Oedipus Rex. A play that enacts the story of a man who’s ignorance, battle with fate over his free will, and his blindness to truth; lead him into his own demise. With so many critical elements in one play, there must be a climax where all of these elements come together and culminate into one key passage.The passage in lines 350-450 accomplishes this. In this passage there are several elements, but there are five significant ones: character development, the theme of: ignorance, fate versus free-will, and blindness to truth are revealed; and there is also foreshadowing of Oedipus’ demise as a result of these elements. The purpose of this essay will be to investigate these elements and establish this passage as a key passage of Oedipus Rex. In this key passage, Sophocles develops the character of Oedipus through the use of dramatic irony; which later leads to a relation to the theme of blindness to truth. The purpose of dramatic irony is to draw attention to and emphasize the limited nature of the human condition. Dramatic irony causes the reader to pause and reflect on a particular moment. Dramatic irony can be seen in the in discourse between Oedipus and Teiresias: “OEDIPUS: What are you saying? / Do you know and will not say? Do you intend / to betray me and destroy the city?” (Ln. 396-398). This is a perfect example of dramatic irony because Oedipus is goading Teiresias into revealing knowledge that Teiresias refuses to bequeath unto Oedipus by accusing him of treason and betrayal. The dramatic irony is that Teiresias would not be betraying Oedipus by telling him; rather, the knowledge itself ends up betraying Oedipus. When Teiresias imparts upon Oedipus the knowledge that Oedipus himself is the “accursed polluter of this land... ... middle of paper ... ...g the gods. All elements considered: the inclusion of the play’s central themes, serving as a tool for character development, and showing all three types of hubris; this culmination would clearly indicate that this is a key passage. However, there is more to a key passage than just literary devices and character development; there is also context. In context with the rest of the play, if one were to think of this play as a road, in turn they could view this passage as a fork in that road. This passage is a fork in the road because at this point in the play, several outcomes could occur. Without this passage, many events that occur; do not. Thus, lines 350-450 is an example of a key passage that is significant to the entire work as a whole because it not only demonstrates usage of significant literary devices and themes, but is also vital to the plot line as well.
- - -. "Oedipus Rex." Trans. Paul Roche. The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone. By Sophocles. and Paul Roche. New York: Penguin, 1991. 5-80. Print.
The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that the events in Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, are the result of the hero’s self determination and restless attempt to escape a terrifying destiny predicted for him by the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. My intention is to prove that although the Fates play a crucial part in the story, it is Oedipus'choices and wrong doing that ultimately lead to his downfall.
The play "Oedipus Rex" is a very full and lively one to say the least. Everything a reader could ask for is included in this play. There is excitement, suspense, happiness, sorrow, and much more. Truth is the main theme of the play. Oedipus cannot accept the truth as it comes to him or even where it comes from. He is blinded in his own life, trying to ignore the truth of his life. Oedipus will find out that truth is rock solid. The story is mainly about a young man named Oedipus who is trying to find out more knowledge than he can handle. The story starts off by telling us that Oedipus has seen his moira, his fate, and finds out that in the future he will end up killing his father and marrying his mother. Thinking that his mother and father were Polybos and Merope, the only parents he knew, he ran away from home and went far away so he could change his fate and not end up harming his family. Oedipus will later find out that he cannot change fate because he has no control over it, only the God's can control what happens. Oedipus is a very healthy person with a strong willed mind who will never give up until he gets what he wants. Unfortunately, in this story these will not be good trait to have.
Dramatic irony depends on the audience’s knowing something that the character does not, and in this play the audience knows Oedipus faith before he knows it himself. In this play there are several parts where Sophocles conveys his plot through dramatic irony. Dramatic irony underlines how partial human perceptive can be even when it is most reasonable and how agonizing it can be to be the costs of the misinterpretation, in some sense foreseeable. Dramatic irony is also use by Sophocles to make the audience feel their taken part of the play knowing the fate of the main character, making the audience wait in suspense wanting to know how Oedipus would react to his fate. The other use of the dramatic irony was to foreshadow which is a key component of great literature.
Sophocles’ use of symbolism and irony is shown in Oedipus Tyrannus through his use of the notion of seeing and blindness. This common motif is extended throughout the play and takes on a great significance in the development of the plot. In an effort to escape his god given prophecy, Oedipus tragically falls into the depths of unthinkable crimes as a result of the mental blindness of his character; thus never escaping his lot.
Dodds, E.R. "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Michael J. O'Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice, 2005. Print.
O’Brien, Micheal. “Introduction.” 20th Centruy Interpretations of Oedipus Rex. Ed. Micheal O'Brien. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968. 8-10. Print.
Oedipus is self-confident, intelligent and strong willed. Ironically these are the very traits which bring about his demise. Sophocles makes liberal use of irony throughout “Oedipus the King”. He creates various situations in which dramatic and verbal irony play key roles in the downfall of Oedipus. Dramatic irony depends on the audience’s knowing something that the character does not and verbal irony is presented when there is a contradiction between what a character says and what they mean. Both of these elements are used effectively to develop the tale of Oedipus.
Two Works Cited A prologue is a miniature version of the actual text. It answers the elements of literature in a work, and exposes the reader to essential facts, as well as foreshadows the outcome of the work. The prologue also introduces themes, characters, and literary devices to complement the work. Thus, through the study of the prologues of Oedipus Rex and Everyman, one may learn much about the nature of both plays.
Dodds, E. R. "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Michael J. O'Brien.
E. T. Owen in “Drama in Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus.” In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Here is a story where Oedipus the King, who has accomplished great things in his life, discovers that the gods were only playing with him. He has everything a man of that time could want; he is king of Thebes, he has a wonderful wife and children, and great fame through out the lands. He has lived a good life, but in the end everything is taken from him.
Sophocles’ tragic drama, Oedipus Rex, presents to the reader a full range of conflicts and their resolution after a climax.
Irony used from beginning to end and with each statement made by Oedipus about finding the killer of Laius. Although the audience is familiar with the story they are fully invested in Oedipus. Because Sophocles uses irony in his play it makes the audience empathize with the protagonist. Oedipus becomes human, a tangible character that experiences the same emotions as everyday people. The thing that makes Oedipus even more human is that he is a victim of a fate assigned to him before he was born. He unknowingly carries out the prophecy destined for him which leads to the discovery that he was abandoned at birth by his biological parents; with this discovery a sense of his identity is taken from him. A character so arrogant normally does not receive empathy from the audience, however, he is still very much an innocent fragile human being punished for his father’s defiance. Sophocles used irony to bring a new twist to a familiar story. The use of irony keeps the audience ahead of the protagonist yet still eagerly awaiting his reaction to the obstacles before him; even though they know his fate the audience wants to see how he deals with his unfortunate
Oedipus Rex is considered to be one of the greatest tragedies. It has all the hallmarks of Greek tragedies. This includes the downfall of the character of high status or power, the hero’s suffering because of hamartia, and his hubris that causes the error. Oedipus, the tragic hero, was prideful. It could be argued that because of this trait; he makes the mistake of trying to escape his fate; thus making sure it would come true. Although Oedipus was flawed, this is not the complete reason for his downfall. The gods, not surprisingly, had a hand in Oedipus’ horrible fate. Apollo engineered the events that would ultimately end in Oedipus’ catastrophe.