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Philosopy of Sophocles
Characterisation of oedipus
Interpretation of oedipus the king
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The relationship Sophocles establishes between prophecy and Oedipus’s actions is Oedipus attempted to escape Apollo’s prophecy, but by doing this he accidentally fulfilled Teiresias's prophecy that he would kill Laius. Oedipus was told he was “not [his] father’s real son”(line 936). Oedipus went to Apollo to find an answer but he told him “monstrous things, strange terrors, and horrific miseries.” Oedipus was destined to “defile [his] mother’s bed’ and “murder the father who engendered [him].” In attempt to escape Apollo’s prophecy, Oedipus “ran away from Corinth” so that he could not hurt his mother or his father. (lines 951–955). While Oedipus was running away from Corinth, he came across a “herald and a horse-drawn carriage.” One of these
The selfishness that Oedipus possesses causes him to have abundance of ignorance. This combination is what leads to his father’s death. After fleeing Corinth and his foster family, Oedipus gets into a skirmish with an older man. The reason for the fight was because, “The groom leading the horses forced me off the road at his lord’s command” (1336). Oedipus is filled with a rage after being insulted by the lord and feels the need to act. The two men fight, but Oedipus ends up being too much for the older man, and he kills him. What Oedipus is unaware of is that the man was actually his birth father and by killing him, Oedipus has started on the path of his own destruction. Not only does Oedipus kill his father, but also everyone else, “I killed them all” (1336). The other men had no part in the scuffle, but in his rage, he did not care who he was killing.
He murders his father and marries his mother unknowingly. While it may seem to some that Oedipus was destined to carry out his fate, it is also true that Oedipus’ personality led him to his fate. It is clear to see that Oedipus is an impulsive and passionate man, which causes Oedipus to fulfill the prophecy that haunts him. He flees the kingdom of Corinthian in order to avoid his fate. Along his journey he comes to a crossroad that is blocked by a chariot, and “in a fit of anger” Oedipus kills the father he never knew (Meyer 1422).
Though calling Teiresias’ news as foolish deceit. Oedipus later learns that the murder of King Laios had been foretold. to be at the hands of his lost son, which he exiled and sentenced to. death when his son was still a baby. Knowing that the same prophecy was told to him by Apollo, Oedipus now knows that he is implicated in.
His choices brought the prophecy to life. Only his decisions (not influenced by anybody) he made. Of course those decisions were in side of the limits set by fate. When Oedipus heard a prophesy that his going to kill his father and sleep with his mother he ran away, even when he new there were suspicions of him being the real son of his parents. There some lines from the play: "…There was a man dining with us one day who had too much wine and man shouted at me-half drunk and shouting that I was not rightly called my father's son. … Without my parent's knowledge, I went to Delphi, but Apollo did not say what I had gone to hear. Instead, he answered questions I had not asked and told of horror and misery beyond believe - how I would know my mothers bad … and cause the death of my own father."
If prophecy were to be real, one could expect what is bound to happen in the future. This is true; at least in “Oedipus the King” in which the protagonist, Oedipus calls forth his doom unwillingly. Fate is defined as something that unavoidably befalls a person. The author of “Oedipus the King,” Sophocles, writes a tragic fate that Oedipus was born to experience. Fate is what is meant to happen and cannot be avoided or unchanged. Furthermore, events that lead to other events could be the result for one to meet their fate. In “Oedipus the King,” Sophocles expresses the nature of fate to be determined upon choices made.
Prior to the birth of Oedipus, a prophecy was spoken over Laius and his wife Jocasta. They were told that their son would one day be his father’s killer and would then marry his mother. In fear, King Laius and Queen Jocasta sent the baby Oedipus off with a slave to be killed. He was never killed, but rather was given to a childless king and queen which lovingly raised him. Oedipus was never factually told about his lineage. Later in his life, Oedipus was confronted by several unknown men while traveling. Upon confrontation, Oedipus killed all but one of the men in self defense. Unknowingly, Oedipus had begun to fulfill the prophecy for one of the men had been his birth father, Laius.
Oedipus is doomed to his fate so he uses his freewill to purge the truth (WowEssays). He uses this illusion to control his life so he doesn’t feel so scared of the prophecy ever coming true. He goes to his hometown Thebes to get away from the prophecy, and while he was on the road he murders his father not knowing that it was his real father, fulfilling one part of the prophecy. When he arrived in Thebes he married his own mother, Jocasta, and believed he was the king of Thebes. Jocasta believed her son, Oedipus, was dead, but as pieces of information began to fit she realized she had married her son and that the prophecy was coming true. Nevertheless, Jocasta’s blindness lead her to commit suicide.
Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother, with whom he produces four children. These are terrible crimes, impious, immoral and illegal. However, the fact that he carries these out in ignorance, not conscious of his own actions, attributes them to severe misfortune and a cruel fate. He even tried, in vain, to avoid the completion of this destiny, leaving his believed home city of Corinth upon hearing it told to him at the Oracle of Apollo ("I heard all that and ran" 876). Thus, when it is revealed to him, this sudden revelation of his crimes within one day leads him to blind himself so that he can no longer see what he has done ("Nothing I could see could bring me joy" 1473). The blinding was not required by fate and is indeed self inflicted but he believed that it is just punishment for what he has done, and by doing so he regains some control over his fate ("hand that struck my eyes was mine...
Although Incendies (2010), filmed by Denis Villeneuve, is the rewrite of Sophocles’ play, Oedipus The King, these two stories have their own variations in them. Both of their narratives are surrounding with the same concept: nobody could escape from their family’s history, which it has some tragedy outcomes and violence as the characters’ journey begin. Each character from Oedipus Tyrannus and Incendies responds differently obtaining knowledge about their past, and the closure of these two stories are completely diverse.
From the very beginning, Oedipus was destined to fulfill Apollo's prophecy of killing his father. Even though King Lauis tries to kill Oedipus to stop the fulfillment of this shameful prophecy, fate drives the Corinthian messenger to save Oedipus. What the gods fortell will come true and no human can stop it from happening, not even the kings. Oedipus is once again controlled by this power when he leaves the place of his child hood after he hears that he is to kill his father and marry his mother. "I shall shrink from nothing...to find the the murderer of Laius...You are the murderer..." Oedipus tried to stop the prophecy from coming true by leaving Corinth and only fate can make Oedipus turn to the road where he kills his true father. Leaving Corinth makes Oedipus lose his childhood by making him worry of such issues young people should not have to worry about and becoming a king of a strange land. Last of all, Oedipus carries the last part of the prophecy out, marrying his mother. " I would... never have been known as my mother's husband. Oedipus has no control over the outcome of his life. Fate causes Oedipus to have known the answer to the Sphinx's riddle and win his marriage to his mother, Jocasta. Had fate not intervened, the chances of marrying Jocasta would have been small since there is an enourmous number of people and places to go. Oedipus loses his sense of dignity after he discovers he is not only a murderer, but also that he had committed incest.
When Oedipus was born he was taken to an Oracle, this was custom for the rich. The Oracle was to tell his fate. The Oracle said that when Oedipus grows up he will marry his mother and he would also kill his father, "... Why, Loxias declared that I should one day marry my own mother, And with my own hands shed my father's bool. Wherefore Corinth I have kept away far, for long years; and prosperd; none the less it is most sweet to see one's parents' face..."(p36 ln1-6). When his parents herd this they gave Oedipus to a man and he was to get rid of the baby by leaving it in the forest, but an servant of Polybus, the king of Corinth, finds the baby and brings him to the king. The king falls in love with the baby and takes him in as one of his own.
Oedipus was born in Corinth and later moved to Thebes. He killed his father and married his mother. He was king of Thebes. The name Oedipus stands for swollen foot which came from his own swollen foot. Oedipus and his mother , Jocasta, had four kids: Eteocles, Polyneices, Antigone, and Ismene. On his way to Thebes with the second shepherd to gain his possession, he came across his father, Laius. Laius was on his way to the Oracle, Oedipus and the chariot driver started arguing about who had the right of way. The fight ended with Oedipus killing the chariot driver and his father. When Oedipus got to Thebes he was honored and crowned king by Creon and his uncle. He came acrossed the Sphinx which asks everyone the same question and no
In Greek tragedy the natural forces are destructive. These forces might be nature, gods or fate. Man is helpless in facing these powers.
Oedipus accuses Teiresias in each play of withholding critical information. Both characters make similar decisions to attempt to withdraw themselves from the situation. Their motives, however, are distinctly different. Understanding these motives points paradoxically toward the individual fundamental differences between characters as well as their eventual thematic similarities. Sophocles' Teiresias is a reluctant prophet. He is in awe of the truth because he is powerless to change it. Teiresias does not own the truth; it was never his to possess. Instead, he exists as a passive agent, an intermediary, between present and future, gods and humanity. Because the truth is brutal, cruel, and possibly sometimes excessive and unjust even...
To destroy Oedipus, the gods granted the power of prophecy to oracles that delivered these prophecies to Laius and Jocasta. As a result, they kill their child to get rid of him and his terrible prophecies. Unfortunately, these prophecies came true because Oedipus didn’t know his real parents. If he had known his real parents, he wouldn’t have killed his father and married his mother.