Oedipus kills his biological father thinking that he is just some hobo or a criminal. He was grown up with a another king Cornith and believed that was his father. Cornith never told Oedipus that he wasn't his biological son. So when he saw a random person on the street, he didn't know that was he actual father and killed him. The crossroads at Delphi and Daulia is the place where Oedipus unknowingly kills his father, Laios. The crossroads is where Oedipus's 'curse' starts. The cross roads is where the prophecy starts to take shape and become a real situation. Oedipus is the king of Thebes. He believed that Corinth and Merope were his mother and father by birth. Oedipus didn't know that he was adopted. He believed that such a thing couldn't happen. Oedipus is friends with Creon, someone who is more level-headed. He seems smarter than Oedipus at face value becuase he speaks in a more calm manner. Creon is widely trusted by people rather than Oedipus who speaks with rage and violence at times. …show more content…
This is one of the elements of Oedipus Rex that makes it a Greek Tragedy. The Cross Roads is also an element of a Greek Tragedy that shows this. Oedipus at first doesn't believe that he killed his father, believing that he killed some hobo. He trash-talks Creon, and believes that he wants to kill him for the reason of vengeance and glory. Both Creon and Oedipus fight, at first about who was right about the prophecy. This shows that Oedipus moves towards rage rather level-headedness. Words that are unfamiliar to me are Pythian, and Polybos. Pythian is something to descibe a place. Polybos is also used to describe a
Oedipus Rex is a Greek play written by Sophocles. The play is set in Thebes; Thebes is infected with a plague that is killing its crops and unborn children. This plague is caused by the prophecy. The prophecy states that Oedipus would kill his father and wed his mother. Laius threw out Oedipus when he was a baby to avoid this fate, but he failed because Oedipus was not killed. Oedipus was raised as a prince in Corinth. One day he was told the prophecy and feared that he would kill his father Polybus. While running away from Corinth to escape the prophecy, Oedipus killed Laius. When Oedipus arrived in Thebes, he freed the people from the sphinx. He was named king and married Jocasta. Towards the end of the play, Oedipus finds out that he had fulfilled the prophecy and is exiled from Thebes.
The selfishness that Oedipus possesses causes him to have abundance of ignorance. This combination is what leads to his father’s death. After fleeing Corinth and his foster family, Oedipus gets into a skirmish with an older man. The reason for the fight was because, “The groom leading the horses forced me off the road at his lord’s command” (1336). Oedipus is filled with a rage after being insulted by the lord and feels the need to act. The two men fight, but Oedipus ends up being too much for the older man, and he kills him. What Oedipus is unaware of is that the man was actually his birth father and by killing him, Oedipus has started on the path of his own destruction. Not only does Oedipus kill his father, but also everyone else, “I killed them all” (1336). The other men had no part in the scuffle, but in his rage, he did not care who he was killing.
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. It is clear to see that Oedipus is an impulsive and passionate man, which causes Oedipus to fulfill the prophecy that haunts him. He flees the kingdom of Corinthian in order to avoid his fate. Along his journey he comes to a crossroad that is blocked by a chariot, and “in a fit of anger” Oedipus kills the father he never knew (Meyer 1422).
The first of Oedipus’ fatal traits is naiveté, a flaw which causes him to unknowingly weave his own inescapable web of complications. While searching for the murderer of Laius, Creon recommends that Oedipus ask the blind prophet, Teiresias, for his thoughts. Teiresias and Oedipus begin an argument after the prophet accuses Oedipus as the murderer, and Oedipus retaliates by calling the blind man a fool. Teiresias responds with “A fool? Your parents thought me sane enough.” To which Oedipus then replies “My parents again!- Wait: who were my parents” (Sophocles, Oedipus Rex. 1.1. 423-424)? Oedipus’ naiveté regarding his parents plays a big part in his downfall because he does not know that Laius and Jocasta were his real parents. If he knows this at the time, then Oedipus could realize Teiresias is correct, and that he truly is the murderer. Another proof of Oedipus’ naiveté occurred in the second scene of part one when Oedipus returns after his talk with Teiresias and believes Creon is an enemy. He speaks towards Creon saying “You speak well: there is one fact; but I find it hard/ To learn from the deadliest enemy I have” (Sophocles, Oedipus Rex. 1.2. 5...
Prior to the birth of Oedipus, a prophecy was spoken over Laius and his wife Jocasta. They were told that their son would one day be his father’s killer and would then marry his mother. In fear, King Laius and Queen Jocasta sent the baby Oedipus off with a slave to be killed. He was never killed, but rather was given to a childless king and queen which lovingly raised him. Oedipus was never factually told about his lineage. Later in his life, Oedipus was confronted by several unknown men while traveling. Upon confrontation, Oedipus killed all but one of the men in self defense. Unknowingly, Oedipus had begun to fulfill the prophecy for one of the men had been his birth father, Laius.
For the majority of the play, right up until the very end, Oedipus sees Creon as an enemy. He thinks that Creon, in league with Tiresias, is Laius's murderer and is conspiring to overthrow the king and take the throne for himself, "You the murderer so self-proved, the self-condemned filcher of my thrown..."(29). However, when the truth comes out that Oedipus has married his mother and killed his father, all is forgiven between the king and Creon. Oedipus makes this beautifully clear when he says "God bless you, Creon, bless your path through life, encompass you with surer joys than mine"(78). Having a good and unmarred reputation is a form of power in that people will respect the person, as well as listen to what he or she has to say. If the truth had never come out and Oedipus had never made peace with Creon, Creon's reputation would have been that of a traitor and a murderer. No one would have respected him and he would not have had any practical strength.
