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Contradictions In Oedipus The King

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Oedipus the King Oedipus the King, the masterpiece of Sophocles, is considered a great tragedy filled with ironies and contradictions between the characters and their personalities. Oedipus is the major character in the story who tries to find out the murderer of Laios who was the king of Thebes. By the time he struggles to solve the problem he is unaware that he is going to find out his own biological father and going to be claimed as the murderer. Actually, this is the main question in this play; how is it possible for Oedipus not to know himself? Is there a really chance that he could not be guilty and be totally innocent? Is there a chance for someone that he/she could be surprised by his/her personality? These are the contradictions that …show more content…

But as the play continues, with Tiresias's arrival the first steps of the reality is taken and Oedipus's story is questioned by Tiresias in page 35 between the lines 497-506 as follows; Since you have thrown my blindness at me I will tell you what your eyes don't see: what evil you are steeped in. You don't see where you live or who shares your house. Do you know your parents? You are their enemy in this life and down there with the dead. And soon their double curse-your father's and your mother's- will lash you out of Thebes on terror-stricken feet. With these lines, Oedipus starts to question his life and history inside but does not reflects it to the people. In fact, he is shocked because of that situation but he can't run away from the truth. So he starts to look for explanation but can't deal with it. The tragedy of Oedipus is really questionable because the reality in Oedipus's soul is unknown but it is clear that he is surprised by life because of the fact that he was not the man that he thinks. This is his prophecy and nobody could have changed it. But the contradiction between his reality and the 'real' reality is dramatic irony as we can see because he was completely unaware of

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