“People of Thebes, my country, see: here is that Oedipus- he who “knew” the famous riddle, and attained the highest power, whom all citizens admired, even envying his luck!” (1530-1532). Oedipus the King, by Sophocles was performed in ancient Greece during a time when there was a great plague sweeping through the country, and people were sure the Gods were punishing them. Oedipus is the protagonist, abandoned on a mountain to die as an infant by his parents, saved and raised by another family, still cursed to kill his father, and marry his mother. Oedipus’ hubris and determination to find truth at any cost, while being blind to the many clues he is given until he is forced to see that he murdered his own father, lead to his ultimate …show more content…
ruination. Oedipus’ good qualities would be being empathetic, sympathetic and having determination, intelligence and being a man of action.
His negative qualities are his impatience and short fuse, his lack of common sense, fascism, and persistence. He displays his empathy in lines 6-7 when he declares “I thought it wrong, my sons, to hear your words through emissaries, and have come out myself…” Which show that he wants the people to know he cares personally about what is going on, and will be there to help in any way he can, which leads to his sympathy “…that I’ll do anything. How hard of heart if an appeal like this did not rouse my pity!” (12,13). Oedipus’ is intelligent, being able to solve the riddle of the Sphinx which no man had previously been able to answer “You came to Cadmus’ city and unbound the tax we had to pay the harsh singer, did it without a helpful word from us…” (35-37). Unfortunately, his common sense lacks when he is bombarded with clues to who truly is. “You live, unknowing, with those nearest to you in the greatest shame. You do not see the evil” …show more content…
(371-372). While most kings would sit around and wait for an answer, Oedipus is a man of action as seen in line 68-69 when he tells the people, “…and the single cure I found by careful search I’ve acted on: I sent for Menoeceus’ son…” attempting to find the underlying cause of the plaque and save his people.
Regrettably, he is also a fascist who believes “Authority must be maintained” (634), and would kill his own brother-in-law/uncle for being a traitor, as he struggles to realize that he, himself, is the actual traitor. Oedipus has very little patience, which is evident in lines 75-77 when he tells the priest, “Too long, more than is right, he’s been away. But when he comes, then I shall be a traitor if I do not do all that the god reveals.” Moreover, he is angered easily with a short fuse that can be seen when he is accusing Tiresias the prophet of being a liar and traitor, “Nothing? You vile traitor! You could provoke a stone to anger! You still refuse to tell?”
(339-340). Oedipus the King has dedicated determination, he is like a dog with a bone when he wants an answer, never wavering from his mission. He has amazing determination to help the people and goes to great lengths to find out who the killer is, “…Let someone go and summon Cadmus’ people: Say I’ll do anything” (144-145). His determination is clearly strong, nevertheless, his persistence is also the one thing that truly brings him down, as he just keeps pushing until he sees the horrible truth of the situation. “With clues like this within my grasp, give up?” (1061). Finality comes for Oedipus when his wife/mother kills herself and he uses the pins from her dress to blind himself. This is symbolic, for if he had not been so blind to the clues he was being offered, he would have known the truth, whereby, now that he can see the truth he must blind himself as punishment for his hubris and determination.
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.
Oedipus can be argued to be a sympathetic ruler of his people, "my heart must bear the strain of sorrow for all." (4). He shows a strong desire to rid the land of its despair. Yet as the reader captures a more in-depth glimpse into Oedipus' soul, we find him to be a jealous, stubborn, "blind", guilty, and sinful man. Oedipus' character outwardly seems to want nothing more than to find the guilty persons involved in the murder of Laius, yet when given obvious clues he turns a blind eye, not wanting to know the truth behind the prophecy.
"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.
Oedipus the King conveys many lessons that are relevant to people living today despite the fact that it was written by Sophocles twenty four centuries ago. Oedipus is a child destined to kill his father and marry his mother. During his life, he makes many mistakes trying to avoid his fate. These mistakes teach us about the nature of humans under certain circumstances. Oedipus possesses personality traits which causes him to make wrong decisions. Attributes like arrogance and his inability to make calm decisions in certain scenarios due to his anger causes his downfall. Oedipus’ excessive pride, like many people today, was an important factor that brought him grief. Oedipus’ lack of patience caused him to make hasty decisions which lead him to his greatest agony. Oedipus’ massive ego turned into excessive vanity, this was the first step to his downfall. Oedipus talks to Creon about the murderer of Laius. He declares, “Then I’ll go back and drag that shadowed past to light… but by myself and for myself I’ll break this plague” (Sophocles, 11). Oedipus is saying that he will be the on...
Sophocles, an ancient Greek poet, had produced the play Oedipus the King. This work of his would become known as the original Greek tragedy. Oedipus, the king of Thebes, is thought very highly of by his people for his success of solving the riddle of the sphinx and ultimately saving them. He basks in the glory and praise of his accomplishment on a day to day basis. " Now we [Chorus] pray to you. You cannot equal the gods, your children know that, bending at your altar. But we rate you first of men, both in common cries of our lives and face-to-face encounters with the gods." (Sophocles: 39-43). In the play, Oedipus must find the killer of Thebes' late king, Laius , in order to relieve the people of a plague. He later goes on to wrongly accusing others of conspiring against him and of being the cause of the Thebeans' suffering and, on t...
The final trait that was Oedipus' greatest enemy throughout the entirety of the play was his own truthfulness. Whenever new facts presented themselves, Oedipus gave them an honest look. As soon as it was suspect that Oedipus was involved, he acknowledged it; "I think that I myself may be accurst by my own ignorant edict".
Sophocles' Oedipus the King as Nothing More Than a Detective Story. The play “Oedipus the King” is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles in the early days of antiquity and is based upon an ancient story in Greek mythology. It was written around a time when Rome was in power. and Athens was the centre of the world.
Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles around 430 BC, is one of, if not the most, important and influential tragedy ever written. It became the base for most of the tragedies written since. In spite of the fact that some of the story line may seem a little out of place now, parallels can be very easily drawn with the present time. Even though it was written over 2000 years ago, Oedipus the King is still fitting and applicable in today's society.
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 led 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 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.
Odysseus portrays himself as anything but a hero throughout Homer’s The Odyssey. Odysseus goes through his life believing he is the best. He has no regard for anyone’s feelings but his own, and he believes nothing and no one can harm him, not even the gods. Odysseus feels he is always the leader and no one can tell him otherwise. Odysseus should not be considered a hero because he portrays himself as a selfish man that failed his crew, and is controlled by his hubris.
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.
Oedipus is a man of great wit and cleverness. He has solved the riddle of the Sphinx and even Teresias says: "It’s in riddle answering you are strongest" (29). But Sophocles understands that it is better to be wise than to be clever, and that the one does ...
Sophocles’ Oedipus is the tragedy of tragedies. An honorable king is deceived and manipulated by the gods to the point of his ruination. In the face of ugly consequences Oedipus pursues the truth for the good of his city, finally exiling himself to restore order. Sophocles establishes emotional attachment between the king and the audience, holding them in captivated sympathy as Oedipus draws near his catastrophic discovery. Oedipus draws the audience into a world between a rock and a hard place, where sacrifice must be made for the greater good.
Oedipus was willing to die to uncover the truth. Closure was needed for Oedipus the individual and Oedipus the king. Despite this need for closure, Oedipus remained blind to the clues in his path, plainly dismissing the ideas of other characters. Oedipus’ passion for knowledge was at least as strong as his blindness to the clues in his path. This blindness can be attributed to his pride. This pride gradually developed from h...