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An exploration of sophocles oedipus the king essay
Characterization in king oedipus by sophocles
Analysis of all the characters in the play "king Oedipus as presented by Sophocles
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Greek politician and playwright, Sophocles, in his play, Oedipus the King, depicts a series of chronological events of the consequences of Oedipus’ downfall caused by his excessive pride. Sophocles’ purpose is to instruct readers that too much pride can dismally lead to unfortunate events. Sophocles illustrates an effective tone in order to inform the readers of the negative outcomes of stubbornness and denial. Oedipus’ pride and stubbornness is blinding him from the truth. Pride is an emotion or yawning desire of gratification resulting from one’s own accomplishments. Because of his victory of conquering the Sphinx by solving its riddle, Oedipus pride risen tremendously. Not only does he have this great self-awareness about himself, but the …show more content…
For example Oedipus says, “you pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers” (line 245). By Oedipus making this statement, it is apparent that he feels as if he is on the same level as the gods. This explains that Oedipus thinks that he has the power to do godly things because he doubts the gods’ power and authority by questioning the people’s faith. Again, Sophocles illustrates in a chronological demonstration of the happenings of Oedipus’ downfalls. Portraying to be an equal to the gods is his first mistake that leads to a tragic ending. His pride is blinding him from seeing the truth and holding him back from what he really needs to know. Saving the city heightened his pride but also made him stubborn towards certain situations. For instance Oedipus says, “not if I saved the city- what do I care?” (line 503). Oedipus is referring to the defeat of the Sphinx and relating …show more content…
Rejecting the truth and being oblivious to all of the apparent signs will lead to his disastrous end. Sophocles expresses the next chronological action of Oedipus’ mistakes that tragically ruins him. Denial is the act of proclaiming that something is not true. Ironically, Oedipus often does this when the truth is presented to him. He lets his pride get in the way and builds a wall to protect his ego. For example, Oedipus says “much as you want. Your words mean nothing-futile” (lines 416). This is the scene where Tiresias finally revealed the truth to Oedipus because of his persistent desire to know. Tiresias told Oedipus that he was the one responsible for Laius’ death. Oedipus quickly dismissed the acquisition, once again letting his pride blind him from the truth. While at the same time, his stubbornness is getting in the way of listening to Tiresias. By Oedipus making this statement, it is clear that he is too stubborn to hear what anyone else has to say, especially if it is negative. It is also very ironic how in the beginning, Oedipus badly wanted Tiresias to tell him what information he knew about Laius’ killing, but when Tiresias was forced to say it, Oedipus immediately silenced Tiresias. Oedipus did not want to listen to him nor did he give him a chance to explain. He also accuses other people and puts the blame on them whenever he is uneasy
Trying to solve the mystery of who killed the previous King, Oedipus does not look at the facts around him. As a prophet, Teiresias explains to Oedipus that he is at fault for the death of Laius but Oedipus does not accept this as true, he embraces the darkness and his view of the truth. Teiresias goes further to convince Oedipus of his fault by saying, “Your clear eyes flooded with darkness. That day will come.” Oedipus has placed himself in a world that is suitable as the truth for him. He is not prepared for change or the opinions of others although he is directly seeking the answer to who killed Laius. This connects to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” because Oedipus is very similar to the prisoners. He is set in his way and the light of knowledge does not immediately impact him. Teiresias bluntly says to Oedipus, “You have eyes to see with, but you do not see yourself” (Sophocles, 42). He pushes and pushes Oedipus to understand that he killed Laius but with no luck. Once Oedipus learns more about how Laius was killed and figures out that he killed a man that way he goes into the light. His reality has now changed just as it did for the prisoner who was released from the cave. But for Oedipus, facing the truth is something he is not able to do with ease. Teiresias says to Oedipus that “wisdom is a curse when [it] does nothing for the man who has it” (37).
Aristoteles’s “Theory of Tragedy” suggests that the tragic flaw in Sophocles’ play Oedipus is the King’s “self-destructive actions taken in blindness,” but a worse flaw is his arrogance. There are a few opposing views that stray from Oedipus being fully arrogant. First is that he took actions to save himself from further pain. Second, by putting himself in charge was the right thing to do as the leader of his people. Third, Oedipus never tried to outwit the gods but used the prophecy as a warning to leave Corinth.
