Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

1018 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Thought in Oedipus rex sophocles

Ancient Athens of the fifth century B.C saw evolutionary developments in philosophy, science and the dramatic arts of which provided citizens a very different perspective of life as it was. It was a patriarchal society which has been ruled by an Aristocratic system for hundreds of years that centred their ideals and beliefs not on individualism, but utterly the power of the gods. However in the Golden Age society’s devotion towards piety began to crumble as humanity started to examine the power of man’s achievements. This unorthodox movement was led by the Sophists .It was thus, the role of dominant Greek powers to re-establish the traditional pious values of society. As a conservative with high status, Sophocles wrote with the intention to reinforce these dominant conservative values, his renowned play Oedipus Rex (c. 429BC). The ancient play tells the story of a man whose destiny was scarred by an impious act committed by his parents. In the attempt to escape his cursed fate he inevitably fulfils it. Sophocles has intentionally manipulated features of tragedy in this story to address the questionable nature of society at the time by ultimately emphasising the horrendous consequences seen through Oedipus. These tragic events in the play will help answer the prominent philosophical questions of fate and free will, reaffirm the power of the gods and functions of conservative Athenian society.
Fate and free will became elusive concepts in the Golden Age which conservative society would have understood lucidly, which was everything was predestined by the gods. However this sophistic movement presented ideas which challenged this pious belief. Sophocles has ingeniously countered this sophistic idea of fate in this play by narrowi...

... middle of paper ...

...u saw her cross the threshold// In desperate passion… fastening her fingers in her hair.” Women were seen as emotionally weak and irrational individuals. On the other end of the spectrum Oedipus, resonating the qualities of a man, decided to accept his tragic state over the choice of death, making him heroic and admirable. The daughters of Oedipus were also highly disempowered, in that they were portrayed as incompetent and delicate beings who are unable to deal with their handed fate “I think of your sorrowful life in the days to come…”.
While Oedipus represented many sophistic ideals through free will and individualism, Sophocles has reinforced through features of tragedy that it was ultimately the power of the gods and his cursed fate, the conservative philosophy and belief that overruled all the sophistic qualities which audiences may have admired in Oedipus.

Show More
Related

  • Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles and Darker Face of the Earth, by Rita Dove

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout literature authors have written to express a message to their intended audience. This is no exception for the plays, Oedipus Rex and Darker Face of the Earth, written by Sophocles and Rita Dove, respectively. The similarities in plot, characters, and motifs are not the sole concurrencies between both plays; the overall message to the audiences in both plays is one in the same, one cannot escape their fate. Sophocles and Dove both illuminate this message through their use of the chorus. While Sophocles uses a single chorus of Theban elders, Dove illustrates the grimness of fate through several minor characters: the chorus, the prayers and the players, the rebels, and three female slaves. Dove’s usage of Phebe, Diana, and Psyche further accentuate the battle between free will and fate, as well as the role of women, a concept absent in Sophocles’ play.

    Read More

  • Sophocles' Oedipus

    509 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Sophocles’ Oedipus The King, King Oedipus of Thebes is confronted. and strangely obsessed with the mystery of who killed Laios. former king of Thebes, for a great plague has overtaken the city of. Thebes because of this murder. During his quest for the truth, he begins to discover that the answer to his query is also the answer to another disturbing mystery about himself, who am I?

    Read More

  • Antigone, by Sophocles

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a democracy, people choose representatives to lead and govern them. However, these representatives might take unpopular steps. In such instances the people may show their disapproval of a policy and vent their grievances through acts of civil disobedience. Henry Thoreau said, “It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.” It is both the right and responsibility of a person to fight an unjust law, and civil disobedience allows one to convey his thoughts and ideas in a passive, nonviolent way. In Sophocles’ Antigone, written in 442 B.C., we find one of the earliest examples of civil disobedience. The play emphasizes the right of the individual to reject his government’s infringement on his freedom to perform a personal obligation and highlights the struggle that one faces in doing so. More importantly, it shows how such actions help further the cause of democracy. It strengthens the belief that each individual’s opinion is important in a democracy and makes a difference. Eventually, we see Creon realize his mistake – his stubbornness – which teaches him that he should have room for more than one opinion. Also, women at that time were not considered equal citizens, but Antigone’s actions left people to rethink the extent of the equality in Athenian democracy.

    Read More

  • Destiny, Fate, Free Will and Free Choice in Oedipus the King - Victim of Fate

    3438 Words  | 7 Pages

    The question has been raised as to whether Oedipus was a victim of fate or of his own actions.  This essay will show that Oedipus was a victim of fate, but he was no puppet because he freely and actively sought his doom, although he was warned many times of the inevitable repercussions of his actions.

