Knowledge as a Destructive Force: The Case of Oedipus

533 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theme of justice in oedipus rex

Philosopher and author Francis Bacon once said that knowledge is power. However, that is not always the case. While many believe this saying, the negative effects of knowledge can be exemplified in Oedipus, specifically his self-destruction and his damaging of relationships. Oedipus, king of Thebes, had a knowledge gain that led to his own self destruction, primarily the discovery that he was the subject of a prophecy that foresaw him killing his father and marrying his mother, the lovely Jocasta. The killing of Oedipus’ father- and the previous king- drove the city to become enveloped by famine and plague. The citizens and royals believed that the only way to fix the plague was by exiling the murderer- Oedipus. Oedipus was happy with his

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

  • Oedipus the King: A Painful Path to Truth

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus goes on with his journey not knowing about what he is going to do next. Oedipus runs into some people at a crossing on this journey and quarrels with them to there death. After this, he goes along to a city named Thebes where he outsmarted a beast that was cursing the city. He received praise and joy. While gaining the trust of all that lived there he quickly became King of Thebes. The people loved him because he was such a great leader. He was such a great king because he had a lot of love for his people and would do anything in his power to make them happy. As a result of this, Oedipus finds out that the city is in trouble unless the killer of their late king is found and punished. Little does Oedipus know that he is the killer of their late King or that the King was actually his father. Oedipus will strive for awnsers even though he has been warned not to dig to deep, for he will regret it.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: The Tragic Flaws Of Oedipus

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    The ancient Greeks were fond believers of Fate. Fate, defined according to Webster’s, is “the principle or determining cause or will by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as the do.” The Greeks take on Fate was slightly modified. They believed that the gods determined Fate: “…fate, to which in a mysterious way the gods themselves were subject, was an impersonal force decreeing ultimate things only, and unconcerned with day by day affairs.” It was thought that these gods worked in subtle ways; this accounts for character flaws (called harmatia in Greek). Ancient Greeks thought the gods would alter a person’s character, in order for that person to suffer (or gain from) the appropriate outcome. Such was the case in Oedipus’s story.

    Read More

  • The Downfall and Destruction of a King in the Play, Oedipus the King

    1641 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Downfall of a King in the Play, Oedipus the King. I found the tragedy of "Oedipus the King" to be quite interesting. It was not as hard to read as it was an epic. "The purpose of tragedy is to arouse the emotions of pity and fear and thus to produce in the audience a catharsis of these emotions." (p488, A Handbook of Literature)

    Read More

  • Oedipus: A Victim of Fate

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus was a victime of fate, his futur was foretold by an Oracle, he had no way of knowing that his wife was his mother nor that the stranger he killed was his father. Oedipus could not prevent his own downfall. Oedipus was the king of Thebes, he became king when he cured the city of a deadly plague. He cured the plague by solving the riddle of the mythical creature, the Sphinkx. Now the city is suffering from another plague and as king Oedipus must solve the riddle of this one.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: A Victim of Fate

    957 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus the King would not have been successful throughout centuries as a tragic play, if Oedipus were clearly responsible for his own tragedy. The play's ongoing success was do to Oedipus' innocence which immediately makes one think he can not be fully responsible and to blame. I do not believe Sophocles would have wrote the story, or I do not think people would have ever read it or studied it had it simply been a story of a criminal's retribution. Sophocles himself believed Oedipus to be the innocent victim of an ironic tragedy, and built the play around this belief. This story was destined to happen and I believe the author would agree. The story revolves around destiny, the resistance of people to it and the ultimate ending of destiny lasting over all their attempts to avoid it. Written in a time of religious unrest, there is a lesson to be learned from this tragic play; that no matter what we do as humans, it is the god's will which dominates over us.

    Read More

  • Outcome of Actions in Oedipus the King

    1262 Words  | 3 Pages

    It might seem ironic how in such a significant number of cases, the outcome of some specific actions is completely different from what is expected to be. The number of times that you puzzle yourself at how eccentric or unexplainable some causalities seem or how things might go precisely the way you want increases as you grow up. This unusual link of events leads to the ideas of destiny and fate. Some people claim that there is no such way of controlling your life because it has been planned out for you ahead of time in a precise and unchangeable way. Despite every effort and action one cannot escape from his fate. Others believe the complete opposite thing. According to them, your life is a matter of your own choices and decisions, and you are the only owner of your destiny. Marva Maynard Hobbs says that you should watch your thought, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny. While in the third chapter of Presbyterian Confession of Faith it is stated that God, from all eternity, did by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever come to pass. (Presbyterian Confession of Faith, Chapter 3, Section 1). The contradiction between the two above mentioned quotes is presented similarly by two 24 century old literature works, Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Aristophanes’ The Clouds.