Pride caused the death of 2 innocent people in Othello; however, Oedipus becoming blind and having to live with the mistakes he made is a fate worse than death. A tragic flaw seen in both characters is the amount of pride each one possesses. Both men had the opportunity to be ordinary and to be able to get by, yet that was not good enough for either of them. Oedipus and Othello felt they could achieve more than what was put in front of them and in the process of becoming great men; they unfortunately meet their end. It is proven through Oedipus and Othello that pride is not a bad thing when it is used appropriately; however, too much pride can ruin not just one life, but also the many lives that are surrounded by that one life. By putting too much emphasis on their lives, Othello and Oedipus are responsible for their own demise.
The great Sophoclean play, Oedipus Rex is an amazing play, and one of the first of its time to accurately portray the common tragic hero. Written in the time of ancient Greece, Sophocles perfected the use of character flaws in Greek drama with Oedipus Rex. Using Oedipus as his tragic hero, Sophocles’ plays forced the audience to experience a catharsis of emotions. Sophocles showed the play-watchers Oedipus’s life in the beginning as a “privileged, exalted [person] who [earned his] high repute and status by…intelligence.” Then, the great playwright reached in and violently pulled out the audience’s most sorrowful emotions, pity and fear, in showing Oedipus’s “crushing fall” from greatness.
His pride gets him into a lot of bad situations. The ultimate downfall of Oedipus is that he is unwilling to accept is fate. This drives him throughout the whole story to get down to the bottom of numerous questions. Such as, who killed his father? What is his fate and how can he avoid it? Also he was questioning the loyalty of his brother-in-law, Creon. Oedipus is genuinely concerned by the damage the plague is doing to his people and seeks to help. Creon informs him that the plague is the result of King Laius's murder and that the murderer must be found and killed or expelled. Oedipus seeks counsel from Teiresias the prophet. However, the prophet is afraid of divulging the truth about the situation. Reason being is because the prophet knows that Oedipus is guilty of killing his father. However, even though Oedipus has done many things that are frowned upon, the reader has to
Oedipus the King conveys many lessons that are relevant to people living today despite the fact that it was written by Sophocles twenty four centuries ago. Oedipus is a child destined to kill his father and marry his mother. During his life, he makes many mistakes trying to avoid his fate. These mistakes teach us about the nature of humans under certain circumstances. Oedipus possesses personality traits which causes him to make wrong decisions. Attributes like arrogance and his inability to make calm decisions in certain scenarios due to his anger causes his downfall. Oedipus’ excessive pride, like many people today, was an important factor that brought him grief. Oedipus’ lack of patience caused him to make hasty decisions which lead him to his greatest agony. Oedipus’ massive ego turned into excessive vanity, this was the first step to his downfall. Oedipus talks to Creon about the murderer of Laius. He declares, “Then I’ll go back and drag that shadowed past to light… but by myself and for myself I’ll break this plague” (Sophocles, 11). Oedipus is saying that he will be the on...
As tragic hero Oedipus displays all of the usual canon; power, arrogance, and pride. Oedipus manifests himself in a position of confidence, which he derives from his success at solving the riddle of the Sphinx and marrying a queen.“It was you who came / and released Cadmus’ Town from the tribute / we paid to the cruel songstress…” (Sophocles, 33-35) , “CREON: Then tell me this - / are you not married to my sister?” (Sophocles, 696-697). In turn, it also enabled him to make rash decisions, such as slaying his father, without personal recompense. “I was to slay my father. And he dies, / And the grave hide...
In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, the reader finds Oedipus as an overzealous king, but one that cares deeply for the people who are under his rule. After solving the mystery of the Sphinx and under the belief that he has escaped the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother, Oedipus’ self-confidence goes into over drive. His compassion, for the pain and suffering his people are under, causes him to pronounce a curse on the murderer of Laius. Unknown to the king, he is condemning himself for the crime he committed years ago.
The last example of when Oedipus’ pride gets the better of him was when he is demanding that the messenger tell him all he knows about who his real parents are. Again the messenger is trying to tell him that things would be better left untold, but Oedipus has to keep going on and on and find out. Finally the messenger tells him that Polybus is not his father, already Jocasta has figured out that she is his mother. Oedipus asks the messenger who his real parents are. Jocasta is begging Oedipus to pay no attention to the messenger and tells Oedipus, “Never find out who you are';(1073). Oedipus, of course, goes on ahead anyway and sends for the shepherd who know where Oedipus came from. Once again Oedipus pride got in the way.
