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Analysis of oedipus the king
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Analysis on oedipus rex
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Analysis of oedipus the king
Fate vs destiny in oedipus rex
Analysis on oedipus rex
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Oedipus the soon-to-be king, solved the Sphinx 's riddle, which had been killing the People of Thebes when they were unable to solve the riddle. The people of Thebes loved and respected Oedipus, for saving them. For defeating the sphinx he was praised by the people of Thebes and married to widowed Queen of Thebes Jocasta. Jocasta 's late husband had been killed by a "group of robbers" . Oedipus The King again becomes a hero when he promises to save the people of Thebes from a plague.
From the beginning Oedipus was destined to fulfill a terrible prophecy, but through particular events that follow the steps of the Hero’s Journey, Oedipus becomes a powerful king of Thebes, only to be destroyed by the prophecy that should have ended his life as a child. The Hero’s Journey typically leads to self-confidence and power, however; the Hero’s Journey of Oedipus leads to his tragic demise. The Hero’s Journey lays out the steps of Oedipus’s future actions, which create suspense, fear, pity, and other emotions that captivates the audience. Similar to many famous stories, Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles in 430 B.C., follows the Hero’s Journey path, which is evident in Oedipus’s departure, initiation, and return.
On his way to Thebes, Oedipus encountered the Sphinx, which had the body of a lion, upper part of a woman and the wings of an eagle. The Sphinx guarded the city killing every passerby that didn’t solve her riddle, which was all of them. As Oedipus approached the Sphinx, she told him her riddle, which was, “What creature walks on four legs, on two at noon, and on three in the evening?” (Footnote 7). To the Sphinx’s surprise, Oedipus solves the riddle and does the only logical thing, which was, jump of a cliff and kill herself.
The people of Thebes seeked aid from the true gods , the real protectors and deciders of one's fate , and he puts the cities problems on his shoulders, A gods duty is not a mortal mans job. Oedipus just didnt understand. “ As I should , to avenge the city and the
In Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the themes of fate and agency are very strong throughout the play. Both sides of the argument can be greatly supported. The attributes of a person have either a positive or negative affect on the choices that they make. For Oedipus, his main attribute was the desire for knowledge and understanding about his own life. Because of this strong will and desire, this was Oedipus’ driving force in the play to lead him to the truth of his beginnings.
P.13 Oedipus questions Teiresias, curious to know what he knows. “Oh gruesomely clear it has all unraveled… I was bonded with the people I should have never killed.” P.40 Oedipus sees what he has done wrong and feels vulnerable and horror. The audience clearly sees that heroes are very human and how real their limitations. Most people would have felt that same vulnerability if the gods had made us their plaything and tormented us, writing a prophecy of our doom.
Oedipus talked to Teiresias about his powers and what he knows in lines 110-125, however, Teiresias initially just wants to leave and let Oedipus deal with his own fate. As Oedipus’s patience runs out, he demands “Out with it! Have you no feeling at all!” to Teiresias, which fails to accomplish anything but anger him. Teiresias then tells Oedipus he is the actual murderer of the previous king, causing Oedipus to go into a rage where he accused Creon of being a usurper, and Teiresias of helping him in his task from lines 160-185.
In the beginning Oedipus know very little, he came from corinth to thebes like a stranger he doesn't know the mess he is in and the mess about to occur. Other people know, and hide the truth from oedipus. Oedipus has killed his father, saved thebes from the sphinx and its riddle, and become king. The citizens believe that solving the Sphinx’s riddle makes Oedipus wise.
When Teiresias accuses Oedipus of being the defiler of the land he forgets the problems of the people and is encased in anger making him accuse Creon of bribing Teiresias. When he is speaking to his wife, Jocasta, he can only concentrate on one thing at a time and forgets the mention of Laius having a child and also forgets the problem concerning his birth. Finally with the message from Corinth he starts to realize how everything ties together. Bloom states that “we learn that the best sort of tragic hero is a man highly esteemed and prosperous who falls into misfortune because of some serious (mega√lh) aÓmarti√a:examples, Oedipus and Thyestes.”(18).
Oedipus Rex Henry Rollins once stated, “Weakness is what brings ignorance, cruelty, and pride, all these things that will keep a society chained to the ground, one foot nailed to the floor.” In Sophocles play Oedipus Rex, Oedipus, the king of Thebes, weakness is his fate. Throughout the play, Oedipus is trying to outrun his fate because he feels the gods are subordinate to his powerful figure. Oedipus is seen as a god throughout Thebes because he defeated the mighty Sphinx, who was once haunting over the city. After defeating the Sphinx, Oedipus took over as king by killing his father and coupling his mother as his hubris blinded him from reality.
Shortly after this, he hears of the unfortunate truth from Tiresias, but he refuses to acknowledge it, cursing Tiresias and commanding him to depart (Sophocles and Frederic 25). We see again of how Oedipus’ role as the king builds
This blindness towards doom is made even more ironic by the fact that he was made king by his knowledge and insight. Oedipus was known as the person who solved the famous riddle of the Sphinx, a monster which terrorized the citizens. As the play proceed, we can see how much of a contrast between the two groups of character there is, even the messengers knows stuff that the king doesn’t. Sentences like “My son, it is clear that you don’t know what you are doing” (Sophocles 55) salutes to the ignorance of the supposedly “wise” king. Using words like “son”, Sophocles gives an sign that even the messenger It illustrates the flaws that exist in Oedipus, amplifies it by comparing him to other who are supposedly
Briefly following, Oedipus goes on to explain his perspective of Thebes saying, ‘"for what the light of the day has spared that darkness of night destroys”’ (Sophocles 198). Oedipus knows that the darkness that the city encounters and figures that he could help save it. After defeating the Sphinx and 15 years as being the King, Oedipus faces his first conflict; what man is responsible for the death of Laius? The immense pressure that the King of Thebes faces daily, Oedipus is frantic and reluctant to figure out the murderous man.
Brilliantly conceived and written, Oedipus Rex is a drama of self-discovery. Achieved by amazing compression and force by limiting the dramatic action to the day on which Oedipus learns the truth of his birth and his destiny is quite the thriller. The fact that the audience knows the dark secret that Oedipus unwittingly slew his true father and married his mother does nothing to destroy the suspense. Oedipus’s search for the truth has all the tautness of a detective tale, and yet because audiences already know the truth they are aware of all the ironies in which Oedipus is enmeshed. That knowledge enables them to fear the final revelation at the same time that they pity the man whose past is gradually and relentlessly uncovered to him.
And this first part of the riddle was very relevant to Oedipus’s life as how he was taken to the mountain by the shepherd to be killed. Oedipus was at the weakest point of his life at that time, which is related to the first part of the riddle of him walking on four legs meaning he is still young. But this relevance is evident through the way the Omen of the god Apollo that Lauis’s son would kill him and wed Jocasta would not come true. And in Other words Oedipus did not know what was waiting for him at the other side of the gate and what he had done was brilliant but it lead to fatal consequences later on. To recap Oedipus has solved the riddle based on his view of the riddle, but did not know that the sphinx riddle meant that it will happen to him.