he must have been harmed by someone for doing nothing or for doing what is right, and he must come to an end where he is completely lost, or dies without resolving the situation. . All three of these criteria can be found represented under one symbol, and that symbol is the piercing of his ankles as a child. The first of the criteria, having no control over the situation he finds himself in, can be met in several situations, and is symbolized by the ankle piercing because he could not stop his father from piercing his ankles as a child. Because of the Greeks' strong belief in preordained destiny, the moment the Seer told Oedipus' real father what would happen, his life was set in stone. Try as he might, we know that Oedipus could no more avoid killing his father than he could breathe. It is an unconscious act controlled by a force that is not within his realm of understanding nor his ability to stop or avoid it. Subsequently, the criterion of having been damaged without any fault on his part is one of the main themes of the work. , and reiterated by Oedipus' ignorance of his own problem. While his father may have had a reason for wanting Oedipus dead, after hearing what the mystic had to say about young Oedipus' future, it was not Oedipus' fault that he was destined to do what he was. A second example of this, when Oedipus actually kills his father, he is met at the crossroads and attacked by his father's men, through no fault of his own. Once again this shows the symbolism of his ankles being pierced as a child, fulfilling the second of the three criteria. Finally, in the end, as in all Greek tragedies, Oedipus must come to an unhappy ending in which he dies, or is killed completely. lost. The symbolism here under the ankle piercing is also the first step towards his bad end, since if his father had not taken Oedipus into the woods and pierced him, and then left him to die, Oedipus would never have killed his father or married his mother..