Significance of Individuality
Throughout my lifetime, I have been told to “be yourself” or that “you are the master of your own fate”. Each one of us is told that we are important because we are unique. However, it certainly hasn’t always been that way. The perceived value of individuals has evolved as we have advanced as a society. The progression of global religions over time is evidence of this. During the period from soon after the advent of religion many thousands of years ago until around 1900, humans saw themselves as relatively unimportant compared to the omnipotent gods. However, since 1900, humans, collectively and individually, have been seen as the utmost authority in the universe. The play Oedipus The King, written by Sophocles
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However, this argument is flawed because Sophocles portrays Oedipus as being generally relatable to the reader. For example, soon after he had learned that the prophecy came true, he shows his affection towards his children in a moving speech. One part that was especially heart-wrenching was when Oedipus says to his children, “I weep for you -- I cannot see your faces -- I weep when I think of the bitterness there will be in your lives, how you must live before the world,” (Sophocles lines 185-188). Oedipus’s fate can’t be justified by his own actions because he is a morally relatable human. This contention is also supported in Aristotle’s Poetics. Aristotle writes that the protagonist of any good tragedy ought to be neither morally superior nor morally defective. If Oedipus’s punishment was due to his character flaws, it follows that every normal person should meet a similar demise! Instead, his life was the gods’ method of bringing justice to the crime perpetrated by his father. Oedipus being punished for a crime that he didn’t commit shows the insignificance of the acts and intentions of humans compared to the goals of the …show more content…
For example, Oedipus was able to solve the riddle of the sphinx with divine help. In defense of Oedipus, the chorus said, “and all of us saw his wisdom in [solving the sphinx’s riddle], he saved the city,” (Sophocles lines 509-511). As a result of his ingenuity in solving the riddle, he lives many years in luxury as king, thus showing that Oedipus had some significance to the gods. In addition, it shows that importance and the lack of free will weren’t seen to be mutually exclusive because Oedipus’s life was important even though it’s ultimate conclusion wasn’t in his control. Oedipus shows that according to the ancient Greeks, humans are important to the gods, but don’t have free will and are ultimately controlled by the
take the boy out and kill him when he was still a child. The kind old shepard
“I will do all that I can…” proclaims Oedipus (43). People can control the direction of their lives. In life, decisions are made, advice is given, but ultimately the one dealing with the issues makes the decision. Oedipus was born with a fate, as described by the oracle. His family took precaution to avoid the fate. Inevitably, the fate was fulfilled, but he made his own decisions throughout his life, as well as having decisions made for him. In Oedipus the King, we are able to see that certain things in life can be controlled: family, personality, and success.
"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.
According to Aristotle, Oedipus in Sophocles's play, Oedipus the King, would be considered a tragic hero. Oedipus is considered a tragic hero not only because he made the mistake of killing Laius, because he ends up exiling himself from his own city. At the end of Sophocles’s play Oedipus eventually reaches an all time low. This downfall is caused by him discovering what negative things he has done to his family and to his city. This downfall was caused by Apollo, the Greek god of Prophecy. Apollo is the cause of the downfall because it is proven many times in the play that you can’t control your own destiny which ultimately means that Oedipus’s fate was already written out for him by the
Sophocles intentionally gave certain flaws in character type to Oedipus—he intended a downfall. That was the purpose of all ancient Greek drama: it was meant as “a dramatic reminder of [their] own mortality”. Sophocles used his plays in order to force people to learn at other’s mistake. Oedipus is a perfect example. His tragic flaws, persistence and ignorance caused his inevitable doom
No one can be held fully responsible for actions committed under some kind of external constraint, and for the case of Oedipus, such constraint might be exerted by god. But it does not mean that Oedipus suffers not because of his guilt, but of his goodness, because Oedipus is responsible for those actions which are not performed under constraint. Oedipus has choices, but every time he chooses the wrong one even he knew that the one he chose will turn out to be bad. He still chooses this road to certain extend, is because of his arrogant pride. I think the events of the play are Oedipus fault. Oedipus makes important mistakes or errors in judgment that lead to this ending. His pride, blindness, and foolishness all play a part in the tragedy that befalls him.
