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Fate and free will in greek tragedy
Analysis of all the characters in the play "king Oedipus as presented by Sophocles
Utility of Oedipus Rex to both traditional Greek society and modern society
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In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Teiresias is presented to us as a bit of a troubled old man, however through his confusion he is extremely wise and is the only person in the story who seems to know the whole truth. Teiresias shows that Oedipus defines the term of self-determinism by telling all the people whom Oedipus rules that Oedipus was the one who murdered their previous ruler, King Laius, sealing his own fate forever. Initially, Teiresias does not want to tell Oedipus the truth, however after Oedipus persuades him to tell Teiresias says, “I say you live in hideous shame with those/Most dear to you. You can not see the evil.” (Sophocles, 20), Teiresias attempts to make his point sink in with Oedipus by using these harmful words towards Oedipus.
The metaphor is presented by “the pack of sure-foot Fates” which refers to a pack of hounds that will catch their target no matter what and track them down. Significantly proving that it is impossible to escape your fate, yet alone outrunning a pack hounds. This is an image of a pack of hounds tracking the killer in a Forest. The symbol on the collar is to portray them as Fate. The dark figure of the Laius’ murderer is not known to the chorus. However, they believe that Fate will not fail to track down the killer. The words “the pack of sure-foot fates will track” invokes a visual sense of a scene with trained canines desperately looking for a target.
To start off, Oedipus could not know himself when he did not know his past and where he came from. This quote states " How fair a child then I seemed ,how foul the canker...fruit(p 39)" which means Oedipus never knew he was adopted and always believed Poybus and Merope to be his biological parents. The fact that he was unaware of this fact also led to him being in denial of the prophecy later on, thus rejecting his true identity. After provoking him into telling, Teiresias says "You are the man, The accurseed polluter of this land. " (p. 11) Oedipus however doesn't believe him
Within these two passages, Teiresias is explaining to Oedipus that the Prophecy admitted he killed his father. Oedipus is denying the fact that he killed his father and looking passed the problem. In the play Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, Sophocles uses rhetorical devices to explain to the readers that Teiresias may be blind, but is seeing through the lie that Oedipus is living, while striking him the truth; this is explained through imagery, metaphors, an allusion, and ethos appeal.
In Sophocles’ Oedipus The King, King Oedipus of Thebes is confronted. and strangely obsessed with the mystery of who killed Laios. former king of Thebes, for a great plague has overtaken the city of. Thebes because of this murder. During his quest for the truth, he begins to discover that the answer to his query is also the answer to another disturbing mystery about himself, who am I?
In the play when Oedipus asks Teiresias to reveal the murderer of King Laois, Teiresias blames Oedipus as the murderer and Oedipus denies the blame and gets angry on Teiresias. The chorus even denies the blame on Oedipus and takes Oedipus’ side. The chorus says the following lines to protect Oedipus “This is the king who solved the famous riddle, and towered up, most powerful of men. No mortal eyes but looked on him with envy, Yet in the end ruin swept over him”(Freud 988). Oedipus on the other hand who is really mad at Teiresias blames him and Creon for plotting against him. As Oedipus was blind from the start he was unaware of his origins which will cause him to trigger the unavoidable chain of events that would lead to the fulfilment of the prophecy. But he didn’t knew the fate itself was unavoidable. The irony of theme sight and blindness is produced here when Oedipus is compared to Teiresias. Oedipus who is not blind and has the capability to see with both of his eyes doesn’t finds anything wrong in killing a man, who he later discovers was King Laois and his group. He even took over the throne of Thebes and was found to be lying with his mother thinking her as his wife and having babies with her. On the other hand is Teiresias who is really blind and unable to see than...
