The Role Of Reversality In Oedipus The King

370 Words1 Page

Oedipus in the play Oedipus Rex experiences a reversal of fortune, discovery of truth and an abundance of calamity due to a series of events that occurred. Oedipus faced a transposal of fortune through his attempts of running away in order to abstain from his predetermined fate. Initially, Oedipus was discarded by his biological parents to prevent the fortune from surpassing; he eventually encircled his destiny and ran away from his adopted parents and went right back into the midst of his natal parents. Oedipus enfaced an unexpected reversal as he unknowingly fulfilled his fate of killing his biological father and put a curse on himself, “Now my curse on the murderer. Whoever he is, a lone man unknown in his crime or one among many,

Show More
Related

  • Theme Of Honor In Oedipus Rex

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus Rex is a Greek play written by Sophocles. The play is set in Thebes; Thebes is infected with a plague that is killing its crops and unborn children. This plague is caused by the prophecy. The prophecy states that Oedipus would kill his father and wed his mother. Laius threw out Oedipus when he was a baby to avoid this fate, but he failed because Oedipus was not killed. Oedipus was raised as a prince in Corinth. One day he was told the prophecy and feared that he would kill his father Polybus. While running away from Corinth to escape the prophecy, Oedipus killed Laius. When Oedipus arrived in Thebes, he freed the people from the sphinx. He was named king and married Jocasta. Towards the end of the play, Oedipus finds out that he had fulfilled the prophecy and is exiled from Thebes.

    Read More

  • Misconception in Oedipus the King

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    take the boy out and kill him when he was still a child.  The kind old shepard

    Read More

  • The Selfishness of Oedipus in Oedipus the King

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles

    444 Words  | 1 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • The Inescapable Web

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    A son who kills his own father, marries his own mother, and is both the father and brother of his mother’s children. Oedipus, meaning “swollen foot”, grows up with adopted parents and a brooding prophecy on his heels. The frightful tale of Oedipus and his indescribable fate play out in the Greek theatrical production of Oedipus Rex. The horrible destiny for Oedipus is inevitable due to the unfavorable traits given to him by the author, Sophocles. Throughout Oedipus Rex, Sophocles masterfully weaves Oedipus’ fatal traits of naiveté, arrogance, and curiosity into the intriguing plot.

    Read More

  • Oedipus: Riddle of the Sphinx as a Metaphor of Life

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus Rex (the King), written by Sophocles, is the tragic play depicting the disastrous existence to which Oedipus, an Athenian, is 'fated' to endure. With a little help from the gods and the 'fated' actions and decisions of Oedipus, an almost unthinkable misfortune unfolds. Athenian perfection can consist of intelligence, self-confidence, and a strong will. Oedipus, the embodiment of such perfection, and his tragedy are common place to Athenians. Ironically, the very same exact characteristics that bring about the ominous discovery of Oedipus' fate: to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus' 'fated' decisions entangle everyone whom is of any significance to him within a quagmire of spiraling tragedy. Sophocles uses the riddle of the Sphinx as a metaphor for the three phases of Oedipus' entangled life, the three phases of human life, and to describe how every life-changing action or decision can influence other lives.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: A Painful Path to Truth

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    The play "Oedipus Rex" is a very full and lively one to say the least. Everything a reader could ask for is included in this play. There is excitement, suspense, happiness, sorrow, and much more. Truth is the main theme of the play. Oedipus cannot accept the truth as it comes to him or even where it comes from. He is blinded in his own life, trying to ignore the truth of his life. Oedipus will find out that truth is rock solid. The story is mainly about a young man named Oedipus who is trying to find out more knowledge than he can handle. The story starts off by telling us that Oedipus has seen his moira, his fate, and finds out that in the future he will end up killing his father and marrying his mother. Thinking that his mother and father were Polybos and Merope, the only parents he knew, he ran away from home and went far away so he could change his fate and not end up harming his family. Oedipus will later find out that he cannot change fate because he has no control over it, only the God's can control what happens. Oedipus is a very healthy person with a strong willed mind who will never give up until he gets what he wants. Unfortunately, in this story these will not be good trait to have.

