Oedipus the King
Table of contents.
Tiresias says to Oedipus, “Creon is not your downfall, no, you are your own.” What is the extent of Oedipus’ guilt in his own downfall?
- “Oedipus the King demonstrates that the quest for truth only leads to self-destruction.” Discuss.
- What does the play have to say about fate and free will?
- “The play is about Oedipus’ search for his identity.” Discuss.
- “What should a man fear? It’s all about chance, / chance rules our lives.” Discuss Jocasta’s philosophy about life.
- Discuss the dual role of the Chorus.
- What do the choral odes have to say about the relationship between humans and the gods?
- What are Oedipus’ feelings about family?
- Evidence Bank
Oedipus the King is a classic Greek tragedy by Sophocles about the downfall of Oedipus, a heroic yet ill-fated character who was prophesied to slay his father and marry his mother. Oedipus finds himself caught in a dilemma between his determination to unwind the tangled threads of his history, or avoid undermining everything he knows about his life. The premise of the ancient play reminds audiences of the cruel nature of fate and the importance of making good decisions. Yet Oedipus himself is a complex character who does his best to exercise free choice within the restraints of his fate, which lends itself to the argument surrounding the extent of his guilt in his eventual downfall. To a large extent, Oedipus is responsible for his horrible actions that drive him to fulfil the prophecy given to him at birth, such as his violent nature which drives him to slay his father, as well as his incessant drive to seek the truth about himself. Yet as the ancient Greeks would have it, despite taking extensive manoeuvres to avoid his terrible future, Oedipus may have been a prisoner of his own fate and thus remain guiltless.
Oedipus the King, a timeless Greek tragedy penned by Sophocles, unfolds the tragic descent of Oedipus, a heroic figure ensnared in the ominous prophecy of patricide and matrimony with his mother/incest. Confronted with the formidable choice between unraveling the intricacies of his lineage and preserving the foundation of his perceived reality, Oedipus grapples with a profound dilemma. The narrative serves as a poignant reminder of the inexorable cruelty of destiny and the consequential significance of judicious decision-making.Oedipus, a character of intricate depth, endeavors to wield volition amidst the constricting threads of his foretold destiny, thereby fueling debates about the degree of culpability in his eventual downfall. While Oedipus bears considerable responsibility for the grievous deeds that propel him toward the fulfillment of his preordained fate—such as his proclivity for violence leading to the slaying of his parents—he also exhibits an unwavering determination to unveil the veracity of his existence.Yet, adhering to the ancient Greek ethos, Oedipus, despite his concerted efforts to circumvent the ominous prophecy, remains ensnared in the inexorable web of fate, prompting contemplation about his potential innocence. In essence, Oedipus, despite his extensive manoeuvres to avert a calamitous destiny, emerges as a captive of his predetermined path, thereby challenging conventional notions of guilt and culpability.
Oedipus’ violent and aggressive nature, as shown by his various impulsive actions, can be said to be a defining factor which led him to the actions of his downfall. Even considering the audience’s knowledge of his horrible fate, there is no question that his nature lends itself to his questionable actions. For example, Oedipus testifies to Jocasta that the man he killed, Laius, was “accompanied by a herald”, thus announcing to the world that he was a king. Yet Oedipus, despite having been raised as royalty himself, does not hold himself back in the slaughter of Laius, the herald, and multiple others. This can be interpreted in several ways: either his impulsivity and pride led him to rashly kill Laius and his followers, thus cementing his guilt in his own fate, or that the threads of fate led him to make that decision in that moment. Either way, there is little doubt that it was simply part of Oedipus’ nature, as there is little other justification for his violent actions. In a similar way, his dogged determination to uncover the truth of his past turns him hostile and abusive, revealing his hubris; when Tiresias does tell him the truth about what he seeks, he does not listen as he is consumed by paranoia. His aberrant character flaws are thus determinant of his guilt in his own downfall.
Oedipus’ propensity for violence and aggression, manifested through impulsive actions, emerges as a pivotal factor contributing to his eventual downfall. Despite the audience’s awareness of his inexorable fate, there is an unequivocal acknowledgment that his inherent nature propels him towards morally ambiguous deeds. Notably, Oedipus, while recounting to Jocasta the slaying of Laius, explicitly highlights the regal stature of his victim, accompanied by a herald. Paradoxically, even though Oedipus himself was nurtured in royal surroundings, he fails to restrain his carnage, perpetrating the ruthless murder of Laius, the herald, and others. This dichotomy invites interpretations that either his impetuosity and pride precipitated the hasty annihilation, cementing his culpability in his tragic destiny, or that the inexorable threads of fate coerced him into that fateful decision.Moreover, Oedipus’ unwavering commitment to unraveling the truth of his origins transforms him into a hostile and abusive figure, laying bare the depths of his hubris. When Tiresias imparts the veracious revelation he seeks, Oedipus, ensnared by paranoia, remains deaf to reason. His anomalous character flaws thus serve as decisive elements substantiating his complicity in the tragic unraveling of his own fate.
In addition to his violent nature, Oedipus’ incessant seeking of the truth also leads him to his downfall. As the play opens, the audience learns that Oedipus is at the height of his success, as he had already become a great ruler of Thebes, revered by many for “defeating the Sphinx”. This only lends itself to demonstrate the great downfall that he will face at the hands of his own curiosity. Later, when Jocasta tells the tale of Laius’ death to Oedipus, he begins to doubt himself, in that he is indeed the murderer he is seeking. However, despite understanding the consequences, this does nothing to stop the momentum of his investigation. Oedipus refuses to consider Jocasta’s advice that he “live at random, best we can” and according to chance. Instead, he is so fixated on getting to the bottom of the truth by calling for the old shepherd who saved him when he was a baby. Oedipus is aware of the consequences, that “if he refers to one man, one alone, / clearly the scales come down on me: / I am guilty”. Even as the shepherd, like Tiresias, demonstrates reluctance to tell Oedipus what he knows, he insists that the truth must come out. Moreover, when Jocasta collapses in despair, Oedipus remains fervent in his determination to discover his true identity, proclaiming that “I must know it all, / must see the truth at last”. In the end, it is this unwavering confidence and determination for the truth that ultimately leads him to his downfall.
However, despite these interpretations, it can also be said that Oedipus was merely a prisoner of his own fate, indicating that all the questionable actions he took were merely part of his destiny, no matter how hard he tried to avoid it. Through this interpretation, Oedipus is guiltless as there was no way to avoid his fate. Many attempts to avoid Oedipus’ tragic fate appear in the play, yet he still fulfilled it regardless. Jocasta and Laius cast him out as a mere infant; Oedipus exiles himself from his adopted parents in fear that ill would befall them (and not his birth parents). Yet it is fate that drives him towards Thebes and to the crossroads where he slew Laius, where there was no reason to kill Laius, but he was driven to do so anyway. Fate rewards him cruelly with Jocasta as a wife after besting the Sphinx. Lastly, fate drives him to pursue the truth of his past, driving home the final punishment of exile and blindness set by himself. There appeared the illusion of free will in his choices, but Oedipus was ultimately driven to make horrible choices which resulted in the fulfillment of the prophecy. Hence, Sophocles presents the cruel reality that even though characters may take extensive manoeuvres to avoid committing the crimes of their fate, they will be compelled to commit abhorrent acts in order to fulfill their destinies.