The theme that the lives of humans are controlled by the gods, in Oedipus, show that everything humans do are futile and result in no gain but only loss. This theme is mainly shown by the character Oedipus, king of Thebes. In the beginning of his life, Laius the king planned to kill his son by leaving him on Mount Cithaeron to die. "...at the moment I was your savior."
Elizabeth Kubler Ross, in Death and Dying, discusses the stages one goes through when he or she comes to terms with his or her own fate. These stages include Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, and the medieval morality play, Everyman, by and anonymous author, both the title characters travel through these stages throughout the plot when they come to meet their fates or misfortunes.
Oedipus Rex, an ancient Greek tragedy authored by the playwright Sophocles, includes many types of psychological phenomena. Most prominently, the myth is the source of the well-known term Oedipal complex, coined by psychologist Sigmund Freud in the late 1800s. In psychology, “complex” refers to a developmental stage. In this case the stage involves the desire of males, usually ages three to five, to sexually or romantically posses their mother, and the consequential resentment of their fathers. In the play, a prince named Oedipus tries to escape a prophecy that says he will kill his father and marry his mother, and coincidentally saves the Thebes from a monster known as the Sphinx. Having unknowingly killed his true father Laius during his escape, he marries the widowed queen of Thebes, his mother Jocasta. Many events in the story should lead to suspicion of their marriage, but out of pride and ignorance Oedipus stubbornly refuses to accept his fate. Together, these sins represent the highest taboos of Greek society, revealed by Socphocles’s depiction of the already pervasive story. Before the Thebian plays, the myth centered more around Oedipus’s journey of self-awareness; meanwhile, Sophocles shows Oedipus’s struggles with his inevitable desire toward his mother throughout these stages of psychological development.
This essay will illustrate the types of characters depicted in Sophocles’ tragic drama, Oedipus Rex, whether static or dynamic, flat or round, and whether protrayed through the showing or telling technique.
In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is responsible for the tragedy of his downfall. Fate and free will are two opposing ideas that Sophocles seems to blend together and brings up an interesting argument. Sophocles ultimately leaves it up to the reader of the play to view and decide the truth though. Oedipus is presented with a series of choices throughout the play, his stubborn nature and arrogance push him to act without thinking and ultimately make the wrong decisions, the decisions that end up leading him to his downfall. While Oedipus and those around him consider fate the source of Oedipus’s problems, Oedipus' decisions show the audience that he is responsible for each and every outcome involving him in the end all the way back to when he first left his adopted parents. Sophocles is able to drive his message about the weakness behind human arrogance through Oedipus' fatal flaws and the use of metaphorical and literal blindness.Perhaps the most obvious reason Oedipus is responsible is that by the end of the play Oedipus has taken responsibility for his actions and blinds himsel...
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.
Essay U3 Jaime Meiteen March 3, 2016 Essay Topic: #5. Oedipus is a freer man at the end of the play than he is at the beginning. [00:07:38] Then tell how enslaved he is and how his slavery ends when he is finally revealed as the criminal he's been seeking. It’s a painful journey to self-discovery that is nonetheless liberating.
Sophocles demonstrates in the play Oedipus the King that a human being, not a God, ultimately determines destiny. That is, people get what they deserve. In this play, one poorly-made judgment results in tragic and inescapable density. Oedipus fights and kills Laius without knowing Laius is his father. Then, Oedipus's pitiless murdering causes several subsequent tragedies such as the incestuous marriage of Oedipus gets into the flight with Laius. However, Oedipus's characteristics after Laius's death imply that Oedipus could avoid the fight as well as the murder of his father, but did not. Ultimately, Oedipus gets what he deserves due to his own characteristics that lead him to murder Laius: impatience, delusion, and arrogance.
Greek Drama had three main categories The Comedy, Satyr Plays, and The Tragedy. The most popular of the three is The Tragedy, its themes are often such as loss of love, complex relationships between men and the gods, and corruption of power. These dramas taught the people of the city the difference between good and bad behavior and the ramifications of going against the gods. According to Aristotle, the perfect tragedy consisted of the downfall of the hero through a great misunderstanding, causing suffering and awareness for the protagonist meanwhile making the audience feel pity and fear. The prominent writer who Aristotle based his perfect tragedy theory was Sophocles, his drama Oedipus the King had all the elements of a perfect tragedy.