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Analysis of king oedipus by sophocles
In the novel oedipus attempt analysis of sophocles as a tragic-drama
Make a comparative analysis of the characters of king oedipus in sophocles play
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Sophocles’ Philoctetes dramatizes strength versus wits with Odysseus and Neoptolemus. Odysseus is the antagonist in the novel and he serves as a mentor in the beginning of the story but shows to be manipulative and persuasive. He begins to convince Neoptolemus to lie and deceive to achieve victory over Philoctetes. He uses his “wits” to get what he wants. Neoptolemus is one of the central protagonists in the play with evolving morals. He makes important decisions using logic throughout the play. He is the son of Achilles and it is his obligation to be noble even though him being young makes him a little impressionable and falling to Odysseus. Though he is not as smart as Odysseus he is strong.
Odysseus convinced Neoptolemus that it is his
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duty to deceive Philoctetes; he tells the outcast that he has deserted the Greek army because his father’s armor had been denied him. He promises to take Philoctetes back to Greece with him and watches as Philoctetes struggles against an excruciating wave of pain brought on by his disease. When Neoptolemus at last acquires possession of the great bow, Philoctetes is made helpless. Later, in spite of Odysseus’ strong protests, his sense of decency and honor and the instinctive sympathy he has felt for the sufferer cause him to return the weapon. He finally agrees truly to take Philoctetes home but is relieved of this obligation when the bowman resolves to go to Troy. Odysseus is seen the crafty Greek leader who puts wit over honor. His purpose is to get Philoctetes to accompany him to Troy; his means are deceit and violence. He temporarily convinces Neoptolemus that a reputation for wisdom and goodness can be achieved through sacrifice of personal success for the benefit of the end cause. After his experience with Philoctetes, the young man holds both Odysseus and his advice in contempt. Odysseus is not totally without dignity, and he reveals a sense of responsibility to the Greek army and its generals. Odysseus proposes that they trick Philoctetes into returning with his arrows to Troy to ensure that they will win the Trojan War. The two men express their distinct views on the principle of moral integrity: Odysseus: ‘I know, my boy, I know that this sort of thing is not in your character. You don’t like uttering such lying language nor do you like plotting against people but you must also know what a delight it is to gain a victory after a struggle.’ Neoptolemos: ‘Distressing words make for distressing deeds, Odysseus, son of Laertius and it is not in my nature, nor was it in my father’s nature to do treacherous things.’ (Sophocles, Philoctetes 79-94).
Odysseus appears incapable of compassion or concern for others, as he continues scheming and doing harm to others with an idea of achieving success. This clearly shows that Odysseus is to use wits over strength to his best ability. Neoptolemus’ response highlights his morals and his urge to remain honest while also helping Odysseus and sticking to his word.
Sophocles’ Philoctetes dramatizes strength versus wits with Odysseus and Neoptolemus. As the play progresses, he continues to corrupt Neoptolemus into abandoning his moral principles through manipulative actions and proves his ability to out wit Neoptolemus. Odysseus is lying when he tells Neoptolemus that only Philoctetes’ bow is needed for the Greeks to have victory. When, the prophet Helenus specifically stated that both Philoctetes and his weapon needed to be transported to Troy. Philoctetes needs to rise above the limitations and challenges imposed upon him in order to obey the command of the gods and salvage his place in history. However, Philoctetes waits until he sees the deus ex machina appearance of Herakles in order to make his decision to leave the
island. Neoptolemus’s name means “young warrior,” and he is just that—pure and strong but gullible and naïve. When Odysseus brings Neoptolemus with him to Lemnos, Sophocles presents the problem of two very different people with the same desire: to win the Trojan War. Neoptolemus is Achilles’ son, who may feel sublimated hatred against Odysseus because of the fact that Odysseus received his father’s armor after his death. Neoptolemus feels ashamed of his part in tricking the innocent Philoctetes, and he gives him his word that he will take Philoctetes back to Greece—directly countering Odysseus’s desire to get the bow.
Odysseus returns to Lemnos only because he realizes that, in order to sack Troy, he must have the bow of Heracles which is in Philoctetes's possession.
This shows that Odysseus’ self-serving nature extends beyond material greed into the equally sinful realm of pride. In a classic display of hubris, Odysseus taunts the Cyclopes fulfilling the sole purpose of stroking Odysseus’s ego. At first it appears that our hero is lacking foresight, but Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name in hopes that tales of his cunning will spread throughout Greece: a very selfish goal, directly resulting in the endangerment of the lives of both him and his men throughout the remainder of their travels.
When people think of Odysseus, they think of a great, cunning, warrior. Who wouldn’t see him that way, he fought his way through Troy and embarked on a journey back home to see his son and wife again. On the surface Odysseus seems like a genius but in Homer’s, The Odyssey, Odysseus shows many instances where he outwits his foes but his foolishness heavily outweighs his smarts; he becomes boastful after a victory which leads to more hardships, he leaves precious cargo in the open for his brutish crew to mess with, and refuses help from the gods which nearly leads to his demise.