Overall, Oedipus himself is a complex character: the extent of his guilt depends on how much the audience places value on his personal choices or the prison of his fate. It is true that his nature lends itself to the interpretation of his own guilt in his actions. However, given the context of ancient Greece where individuals were commonly understood to be prisoner of their own fate, there may have been no way for him to avoid the consequences. Hence, while Oedipus was ill-fated from birth, Sophocles aimed to imbue audiences with the moral that one’s choices are highly important to the outcome of their lives.
“ Oedipus the King demonstrates that the quest for truth only leads to self-destruction. ” Discuss.
A Summary and Analysis of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The plot of Sophocles’ great tragedy Oedipus the King (sometimes known as Oedipus Rex or Oedipus Tyrannos ) has long been admired. In his Poetics , Aristotle held it up as the exemplary Greek tragedy . Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it one of the three perfect plots in all of literature (the other two being Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist and Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones ).
Oedipus the King might also be called the first detective story in Western literature. Yet how well do we know Sophocles’ play? And what does a closer analysis of its plot features and themes reveal?
The city of Thebes is in the grip of a terrible plague. The city’s king, Oedipus, sends Creon to consult the Delphic oracle, who announces that if the city rids itself of a murderer, the plague will disappear. The murderer in question is the unknown killer of the city’s previous king, Laius. Oedipus adopts a sort of detective role, and endeavours to sniff out the murderer.
He himself is plagued by another prophecy: that he would one day kill his father and marry his mother. He thinks he’s managed to thwart the prophecy by leaving home – and his parents – back in Corinth. On his way from Corinth to Thebes, he had an altercation with a man on the road: neither party would back down to let the other past, and Oedipus ended up killing the man in perhaps Western literature’s first instance of road rage.
Then Oedipus learns that his ‘father’ back in Corinth was not his biological parent: he was adopted after his ‘real’ parents left him for dead on a hillside, and he was rescued by a kindly shepherd who rescued him, took the child in, and raised him as his own. (The name Oedipus is Greek for ‘swollen foot’, from the chains put through the infant’s feet when it was left on the mountain.)
Tiresias the seer then reveals that the man Oedipus killed on the road was Laius – the former king of Thebes and (shock horror! Twist!) Oedipus’ biological father. Laius’ widow, Jocasta, is Oedipus’ own mother – and the woman Oedipus had married upon his arrival in Thebes.
When this terrible truth is revealed, Jocasta hangs herself, and Oedipus puts out his own eyes and leaves Thebes, going into self-imposed exile so he can free the Thebans from the plague.
This much constitutes a brief recap or summary of the plot of Oedipus the King . How we should interpret and analyse its use of prophecy and Oedipus’ own culpability, however, remains a less clear-cut matter. Is Oedipus to blame for what happens to him? Or is he simply a pawn of the gods and fates, to be used according to their whim?
Eventually, the nemesis can take no more and raises an army against Winter Kay. One of his soldiers, bearing a golden badge that resembles an eye in shape, is the one who kills Winter Kay in battle. In his dying moments, the hapless villain realises that, in seeking to avert the prophecy, he had, in fact, helped it to come true.
This is similar to the story of Oedipus the King . Oedipus heard the prophecy that he would one day murder his father and marry his mother, and so fled from his presumed parents so as to avoid fulfilling the prophecy. Such an act seems noble and it was jolly bad luck that fate had decreed that Oedipus would turn out to be a foundling and his real parents were still out there for him to bump into.
But what is clever about Sophocles’ dramatising of the myth is the way he introduces little details which reveal Oedipus’ character. The clues were already there that Oedipus was actually adopted: when he received the prophecy from the oracle, a drunk told him as much. But because the man was drunk, Oedipus didn’t believe him.
But, as the Latin phrase has it, in vino veritas . Then, it is Oedipus’ hubris, his pride, that contributes to the altercation on the road between him and Laius, the man who turns out to be his real father: if Oedipus was less stubborn, he would have played the bigger man and stepped aside to let Laius pass.
What does all this mean, when we stop and analyse it in terms of the interplay between fate and personal actions in Oedipus the King ? It means that Sophocles was aware of something which governs all our lives. Call it ‘karma’ if you will, or fate, but it works even if we remove the supernatural framework into which the action of Oedipus the King is placed.
Our actions have consequences, but that doesn’t mean that a particular action will lead to a particular consequence: it means that one action might cause something quite different to happen, which will nevertheless be linked in some way to our lives. A thief steals your wallet and you never see him, or your wallet, again. Did the criminal get away with it? Maybe.
Or maybe his habit of taking an intrusive interest in other people’s wallets will lead him, somewhere down the line, to getting what the ancient Greeks didn’t call ‘his comeuppance’. He wasn’t punished for pilfering your possessions, but he will nevertheless receive his just deserts.
Oedipus kills Laius because he is a stubborn and angry man; in his anger and pride, he allows himself to forget the prophecy (or to believe himself safe if he kills this man who definitely isn’t his father, no way ), and to kill another man. That one event will set in motion a chain of events that will see him married to his mother, the city over which he rules in the grip of plague, and – ultimately – Oedipus blinded and his wife/mother hanged.
Or perhaps that’s to impose a modern reading onto a classical text which Sophocles himself would not recognise. Yet works of art are always opening themselves up to new readings which see them reflecting our changing and evolving moral beliefs, and that is perhaps why Oedipus the King remains a great play to read, watch, analyse, and discuss. There remains something unsettling about its plot structure and its ambiguous meaning, and that is what lends it its power.
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7 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King”
Reblogged this on Writing hints and competitions and commented: Insight, the fate that launched a thousand clips
Wonderful analysis. Thank you. ~~dru~~
Thank you :)
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An Ultimate Guide to Oedipus The King
Sophocles’ tragic play, Oedipus the King, depicts a spectacular deterioration of its titular protagonist as he realises the truth of his own past: that he has killed his own father, and committed incest with his mother. Resisting reality at every point, Oedipus tirelessly drives an investigation into who killed the previous king, Laius, undoing himself and his family in the process. The initial stakes of the play – the plague wracking Thebes – fade into insignificance, overtaken by the psychological ruin of Oedipus which culminates in his striking, climactic self-punishment: the gouging out of his own eyes. Yet it is abnormally unclear exactly what the fatal flaw ( hamartia) of the protagonist actually is, and that muddies the thematic or moral messages of the play. What – if anything – did Oedipus do wrong?
Perception: sight, blindness, light and introspection
“You with your precious eyes, you’re blind to the corruption of your life, to the house you live in, those you live with— who are your parents? Do you know? All unknowing you are the scourge of your own flesh and blood, the dead below the earth and the living here above, and the double lash of your mother and your father’s curse will whip you from this land one day, their footfall treading you down in terror, darkness shrouding your eyes that now can see the light! ”
Oedipus is characterised by a fundamental blindness to himself and his surroundings. Unaware of his heritage, and unthinking of his own past, Oedipus consistently makes incorrect assumptions. His instinct in response to Tiresias’ message is to accuse Creon of unfounded conspiracy; he presumes that Jocasta is terrified of him being born to a slave. These assumptions not only ignore the evidence unfolding around Oedipus, but also contradict the personalities of characters who are supposed to be his dearest friends and family, displaying the monarch’s willingness to controvert reality, bending it to his warped, convenient perception. These misconceptions are amplified by the audience’s contrasting understanding; we, from Tiresias’ initial revelations, are able to understand what Oedipus cannot.