However, that one trait did not alone take away his position of high authority. Oedipus displayed anger throughout the whole story, which did not help him at all. During the story, we learn of Oedipus' anger as he knocked a passerby at the meeting of the three highways; "I struck him in my rage". Later, this passerby whom he angrily and quickly killed, was revealed to be Laios, Oedipus' father. Oedipus' anger also quickly shifted his judgment of Teiresias. "We are in your [Teiresias] hands. There is no fairer duty", Oedipus' respect for Teiresias quickly changed as Teiresias refused to tell of what was the trouble's cause. Oedipus began claiming that "Creon has brought this decrepit fortune teller" to mean that Teiresias was thought of as a traitor in Oedipus' thinking. Oedipus' anger is also shown as he begins to insult Teiresias by calling him a "wicked old man". Oedipus' anger throughout the beginning of the play hindered himself.
The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that the events in Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, are the result of the hero’s self determination and restless attempt to escape a terrifying destiny predicted for him by the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. My intention is to prove that although the Fates play a crucial part in the story, it is Oedipus'choices and wrong doing that ultimately lead to his downfall.
In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles uses a philosophical sense to portray a theme of human will versus fate. Choragos explains to Oedipus that he does not know who the murderer of King Laius, the previous king of Thebes, is. Choragos asks the oracle if it can tell him where to find the murderer. Oedipus responds saying, “But no man in the world can make the gods do more than the gods will” (Sophocles, Oedipus Rex.1.1.267-268), which one can infer that the Greek gods, whom the characters in Oedipus Rex believe in, are very influential in Grecian every day life. Oedipus is stating that the Greek gods have the power to do whatever pleases them and may not grant a wish if one asks. Later on, Oedipus meets with Teiresias, a blind soothsayer who tells Oedipus that Oedipus himself is the murderer of King Laius. Oedipus does not believe Teiresias and alludes to him that he cannot hurt him. When Teiresias responds saying, “True: it is not from me your fate will come. That lies within Apollo’s competence, as it is his concern” (Sophocle...
In "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex," E. R. Dodds takes issue with three different opinions on Oedipus Rex. I consider the first two opinions, which Dodds gleaned from student papers, to be defensible from a close reading of the text. The first of these opinions is that Oedipus was a bad man, and was therefore punished by the gods; Dodds counters that Sophocles intended for us to regard him as good, noble, and selfless. But the play would seem to indicate that Oedipus, while a clever man, is not a good one -- this can be shown through Dodds' own source of argument, the attitude of the chorus, as well as through Oedipus' own actions onstage. Oedipus does not, as Dodds asserts, unselfishly seek out the truth even though he knows it will be painful for him; rather, he has no idea what the outcome of his search will be, denies the truth at every turn, and threatens those who speak it. The second conclusion drawn by students -- that Oedipus' actions are entirely determined by the gods, who control him completely -- Dodds pooh-poohs on the grounds that Oedipus is a free agent, acting on his own initiative. In fact, Dodds states, the idea of free will vs. determinism is a Hellenistic thought and would not have even occured to an audience of Sophocles' time. I believe that, as all of Oedipus' actions, including those over the course of the play, were determined before his birth, and he cannot avoid them although it is his will to do so, those actions cannot be construed as real choice. This play contains many post-Sophoclean ideas, such as denial, that (while not yet named by Greek society) still were understood by the audience.
Oedipus Rex”, by Socrates, is a play that shows the fault of men and the ultimate power of the gods. Throughout the play, the main character, Oedipus, continually failed to recognize the fault in human condition, and these failures let to his ultimate demise. Oedipus failed to realize that he, himself was the true answer to the riddle of the Sphinx. Oedipus ignored the truth told to him by the oracles and the drunk at the party, also. These attempts to get around his fate which was determined by the gods was his biggest mistake. Oedipus was filled with hubris and this angered the gods. He believed he was more that a man. These beliefs cause him to ignore the limits he had in being a man. Oedipus needed to look at Teiresias as his window to his future.
