How Does Oedipus Show Internal Human Greatness

442 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: How oedipus is responsible for making a tragedy

Human greatness lies not in external traits that can quickly disappear, but it lies within us, in the characteristics that shape our personalities. Oedipus Rex is a tragedy written in 429 B.C.E by the Greek writer, Sophocles. The play tells the story of the tragic hero Oedipus, who is trying to escape his fate after he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother, but he soon realizes that he has come across his fate without knowing it. Throughout the play, the character Oedipus shows internal human greatness through his own suffering and his ability to accept truths and take responsibility for his actions. Oedipus demonstrates human greatness through his readiness to accept the truth about who his parents are even though discovering this can have a negative impact on his life. “No, that can never be. I have the clues here in my hand. I must find out my birth.” (1024), he insists on taking this chance to learn the truth. Oedipus is prepared to know and bear the reality of who his true birth parents are. He understands that knowing this can lead to suffering, but he is willing to endure it. Oedipus is determined and as depicted in his actions is willing to do what it takes to determine the identity of his …show more content…

“Send me away from Thebes to live/He means to cast himself from Thebes, to stay in this house no more...” (1471-1249), after Oedipus realizes it was his doings that brought a plague upon the city of Thebes, he wants to leave so the city can be free of the plague. Oedipus is taking responsibility for his actions that have brought pain to others. He still has the will to live even though he will suffer from the burden of knowing everything he has done and the pain he has caused. Oedipus knows what he has done has caused everybody misfortune and he is trying to do what’s right and fix that even though it will lead to his own

Show More
Related

  • The Selfishness of Oedipus in Oedipus the King

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Is Oedipus Admirable

    1001 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Shepherd: I am on the brink of dreadful speech/ Oedipus: And I of dreadful hearing yet I must hear” (Sophocles 63) With this Oedipus shows that he wants the truth to be reveled so that he can save the city and have the truth realized. It does not matter what the truth is only that he must know who he needs to kill or banish to save the people of Thebes. Oedipus also shows his care for the city of Thebes when he finally learns the truth about who his parents were and that he had in fact fulfilled the prophecy that he had so desired to not do. Oedipus chooses to still banish himself and stick to what he promised the city at the beginning of the play. “conceal me somewhere far from Thebes” (Sophocles 75) Oedipus does this to not only hid from the shame he receives from fulfilling the prophecy but to also end the plague and to save the people of Thebes. Finally Oedipus shows his quality of care for his children a trait that makes him more admirable in the play. This moment is shown after Oedipus finds out that he has fulfilled the prophecy and is the reason for the plague. Then he blinds himself and prepares to banish himself but before he is banished he asks for Creon and asks of a favour “Take care of them Creon do this for me” (Sophocles 77) Thus Oedipus shows his compassion for his children

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: The Hubris of Oedipus

    1682 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Oedipus the King" written by Sophocles, is a powerful Greek tragedy story. The protagonist, Oedipus is a heroic mythical king who had it all. Oedipus pursues to find the true answers to his identity and destiny, while at the same time trying to avoid fulfilling his destiny.

    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: A Painful Path to Wisdom

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the opening dialogue we sense the character of Oedipus. When confronted by his subjects praying for relief of the plague he reacts kingly and graciously, saying, “I am king, I had to come....How can I help?...Ask me anything. Anything at all.” He obviously cares for the people in his kingdom, but he goes on to say how he pities “these poor shattered people of [his].” The pity he feels is rooted not only in his love and sympathy, but his arrogance as well. Perhaps this attitude is duly deserved, for Oedipus had solved the Sphinx’s riddle, an apparently heroic feat, and was seen to be “greater than any man”, but the leader that he had become still possessed the hubristic tendencies which doomed him from the time he fled Corinth.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King

    635 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus Rex”, by Socrates, is a play that shows the fault of men and the ultimate power of the gods. Throughout the play, the main character, Oedipus, continually failed to recognize the fault in human condition, and these failures let to his ultimate demise. Oedipus failed to realize that he, himself was the true answer to the riddle of the Sphinx. Oedipus ignored the truth told to him by the oracles and the drunk at the party, also. These attempts to get around his fate which was determined by the gods was his biggest mistake. Oedipus was filled with hubris and this angered the gods. He believed he was more that a man. These beliefs cause him to ignore the limits he had in being a man. Oedipus needed to look at Teiresias as his window to his future.

    Read More

  • Destiny, Fate, and Free Will in Oedipus the King

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    First of all, Oedipus is determined to discover who he is, just like any person who is having problems. One explores the reason behind the problem to set their mind free and feel relief. They try to explore what is causing the problem and when it is discovered it is better left unknown. Oedipus can not accept things as they are and by investigating his past, he is his own worst enemy by destroying his relationships and himself. When he was a young man he heard that his parents were not his real paternal parents, from the oracle. He believed that his adopted parents were his real parents so he moved to Thebes so he would not fulfill what the oracle had predicted as his fate. Oedipus was a character that had a certain way of feeling sure about himself. Many people act this way, but this are the same kind of people that spend their time searching for the truth about themselves. I believe that his pride was his biggest character flaw and because of this, the conclusion of the play was tragic. He feels that he has to take responsibility for his actions even though he had no control over them and fate was to blame. Yet many aspects could have been avoiding with extensive research about his background from his adoptive parents, but because he avoided this, his circumstance determined his fate.