    Read More

  • Love's Destruction: Oedipus the King

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jocasta and Emilia, important minor characters in their plays, both showcase the power of love as well as how destructive it can be. Emilia and Jocasta both unknowingly end their own lives, as well as others, and spread tragedy throughout the towns in which they lived. It is believed that in 425 B.C., Sophocles first produced Oedipus the King (Theater of Sophocles). In the play, Oedipus the King, Jocasta is the main character, Oedipus’, mother and wife. Jocasta’s love for Oedipus ultimately destroys him and results in her death. Sophocles helped shape the heroic ideal that is later embodied in medieval romance, which Shakespeare traditionally uses in Othello (Zerba). William Shakespeare wrote Othello in about 1604 (The Theater of Shakespeare). In the play, Othello, Emilia is a companion to the main character, Othello’s wife Desdemona. Emilia’s love for her husband, Iago, ultimately destroys Othello and results in her own death.

    Read More

  • To What Extent is Oedipus Responsible for His Own Downfall?

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    A special attribute of Greek tragedy is that the central character is known to have a tragic imperfection that contribute to the fall of the character. In the play Oedipus Rex this characteristic is not an exception. Nevertheless, until what point was Oedipus responsible for his own downfall? There are many theories that can give an answer to this question. Was it destiny or a manipulation of the gods? Or was it a punishment for his actions to his parents? Was anyone else responsible for his downfall too (Jocasta, Laius)? In this essay I will prove that even though he is not the only one to blame for his downfall, he is the major person responsible for his ruin.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Oedipus

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even though he was abandoned at birth and left for dead, his new life was one of royalty and prestige. However, when his fortunes shifted again, Oedipus the King of Thebes has become the world’s wretch. Even though Oedipus deserves this fate, as he determined it for himself, he blames a faceless god of the heavens. “He brought my sick, sick fate upon me.” pg 18, shows the true error in Oedipus’ beliefs, as the god that he has trusted to guide his life has turned into Oedipus’ object of anger. Oedipus has nothing to blame but himself for not knowing his true self. During the manifestation of the plague and decline of Thebes, Oedipus feels that he is most affected, even though a priest comes to plead for his help. “ Sick as you are, not one is as sick as I.” pg. 3, Oedipus’ statement is a direct victimization of himself over all of his subjects. The citizens of Thebes are directly confronted with death and destruction every day, however this barely concerns Oedipus as he fails to heal the city. By viewing himself as the victim, Oedipus fails again and again to develop humility and resolve, furthering Oedipus’ departure from who he truly is. Oedipus’ past has always been discoverable, but before he was forced to learn his past, he took no action to learn about himself. Oedipus’ past was accessible as soon as he became king of Thebes, but being the victim,

    Read More

  • Oedipus The King Research Paper

    669 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today, people could learn from Oedipus's mistake. Though the truth can be tough to hear, we need to learn how to handle it.

    Read More

  • The Downfall of Oedipus

    764 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sophocles life lasted from 497 BC-405 BC. Throughout his 92 years of being, he managed to write many tragic plays and one on his most famous ones is, Oedipus Rex. In, Oedipus Rex, he introduces to us Oedipus as king of Thebes only to end the play having this same king, as a blind beggar. His downfall is not linked to any other character in the play; so the only person to blame is Oedipus. Oedipus’s flaws resulted on having him end the play as a blinded beggar. Even though Oedipus is a victim of fate, his arrogance, attention to Thebe’s people and his search of certainty will be flaws leading to his tragic ending.

    Read More

  • Oedipus: Tragic Hero Or Victim Of Fate

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his work Nature and Elements of Tragedy, Aristotle outlined the characteristics needed in order to create a compelling tragic hero. He states that this particular character must be "better than we are," a man who is superior to the average man in some way. At the same time, a tragic hero must evoke both pity and fear among the audience, causing each member to experience a feeling of catharsis, or strong emotion. According to Aristotle, the best way to achieve this effect is to accurately portray the protagonist’s imperfections, for a character that constitutes good and evil is more convincing than a character that is purely good. Lastly, a tragic hero can be characterized by his hamartia, a Greek word that can be translated as "tragic flaw," or more simply, "error in judgment." Upon close inspection of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, however, it appears as if Oedipus’ downfall was a result of the will of the gods and not a consequence of his “tragic flaw.” Therefore, in regards to Aristotle’s guidelines, can Oedipus truly be considered a tragic hero?

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Oedipus the King

    465 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Fate and The Circunstancial Downfall of Character in Oedipus Rex

    626 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fate and the circumstantial downfall of characters (usually surrounding the protagonist) is a reoccurring theme seen throughout the Eras of theatre (specifically between the plays Oedipus Rex [Greek Theatre] and King Lear [Elizabethan Thatre.]) Fate and falling victim to circumstance is one of the same; fate is just a predetermination made by a higher being (gods,) while circumstance is almost always the result of causation; contrary to the psychological phrase correlation does not imply causation which means that a relation between two variables does not imply that one is the cause of the other. For those who lived during the Greek Theatre Era (600-200 BC,) the explanation of “fate” was considered an acceptable means to justify the unknown, and/or to gain information/knowledge. Audiences eventually became more literate and the reliance on the gods to help make sense of why something has happened slowly diminished; this cultural reformation demanded the same change to occurr within the theatre, which correlated fate with falling victim to circumstance. In th...

    Read More

More about Knowledge as a Destructive Force: The Case of Oedipus

Open Document