In the story Oedipus Rex Part 1, in lines 770-772, Oedipus says “Swinging my club in this right hand I knocked him Out of his car, and he rolled on the ground. I killed him. I killed them all.” This quote shows us how Oedipus killed his father and the people around him, not knowing it was his father or the king, but still killing him for no good reason out of anger. Therefore, his tragic flaw, anger, caused his downfall because it leads him to kill a man.
In “Oedipus the King”, Oedipus is a brash and arrogant ruler while Creon is his patient, thoughtful right hand man. After Oedipus and his sons all die and Creon becomes king of Thebes, he begins to grow wilder and even more out of control than Oedipus was. In “Oedipus the King” Oedipus accused Creon of bribing Tiresias, the blind prophet, to make a prediction that will doom Oedipus. He accuses Creon of “plotting to kill the king” (189). He does this without any concrete evidence or proof. Oedipus rationalizes that because Creon induced him to “send for that sanctimonious prophet [Tiresias]” (190), he is responsible for the prophecy. Oedipus assumes that “if the two of you [Creon and Tiresias] had never put heads together, we would never have heard” (192) the prophecy. Creon even calls Oedipus a man is full of “crude, mindless stubbornness” (190). Oedipus lashed out at Creon for “betraying a kinsman” (192). He did so without any evidence or proof. He just did accused Creon without thinking about the consequences. Although Creon stands against rashness and unthinking now, he soon becomes another Oedipus. ...
The first piece of evidence is that Oedipus was never told he was adopted by his parents. He learned this by a old man. The old man told him that he was adopted (bastard), however Oedipus denied the sort of accusation and then questioned his adopted parents. They also denied it. ”There was a dinner and at it a man, a drunken man, accused me in his drink of being bastard.
Oedipus is the main character in the play Oedipus the King. Oedipus is thought of as a tragic figure because he was doomed from birth. Tiresias, an old blind prophet, told Oedipus' parents about Oedipus' fate. He told them that Oedipus would kill his father and sleep with his mother. So, his parents decided to have him killed, only it did not happen that way. He was passed off by two shepherds and finally to the King and Queen of Corinth, Polybus and Merope to raise him as their own. Oedipus finds his way back to Thebes and on the way kills his father, but Oedipus did not know that one of the men he killed was his real father. This is the beginning of the prophecy coming true. In short Oedipus obtains the throne, Marries his mother and has kids with her. Oedipus' fate has come together without him even realizing what is going on. Eventually he is told what has happened and asks to be banished by his uncle/brother-in-law Creon. The tragedy in Oedipus' life began with his birth and the realization by his parents that his whole life was doomed.
Oedipus consciously feels threatened by both Tiresias and Creon; they both are highly respected and in addition possess qualities that Oedipus does not, qualities that frustrate the unprivileged king: The way Oedipus speaks to Tiresias and Creon suggests another source of his tendency to regard them as fathers and then feel envious and hostile toward them. Both men have personal qualities which are not native to Oedipus and which he cannot assume for long. (Lesser 148) Many of Oedip... ... middle of paper ... ...ered the man whose murderer you require."
When Oedipus was born he was taken to an Oracle, this was custom for the rich. The Oracle was to tell his fate. The Oracle said that when Oedipus grows up he will marry his mother and he would also kill his father, "... Why, Loxias declared that I should one day marry my own mother, And with my own hands shed my father's bool. Wherefore Corinth I have kept away far, for long years; and prosperd; none the less it is most sweet to see one's parents' face..."(p36 ln1-6). When his parents herd this they gave Oedipus to a man and he was to get rid of the baby by leaving it in the forest, but an servant of Polybus, the king of Corinth, finds the baby and brings him to the king. The king falls in love with the baby and takes him in as one of his own.
When Creon, brother in law of Oedipus accuses him of being a murder, Oedipus was really mad. He accuses Creon of betrayal and hypocrisy. In another speech, Oedipus accuses Creon for pointing him as guilty for the murder of Laius. We can see that when Oedipus says:
Oedipus is stubborn thought he was going to be betrayed by Creon. Oedipus confronted Creon that he was going to banish him, which Creon responded “It is not right to adjudge bad men good at random, or good men bad” it is not right to assume that a bad men is good and that good men bad at any time he/she encounters him/her (Sophocles 142). Creon explains that you must get to know someone before you can tell what they are. As time goes on, you can tell what they are and not on rash judgement.Their character is not completely shown until after a while. Creon was not the only person Oedipus judged, Oedipus also judges Tiresias. Tiresias, being blind and a godly figure, was summoned to Thebes and was there to expose the murder of Laius. He confesses to Oedipus that he was the killer and that he was the one that murder Laius. Oedipus does not handle the situation and tells Tiresias that “there is not strength, since you are maimed in ear and in wit and in eyes” that Tiresias is weak because he is injured in the ear and has no eyesight (Sophocles 136). Oedipus attacks the man verbally for his disabilities instead of getting to know more about the truth. Judging Tiresias cause him many tenses hardships. His judgement resulted in him being blind at the end. Oedipus finds out the truth and was aware that Tiresias was right. Oedipus judge Creon and Tiresias before getting to know them and this resulted in his
But now, the king was killed by a foreign highway robber at the place where three roads meet-so goes the story” (1.1.791-796). The man he killed on that street was actually his dad. What Oedipus did not know, was that the people he thought his parents and ran away from, were just his adoptive parents. So if he had not been so set on changing his fate, then that awful fate the oracle predicted, might not have come true as he imagined.... ...