A Double-Lashing
Through hardships and unpleasant struggles a man is forged, hardened, and tempered. He only see this truth after he has suffered. Looking back, he realizes it was all a part of a design greater than himself to serve an end goal or purpose. In the tale of Oedipus the King, Sophocles explores the issues of man’s unescapable fate and the enlightenment brought upon by suffering. Unaware of his fate and deceived by the illusion of freewill, Oedipus’s journeys reveal his true purpose as an instrument of the Gods: a lash of punishment, not only to himself for those who surround him.
A great suffering has fallen upon Thebes. Oedipus seeks out the truth by sending for the Seer Tiresias, a blind man who sees more than those around
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Oedipus truth seeking has caused the death of the one he loves. He is now engulfed in the sorrowful truth he now sees clearly. Everything around him is a lie and a constant reminder of how he should have died on Mount Cithaeron as his parents intended, but the gods vengeance had not been sated. Oedipus maims himself as a way of punishment rather than commits suicide as he understands he is the reason for his mothers death and the suffering of the people of Thebes and doesn’t deserve a quick death. Sophocles uses the concept of blindness as a symbol necessary to have insight into the truth. Both Tiresias and the blind Oedipus are the only characters who see the truth clearly, as if sight is unnecessary for knowledge. Sophocles portrays Oedipus as being enlighten transforming his personality by making him appear more humble and …show more content…
Oedipus has no more freewill that that of a hammer that is held to drive in a nail. His purpose, his design is that of a cat of nine tails, to tear flesh, to incur suffering. Doomed by the gods from the very beginning and conceived by prophecy for the purpose of punishment for whom the gods have deemed worthy.
It would be unreasonable to say Oedipus had a hand in causing his own downfall. Since birth his destiny had been manipulated by the gods. Laius and Jocasta’s attempt to stop the prophecy only brought about its fruition. Oedipus displayed attributes that the greeks viewed as virtues. Like his iron resolve as he displayed when he sought to act in the best interest of his people by seeking out the cause of his their suffering or his previous intellectual victory by solving the riddle of the sphinx which only put him closer to Jocasta so that the prophecy would be fulfilled.
Oedipus’s own admirable traits only lead to the discovery of his fate to which he was a victim. Which shows that even without his temper, the characters fatal flaw, his most heroic deeds were never enough to redeem him or tear him from his fate. Concluding that Oedipus only had the illusion of choice and was never the master of his destiny only an instrument of
No one can be held fully responsible for actions committed under some kind of external constraint, and for the case of Oedipus, such constraint might be exerted by god. But it does not mean that Oedipus suffers not because of his guilt, but of his goodness, because Oedipus is responsible for those actions which are not performed under constraint. Oedipus has choices, but every time he chooses the wrong one even he knew that the one he chose will turn out to be bad. He still chooses this road to certain extend, is because of his arrogant pride. I think the events of the play are Oedipus fault. Oedipus makes important mistakes or errors in judgment that lead to this ending. His pride, blindness, and foolishness all play a part in the tragedy that befalls him.
Oedipus the King, a tale of one man’s hubris, paranoia, and willingness to sacrifice his own happiness for the happiness of others. Does one man’s fate designate who he will become? Is it possible to change the fate we are given? Or no matter how hard we try, deep down, it is our qualities that force us to make our fates a reality? In Sophocles’s play Oedipus the King we see a man who tried his hardest to change his own fate at all cost, but because of his human qualities he actually forced his fate upon himself.
The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that the events in Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, are the result of the hero’s self determination and restless attempt to escape a terrifying destiny predicted for him by the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. My intention is to prove that although the Fates play a crucial part in the story, it is Oedipus'choices and wrong doing that ultimately lead to his downfall.
He is blind from the truth even though he has physical insight. A fellow Theban, Tiresias knows the truth, but even when he told Oedipus that he was the murderer of his King Laius, he refused to believe it. Oedipus refuses to believe anything he was told because he believes that he ran away from his true fate. Without knowing anything about his real father or mother, he ends up fulfilling the prophecy. He kills his father, Laius and married his mother, Jocasta. Oedipus displays his arrogance many times throughout the story. In the beginning of the story, he says “Yes, I whom men call Oedipus the great” (Sophocles 23), showing a sign of his arrogance. Oedipus shows off his arrogance again by saying that everyone should know him because of the deed he has done (Sophocles 33). He saved them the Sphinx and gained an enormous amount of confidence because of it and also because he was rewarded the Queens hand in marriage. Oedipus once again shows his arrogance when he tells the people of the Thebes that he can find the murderer of Laius on his own without any help (Sophocles 28). The irony of Oedipus’s hubris is that he even determines what his downfall will look like: “That man, whoever that man be, I, this country’s reigning king, cut off from every fellowship of speech and contact, sacrifice and sacrament, even ritual touch of water, in this realm” (Sophocles 32). Oedipus’s downfall can only be blamed on him because of his
“…they will never see the crime I have committed or had done upon me!” These are the words Oedipus shouted as he blinds himself upon learning the truth of his past. It is ironic how a person blessed with perfect physical vision could in reality be blind to to matters of life and conscience. During his prime as King of Thebes, Oedipus is renowned for his lucidity and his ability to rule with a clear concept of justice and equality. The people loved him for his skill and wit, as he saved Thebes from the curse of the Sphinx. As a result, Oedipus became overly confident, and refuses to see that he may be the cause of the malady that is plaguing his kingdom. Although physically Oedipus has full use of his eyes, Sophocles uses sight to demonstrate how Oedipus is blind to the truth about his past what it might me for both him and his kingdom. Upon learning the truth, Oedipus gouges out his eyes, so he won’t have to look upon his children, or the misfortune that is his life. Once physically unable to see, Oedipus has clear vision as to his fate, and what must be done for his kingdom and his family
Many times people are blind to the truth that is right in front of them. The solution to their problems may have been blatantly obvious, however, they could not actually “see” their answer by their blindness to the truth. There have been instances where being blind is not actually a handicap, but more of a tool to see things to a deeper meaning. Although the blind may not have physical sight, they have another kind of vision. In Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, Tiresias, the blind prophet, addresses the truth of the prophecy to Oedipus and Jocasta. Oedipus has been blind to the truth of the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother his whole life. Once Oedipus discovers the truth, he loses his physical vision by blinding himself. Within these cases, the central theme of blindness can be expressed by Oedipus’s ignorance to see the higher vision- the truth
"How dreadful knowledge of truth can be when there is no help in truth! I knew this well but did not act on it; else I should not have come" (Line 101). Tiresias admits his grief to Oedipus and tells him that it is his job to tell the truth. Although Oedipus cannot see past reality, Tiresias, who is literally blind, sees the truth in Oedipus’s life. "But I say you, with both eyes, are blind: you cannot see the wretchedness of your life..." (196). As Oedipus argues with Tiresias, he says in return, “You blame my temper but you do not see your own that lives within you; it is me you chide” (369-72).
