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Oedipus the king downfall essay
Oedipus the king analysis
Oedipus the king analysis
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Oedipus the king downfall essay
Oedipus the king analysis
Oedipus the king analysis
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Recommended: Oedipus the king downfall essay
Oedipus’s ultimate downfall was due to his arrogant personality. Oedipus 's egotism is revealed on page 60 when Oedipus hears the news about his “father’s” death, “Ah! Undone then!... Well, my wife, and i am done...yes, had it all arranged-that I should kill my father. Ha!
For all the great strengths of these heroes it’s important to remember they’re still human. Humans are naturally flawed beings, in fact their exaggerated strengths seem to make their weaknesses more dramatic. These fatal flaws constantly get between the hero and reaching his goal contributing to setbacks, loss, and sometimes death. Odysseus’s fatal flaw is pride, usually in himself he lets his positive regard for his own abilities and wants get in the way of his decision making process. One example is his military leadership, he makes both very good and very bad military decisions in his time commanding men, Odysseus is, as Homer says,” polytropos, many-sided, mixed, multi-colored, piebald.
Despite all the benefits of his pride, Oedipus’ pride is what causes him to take everything and blame it on himself. To keep his pride, he makes himself take on the death of Jocasta alone, blaming it on himself for not realizing sooner, and eventually leads to Oedipus
First his denial of being the source of the plague. Second, his egotistical abilities that will form his plot to change his fate. And lastly, the consequences of his denial that will lead him to his physical and emotional destruction. It would seem that in this case, Oedipus’s fate is his own enemy.
Although he was ashamed of the life he had been living, he realized that the mistakes were his own, and no one can bear the weight but him. He even said it himself “No one but me can bear this weight.” The grave consequences which Oedipus suffered in the end consisted of the loss of his mother/ wife by suicide, as well as his grief becoming a threat to himself, as he stabbed his own eyes out, blinding him permanently. After suffering dreadful pain from these actions in grief, Oedipus went on to face the other consequences given by the gods and Creon. He cursed himself many times in the book saying that whoever killed Laius should be banished or killed, and he would even go on to be cursed by his wrongful actions of incest.
Alexandre Dumas once said, “Hatred is blind; rage carries you away; and he who pours out vengeance runs the risk of tasing a bitter draught.” In the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles, Oedipus saves the city of Thebes from the Sphinx by solving its riddle. He becomes ruler of the kingdom, but reigns with a blind fury which ends up badly for him. Oedipus responds poorly when he is put into difficult situations and lashes out in anger. Showing that Oedipus is unfit to rule the people of Thebes and is ineffective as their leader.
It can be seen as a trend throughout history that stories reflect a society’s culture and values. One of the most memorable and inspirational civilization that made a substantial contribution to literature was Greece. Sophocles, a renowned Greek playwright, is beloved for his dramatic and action-filled plays that effectively satisfied the ancient audience. In Sophocles’ tragic play, Oedipus the King, the main character, Oedipus finds difficulty proclaiming his purpose against the fate bestowed upon him by the gods. Alongside his struggling, the values and cultural aspects of the Greeks emerge, reflecting their views on society during that time period at which the play was produced.
Pride often leads to someone’s downfall - this idea has been developed from the playwright “Oedipus the king” through Rey’s interactive oral presentation. He discussed that Oedipus’ excessive pride over his knowledge due to solving riddles allows him to not listen to others including the respected Prophet , his dear relative Kreon - he seldom pays heed to them and decides to pursue further for searching the predecessor’s murderer . His own path opens up hidden , dark truth about his life. From the presentation it has been evident that Oedipus was not smart enough to realize that the path he set for himself, will eventually bring nothing but pain.
Throughout the tragedy of Oedipus the King, Oedipus displays his imperfectly noble being for all to see. While Oedipus had saved the Thebans from the Sphinx’s riddle, Oedipus’s nobel pride and anger lead to his destruction as he attempted to find Laios’s murderer. In his mistreatment of Teiresias, and his false allegations towards Creon being a usurper, Oedipus shows his imperfectly noble character as he foolishly attempts to fight fate and the gods will. Oedipus and his imperfectly noble nature appear again and again as he attempts to solve the murder of the previous King.
Could one's own act of pride and anger be the result of their downfall? Throughout the play Oedipus is seen as a great hero and savior to the people of Thebes however, we soon start to learn that Oedipus has a tragic flaw. Oedipus’s tragic flaw lies in his pride and anger which blinds and leads him to his demise. From the start of his journey to the end of it Oedipus was always blinded by both his pride and his anger. During a feast at Corinth a man taunted him for not being the son of Polybus and blinded by his pride he could not think of anything else.
The three texts, Oedipus The King, Aias, and Philoktetes, define an identity as the uniqueness of a character such as the strength and skills, the representation of that character to other people, and the true heritage. However, an identity one spends his life to build can fall apart within a second by any illness, action, or sudden revelation who they actually are. Aias, Oedipus, and Philoktetes’ carelessness in identifying with their reputations and actions lead their individualities to shatter and change. When Aias, Philoktetes, and Oedipus are forced to undergo destruction or alteration of their identities, they use their physical suffering to cope with the psychological distress of losing their identities.
On planet earth there was a boy who lived in a humble family he grew up in school with good grades and was famous among his classmates for his good looks and gentle personality he was also in very good physical shape and he trained in martial arts. He graduated from college with perfect grades and became a very successful businessman and married a beautiful wife. He had many children and grandchildren and lived a happy but boring life.
Oedipus the King is one of the most ironic plays ever written. Sophocles, the author, is a famous philosopher of the ancient times The Play is about Oedipus, the king of Thebes, who kills his father and marries his mother. An oracle warned Laius, the king of Thebes prior to Oedipus, that his son would murder him. Accordingly, when his wife, Jocasta, had a son, he exposed the baby by first pinning his ankles together. The infant, who was adopted by King Polybus of Corinth and his wife was then brought up as their very own.
It is a terrible, agonizing moment, even in description, but in the depths of his pain Oedipus is magnificent. He does not submit passively to his woe or plead that he committed his foul acts in ignorance, though he could be justified in doing so. He blinds himself in a rage of penitence, accepting total responsibility for what he did and determined to take the punishment of exile as well. As piteous as he appears in the final scene with Creon, there is more public spirit and more strength in his fierce grief and his resolution of exile than in any other tragic hero in the history of the theater. Oedipus unravels his life to its utmost limits of agony and finds there an unsurpassed grandeur of
Refusal to yield due to pride is a human weakness evident in both the ancient times and today's society. In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, King Oedipus refuses to yield when Tiresias urges him that “there’s no help in the truth” (Sophocles 17). Since Oedipus is too proud and stubborn to believe Tiresias, he ignores Tiresias’ advice and unfolds the truth concerning his own past and King Laius’ death, thinking that he will save Thebes from the plague, but ends up only harming himself and his loved ones. Like Oedipus, Muhammad Ali, a professional boxer, is also proud of his beliefs and refuses to yield and join the U.S. military when drafted during the Vietnam War, despite the criticism and punishment he receives. Ali stated that his “ ‘conscience [won't]