Even when Oedipus figured out that he was the person who killed the king before him, he still strongly believed both justice and punishment should be served. Although he was in shock, he still courageously stepped up to receive his punishment. The respected the fact that earlier he said the murderer should be punished, killed, or banished, and was ready to get whatever Creon, the new king of Thebes, had in store for him. His response to justice was it had to be given no matter what. It was a very responsible response, given the
Since Oedipus was not aware of who his biological parents were, he was not truly guilty of killing his father and sleeping with his mother. The Greeks strongly believed in a person’s fate. They believed that no matter what a person does, there is no escaping his or her fate. Although Oedipus technically committed the crimes of killing his father and sleeping with his mother, he is not guilty of these because he unknowingly did these
Upon receiving the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother, he unquestioningly embraced its validity without challenging it. However, if he employed his common knowledge and free will, the course of events might have been altered. For instance, he tragically killed Laius in a dispute that could have been avoided with restraint. Additionally, when tasked with uncovering the murderer of the former king of Thebes, Oedipus willingly accepted the challenge, firmly believing it was his destiny to expose the killer and save his city. Unfortunately, his unwavering trust in fate and blind devotion to prophecies ultimately led to his downfall.
Oedipus’ past led to him to a destructive fate. King Oedipus’ arrogant personality led him to break had moral law. Moral laws are the standards we set for ourselves, or our belief’s in the way that we should live our lives. For Oedipus, he ran from the thought of his moral laws being broken. His opinion was
This is evident when Teiresias says that “... you [Oedipus] are the murderer whom you seek” (20). This is an example of a sudden change in events, where Oedipus is in denial and the audience sees that he is the true killer. The tragic hero is Oedipus Rex, whose fate is controlled by the gods. His fate is destined by Apollo, where Creon explains to Oedipus that “The god commands us to expel from the land of Thebes, an old defilement we are sheltering. It is a deathly thing, beyond cure; we must not let it feed upon us longer” (7).
Oedipus Rex essay Final draft Oedipus certainly deserved his fate. Oedipus and his actions are clearly disrespect to the gods , he faces the fate he deserves. He was doing things that would eventually lead up to the unfortunate event of his death , he was even warned by the great and wise Teiresias , but he being himself was to stubborn and did not listen. All the things Teiresias said would happen became the truth. He killed his father, married his mother, yet he tempted his fate , he deserved everything that came his way .
Oedipus takes responsibility for his actions by blinding himself. He blinded himself because what good were eyes to him if he did not see that Jocasta is his mother and that he is ultimately bringing himself to his own downfall. Oedipus understands that his fate is inevitable and that he must ultimately and fatally own whatever is his. Men live in a world not made for Man The Knower and can truly do nothing to escape their fate, since their fate cannot be escaped, men must choose to own their actions.
Niya Kebreab King Oedipus: Moral Ambiguity In the play King Oedipus, Sophocles depicts Oedipus’ inevitable downfall, which represents man’s struggle between free will and fate. In an attempt to use the audience’s knowledge to his advantage, Sophocles opens the play seventeen years after Oedipus murders his father, Laius and marries his mother, Jocasta. The sequence in which the story unravels reveals the strong psychological focus towards Oedipus’ character. In search of his identity, Oedipus’ enigmatic quality and moral ambiguity compels readers to question whether his ignorance renders him morally blameless.
He, without considering the possibilities, murders the group of people he meets on the road. He never feels remorse for the murder either, because he truly feels the killing was justified. Throughout the play, Oedipus is determined to bring the murderer of King Laius to justice. He feels that
Oedipus guilty of the act committed because, it was wrong for hi to commit such crime. There is no way some can be ignorant to killing especially ones own
Oedipus Rex: Guilty or…Guilty? Imagine the exact moment you realize your whole life has been a lie. Imagine the churning of your stomach as you discover you have done the unforgivable. Imagine realizing all the signs you ignored, all the clues you let pass by. Imagine when you realize it was all your fault.
Oedipus' outrage exceeds the moral boundaries as Teiresias uncovers the wrongdoings he submits and lashes out the predictions of his reviled future. Oedipus trying to claim ignorance, seethes “it has – but not for [him]; no not for [him], shameless and brainless, sightless, senseless sot!” (Sophocles, 362). , Oedipus refuses to accept the prophecies, however, on the off chance, Oedipus is much aware about how he has unwittingly murdered a man on his adventure, he will not invalidate but can put effort in finding out who the man is. Regardless, Oedipus realizes that the judgments he put upon the enemy of Laius, proclaims for himself, along these lines to not wound his status of King he shows slight while endeavoring to exhibit that Teiresias is a liar. His indecent dialect towards Teiresias hurts Oedipus' character the most as it shows what he can do to verify himself.
When one considers that Oedipus’ actions involving his actual parents were unwitting it is easy to see that he is in fact innocent of a true crime and in classical scholar E. R. Dodds’ essay “On Misunderstanding the ‘Oedipus Rex’” he concludes that Oedipus is fundamentally innocent and states “I hope I have now disposed of the moralizing interpretation, which has been rightly abandoned by the great majority of contemporary scholars. To mention only recent works in English, the books of Whitman, Waldock, Letters, Ehrenberg, Knox, and Kirkwood, however much they differ on other points, all agree about the essential moral innocence of Oedipus.” and while details of these other scholars would take too long to explain in a simple essay it is agreeable that the thought of Oedipus’ misfortune being in punishment for unwittingly fulfilling his prophecy is false. However, the consideration that his misfortune is a result of his indifference is indeed a viable explanation and allows for the concept of Oedipus’ life being rectified if only he had listened to his
The Greeks believed that they were controlled by fate, or destiny, and that they could not escape it. Oedipus’ fate was that he would murder his father and marry his mother. He moved away from his, not known to him, adoptive father in order to protect him and wound up murdering his birth father, King Laios of Thebes. After Laios’ death, Oedipus married the widowed queen Jocasta, not knowing that she is his birth mother. Some believe, because he was ignorant of his crimes, that he is innocent.
In many people’s eyes, it is seen that fate is something that one can not escape. In Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus gives a speech to the citizens of Thebes, about the murder of their previous leader, Laius. And in this speech, he explains the hardship that the murderer will have to eventually face. In Oedipus’s speech from Oedipus Rex, Sophocles uses the literary device of dramatic irony to develop the central idea that fate is destined to happen, and can possibly bring more intensified consequences when avoided. If one tries to escape their fate, the conflicts that occur can be more severe than they were supposed to be. One can infer that what Oedipus is stating will eventually happen to him in the end of the play, if he is classified as the murderer.