Odysseus displays his desire for glory through his careless actions during his encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus. The desire for glory Odysseus displays is shown through the words he speaks to Polyphemus. He is a clever character but makes rash decisions that affect the outcome of his original goals and intentions. While Odysseus is trapped inside of the cave of the Cyclops, he begins to taunt Polyphemus. “I called back to the Cyclops, stinging taunts: So, Cyclops, no weak coward it was whose crew you bent to devour three in your vaulted cave—with your brute voice! Filthy crimes came down on your own head, you shameless cannibal” (Fagles, 226). Odysseus was insulting the Cyclops, and those insults caused the rage of the monster to boil over. The Cyclops was already angry with Odysseus blinding him, and was even more demoralized and angry when Odysseus began to taunt him. As Odysseus goes on with his insults and as his anger rises, he says, “Cyclops—if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed—say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, La...
Odysseus is a Foolish and selfish leader, who makes rash decisions that kill his men just for his own personal gain.
Odysseus is a selfish leader who needed to stop and think about his decisions instead of acting on impulses, this could have saved the lives of many of his men.... ... middle of paper ... ... Another selfish act committed by Odysseus is when he was on the Island of the Kyklops and he risked his and his crew's life to explore the island just so he could see a kyklops.
Odysseus’ has hubris and excessive pride in himself, the gods he believes in, and his accomplishments, which hold him back and do not allow him to reach hero potential. The pride that Odysseus has in his name is visible throughout his entire tale he is telling to the Phaiakians and King Alkinoos. Starting the story of his journey, Odysseus already begins to display his hubris when he explains to his hosts who he is and where he hails from. After stating that he is the son of King Laertes of Ithaka, Odysseus shares that, “Men hold me formidable for guile in peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim” (IX, 21-23). He believes that he is so well known that the Phaiakians should know him from t...
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.
Sophocles. Four Plays by Sophocles. Trans. Thomas H. Banks. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.
Odysseus portrays his selfishness right as the book begins and this shows how truly incompetent of an individual he is. One form of selfishness Odysseys shows is adultery. He is unfaithful to Penelope many times throughout the book. He reveals this trait specifically when he is with Kalypso on Ogygia and with Kirke on Aiaia. Odysseus shows his selfishness when he steps foot on Kalypso’s island because he chooses to stay with her for seven years. He did not care about the crew’s feelings on the matter, since all’s he cared about was himself. By the time the seven years were up, the crew members finally realized they had to make Odysseus leave. These actions also make a liar out of Odysseus because he said he wanted to return home more than anything, yet he did not even make the slightest attempt to leave. On Aiaia, Odysseus was forced to sleep with Kirke to save his men from staying swine, but he still committed adultery. No matter what the reason, adultery is a choice that can be controlled. An additional negative quality Odysseus obtains is being self absorbed. This trait is seen when Odysseus traveled to the Land of the Dead. He shows his selfish qualities in this example because he travels there initially for his own benefit. Odysseus also has attendances to t...
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.
Odysseus is willing to do anything to get Philoctetes and the bow of Herakles to Troy, and he knew from the start he would an underhanded strategy to do so. At the same time, Neoptolemus is hungry enough for glory to agree to be deceitful as Odysseus instructs, but his morals fully kick in, as he must own up to the truth. Odysseus and Neoptolemus’ ultimate approaches to leadership address the moral discrepancy between doing what is best for the group verses an individual. Luckily, Herakles enters from above and appeals to the heroes craving for glory, getting everyone Troy bound. The three leaders’ approaches are gauged based on Philoctetes’ responses to the heroes. Though Philoctetes has lingering distrust of the Greek leaders, he does agree to go on to Troy at the end, but the ending is far from pleasing for most. Even if everyone knows greatness does await Philoctetes, the emphasis on his suffering and continuous negative encounters with Odysseus make it difficult to accept Herakles success. If anything, Sophocles made innovations in Philoctetes’ myth that change the way the Greek leaders are perceived. Namely, Sophocles underlines Odysseus’ immoral traits and Neoptolemus’ virtue; seemingly to focus on the political approach he found appropriate for his time, despite the complications of pleasing
Page, Jeffery M. “ A Brief Biography of Sophocles and Comments on Major Works.” June. 1997.
Out of all the famous Greek playwrights, Sophocles has to be one of the most well known of all. All seven of Sophocles’ plays “are often considered the most perfect achievement of ancient Athens” His plays make the audience think about the character’s actions, such as asking who was in the right and who was in the wrong. Sophocles’ plays ‘are just as relevant today as they were in the fifth century B.C.E.” (“Ancient Athenian Drama” 701). There are some connections between events in Sophocles’ life and his plays Oedipus and Antigone.
Oedipus and Tiresias, characters of Sophocles' play "Oedipus Tyrannus," are propelled to their individual destinies by their peculiar relationships with truth. Paranoid and quick to anger Oedipus, is markedly different from the confident and self-assured Tiresias. In the dialogue between the two men, Oedipus rapidly progresses from praise of Tiresias as a champion and protector of Thebes in line 304, to blatantly accusing the blind prophet of betraying the city in line 331, to angrily insulting him in line 334. Rather than be intimidated by the protagonist's title and temperament, Tiresias draws strength from what he knows is true and is able to stand his ground.