Oedipus Selfishness

288 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Character analysis of oedipus

The Oedipus Rex reflects the greatest tragedies of time that struggles consistently for the power of free will and power of Gods. The character of Oedipus depicts his woeful fate as he becomes the murderer of his father. The character of Oedipus depicts selfishness that results in his ignorance. The human nature of Oedipus that I relate to myself is his attributes of selfishness and self- obsession. The character seals his fate and defines the egoistic attitude as he knows he cannot transform destiny. The similar attributes of selfishness, ego, and obsession are common in humanity. I find similar traits in my personality as my desires are to fulfill my dreams that often make me selfish in the real world. Oedipus also reflects his selfishness

Show More
Related

  • The Selfishness of Oedipus in Oedipus the King

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race,” as quoted by William E. Gladstone, supports my thought that selfishness is what causes most of our problems in the modern world. Currently, we are living in an era that is filled with much gluttony and selfishness. However, selfishness is a trait that all of us possess, but the amount of selfishness that we have can determine the type of person we are. For instance, parents should always put their children’s needs before their own. Selfish parents would rather buy materialistic items for themselves than anything useful for their children. In Sophocles’s “Oedipus Rex,” the protagonist is literally blinded by his own arrogance. This attitude begins before he even travels to Thebes, and that is apparent due to the circumstances of his father’s death. Oedipus seals his own fate with his egotistical attitude and he cannot change his destiny after everything is set into motion. During his journey on the road to enlightenment, Oedipus’s selfishness causes him to transcend from being completely ignorant of his fate to holding on to the last shreds of denial to having an overwhelming sense of realization.

    Read More

  • How Is Oedipus Arrogant

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles and translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, Oedipus was a tyrannos who tried to save the city of Thebes from a long lasting plague. Unfortunately, his short temper and hubris led to his downfall while he tried to do so. He was too arrogant and self-centered to even bother to recognize the several ignorant mistakes he made. Before his fall, Oedipus experienced and created chaos at different points throughout the story, although he did restore order in the end.

    Read More

  • The Inescapable Web

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    A son who kills his own father, marries his own mother, and is both the father and brother of his mother’s children. Oedipus, meaning “swollen foot”, grows up with adopted parents and a brooding prophecy on his heels. The frightful tale of Oedipus and his indescribable fate play out in the Greek theatrical production of Oedipus Rex. The horrible destiny for Oedipus is inevitable due to the unfavorable traits given to him by the author, Sophocles. Throughout Oedipus Rex, Sophocles masterfully weaves Oedipus’ fatal traits of naiveté, arrogance, and curiosity into the intriguing plot.

    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

  • Oedipus Rex Character Comparisons

    1374 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book, Oedipus Rex, has a full range of characters. The colloquy, activity and motivation circle around the characters in the whole story. We find Oedipus Rex trying to get away, from home, to flee the prophecy. The prophecy states that he will kill his father and marry his mother. He also tries to clear up a murder of the old king. Oedipus marries a widow named Iokaste. He also gets advice from a seer named Teiresias. The purpose of this essay is to show the three positive and three negative qualities about these characters in direct and indirect characterization. I will find the qualities of Oedipus, Iokaste and Teiresias.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: A Painful Path to Truth

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Ambiguous Character In Oedipus The King

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is depicted as a morally ambiguous character; neither purely evil or purely good. Oedipus runs from his fate initially to prevent himself from pursuing what he believed was his fate; however, he is lead straight towards his real fate. He kills his biological father as he is headed to Thebes, where he takes the throne. Once he has taken the throne, he begins to try and save his city from the plague by looking for the murder of king Laius. However, what he does not know is that the prophet has told him who has slew the king; therefore, he presents his ignorance as a leader. Not only does his ignorance create the flawed character inside himself, but it also causes him to run from his fate. The significance of Oedipus being a morally ambiguous character is that he cannot run from his fate

    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

  • Relevancy of Oedipus in Today's Society

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another thing that may be found similar between Oedipus and modern life is that people can and do change themselves internally and develop themselves over time. Changes are usually unmotivated. The motivating factor for Oedipus was after he realized that he killed his father, married his mother, and found her...

    Read More

  • tragoed Comparing Tragedy in Hamlet and Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex)

    624 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: The Guilt of Oedipus

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even though Oedipus may be the hero, he is also selfish and ruthless. One example of his ruthlessness is when he meets Laius at the place where the three roads meet. Instead of letting the older man pass, he makes a scene, why should he be the one to move? He is royalty. He believes that he should move for no man. He is also selfish in the fact that when Teresias enters and gives Oedipus the clues that tell him that he has killed Laius, he refuses to believe him, to the point of insulting him, and kicking him out.

    Read More

  • Odysseus' Selfishness

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    Odysseus portrays himself as anything but a hero throughout Homer’s The Odyssey. Odysseus goes through his life believing he is the best. He has no regard for anyone’s feelings but his own, and he believes nothing and no one can harm him, not even the gods. Odysseus feels he is always the leader and no one can tell him otherwise. Odysseus should not be considered a hero because he portrays himself as a selfish man that failed his crew, and is controlled by his hubris.

    Read More

  • How Is Odysseus Selfish

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    When you think of a hero, you probably think of a person who always saves the day, right? The Odyssey is an epic poem first told by Homer in ancient Greece. It is the story of a king and soldier and his journey back home, with his men, after he won the Trojan War. The purpose of the poem, like many ancient and modern stories and texts, was to spread the values of Greek society.

    Read More

  • Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and the Human Condition

    1394 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus is living in a dream from which he is only just beginning to awake. In this dream, he not only believes that he is in control of his own fate but that he is in control of his own identity. He assumes that he has three virtues: wisdom, reason, and self-control. When he attempts to use these virtues, however, he discovers that he is mistaken on all three counts. His first mistake is believing that he is wise. From this wisdom he hopes to maintain control over the events around him, but true wisdom is actually surrendering to the fact that control is an illusion, a "seeming." His second mistake is believing that he is a rational man. Indeed, Oedipus has great cognitive powers. He has insight, but this insight is quickly negated when it clashes with his own anger, which ultimately drives Oedipus to fly in the face of reason. His third mistake is believing that he is his own man, self-created. He believes that this makes him completely free, but, in fact, he is deeply tied to his roots. By rejecting his parentage, he attempts to avoid his fate. The chorus claims that no "man on Earth wins more of happiness than a seeming and after that turn[s] away" (Sophocles 64).1 Oedipus turns himself away from happiness because he believes that he is already happy. In his hubris, he becomes the agent of his own destruction. He serves as the paradigm for the self-deluding and self-destructive spirit of the human condition.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Oedipus of Sophocles and Senaca

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    The myth of Oedipus is one of a man brought down by forces aligning against him. Over the years, different playwrights have interpreted his character in various fashions. In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus is a man who is blind to the path on which his questions take him and exemplifies the typical tyrannical leader in ancient times; in Senaca’s Oedipus, it is the fear of his questions that give Oedipus a greater depth of character, a depth he must overcome if he is to survive his ordeal.

    Read More

More about Oedipus Selfishness

Open Document