Sophocles introduces a prophet, a seer, Teiresias, into the play. Teiresias is a wise, old man who has supernatural powers to interpret the past and predict the future. Ironically, Teiresias is physically blind, but can “see” the truth about Oedipus. Oedipus has trouble imagining that his father life was taken at his hands. It signifies that Oedipus as a man is ignorant to the true appearance of things - this blind man can "see" the truth about Oedipus, yet Oedipus, in all of his physical perfection, cannot.
The play Oedipus Tyrannus, written by Sophocles, is a play filled with symbols and irony involving the aspect of both vision and blindness. This aspect of the novel takes on an important role in the life of Oedipus, the ruler of Thebes. He originally feels as though he knows and sees everything, nevertheless, as the motto of the Oracle at Delphi states, he does not "know thyself," as he will find out toward the end of the play. The notion of seeing and blindness becomes an important and ironic symbol in the tragic fall of Oedipus, a man who could not escape his lot or moira.
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.
As a tragedy Oedipus the King spends the majority of the play discovering who he is, without knowing exactly what is occurring. The tragedy was that he suffered the improbabilities of murdering his father and then marrying his mother, it is a tail of his revelations about his past, and the events that led him to his ultimate fall. In this play, Sophocles illustrated a world of human frailty, pride, and punishment, which helped to propel, with dreadful inevitability, a protagonist moving toward catastrophe. Oedipus is the direct cause of his own undoing, however it is not because he is evil, proud, or weak, but simply because he does not know his true past or who he is. The facts that he believes to be true are unraveled, thus revealing his fate. Oedipus meets the first criterion of a Greek tragedy, which is that the protagonist is a good person. Oedipus has both a good he...
In fact, Oedipus is doomed to kill his father, marry his mother and finally to be blind. It was his destiny or fate; he has nothing to do with this end or to prevent it. It was his fate which was manipulating him; drive him from Cornith to kill his father and then to Thebes to marry his mother. His destiny made him "his wife's son, his mother husband." By the hands of fate, he turned to be the most hated man in Thebes and "the man whose life is hell for others and for himself."
This research essay will be about the myth Oedipus the King. Even Oedipus can possibly change his fate, but he still leads himself to the destruction due to his arrogant and stubbornness. There are so many things Oedipus can possibly do differently to avoid fulfilling the prophecy of the oracle. The story of Oedipus can apply to our everyday lives in many ways. Life is a long chess game and our opponent is the ruthless fate. Some of us think twice, maybe even three times more before we make our moves. Some of us make the moves without taking a look.
The impetus for the downfall of Oedipus, "Known far and wide by name" (Sophocles, 1), is his anger. Enraged he slew King Laius and in anger he hastily pursued his own ruination. From the aforementioned recriminations of Tiresias to the conflict with his brother-in-law Creon (his ill temper again displayed - "Tempers such as yours most grievous to their own selves to bear,... .(Sophocles, 25); through the revealing exchanges with his wife/mother Jocasta and her slave (whose pity saved the infant Oedipus), damming insight grows in a logical sequence, all the while fueled by the Oedipal rage. Realizing the heinous nature of his actions, Oedipus blinds himself in a fit of anger and remorse - now, as Tiresias, he can see.
Oedipus is depicted as a “marionette in the hands of a daemonic power”(pg150), but like all tragic hero’s he fights and struggles against fate even when the odds are against him. His most tragic flaw is his morality, as he struggles between the good and the evil of his life. The good is that he was pitied by the Shepard who saved him from death as a baby. The evil is his fate, where he is to kill his father and marry his mother. His hubris or excessive pride and self-righteousness are the lead causes to his downfall. Oedipus is a tragic hero who suffers the consequences of his immoral actions, and must learn from these mistakes. This Aristotelian theory of tragedy exists today, as an example of what happens when men and women that fall from high positions politically and socially.