Oedipus The King

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King Oedipus Essay Is it destiny or pure luck? Written by Sophocles, King Oedipus is a story of dramatic irony, tragedy, sadness, and pity. Oedipus is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Prophesized to bring disaster, Oedipus is a tragic hero who will bring destruction to him self. Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is doomed from the beginning, yet noble in nature, physically and mentally wounded, with a pitiful story, and suffers more than he deserves. Thus, he is “destined one day to kill his father, and to become his own mother’s husband” (23). Oedipus’ parents, Laius and Jocasta, were scared of this prophecy and tried to outrun it. Jocasta sent Oedipus to be chained up and abandoned on a mountain where he was to be left to die. As fate would have it, these actions are what set everything in motion. “Beneath the deceptive surface a hideous depth of shame and infamy lay concealed” (24). Unbeknownst to Oedipus, who also tried to outrun the prophecy, still killed his father and married his mother. As a result of being noble in nature, Oedipus saved Thebes from the Sphinx. “He answered her …show more content…

The story follows a main character named Oedipus who is a strong and determined leader. “I shall; speak my mind unflinchingly,” said Oedipus (343). He is not afraid to speak or do anything that it takes to find what he is looking for. The reader may feel a sense of fear as to weather or not Oedipus will find out that he married his mother and that he is searching for himself for the murder of Laius. Oedipus is also a king to be feared; yet his fate is pitiful. He is a “Sorry spectacle/ That loathing cannot choose but pity” (1293-1294). Clueless to these actions Oedipus murdered his father Laius, married his mother Jocasta, and willingly blinded himself. A character such as Oedipus, evokes feelings in the reader, such as being transported to a different world, or feeling better about ones

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