However, Oedipus’ blindness is more than plain ignorance: it is the active repression of a subconscious recognition of the truth. Oedipus’ frantic response is more than just a worried leader, as superfluous self-descriptions like “I say, as one that is a stranger to the story, as a stranger to the deed” defensively emphasise his distance from the crime of Laius’ murder. This language to disassociate himself is unwarranted and repeated, thus conveying a compulsion to compensate for a likely unconscious guilt. Oedipus also reveals his subconscious knowledge through his use of singular language; the story, as given to Oedipus, is of a “a whole band, not single-handed”, yet in multiple instances he refers to the single man, a “thief” who he imagines is responsible.
The implications of this resistance to recognising the truth reveal either Oedipus’ unwillingness or inability to confront what he should have been seeing:the links to his past prophecies, the incident at the three-ways crossroads, all the other hints and connections which suggest the reality of his origins. This weakness, cowardice in the face of psychological struggle, is the foundation of the tragedy. Hence, Oedipus’ choice of self-inflicted punishment aligns precisely with his inability to ‘see’, taking away the eyes which were so useless to him physically manifests his subconscious flaw.
Sophocles’ play reinvents a myth which would have already been well-known to his classical Athenian audience. The story of Oedipus is not an original one, but Sophocles’ choices make this rendition of the tragedy its most memorable. In this play, the height of the drama is not the scandalous acts of parricide or incest, but rather the gradual narrative by which Oedipus is forced to perceive. Thus, Sophocles chooses his central focus to be on resistance to the truth, and amplifies this through the dichotomous motifs of sight/blindness, and the language of light/darkness. Thus, the full discovery of reality by all characters, and the eradication of metaphorical blindness and ignorance, resolves the narrative in a manner which, though tragic, is innately satisfying.
Punishment
“The pains we inflict upon ourselves hurt most of all.”
The purpose of Oedipus the King is punishment, immediately foregrounded by the oracle’s declaration that the murderer of Laius must be exiled from Thebes. This killer, described as a plague, is the target of a premise of revenge satisfied only once the criminal is blinded and exiled. But the punishments Oedipus endures are multifaceted and harsh, and although it seems intuitive at the play’s beginning that one who has so callously broken society’s rules should be punished, Sophocles subverts those initial assumptions to engender sympathy for his broken, defeated protagonist.
Oedipus’ downfall is comprehensive; the gouging out of his own eyes, arguably the most proportionate, operates asa penalty for his lack of introspection and understanding. Even here, in a self-inflicted punishment relating to his mistakes, the audience naturally understands some level of unfairness; Oedipus was lied to by the Corinthian monarchs, kept in the dark by the prophet and the herdsman, and most importantly didn’t know they were his real parents. To lose his eyes in an excruciatingly gruesome act of violence is harrowing for character and audience. The loss of his wife/mother, Jocasta, represents the consequences of corrupting his family; not only does Oedipus lose his adopted parents by fleeing, he uncovers and loses his own mother in one scene, an extreme loss which strips him of the only support he had left. Finally, exile from Thebes represents the final death for Oedipus: the loss of his reputation and legacy. Born and raised in two different monarchies, the champion of the Sphinx, the saviour of Thebes, Oedipus was a beloved leader renowned for his intelligence and glory. Answering the oracle’s demands takes the last shred of himself.
Notably, these punishments are carried out not because of their proportionality, or deservedness, but rather as reactions by the characters themselves to frenzied emotions and unfathomable guilt. Oedipus may not deserve to lose his eyes, his family, and his identity, but he believes he does, and that is why he allows them to be taken from him. Similarly, Jocasta would not have been punished with death, even by the state, but this is of no consequence; her destroyed sense of self drives the outcome. In these actions Sophocles reveals the extent of traumatic emotion Oedipus feels, and in the face of these cruel and excessive punishments, the audience is left with nothing but a deep sympathy for Oedipus.
The fulfilment of Apollo’s demand of exile from Thebes is an expectation of all the characters, including Oedipus, once the truth has been accepted. While Sophocles does not portray Oedipus as deserving of this punishment, there is also no suggestion that it not be carried out. This underlying, unquestionable acceptance of divine demands demonstrates how little weight is given to human fallibility, to their emotions, relationships and choices. This final punishment encapsulates the narrative of Oedipus’ discovery, diminishing the distinct focus on psychology, emotion and flaw, and belittles the importance of these human details as ultimately immaterial.
Terror of the everyday tragedy
“Listen to me and learn some peace of mind: no skill in the world, nothing human can penetrate the future.”
The frightening reality of Sophocles’ play is that what happens to Oedipus could happen to anyone. He is a representation of every person, and this is driven home in the final lines, where the chorus likens Oedipus’ fate to that of everyone: ““Now as we keep our watch and wait the final day, count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last.” Additionally, Oedipus is a human, realistic character, one who the audience witnesses in the full spectrum of human emotion – he is strong and vulnerable, clear-headed and hysterical, good and bad. The idea, then, that all people could suffer such a dramatic reversal of fortune, despite any prior success, reputation, family and personal character, creates a striking and universal fear.
The other facet of this fear plays out in the delineation of ignorance and knowledge. Sophocles aligns these concepts with mortality and divinity respectively; from the beginning, it is the gods, and their oracles and prophets, who possess full knowledge of all events, while the human characters must scramble to piece together the limited pieces of memory and fact they have. The only character whose knowledge is not predicated on the knowledge of another – that is, ignorant of one part of the narrative – is Tiresias, the only divine representation who appears onstage. Thus, Sophocles implies ignorance to be an inherently human trait. Oedipus the King consequently condemns its protagonist for his humanity, revealing a terrifying possibility for all its audience: you may be fated to downfall by your ignorance, and if you are, there is nothing you can do.
This understanding of Oedipus as a frightening representative of all of us is substantiated in a different way by Freud, who coined the Oedipus Complex from Sophocles’ title. This reading suggests that Oedipus’ prophecy and actions reveal tendencies which exist in all young children, particularly males, where they exhibit sexual desires for their parent of the opposite sex, and consequent resentment towards the parent of the same sex. According to Freud’s psychoanalytical theory, these desires, which emerge in children aged three-five, are then repressed and thus kept out of conscious awareness. However, he argues they still have some influence over psychosexual development, and thus these remnants of childhood instincts forge some connection between the play’s audience and its protagonist: “[Oedipus’] destiny moves us only because it might have been ours—because the oracle laid the same curse upon us before our birth as upon him. It is the fate of all of us, perhaps, to direct our first sexual impulse towards our mother and our first hatred and our first murderous wish against our father. Our dreams convince us that this is so.” Therefore, this reading provides a different understanding as to why the tragedy of Oedipus is capable of universal relatability, and therefore how it engenders such sympathy and fear.
