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The problem of punishment
Explain the purpose of punishment
The purpose of punishment
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A crime is an action or offense that will be considered wrong, and will be earned negative effects like punishments.If an individual is convicted of a crime, then that individual deserves the punishment.This is displayed through Anaphora, and strongly highlighted the negative actions that Oedipus performed, written by the Sophocles.
An individual's severity of a punishment exhibits the intensity of that particular crime, and this is presented when Oedipus claims ¨O woe is me! Mehtinks unwittingly I laid but now a dread curse on myself.¨(Sophocles 20) This quote exhibits that when Jocasta explains the death of the King Laius to Oedipus, he is slowly realizing that he is the sole reason for the prophecy to come true. It is also displayed that Oedipus's character is a very judgemental character, and in the beginning when the oracle told him and hinted him with
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He acknowledging is not the only reason that he deserves the punishment he deserved, but also he blaming the crime on people like creon, who has been with him for years, and this revealed when Oedipus states ¨I will, for thou art more to me than these. Lady, the cause is Creon and his plots.¨(Sophocles 18) This describes that initially when this problem began, Oedipus did not want to blame him, but he blamed creon and wanted him put to death. Another major reason he deserves the punishment is because he killed his father and his attendants and this uncovered when Jocasta affirms ¨He clasped my hand and supplicated me to send
Bernard Knox says “these attributes of divinity – knowledge, certainty, justice – are all qualities Oedipus thought he possessed – and that is why he was the perfect example of the inadequacy of human knowledge, certainty, and justice”. Oedipus thinks that he knows everything that he needs to know, but he does not and that causes his downfall and leads him away from the truth. In the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles Oedipus thinks that he knows what the best is for him and does not let anybody else persuade him from his point which is the cause of his downfall.
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.
If Oedipus had not been so determined to escape and prevent the prophecy, he would not have fulfilled it. Possibly, he was doomed to fulfill the prophecy because he believed he could avoid it. Nevertheless, his fate was sealed by his actions of pride and determination. His pride of conquering the Sphinx led him to the marriage of Jocasta, his mother. When avenging Jocasta’s previous husband, and his true father, King Laius’ death, he was blinded by his pride to the concept that perhaps he was the murderer. Not knowing the truth, he cursed himself to an “evil death-in-life of misery”. Of course at that time, Oedipus failed to realize his connections to Jocasta and Laius, but recognition of the truth would bring him to his eventual suffrage.
Oedipus, ruler of Thebes, murdered his father and married his mother. Such acts are almost always deemed unnatural and criminal; they are not tolerated within traditional society. A person who has committed these acts of murder and incest would be considered an outcast, yet Sophocles’s character, Oedipus, is not guilty of either.
Justice in Oedipus the King & nbsp; After reading Oedipus the King, one may think that in this story, there was no justice, and nobody could avoid their fate. King Laius and Queen Jocasta. fearing the prophecy of the Delphic oracle, had the young Oedipus left on Mount. Cithaeron dies, but the father dies and the son marries the mother anyway. Oedipus, seemingly a good person, also tries to avoid the second prophecy, only to be resurrected. to fulfill the first. But even through all this, I have done some research and feel that there was justice in Oedipus, The King, and their fate wasn't.
In Sophicle's Oedipus The King, Oedipus plays the lead character in the play. Oedipus plays blindfolded throughout the play. His character that he betrays is typical of those who honestly believe they have no part in the situation that occurs. I agree with Bernard Knox that Oedipus is responsible for the tragic outcome of the play. Oedipus's investigation of the death of King Laius is the reason for the tragic ending.
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 is guilty because, despite knowing the prophecy that he will commit parricide and incest, he yet kills an elderly gentleman and sleeps with an elderly women. The choice was his, and this accounts for his guilt.