Oedipus’ personality clearly reflects pride and determination throughout the play. When Oedipus heard the oracles’ prediction that he was to kill his father and marry his mother, he was determined to prevent the prophecy. Therefore he left his homeland of Corinth never to return. Then when he solved the Sphinx’s riddle, Oedipus’ pride rose to a new level. He was praised by the people of Thebes, resulting in his marriage to Jocasta, Queen of Thebes. Oedipus also shows his determination when in search of Laius’ murderer. He stated that he would avenge the King’s death as if Laius were his own father. He cursed the murderer, announcing “May he drag out an evil death-in-life in misery.” These characteristics of pride and determination, which Oedipus emanates throughout the play, may appear to be positive attributes to one’s personality. However, Oedipus’ actions, based on these characteristics, are what led him to his eventual downfall and suffrage.
The tragic hero is a person of greatness, and noble stature who usually contributes to their own downfall. Oedipus has greatness and noble stature; he’s sublime, in the way that he cares for his people. What leads to his own downfall is his own pride, which came out when he solved the riddle of the Sphinx and was praised by marrying the queen of Thebes, making him feel untouchable, “Here I am myself- you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus. (7-9)” His almightiness caused him to feel obligation into saving his city, causing his rejection of reality, thus causing mistakes throughout the play. The prestige he has causes him to find the killer himself, because no other man other than himself can fix this problem causing a quarrel with Creon and Tiresias. Instead of helping, he ruins himself by cursing the killer, which is his own self saying,” I’ll rid us of this corruption. Whoever killed the king may decide to kill me too,” (157-158). Also he denies what Tiresias is telling him, which is the truth, but Oedipus insults him by calling his prophecies “riddles, murk and darkness. (500)” “Here I am myself- you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus. (7-9)” .By being in denial he ignores why he left Polybus and ignores Jocasta’s warning that “if you love your own life, call off this search!” (164), but with the greatness he has, he feels that no knowledge can be kept away from him. “Steals against me… so hungry to overthrone me. (439)” out this situation of against his own friend thinking that Creon was pl...
In Oedipus the King, Sophocles suggests that the impact of seeing the truth is harmful rather than enlightening. Whenever Oedipus strives to discover more to strengthen Thebes’ perspective of him, it leads him closer to his fate as determined by prophesy. Tiresias stands as a model in the play for the individual who is able to see the meaning beyond plot of events although his is blind, and Oedipus represents the oblivious arrogant individual who is never content because they need to be the unsurpassed individual. In the play, Sophocles illustrates the downside of a personality like Oedipus who desires to see the truth by ending the play with the brutality of gouging out his own eyes. Ultimately, the play reinforces that seeing the truth is harmful and being content with what you have, without greedily striving for more, can help avoid fate and a related deposition.
Oedipus' self-confidence blinds him to the point that evading fate predestined by the gods is impossible. His pride begins to catch up to him little do...
Although Oedipus has already fulfilled his destiny, his excessive pride pushes him to reveal the truth of the murder of King Laius. Had Oedipus not acted upon that pride, he would have never realized that he had achieved his dreadful prophecy. Oedipus ignores the dangerous warnings of his companions, and instead increases the urgency of the hunt for the murderer. “Listen to you? No more. I must know it all, / must see the truth at last” (1168-1169). Oedipus chooses to pursue the truth about King Laius’ murderer, not knowing he was the culprit. His own reckless pride makes Oedipus want to be the hero that would save Thebes from the deadly plague triggered by the murder of Laius. “I’ll start again- I’ll bring it all to light myself” (150)! Oedipus’ pride once again pushes him to find out the truth of the old kings murder. He wants to act as a God and protect his city. Oedipus’ free will causes him to be prideful, therefore hastening his downfall. “Now my curse on the murderer…” (280). When Oedipus curses the murderer, he unknowingly curses himself, too. Oedipus has multiple chances to turn away from his fate, but his excessive pride only leads him closer to it.
... self-awareness, ignorance, doubt, and awareness. The pain of loss and discovery that Oedipus must overcome eventually shape him into a more mature, humble, and humane character. This psychological journey from arrogant blindness to self-awareness and understanding models the journey each of us struggle with while trying to come to terms with the realities of our world an ourselves. Humans, of course, have not changed. When explaining the concept of Oedipal complexes, Sigmund Freud himself boldly stated, "The dream of having sexual intercourse with one's mother was as common then as it is today." And pride, just as much as delusions and desires, is a part of human nature we all must learn to manage so it does not blind us. Thus, the play Oedipus Rex still reveals some of the deepest psychological truths about human existence, over 2,000 years and civilizations later.