    Read More

  • Ambiguous Character In Oedipus The King

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus demonstrates that he is not a purely evil character by fleeing his home town for safety of others, taking care of his city and accepting responsibility for his actions. Once Oedipus has grown to be a young man he is told that he is to kill his father and sleep with his mother because it is his fate. As a result “I [Oedipus] herd and fled” to Thebes so he can prevent those actions from occurring (822). Oedipus runs away from his fate to help himself out as well as his family. He does not want to kill his father; therefore, he runs away from his fate for the safety of his father. This shows that he is not a purely evil character because he is saving a life and looking after others besides himself. However, running from what he believes is his fate causes him to run into his real fate which leads to his downfall as a leader. On the other hand, it causes Oedipus to take the position as king of Thebes. Being leader of the city, he is forced into

    Read More

  • Oedipus Is Not a Tragic Hero

    2026 Words  | 5 Pages

    With this in mind, many believe that King Oedipus in Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, is the perfect example of Aristotle’s tragic hero. Does he, however, truly fulfill all the “requirements” described in Poetics or is there something we miss in the depths of his fascinating and multi-faceted character that does not fit into Aristotle’s template? Without a doubt, Oe...

    Read More

  • Relevancy of Oedipus in Today's Society

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles around 430 BC, is one of, if not the most, important and influential tragedy ever written. It became the base for most of the tragedies written since. In spite of the fact that some of the story line may seem a little out of place now, parallels can be very easily drawn with the present time. Even though it was written over 2000 years ago, Oedipus the King is still fitting and applicable in today's society.

    Read More

  • Vision and Blindness In Oedipus Tyrannus by Sophocles

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    Initially, Oedipus is a confident leader who believes he is educated and knows the truth about himself and the land he presides over, Thebes. This is because he was proclaimed the most famous man alive as a result of his answering the Sphinx’s riddle to save Thebes from a tragic epidemic. However, at the beginning of the play there is another plague causing grief to the members of Thebes, and Oedipus goes so far as to say that he will stop at nothing to rid Thebes of this pollution. He states, "Each of you grieves for himself alone, while my heart must bear the strain of sorrow for all--myself and you and all our city’s people. No I am not blind to it," (p.4). Yet in essence he is blind to it because he is the indirect cause for the epidemic in Thebes. Oedipus finds out that the cause for the Epidemic is that nobody came forth as an avenger in the murder of King Laius. Oedipus then states, "I shall not cease until I bring the truth to light. Apollo has shown, and you have shown, the duty which we owe the dead," (p.5). This is ironic in that Oedipus vows to make the truth come to light so that everybody can see it, including himself. Moreover, th...

    Read More

  • Oedipus: Riddle of the Sphinx as a Metaphor of Life

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus Rex (the King), written by Sophocles, is the tragic play depicting the disastrous existence to which Oedipus, an Athenian, is 'fated' to endure. With a little help from the gods and the 'fated' actions and decisions of Oedipus, an almost unthinkable misfortune unfolds. Athenian perfection can consist of intelligence, self-confidence, and a strong will. Oedipus, the embodiment of such perfection, and his tragedy are common place to Athenians. Ironically, the very same exact characteristics that bring about the ominous discovery of Oedipus' fate: to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus' 'fated' decisions entangle everyone whom is of any significance to him within a quagmire of spiraling tragedy. Sophocles uses the riddle of the Sphinx as a metaphor for the three phases of Oedipus' entangled life, the three phases of human life, and to describe how every life-changing action or decision can influence other lives.

    Read More

  • Heroes are not Perfect

    614 Words  | 2 Pages

    The greatest heroes and leaders of all time deny their greatness. They remain selfless because true heroes do not title themselves as such. One who does except the title finds that arrogance sets him on a path to lose the respect of the people who gave him the title in the first place. In the tragedy Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus has to learn this the hard way. His central being is built on compassion and an overwhelming desire to help people. However, somewhere along the way Oedipus gets caught up in himself rather than being a selfless man who is invested only in the people of Thebes. Oedipus’ tragic downfall begins when his compassion and heroism allow him to become arrogant to a point of necessary punishment by the Gods themselves.

    Read More

  • Mythology in Oedipus Rex

    4088 Words  | 9 Pages

    This essay seeks to explore the life of the flawed mythological person, Oedipus, as protagonist of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex.

    Read More

  • Reader-Response Criticism In Oedipus Rex

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    As a reader that is using the Reader-Response Criticism, the production of different responses of the text of Oedipus Rex is always different for each reader. The reader needs to examine the words thoroughly in their mind to come to an arguable conclusion. Oedipus has no fault in the actions that he did because he did not know at the moment, but how he tried to resolve things was not the way to go. The feeling I felt while reading the play is pure shock and hatred because of his actions, but he wouldn’t have done those things if he had known the truth. Although Oedipus was trying with all his power to find the culprit of his father, but while doing so, he showed weakness by his attributes, that led to his destiny.

    Read More

More about How Does Oedipus Show Internal Human Greatness

Open Document