In addition to representing all people, another way that Oedipus’ demise is deeply tragic is that it is caused, perversely, by his good qualities. Oedipus’ relentless pursuit of the truth is, at first, motivated by a sympathy for the suffering of his people during a plague. Oedipus is a proactive leader, who sends for the oracle’s advice, and displaying a virtuous piety, he obeys the instructions of Apollo to investigate the murder of Laius, the previous king. Oedipus is morally outraged that no one has investigated this crime before, and he is personally invested in not only the discovery of the truth, and the justice for a man he believed a stranger, but also because of his commitment to his people – a population to whom he (seems to) have no connection or debt. The background of his cleverness in solving the Sphinx’s riddle shows him to be wise, and perhaps most flatteringly, the Chorus – representative, as typical in Greek tragedy, of the citizenry – have an unrelenting admiration for their leader. All of these positive qualities furnish a commendable individual, in all realms of his life – private, his family, and his leadership – and not only do they not save him, but they actively contribute to his destruction.
The truth, prophecy, fate & free will
The power of the truth .
“O god— all come true, all burst to light! ”
Oedipus is an ode to the remarkable ability of truth to prevail. For the development of Sophocles’ narrative, the truth must overcome incredible obstacles in order to make itself known. It relies on the evidence of so many individuals and their fragments of the story; not only this, but individuals who are unrelated to the royal families involved, nameless individuals like the herdsman at Cithaeron, the messenger from Corinth. The plot also must be pieced together across decades, beginning before Oedipus’ birth and traversing his whole life. It must reconstruct scenes in two different city-states, in fields by a mountain, in one fateful meeting at a three-way crossroads in the middle of the Greek countryside. At times Oedipus resorts to violence in order to extract testimony. Despite all this, from the very beginning, the truth crosses narrative boundaries, revealing itself to the audience long before it is accepted in Thebes; this imbues faith in the audience that such barriers are immaterial, and therefore that the truth will eventually be uncovered.
Additionally, the nature of the story is that the evidence of the truth appears to surround the characters at every turn. Oedipus’ limp, the tie between his identity and the baby whose ankles Jocasta bound, is recalled in every uttering of his name, which literally means “swollen-foot” in Attic Greek. There are seemingly random citizens in each kingdom that know crucial information – even one drunk man at a gathering that features only in Oedipus’ memory. The prophet always knew, and it was a matter of time before he was summoned. The way information is sprinkled throughout the narrative, seemingly disparate or difficult to find, but in fact pouring from every outlet of the play, creates a sense of the truth waiting to be discovered.
The truth also displays itself as a force which is outside of the control of Sophocles’ cast. Characters at times reveal truth in their speech without meaning to; when Jocasta tries to comfort Oedipus with her stories, she unveils even more unsettling details that link Oedipus to the crime. There is also a metatextual understanding that the truth simply must be discovered.
The play, like the story of the sphinx, is set up as a riddle, and there is a sense of obligation that it must be solved, as well as an insinuation that, as last time, Oedipus will be the one to find the answers. For Oedipus, the riddle gave him everything and then took it all away; framed as a force for both good and bad, Sophocles offers no moral judgement, but rather firmly portrays it as a force of life changing power. This is supplemented by the nature of the story as one already well-known to its audience, furthering the demand that the truth reach its predestined revelation – regardless of Sophocles’ drawing of these characters, the imposition of the existing story is one that cannot be escaped by the people in it.
The other factor which lends power to the truth in Oedipus the King is its intertwining with divine forces. Divinity as it exists in the play – the gods, especially Apollo, his Sanctuary at Delphi, the oracle there and his prophets – serves only the purpose of further exposing the truth. The only divinely associated character, Tiresias, is present only to have the truth forced out of him, setting in motion the narrative of Oedipus recognising all that which he did not know. Moreover, lies and deceit are a trait of only mortals, from Polybus and Merope who disguise their son’s biological heritage, to the reluctance of Tiresias, Jocasta and the messenger to reveal their knowledge. Despite Jocasta’s protests that the prophecies are worthless, and the Chorus’ waning faith, the divine truth is faultlessly consistent, in a way the mortal, presumption-filled concept of the truth is not.
Divination & agency: the question of fate
“he saved him for this, this fate. If you are the man he says you are, believe me, you were born for pain.”
While infusing the truth with great power, Sophocles nevertheless demonstrates a degree of human agency. Despite the imposing sense of the truth as needing to be discovered, it is Oedipus who drives the plot, and fulfils that tension. It is Oedipus who sends Creon to the oracle before he is asked, who aggressively questions character after character. Despite Tiresias’ reluctance, Jocasta’s begging, and the reluctance of so many, Oedipus tirelessly excavates. Tragically, Oedipus is more than complicit in constructing his own undoing. Furthermore, the persistence of other characters in resisting revealing the truth, and dissuading Oedipus from doing so, incessantly – and to the very end – insists, and reminds the audience, that he has a choice. Additionally, the divine intervention in the play is incredibly weak, and generally consists of stating facts which depend on the decisions of others, but do not force them to be true; it was, of course, still the choice of Oedipus to kill a stranger on the road. Sophocles’ play is, fundamentally, about humans, their psychologies and their choices, and as much as the truth or the gods are powerful forces, they are only impactful because of the human interactions with them.
As the play begins after Oedipus has already committed his crimes, it is easy to view his destruction as fated. However, if Oedipus is only condemned to doom after he makes those mistakes, this is not a question of fate but an explanation of actions having consequences. The question of fate, then, plays out in two areas: Jocasta’s reception of the prophecy before Laius dies, and Oedipus’ reception of the same prophecy before he leaves Corinth. Both mother and son respond in a way which does not give a satisfactory answer: they do not declare prophecy to be indisputable fact, nor do they declare it to be useless. Jocasta is so fearful of the prophecy that she at least complies in the murder of her only child; Oedipus is so fearful that he abandons his parents, royal future and home without a word. However, neither of them truly, entirely believe that prophecy is inescapable, or else it is illogical that they would try to escape. It appears that the consensus on prophecy is a half-agency: a combination of acknowledging human agency with a profound fear that it will not be enough. This small gap where human choice is permitted is crucial in interpreting the play; Oedipus the King is intensely tragic, not as a story of a man fated to doom, but of a catastrophe that could have been avoided, if not for the very qualities which make us human.
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Koper, P. T. (2006). Myth and Investigation in “Oedipus Rex.” Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture , 12/13 , 87–98. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41925284 (nyu)
Miller, W. J. (1928). Universality in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. The Classical Journal , 24 (3), 214–216. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3289660
Reid, Stephen A. “Teaching Oedipus Rex.” College English 29, no. 8 (1968): 615–19. https://doi.org/10.2307/374565.
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Versényi, L. (1962). Oedipus: Tragedy of Self-Knowledge. Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics , 1 (3), 20–30. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20162791
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Oedipus Rex
Introduction.
Oedipus Rex is a famous tragedy written by Sophocles. It is also known by its Greek name “Oedipus Tyrannus” or “Oedipus the king”. It was first performed in 429 BC. Sophocles is now placed among the great ancient Greek Tragedians. He wrote three famous tragedies that include Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone that describe the sufferings of a king and his children after him.
Definition of a tragedy
Oedipus rex summary.