First off, Teiresias is hinting at the fact that Oedipus’ relationship with Jocasta is a “sinful union” (Sophocles 36). Oedipus is unable to make the connection between what Teiresias is saying and his own prophecy. Oedipus does not want to acknowledge the fact that he has committed a sin and he avoids learning the truth by remaining ignorant of his true parentage. On top of this, when Teiresias outright tells Oedipus that “the killer [he is] seeking is [himself]” (Sophocles 36). Oedipus refuses to believe this and instead accuses Teiresias of lying and plotting against him. Oedipus, as a known intelligent character, should have listened to Teiresias, who is known for being a wise man; instead, Oedipus puts the blame on Teiresias. Teiresias then goes on to foreshadow that the “taunts” (Sophocles 36) Oedipus is throwing at him will “someday [be] cast at [him]” (Sophocles 36). Oedipus does not take the warning of Teiresias seriously instead he continues to insult Teiresias. Oedipus’ inability to face the truth will result in him being banned and blinding himself for his ignorance. Similarly, Jocasta attempts to prevent Oedipus from gaining knowledge by explaining that “[i]t makes no difference now” (Sophocles 55) and to “[f]orget” (Sophocles 55) what has been told to him. Jocasta not only tries to stop Oedipus from learning the truth, she also tries to stop herself from verifying the truth, this later results in her unfortunate suicide. Also, Jocasta’s ignorance and inability to discover Oedipus’ true past causes her to commit incest, a major sin. Jocasta and Oedipus committing this sin then result in the God’s punishing Thebes. Showing that, ignorance leads to
Sophocles, a Greek author and philosopher, created a magnificent work of literature, Oedipus Rex. Oedipus Rex describes the legendary tales that King Oedipus of Thebes took in order to confirm that his biological parents were King Polybus of Corinth and his wife Merope. This tragedy of fate explores the depths of modern psychoanalysis as Oedipus unwittingly kills his father and marries his mother in an attempt to avoid the very prophecy he ultimately fulfills. The play was created by Sophocles, an intellectual philosopher that was born in 495 B.C. about a mile northwest of Athens. Sophocles has become one of the most prominent playwrights of the golden age. He was a son of a wealthy merchant, therefore, he enjoyed all the benefits of a thriving Greek empire. As an accomplished actor, Sophocles performed in many of his own plays, such as Oedipus Rex. The famous Sophocles is known as one of the greatest innovators of the theatre. The Theatre of Dionysus is where the greatest playwrights performed their infamous tales, it was a major open-air theatre build in Athens, the theatre was dedicated to the god of wine and fertility, it hosted the City Dionysia festival. The Theatre of Dionysus is where Oedipus Rex is first acknowledged to the world. Oedipus Rex embodies the nature of life and society in ancient Greece.
In Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex, the motif of blindness conveys the deep distinction between physically seeing and being mentally aware. When Oedipus lost his sight, all he had left was his knowledge and this caused him to learn things about himself that would not have otherwise been discovered. Oedipus tried to insult Teiresias by calling his life “one long night so that you cannot hurt me or any other who sees the light” (Sophocles 434-435). Oedipus believed that Teiresias is inadequate due to his loss of sight. In truth, Oedipus was the one who was blinded to his future, while Teiresias was able to clearly see the dreadful events in Oedipus’ fate. Oedipus continued to disparage Teiresias by saying that the Teiresias’ truth was not valid
Oedipus’ epiphany is truthful in his current state, but his decision in failing to recognize his sin before his realization ultimately makes his epiphany invalid, and its sole purpose is to only assist him in receiving sympathy from the citizens of Thebes. Sophocles uses the phrase “this evil is mine” to suggest how Oedipus has matured through the course of his life, taking responsibility for his own sinful actions and behaviors. Certainly, Oedipus is filled with regret, and Sophocles even uses repetition on the word “guilt” to symbolize how this emotion has devoured his entire life into despair, where “sorrow” and “guilt” intertwine by force. Truly, as Sophocles comments, the ramification of making a sinful decision prompts an act of retribution from the gods in deciding the miserable fate of an individual through his rebellion towards evil against the supernatural. Thus, in the tale of Oedipus and his jinxed fate, Sophocles expresses Oedipus’ prideful attitude that is rooted towards hubris and the overconfidence it buys to illustrate the vicious cycle of the sinful decisions we make and the sudden awareness of how our own tragic flaw would lead us into impending trouble and overwhelming
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.