    Read More

  • Free Destiny vs. Controlled Fate in Antigone

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fate is an old debated concept. Do one's actions truly play a role in determining one's life? Is fate freedom to some or is it binding to others, in that no individual can make completely individual decisions, and therefore, no one is truly free. Nowadays, fate is a subject often rejected in society, as it is seen as too big, too idealistic, and too hard to wrap a persons head around. However, at the time of Antigone, the concept was a terrifying reality for most people. Fate is the will of the gods, and as is apparent in Antigone, the gods' will is not to be questioned. Much of Sophocles' work focuses on the struggle between human law and what is believed to be the god’s law. Fate was an unstoppable force and it was assumed that any efforts to change one's future were unrealistic. In Sophocles' Antigone, fate plays a crucial role the choices that the characters make.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: Unrealistic or Realistic

    2005 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.” In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: The Tragic Flaws Of Oedipus

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King by Sophocles

    524 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Comparing Oedipus and Job

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    An interesting and important aspect of this Greek notion of fate is the utter helplessness of the human players. No matter the choice made by the people involved in this tragedy, the gods have determined it and it is going to come to pass. T...

    Read More

  • Significance of the Women in Oedipus Rex

    2627 Words  | 6 Pages

    Michael J. O’Brien in the Introduction to Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, maintains that there is “a good deal of evidence to support this view” that the fifth century playwright was the “educator of his people” and a “teacher”. Sophocles in his tragedy, Oedipus Rex, teaches about “morally desirable attitudes and behavior,” (4) and uses three women to help convey these principles of living. This essay will explore the role of women in the drama, the attitude toward women therein, the involvement of women in plot development, and other aspects of women in Oedipus Rex.

    Read More

  • Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles

    444 Words  | 1 Pages

    In “Oedipus the King,” an infant’s fate is determined that he will kill his father and marry his mother. To prevent this heartache his parents order a servant to kill the infant. The servant takes pity on the infant and gives him to a fellow shepherd, and the shepherd gives him to a king and queen to raise as their own. The young prince learns of the prophecy and flees from his interim parents because he is afraid that he is going to succeed. The young prince eventually accomplishes his prophecy without even knowing he is doing it. He murders his father and marries his mother unknowingly. While it may seem to some that Oedipus was destined to carry out his fate, it is also true that Oedipus’ personality led him to his fate.

    Read More

  • Antigone, by Sophocles

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the play Antigone, by Sophocles, it is greatly apparent just within the first few exchanges between Ismene and Antigone that there are various social issues surrounding the women in ancient Greece. The play raises many gender and socially related issues especially when looking at the contextual background of the playwright and the representation of the women within the play. When the characters of the first scene begin their analog, it is important to note what they are actually saying about each other and what their knowledge of their own social status is. The audience is first introduced to Antigone who we later learn is the antagonist of the play as she rebels against the protagonist, Creon. Her sister, Ismene, is the second character the audience is introduced to, hears of Antigone's plan to bury their brother's body in the first scene. Ismene’s actions and words give the reader the hint that her sister’s behavior is not usual, "so fiery" and "so desperate" are the words used to describe Antigone's frame of mind. At this very early point in the play the reader discovers that Antigone is determined to carry out her mission to bury her beloved brother. However, she is in no position that gives her the rights as a woman, sister, or even future queen to make her own decisions and rebel. Instead, her decision to bury her brother demonstrates her loyalty to her family, the gods, and to all women. Her motivation for those decisions will end up driving her far more than that of what the laws set by Creon have implemented. She shows no fear over disobeying the king and later says about the punishment of death "I will lie with the one I love and loved by him"(Sophocles, 2). Throughout the play the reader can see the viewpoint of an obedient woman, a rebellious woman, and the social norms required for both of them.

    Read More

  • Antigone, by Sophocles

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, the main character uses rhetoric to effectively persuade her audiences to sympathize with her. In the play, Antigone’s brother, Polyneices, dies a traitor to the Theban people. The king, Creon, decrees that no one is to bury the traitor despite the necessity of burial for proper passing into the afterlife. Believing that Creon’s decree is unjust, Antigone buries her brother. When she is brought to the king, Antigone uses this speech in defense of her actions. In the speech, she uses allusion, diction, and particular sentence structure to increase the effectiveness of her argument.

    Read More

  • Destiny, Free Will and Choice - The Power of Fate in Oedipus the King

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Yaeger, Werner. "Sophocles' Master of Fate." In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Oedipus of Sophocles and Senaca

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    The myth of Oedipus is one of a man brought down by forces aligning against him. Over the years, different playwrights have interpreted his character in various fashions. In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus is a man who is blind to the path on which his questions take him and exemplifies the typical tyrannical leader in ancient times; in Senaca’s Oedipus, it is the fear of his questions that give Oedipus a greater depth of character, a depth he must overcome if he is to survive his ordeal.

    Read More

More about Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

Open Document