The play starts outside the palace of King Oedipus. The city of Thebes is shown suffering a plague because of which people are terrified. The fields become barren and people start suffering from different diseases. The people of Thebes gather along with a priest and other elders to request Oedipus, the king of Thebes, to help them and save them from this plague. They come to the king to ask for help because he saved them once from the sphinx too. The sphinx was a monster with the woman’s head, lioness’ body, eagle’s wings and serpent’s tale.
Oedipus appreciates the chorus for their prayers. Oedipus then addresses to all the people and forbids them to give shelter to the murderer of king Laius. He also announces that if the murderer is present in the crowd, he can come forward and admit his crime. However, he promises not to kill the person if he comes forward to surrender and he only suggests banishment for him. The chorus suggests Oedipus to call Teiresias, the blind prophet, to resolve this matter. Oedipus tells them that he has already sent someone to call him.
Jocasta and Oedipus feel relief on this news. Jocasta becomes happy and tells Oedipus that this is another proof that proves the prophecies wrong. Oedipus believes her but he tells her that he is still worried about the other prophecy that he will marry his mother. The messenger tells Oedipus that now he doesn’t need to stay away from his home, Corinth. He tells him that he can come back any time without any fear because his mother, Merope, is not his real mother and Polybus was not his real father either.
Finally, Oedipus’ men come with a shepherd. Seeing the terrible condition of Jocasta, the chorus also starts thinking that something bad is going to happen so they also start begging Oedipus to leave the mystery unsolved but Oedipus doesn’t listen to them either. The shepherd looks terrified and doesn’t want to answer the king’s question. Oedipus forces him to tell the truth. He tells Oedipus it is true that he gave a baby boy to another shepherd. He admits that the baby was king Laius’ son whom Jocasta and Laius left to die on a hillside because they were terrified of an oracle’s prophecy.
Creon also enters the palace after hearing the whole story. He consoles Oedipus and asks him to come inside so that no one can see him. Oedipus also begs Creon to let him leave the city but he suggests meeting Apollo first. Oedipus refuses to meet anyone. Oedipus says that the only punishment for the sinner is banishment. He requests Creon to bring his daughters to him as he wants to meet them before leaving. He also asks Creon to take care of them.
Themes in Oedipus Rex
It is the main theme of this play and fate plays an important role in the whole play. When king Laius and queen Jocasta hear the prophecy that their son will kill his father and marry his mother, they leave their son to die but the child doesn’t die and is taken to Corinth. When Oedipus grows up, he also comes to know about this prophecy so he leaves that place but he doesn’t know that his fate is taking him towards his real parents. No matter how hard he tries to escape his fate, he does the same as was written. The role of fate remains prominent in the play and in the end, Oedipus finds that he is only a puppet in the hands of gods and prophets.
Individual will/action
Pity and fear, plague and health, self-discovery and memories of the past, search for truth.
Oedipus promises people to find out the truth and punish the culprit so he starts his search. Many people request him to stop his search but he doesn’t listen to them. Teiresias begs him not to ask him about the truth because it will only bring pain to everyone. He forces him to speak. Later when things start to become clear, Jocasta also requests Oedipus to stop finding the truth but he doesn’t listen to her either. Then he finds out the bitter truth and ends up punishing himself.
Guilt and Shame
Blind faith, oedipus rex characters analysis.
Creon remains a loyal friend to Oedipus. He even forgives him when he accuses him of treason and gives the order to execute him. He claims that he never thought of turning against Oedipus. In every decision about the city of Thebes, he shares an equal part as Oedipus and Jocasta. At the end of the play, when Oedipus requests him to let him leave the city, he tells him that they should go to the oracle first but Oedipus doesn’t agree. Creon brings the daughters of Oedipus to meet their father for the last time according to his will and he also promises Oedipus to take care of them after him. Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes after king Oedipus.
Teiresias then leaves the palace saying his last riddle. He tells that the murderer is in front of them, he is the killer of his father and the husband of his mother, he is the brother of his own children and the son of his own wife, a man who came seeing but will leave this world in blindness. His prophecy proves to be true at the end of the novel when the truth gets revealed in front of everyone and Oedipus blinds himself.
A chorus is a group of singers that includes the elder citizens of Thebes. As the play starts, they come to Oedipus along with a priest to request the king to save their city from the plague. They become satisfied as the king assures them that he will save them from the trouble. The chorus plays an important role in the play. They sing choral odes after every scene that helps to connect different scenes of the play. Moreover, their choral odes add to the beauty of the play and entertain the readers.
The chorus also prays to different gods to save their city from the plague. They forbid the king to take any strict decision against Creon and stop him from executing Creon. When the truth starts revealing, they also try to stop the king to stop his search for truth because they also start feeling that something wrong is going to happen. In the end, they lament on the king’s fate and the play ends when the Chorus says, “Count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last”.
Antigone and Ismene
The messenger from corinth.
Oedipus gets shocked on hearing this news and asks him who told him about this. He tells Oedipus that years ago someone from Thebes gave him a child as a gift and he presented it to the king and queen of Corinth as they had no children of their own. Oedipus further asks him about the person who gave him the child. He tells Oedipus that he was one of Laius’ servants. He also helped Oedipus in recognizing the servant.
The Herdsman
The herdsman is the person who gave the child of king Laius and queen Jocasta to the messenger of Corinth on their orders. He is also the witness of king Laius’ death. Initially, he lied to everyone that king Laius was murdered by some robbers but later when king Oedipus calls him in his palace and forces him to speak the truth, he tells that he witnessed the killer of King Laius and he is Oedipus.
The Second Messenger
Oedipus rex literary analysis.
“Oedipus Rex” is a classical work in which Sophocles has skillfully shown a straightforward interpretation of a Greek myth. Throughout the play, the use of dramatic irony makes this play a great success and masterpiece. The play discusses how fate plays its part in the life of the characters. The main character tries hard to escape his fate but in his effort to run away from it, he actually comes nearer to what gods have decided for him and ends up doing what already was prophecized.
Title of the play
Setting of the play, ending of the play.
He leaves the city as he himself announced banishment as a punishment for the criminal. Now he wins the hearts of people again and becomes the real hero at the end. Creon treats him gently forgetting about what he did to him and takes the charge of Thebes afterwards.
Writing style
Plot analysis, initial situation , conflict , complication.
Oedipus starts realizing that he has some link with the murder of Laius. The more he learns about the truth, the more he shows interest to solve this mystery. As he comes close to the truth, he hurts no one but himself in the entire process.
The three unities in Oedipus Rex
Unity of action, unity of place.
“Oedipus Rex” also follows the unity of action as the whole play occurs at a single place. The play is restricted to a single location that is in front of the king’s palace in the city of Thebes.
Unity of Time
Three act plot analysis.
Oedipus knows that the city is cursed so he sends Creon to an oracle to find out the solution. Creon tells that the only solution to lift the plague is to find the murderer of King Laius and punish him. Oedipus promises people to find the culprit and save them from trouble.
Oedipus investigates Jocasta, Teiresias, the messenger and the shepherd to know about King Laius’ murderer. Slowly he starts solving the mystery.
Analysis of the Literary Devices used in Oedipus Rex
Dramatic irony.
One example of the dramatic irony is that throughout the play Oedipus struggles to find the murderer of King Laius but in reality, he himself murdered his father and then he searches for the murderer here and there. The irony here is that he searches for himself.