    Read More

  • Examining Self Exile in Greek Mythology as a Defense Mechanism

    1600 Words  | 4 Pages

    The myth of Oedipus Rex includes self exile as a way for Oedipus to cope with the fate that he has suffered and worked his whole life to prevent. At the end of the play Oedipus Rex, Oedipus gouges out his own eyes because he realizes that he has fulfilled a prophecy told to him at the beginning the play that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He was so intent on not fulfilling this gruesome prediction that when he was told that the man who he thought was his father had died, he exclaimed:

    Read More

  • tragoed Comparing Tragedy in Hamlet and Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex)

    624 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus is the main character in the play Oedipus the King. Oedipus is thought of as a tragic figure because he was doomed from birth. Tiresias, an old blind prophet, told Oedipus' parents about Oedipus' fate. He told them that Oedipus would kill his father and sleep with his mother. So, his parents decided to have him killed, only it did not happen that way. He was passed off by two shepherds and finally to the King and Queen of Corinth, Polybus and Merope to raise him as their own. Oedipus finds his way back to Thebes and on the way kills his father, but Oedipus did not know that one of the men he killed was his real father. This is the beginning of the prophecy coming true. In short Oedipus obtains the throne, Marries his mother and has kids with her. Oedipus' fate has come together without him even realizing what is going on. Eventually he is told what has happened and asks to be banished by his uncle/brother-in-law Creon. The tragedy in Oedipus' life began with his birth and the realization by his parents that his whole life was doomed.

    Read More

  • Free Essays - The Themes of Oedipus the King (Rex)

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Catastrophe Of Oedipus

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play, Oedipus Tyrannus, Sophocles, illustrates how fate and free will could determine one 's destiny. Sophocles is a well-known tragedian who wrote more than one-hundred Greek dramas for Greek festivals. While his plays entertained countless people in Greek carnivals in his plays also made his intended audience to become acquainted with Athens’ government, social forms as well as its’ religion. In this play the main character, Oedipus, is represented as a man of sudden action, honest, and great insight. Oedipus unintentionally had fulfilled his own fate, stating that he will kill his father and marry his mother. While both fate and free will had resulted in Oedipus’ fate, the choices Oedipus made in his own

    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

  • Analysis Of Oedipus Rex By Sophocles

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sophocles was completely ahead of his time and employed these rules in Oedipus Rex. Aristotle often cites this play throughout Poetics (Elsom 78). The story tells the audience what happened in one day, one scene and one place (outside the palace in Thebes.) Included in this perfect mix of a great piece of tragedy was the the concept of “Catharsis”. The idea of Catharsis occurs throughout the play, "Catharsis was an emotional cleansing felt by the audience where all the emotional tensions of the tragedy would be resolved." (Segal 146). The best tragic plot is another decisive factor for Aristotle to claim that this tragedy is a brilliant representation of a perfect tragedy. Aristotle was fond of "the plausibility of the reversal (peripeteia) and the dramatic irony" (Segal 146). Anagnorisis or truth awareness in the play coincides with the reverse in fortunes of Oedipus (Segal 18). Aristotle claims that the audience realizes and intellectualizes the play and the emotional pathos of the reversal (Segal 146). Aristotle explained that Oedipus failed, because he suffered much from his ambiguous self-identification. According to critics, "…Oedipus suffered from tragic flaws of character, his vain curiosity in consulting the oracle about his birth, his pride in refusing to yield the way on his return from the oracle, and his fury and violence in attacking four

    Read More

  • The Role of Fate in Oedipus Rex

    809 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the play, Oedipus tries to change his fate. When he confirms through two messengers and an oracle that he is destined to marry his mother and kill his father, he completely panics. He knows that is something he definitely wants to avoid, so he decided he would attempt to change his fate. But at that time, he did not realize that your fate is your fate and it will not change.

    Read More

  • The Perfect Aristotelian Tragedy: Oedipus the King

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus the King has the ingredients necessary for the plot of a good tragedy, including the peripeteia. According to Aristotle, a peripeteia is necessary for a good plot. Peripeteia is "a reversal in his fortune from happiness to disaster" (Abrams 322). Oedipus's reversal of fortune occurs when he realizes that he is the son of Laius and Jocasta. The messenger comes to Oedipus assuming that he will relieve the King of the fear that he will kill his own father as predicted by the Oracle. But by revealing the secret that Oedipus is not who he thinks he is and he was found and he was given to his father Polybus, the messenger does the opposite. The messenger makes Oedipus more fearful instead and he reverses Oedipus' life. The Chorus says, "You are my great example, you, your life your destiny, Oedipus, man of misery - I count no man blest" (1318-20). The Chorus states that its idea of human happiness is now destroyed by Oedipus's reversal of fortune.

    Read More

More about The Role Of Reversality In Oedipus The King

Open Document