Oedipus was a victime of fate, his futur was foretold by an Oracle, he had no way of knowing that his wife was his mother nor that the stranger he killed was his father. Oedipus could not prevent his own downfall. Oedipus was the king of Thebes, he became king when he cured the city of a deadly plague. He cured the plague by solving the riddle of the mythical creature, the Sphinkx. Now the city is suffering from another plague and as king Oedipus must solve the riddle of this one.
Oedipus did kill a man, and although he was not aware of his identity at the time, it could still be argued that he is not innocent because he was aware that a prophecy existed and he should not have killed anyone. In the context of an Ancient Greek audience, his act was justifiable, however reading this play in a modern context one must consider the culture of violence in Ancient Greece that could condone such an act. Oedipus’s act in the beginning of the play of cursing whoever Laius’s murderer was to “wear out his life/in misery to miserable doom!” (248-249) by cursing Laius’s murderer, he did curse himself and one could argue that by making this curse, he did somewhat bring upon himself all the tragedy at the end of the play. Jocasta is also not entirely innocent in that she did try to kill her child, which would have cleared her of any guilt in regards to the prophecy but for human morality raises more questions, and in trying to kill her child to prevent the prophecy she would defy the gods, which does not have positive
in my mind, is not valid simply because of what it might do to the
In the play Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus the tragic downfall of Oedipus the King brings forth the question was this outcome determined by his predestined fate or his own actions, and if he can be held accountable for his crime. The argument of Oedipus guilt or innocence dates back for centuries, yet there still is not a clear explanation to which side is accurate. King Laius of Thebes Oedipus’ biological father learned from the oracle that if he wed with Jocasta, he would perish at the hands of his son. To avoid the tragic fate Jocasta and Laius abandoned their infant son to the elements as an attempt to kill him. Subsequently, Oedipus is found and raised by King Polybius of Corinth as his own. Only to later return to Thebes in a desperate
(Oedipus the King, lines 1469-1471). He is distraught over his actions and is unable to see how fate also played a role in his behavior and acts rashly by taking control of his punishment. This transition is further supported by Oedipus’s continued admission of guilt such as when he declares, “now I’ve exposed my guild, horrendous guilt” (Oedipus the King, 1516). In Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus proclaims he is innocent for his behavior in the prophecy because he has accepted who he is and responsibility. By extension, Oedipus accepts himself as a fated man who acted as such, and so is innocent.
Oedipus’ epiphany is truthful in his current state, but his decision in failing to recognize his sin before his realization ultimately makes his epiphany invalid, and its sole purpose is to only assist him in receiving sympathy from the citizens of Thebes. Sophocles uses the phrase “this evil is mine” to suggest how Oedipus has matured through the course of his life, taking responsibility for his own sinful actions and behaviors. Certainly, Oedipus is filled with regret, and Sophocles even uses repetition on the word “guilt” to symbolize how this emotion has devoured his entire life into despair, where “sorrow” and “guilt” intertwine by force. Truly, as Sophocles comments, the ramification of making a sinful decision prompts an act of retribution from the gods in deciding the miserable fate of an individual through his rebellion towards evil against the supernatural. Thus, in the tale of Oedipus and his jinxed fate, Sophocles expresses Oedipus’ prideful attitude that is rooted towards hubris and the overconfidence it buys to illustrate the vicious cycle of the sinful decisions we make and the sudden awareness of how our own tragic flaw would lead us into impending trouble and overwhelming
Oedipus choses to seek the truth about the murderer of Laius, honourably indeed to save the people of Thebes, but through this choice he in a sense administers his own lethal injection. Oedipus is warned about the consequences of his actions by Teresias when he prophesises the outcome of the search for truth. Due to Oedipus' ego which is built up by the pedestal that the people of Thebes have put him on, he does not accept the help of Teresias and continues to search. His opinion of himself being above the Gods leads him to then again shun the help of Jocasta who once again warns him of the consequences of the search for truth. Oedipus' persistence lands him our criticism, at this point we cannot criticise Jocasta as she tries to help him, and warn him about what will happen is he persists.