The scars on Oedipus’ feet
When Oedipus was three days old, an oracle told his father, King Laius, that the child will kill his father in the future and then he will marry his mother. King Laius bound his feet by a pin due to which they got swollen and later some scars were left on them. The scars on his feet are symbolic. They symbolize that Oedipus was marked for all the sufferings right from the time of his birth. These scars are also ironic. Although the name of Oedipus clearly points towards his feet, still he fails to discover his true identity.
The Crossroads
Oedipus killed a stranger at a place where three roads met. Unknowingly he killed his father. Sophocles made the point of murder unique. Oedipus’ fate followed him. The three roads actually symbolize the choices that a person has while making any decision. In the play, the three roads symbolize the choice or the path that Oedipus could have taken instead of killing a man just because of his short temperament. The three roads also symbolize the present, past and future. It is said that the Greek Goddess of the crossroads had 3 heads. One head could see the past, one the present and one the future.
Eyes, Vision and Blindness
More from sophocles.
Oedipus the King – Sophocles – Oedipus Rex Analysis, Summary, Story
(tragedy, greek, c. 429 bce, 1,530 lines).
Introduction | Synopsis | Analysis | Resources
“ Oedipus the King ” (Gr: “ Oidipous Tyrannos ” ; Lat: “ Oedipus Rex ” ) is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles , first performed in about 429 BCE . It was the second of Sophocles ‘ three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology (followed by “Oedipus at Colonus” and then “Antigone” ).
It follows the story of King Oedipus of Thebes as he discovers that he has unwittingly killed his own father, Laius, and married his own mother, Jocasta . Over the centuries, it has come to be regarded by many as the Greek tragedy par excellence and certainly as the summit of Sophocles ’ achievements.
To briefly recap on the background to the play:Shortly after Oedipus ’ birth , his father, King Laius of Thebes, learned from an oracle that he, Laius, was doomed to perish by the hand of his own son , and so ordered his wife Jocasta to kill the infant. However, neither she nor her servant could bring themselves to kill him and he was abandoned to elements . There he was found and brought up by a shepherd, before being taken in and raised in the court of the childless King Polybus of Corinth as if he were his own son. Stung by rumours that he was not the biological son of the king, Oedipus consulted an oracle which foretold that he would marry his own mother and kill his own father. Desperate to avoid this foretold fate, and believing Polybus and Merope to be his true parents, Oedipus left Corinth . On the road to Thebes, he met Laius, his real father, and, unaware of each other’s true identities, they quarrelled and Oedipus ‘ pride led him to murder Laius, fulfilling part of the oracle’s prophecy. Later, he solved the riddle of the Sphinx and his reward for freeing the kingdom of Thebes from the Sphinx’s curse was the hand of Queen Jocasta (actually his biological mother) and the crown of the city of Thebes. The prophecy was thus fulfilled , although none of the main characters were aware of it at this point. As the play opens , a priest and the Chorus of Theban elders are calling on King Oedipus to aid them with the plague which has been sent by Apollo to ravage the city. Oedipus has already sent Creon , his brother-in-law, to consult the oracle at Delphi on the matter, and when Creon returns at that very moment, he reports that the plague will only end when the murderer of their former king, Laius, is caught and brought to justice. Oedipus vows to find the murderer and curses him for the plague that he has caused.  Oedipus also summons the blind prophet Tiresias , who claims to know the answers to Oedipus ‘ questions, but refuses to speak, lamenting his ability to see the truth when the truth brings nothing but pain. He advises Oedipus to abandon his search but, when the enraged Oedipus accuses Tiresias of complicity in the murder, Tiresias is provoked into telling the king the truth, that he himself is the murderer. Oedipus dismisses this as nonsense, accusing the prophet of being corrupted by the ambitious Creon in an attempt to undermine him, and Tiresias leaves, putting forth one last riddle: that the murderer of Laius will turn out to be both father and brother to his own children, and the son of his own wife. Oedipus demands that Creon be executed, convinced that he is conspiring against him, and only the intervention of the Chorus persuades him to let Creon live. Oedipus ‘ wife Jocasta tells him he should take no notice of prophets and oracles anyway because, many years ago, she and Laius received an oracle which never came true. This prophecy said that Laius would be killed by his own son but, as everyone knows, Laius was actually killed by bandits at a crossroads on the way to Delphi. The mention of crossroads causes Oedipus to give pause and he suddenly becomes worried that Tiresias ‘ accusations may actually have been true.  The messenger turns out to be the very shepherd who had looked after an abandoned child, which he later took to Corinth and gave up to King Polybus for adoption. He is also the very same shepherd who witnessed the murder of Laius. By now, Jocasta is beginning to realize the truth, and desperately begs Oedipus to stop asking questions. But Oedipus presses the shepherd, threatening him with torture or execution, until it finally emerges that the child he gave away was Laius’ own son , and that Jocasta had given the baby to the shepherd to secretly be exposed upon the mountainside, in fear of the prophecy that Jocasta said had never come true: that the child would kill its father. With all now finally revealed , Oedipus curses himself and his tragic destiny and stumbles off, as the Chorus laments how even a great man can be felled by fate. A servant enters and explains that Jocasta , when she had begun to suspect the truth, had ran to the palace bedroom and hanged herself there. Oedipus enters, deliriously calling for a sword so that he might kill himself and raging through the house until he comes upon Jocasta ‘s body. In final despair, Oedipus takes two long gold pins from her dress, and plunges them into his own eyes. Now blind, Oedipus begs to be exiled as soon as possible , and asks Creon to look after his two daughters, Antigone and Ismene , lamenting that they should have been born into such a cursed family. Creon counsels that Oedipus should be kept in the palace until oracles can be consulted regarding what is best to be done, and the play ends as the Chorus wails : ‘Count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last’ . The play follows one chapter (the most dramatic one) in the life of Oedipus , King of Thebes , who lived about a generation before the events of the Trojan War, namely his gradual realization that he has killed his own father, Laius, and committed incest with his own mother, Jocasta . It assumes a certain amount of background knowledge of his story, which Greek audiences would have known well, although much of the background is also explained as the action unfolds.  “Oedipus the King” is structured as a prologue and five episodes , each introduced by a choral ode . Each of the incidents in the play is part of a tightly constructed cause-and-effect chain, assembled together as an investigation of the past, and the play is considered a marvel of plot structure. Part of the tremendous sense of inevitability and fate in the play stems from the fact that all the irrational things have already occurred and are therefore unalterable. The main themes of the play are: fate and free will (the inevitability of oracular predictions is a theme that often occurs in Greek tragedies); the conflict between the individual and the state (similar to that in Sophocles ’ “Antigone” ); people’s willingness to ignore painful truths (both Oedipus and Jocasta clutch at unlikely details in order to avoiding facing up to the inceasingly apparent truth); and sight and blindness (the irony that the blind seer Tiresius can actually “see” more clearly than the supposedly clear-eyed Oedipus , who is in reality blind to the truth about his origins and his inadvertent crimes). Sophocles makes good use of dramatic irony in “Oedipus the King” . For example: the people of Thebes come to Oedipus at the start of the play, asking him to rid the city of the plague, when in reality, it is he who is the cause; Oedipus curses the murderer of Laius out of a deep anger at not being able to find him, actually cursing himself in he process; he insults Tiresius ’ blindness when he is the one who actually lacks vision, and will soon himself be blind; and he rejoices in the news of the death of King Polybus of Corinth, when this new information is what actually brings the tragic prophecy to light.
