Diction In Oedipus The King

Sophocles wrote Oedipus the king showing how the characters and the theme develop throughout the play. He also created suspense and used different types of diction for this play. Sophocles wrote his play using all the aspects for it to be considered a tragedy. This play has inspired many works of art and has also revealed a lot about the Greeks’ ancient culture.

Jocasta has developed from the beginning to the end of the play. She changes from peaceful to suspicious to then desperate. She starts out as peaceful and wise because she is trying to keep the peace between Creon and Oedipus. She then changes to being suspicious because she is starting to be more quiet and reserved when she finds out that the prophecy has come true.

When she realizes that Oedipus will not stop trying to figure out who his parents are she becomes desperate and begs Oedipus to stop.
Sooner or later the truth will come out is the universal theme. This is the theme because Jocasta and the shepherd tries to hide the hideous truth from Oedipus,but the truth that the prophecy was fulfilled had been revealed. The theme has developed dramatically leading up to the end. Because Jocasta, the shepherd, Teiresas, and the audience knows the truth but Oedipus does not. But Oedipus eventually figures out the truth when the shepherd tells him that Jocasta and Laius wanted him to kill Oedipus.
Sophocles uses 3 diction choices in his play: Nautical motif, Agriculture motif, and The willingness to ignore the truth.

He uses nautical motif when the characters say something related to a ship or a voyage. “I fear a disastrous storm.” Sophocles then uses and Agricultural motif when he has Oedipus say “I wish to know the seed from where i came.” He then uses their willingness to ignore the truth as a motif because when the answer to this riddle of who killed Laius is in their face they ignore it. When Jocasta tells Oedipus about the prophecy that was given to her about a son of hers Oedipus tells her he has the same prophecy about

himself.
Sophocles structures the text to create suspense by having Jocasta rush into the palace when she figures out the truth and saying to Oedipus “And now i’ll never speak again.” This quote causes suspense because the audience is all wondering what does she mean by that, or what will she do?
This play has all 5 characteristics for it to be a tragedy.

The play has a tragic hero Oedipus, who saved the city Thebes from the Sphinx. Oedipus had a high birth position, being born from King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. Like all tragedies our tragic hero has a flaw. Oedipus flaw is his anger and his need to always use violence as a threat. Oedipus had a fall, by deciding to kill Laius, and by not listening to Jocasta when she told him to stop looking for his parents. And finally the last characteristic to have a tragedy acceptance. In the end Oedipus accepts his fate of being exiled outside of Thebes to save the

city.
This play reveals three aspects about this ancient culture. That the greeks did not take responsibility for their actions they blamed everything on the gods, in the play Oedipus blamed Apollo for cursing him but did not realise that he made the decision to kill Laius. They were very advanced in literacy. Sophocles uses different motifs this shows how well advanced they were in writing. And valued the words of the gods. This is shown in this play by Oedipus taking Apollos’ warning to heart which started the whole investigation for who killed Laius.
Oedipus and the Sphinx is one of the many arts inspired by this tragedy play. From just looking at the work of art a piece of the story is revealed. The artwork shows Oedipus looking at the Sphinx. From the artwork the audience could infer that Oedipus encounters the mythical beast. In the text the audience knows that Oedipus had freed the city of thebes from the Sphinx.