[rating_form id=”1″]  Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the KingBy sophocles, oedipus rex or oedipus the king essay questions. Oedipus remains in the dark. Do you agree? This question asks you to consider the importance of dark and light, and therefore perhaps also sight, in the play. Think metaphorically (i.e. 'in the dark' - unknowing) but also literally (Oedipus' blinding at the end of the play). Oedipus is old before his time. Do you agree? This question asks you to consider question of youth and age in Oedipus - though the action of the play happens in a single day, how might Oedipus be considered old? You might also want to think about fathers and children and the impact generation has on age. This play happens backward. Do you agree? This question asks you to consider the structure of the play. Look at the section on 'Myth' and consider the way Sophocles alters the story to turn it into a drama. What does Oedipus know at the start of the play? What does he know at the end? What events actually occur during the play - or have all the events happened before it begins? How might a consideration of the conditions of Greek theatrical performance impact upon our understanding of Oedipus Rex? This question asks you to consider the importance of the Greek theatrical conventions (particularly masks) that would have originally been employed when Oedipus was performed. Think practically - there were no electric lights, no recorded music, and perhaps even no props. How might this change your interpretation of the play? (See 'About Greek Theater' for more information). Is Oedipus Rex a private or a public play? This question asks you to consider the relationship between public and private (or between oikos/polis) in the play. What is the outcome for Thebes? What is the outcome for Oedipus? Is Oedipus to be considered as a father/son/brother or simply as the king of Thebes? Might Oedipus be more than one man? This question asks you to consider the play's central inconsistency as potentially one of its themes. The Thebans have heard that Laius was killed by more than one man; in fact, Oedipus alone committed the murder. Think of Oedipus' various roles in the play - king/brother/father/son - and consider whether the conflict of the play might be a conflict between the one and the many. Do you agree that Oedipus' tragedy happens because of a 'tragic flaw'? This question asks you to consider that Oedipus' tragedy happens because of a tragic flaw - an opinion that many critics would strongly disagree with. Why do the events of the play happen? Whose fault is it - if anyone's? See Oedipus and Aristotle for more information about the idea of tragic flaws. "The old seer had eyes" (Oedipus the King, 748). Discuss ideas of sight and blindness in the play. As well as thinking literally about blindness in Oedipus (Teiresias, in particular) consider the relationship between knowledge and sight. Does Oedipus have any insight into things - can he, perhaps, see better without his eyes? "I stumbled when I saw" (Gloucester, in Shakespeare's King Lear ). Compare Oedipus Rex to any other play of your choice. This question invites you to compare Oedipus to any other play. You might want to think about themes, about characters, or what you consider to be the ultimate lesson of the play - just remember to keep comparing: write about both plays at once, not one and then the other. See Useful Comparison Points for some good ideas. How does Oedipus come to embody the riddle of the Sphinx? This question requires you to make a connection between the Sphinx riddle's answer - 'man' - and Oedipus' fate. Oedipus, as a consequence of seeking the answer to his kingdom's plague, manages to go through the three stages of the Sphinx's riddle. He is the baby with pierced ankles, crawling on four feet to escape a messenger who would kill him. Then he is the proud adult, king of Thebes, walking on two feet. And finally he is the old, blinded man, walking with a cane, cast out of his own kingdom.  Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the King Questions and AnswersThe Question and Answer section for Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the King is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. What does Oedipus seem to believe about his ability to control his own destiny? It is important to remember that, even at this first stage of the play, Oedipus’ pride does not bring about any of the events that cause the plague. The murder of Laius, after all, happened many years ago, and he already has four children fathered... Character analysis please? Oedipus is the king of Thebes, married to Jocasta. He is unaware, at the start of the play, that he has murdered his father and slept with his mother. Soon he learns that it was he that put his kingdom at such terrible risk, and blinds himself...
Jocasta is both Oedipus' wife and mother, though, she is unaware that she has married her son. When she learns that her son was not killed, and was in fact her husband, Jocasta takes her own life. Study Guide for Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the KingOedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) study guide contains a biography of Sophocles, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
Essays for Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the KingOedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) by Sophocles.
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Oedipus the King by Sophocles Literature Analysis Essay
Oedipus is swift and confident throughout the play. He cross-examines Creon, asks for Tiresias, makes threats about sending Creon and Tiresias to exile, asks to see the servant who ran off from the assault on Laius, and finally requests to be banished. He is always in motion, apparently chasing his fate although it goes out of his control. Despite the fact that his fate was doomed from the beginning when his mother abandoned him, his aggressiveness lands him in great trouble. It leads him to his tragic end. Oedipus is not morally at fault. In fact, he attempts to find out who killed Polybus, as he sees it as injustice. The closer he gets to the truth, the bitter the reality of his dreadful fate unveils. The junction where Laius was murdered is the same spot where Oedipus had killed somebody on the same day. A prophecy was also given to him stating how he would do unspeakable things, “You are fated to be a couple with your mother, you will bring a breed of children into light no man can bear to see-you will kill your father, the one who you will life!” (Sylvan, William and William 1321). Oedipus is not morally at fault because he flees from Corinth as he does not want the prophecy to be fulfilled. In other words, he cannot bear the thought of killing his own father, or marrying his mother. It is therefore very difficult to say that Oedipus was at fault or that he was foolish because he appears to have no alternative, but to fulfill the prophecy. His judgment is not flawed because all he wanted was justice. It was a harsh judgment though. He did not know that his judgment will be his downfall. His mother pleads with him to leave the matter of Laius’ death and focus on the future but he insists on finding out who killed Laius. He asks people of Thebes to give him any valuable information regarding the death of the king. He promises them that the murderer will be killed or sent to exile not knowing that he was judging himself, and proclaiming to his own damage: “Now my curse on the murderer. Whoever he is, a lone man unknown in his crime or one among many, let that man drag out his life in agony, step by painful step-I curse myself as well…if by any chance He proves to be an intimate of our house, Here at my heart, with my full knowledge, May the curse I just called down on him strike me!” (1307). Oedipus is not at fault. He does not willingly kill his father or marry his own mother. He persistently searches for the truth in the attempt of altering his fate. This is the mistake he made as this search made his life full of agony. This search also exposed those he loved to astonishing fates. Oedipus lived his life with no hope for the future. He had no joy. After finding out about all his unfortunate fate, there was nothing more but to await his death. The results of the sorrowful events that took place in the life of Oedipus caused him a lot of pain, hatred, and regret. These events are too overwhelming for the queen that she commits suicide in the end. Oedipus cannot take the sorrow any more on seeing his mother and wife dying; he blinds himself by stubbing his eyes with some pins that he pulled from his mother’s clothes. This made him unable to see his children. His weakness contributed to his exile. He is weak to the extent that instead of trying to solve his problems and living with them, he opts to destroy his life and those of his daughters as they cannot get married. This is where his weakness is traced. When Oedipus was born, his mother decided on his fatal destiny. At this point, it can be seen that his life was taken out of his control right after he was born. He is not lucky as his mother gives him out to an empire nearby, where he is raised as one of their own. As he grew up, a prophesy was given that he would murder his own father and sleep with his mother, and give birth to children that would not be pleasing to look at “Revealed at last, brother and father both to the children he embraces, to his mother son and husband both- he sowed the loins his father sowed, he spilled his father’s blood “(1313). On fear of this prophesies coming to pass, he runs to Corinth. He became king in Thebes inheriting the previous king’s wife. Together they had children. Not knowing he had killed his father, Laius, and married his wife being his mother. He had cursed himself when he asserted that he would seek revenge for Laius’s murderer. He went on further to promise to sacrifice his own future if Laius’ murderer was a member of Thebes’ empire. It is evident in the play that man has no power over his fate. Oedipus tries to run away from his fate, but it still gets hold of him. Oedipus’ flaw cannot be clearly pointed out. The play simply implies that tragedies and errors can befall anybody, and that man has no power before the gods. Laius tries all he can to prevent the prophecy he was told; that he would be killed by his son. When his wife Jocasta bore him a son, Laius and his wife gave him up to a servant and told the servant to take the child to Mt. Cithaeron, and leave him to die. However, the servant did not obey the instructions and instead, gave the child to a shepherd from Corinth, who took the child to his king and queen. He grew up in Corinth, and later killed his father, ignorant that he had killed his own flesh and blood. Either way, Apollo’s oracle came to pass despite the attempts of Laius and his wife to kill their son so as to break the fate that had been predicted by the oracle. It is clear that the events that resulted in misfortune in the lives of Jocasta, Oedipus, and Laius are as a result of the supernatural oracle, which is the work of the gods. This oracle had predicted these events in advance, and they were aware of it. They tried to prevent these misfortunes from taking place by taking different measures, but the events turned out as they had been predicted. They all have not done anything to deserve the fate they had. In this play, it appears, therefore, that the gods want to make a point using Oedipus. The play proves that the gods have the right over the fate of ma Sylvan, Barnet, William Burto and William Cain. An Introduction to Literature . London: Longman Publishing, 2010. Print.
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Oedipus the King, a timeless Greek tragedy penned by Sophocles, unfolds the tragic descent of Oedipus, a heroic figure ensnared in the ominous prophecy of patricide and matrimony with his mother/incest. Confronted with the formidable choice between unraveling the intricacies of his lineage and preserving the foundation of his perceived reality ...
So it's worth briefly recounting the plot of Sophocles' play in a short summary. Summary. The city of Thebes is in the grip of a terrible plague. The city's king, Oedipus, sends Creon to consult the Delphic oracle, who announces that if the city rids itself of a murderer, the plague will disappear. The murderer in question is the unknown ...
Oedipus Rex, also known as Oedipus the King, is a play authored by Sophocles. It was first performed in 429 BC in Athens, Greece (Knox 133). The play is the second of several Sophocles' plays, and has been regarded as an excellent piece by many scholars (Belfiore 176). This report will highlight about the author, discuss the setting of, and ...
An Ultimate Guide to Oedipus The King. Published on. March 9, 2024. Sophocles' tragic play, Oedipus the King, depicts a spectacular deterioration of its titular protagonist as he realises the truth of his own past: that he has killed his own father, and committed incest with his mother. Resisting reality at every point, Oedipus tirelessly ...
The play Oedipus is a classic story that shows the fight between good and evil. It illustrates how a person's fate is almost set in stone and sometimes it does not matter what a person does but they will not change anything no matter how hard they try. Oedipus is a victim of his destiny and he is punished by it for things that he did not do ...
The play "Oedipus the King" is a tragedy written by Sophocles around 429 BC. The play tells the story of Oedipus, the King of Thebes, who unwittingly fulfills a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. The play explores themes of fate and free will, blindness, and knowledge vs. ignorance, making it a relevant piece of ...
Oedipus Rex Literary Analysis. "Oedipus Rex" is a classical work in which Sophocles has skillfully shown a straightforward interpretation of a Greek myth. Throughout the play, the use of dramatic irony makes this play a great success and masterpiece. The play discusses how fate plays its part in the life of the characters.
Oedipus the King unfolds as a murder mystery, a political thriller, and a psychological whodunit. Throughout this mythic story of patricide and incest, Sophocles emphasizes the irony of a man determined to track down, expose, and punish an assassin, who turns out to be himself. As the play opens, the citizens of Thebes beg their king, Oedipus ...
The play follows one chapter (the most dramatic one) in the life of Oedipus, King of Thebes, who lived about a generation before the events of the Trojan War, namely his gradual realization that he has killed his own father, Laius, and committed incest with his own mother, Jocasta.It assumes a certain amount of background knowledge of his story, which Greek audiences would have known well ...
The ancient Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex, sometimes referred to as Oedipus the King was composed by the dramatist Sophocles. This play relates the tale of Oedipus, the King of Thebes, who is looking into the execution of King Laius, his forebear. Therefore, in Sophocles' eyes, this antiquated story develops into a profound study on the issues of ...
Oedipus the King is a character of immense complexity and depth, with a range of traits, flaws, and psychological nuances that make him a timeless and compelling figure in literature. Through a comprehensive character analysis, we have gained valuable insights into Oedipus' background, personality, flaws, and impact on the plot of the play.
Oedipus is a self-confident, intelligent, strong willed man and a great king. Ironically these are the very traits that bring about his tragic discovery. There are many themes in the play that add to his character, which ultimately instigates his own undoing. Going through the play the audience recognises the reasons why Oedipus ends up the way ...
Introduction. 'Oedipus the King' is a play written by Sophocles in Ancient Greek at around 430 B.C. set in a fabulous past of the ancient Greek. Throughout the play, the king is determined to understand several issues about the community and himself. Get a custom essay on Oedipus the King. As a result, he seeks help from the Theban chorus ...
1. Oedipus remains in the dark. Do you agree? This question asks you to consider the importance of dark and light, and therefore perhaps also sight, in the play. Think metaphorically (i.e. 'in the dark' - unknowing) but also literally (Oedipus' blinding at the end of the play). 2. Oedipus is old before his time.
Oedipus' arrogance, and his noble claim to protect his people. They also bring up the theme of government. Thebes was a kingdom, but Athens, where the play was staged, was a "democracy." PRIEST Yes, Oedipus, my sovereign lord and king, You see both extremes of youth and age Before your palace altars - fledglings hardly winged,
"Oedipus" Essay Example. The tragedy of Oedipus the King by Sophocles, is a story of a man named Oedipus who becomes king, and through a series of events, ultimately meets his downfall. Through his display of hubris and hamartia throughout the play, Oedipus has risen and fallen.
Oedipus the King by Sophocles Literature Analysis Essay. Oedipus is swift and confident throughout the play. He cross-examines Creon, asks for Tiresias, makes threats about sending Creon and Tiresias to exile, asks to see the servant who ran off from the assault on Laius, and finally requests to be banished. He is always in motion, apparently ...
Drew Barry more is getting real about parenting.. The actress and talk show host, 49, penned an essay shared Friday on Instagram about raising her two daughters, writing that she has "never wanted ...