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Oedipus Identity Analysis

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The Destruction of Identity and Its Disastrous Outcomes
May Tun

The three texts, Oedipus The King, Aias, and Philoktetes, define a person’s identity as the uniqueness of their character, such as their strength and skills, their demonstration of their character to other people, and their true heritage. However, the identity a person spends his lifetime to build can fall apart within a second due to illnesses, actions, or sudden revelations about the truths and falsehoods of who they actually are. Aias, Oedipus, and Philoktetes’ carelessness in choosing to identify with their reputations and actions leads to their perceived individualities being completely shattered and changed. When these three individuals are forced to undergo the destruction …show more content…

Oedipus The King introduces Oedipus as a wise king who greatly cares about the well-being of the people as he solved the Sphinx riddle and saved the country. He receives praised as “a bird from the god, [he] brought good luck the day [he] rescued [the people]” (Oedipus The King. 61-62). He identifies himself as being a good king, the son of Polybos and Merope. However, during his investigation into Laius’ murderer, he uncovers that he is in fact the culprit; “All! All! It has all happened! / It was all true. O Light! Let this / be the last time I look on you. / You see now who I am- / the child who must not be born! / I loved where I must not love! / I killed where I must not kill!” (Oedipus The King. 1336.1342). His understanding of his identity is completely shattered when he learns this truth. With the sudden shift from his newfound knowledge, the life he lived seems like a lie, and he becomes confused about his own identity. Oedipus covets his previously unquestioned identity as a good king, so the discovery of his new and shameful identity causes immense emotional

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On the other hand, Oedipus’s anagnorisis came to light when he discovered his fate and its relation to his present. Disgusted by his past of incest, Oedipus 's hubris takes a step back as he starts to show remorse. On page 70, Oedipus illustrates the repugnance brought on by the revelation of his true identity, “ Lost! Ah Lost! At last it’s

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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.

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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.

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Oedipus’s duty as King is to resolve any conflicts, including the mystery of the murder of King Laius. His pride takes over, and Oedipus becomes very single-minded. His cynical stubbornness writes the story itself, “Let the storm burst, my fixed resolve still holds, / To learn my lineage, be it ne’er so low. / It may be she will all a woman’s pride /

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More specifically, Oedipus faced an unknown truth, a task to save his people, and a moment of grief to represent is blind ending. Throughout the events he represented self-justice and an idea that the people were eventually going to respect and understand. As a lifetime of searching became a norm for Oedipus he discovered such a truth that hurt his soul and caused his wife and mother to kill themself. Although obtaining this notion, the king himself took risks that were greatly empowering and laborious. The whirlwind of emotions produced by each of the characters allowed justice to become more real and visual as the end became more authentic than ever before.

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So by suffering, Oedipus still feels like a King fulfilling his duty. Thomas Gould author of The Innocence of Oedipus: The Philosophers on Oedipus the King, Part III, discusses the idea of whether Oedipus has control over his fate or not. Gould states, “Oedupus’ intentions were good, but the results of his actions were bad; and the explanation for this is that he did not have certain important pieces of information” (Gould 32). In the end, when Oedipus learns he is Laius killer, he must make the ultimate sacrifice for his crimes. The truth was right in front of him all along but he either ignored it or refused to accept it because it was not all together at once.

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He is stubborn in resisting the truth but he still seeks for it and that is his final undoing. Wanting to know the truth is not necessarily a bad thing but it is often the cause for bad things to happen. Oedipus is a key example of this when he finally realizes that he was the one who killed his father when he is faced with his dead wife and mother. He reacts harshly to this, stabbing out his eyes and banishing himself all over again. There is no denying that Oedipus caused a lot of his pain himself with no one else to blame.

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After thing coming to light, Oedipus feel horrified about the

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Oedipus was a tragic hero he was seen as a great man and was king,but he fell to misfortune because of his disability to see past his pride and anger which led to his demise. By not being able to see past his pride and anger Oedipus was not able to to avoid his prophetic destiny. He was blinded by his pride and anger so much that it became his tragic flaw ultimately leading him to his

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Oedipus solved the riddle of the sphinx which ultimately saved the Kingdom of Thebes from the plague. This made Oedipus a respected ruler that was well liked in Thebes. His time as ruler eventually came to an unexpected end. Although Oedipus could not control his fate, his confidence in himself, determination and stubbornness to find out who killed Laius led to his downfall. Throughout the play Oedipus struggles with not being able to solve this murder.

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He realized that he was no longer in power of his life and that his future had already been determined. Oedipus felt remorse as he was not able to change the outcome of his

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In the play Oedipus is the only one that is able to solve the sphinx’s riddle which leads the city to making him their next king. Oedipus was there for the city in a time of need and shows his intelligence by solving the riddle. This act is what categorizes Oedipus as a hero, after saving the city from a crisis it shows he is willing to do anything in order to keep the city going and look after his people. He also does not like to keep secrets from his people, for example when Creon wants to tell Oedipus the oracle in private, Oedipus insists on making the news public to the people. Doing so shows that he wants the people to trust him and wants make it known to everyone that he can be in fact trusted.

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Oedipus, King of Thebes, has sight but is blind to truth. Since he is born Oedipus was living in the lie. He never knew who were his real parents and what was the real story hidden behind his entire life until it was reavealed to him. Oedipus was born to be a king. Being a king in a certain way helped him discover the truth about his life.

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So in the end, Oedipus no longer thinks of himself. Thinking of his children 's impending marriage, Oedipus begs for his children and no longer can think of himself as anything more than a creature that embodies what it means to be pathetic: “When you come to the age ripe for marriage, who will he be who will run the risk, children, to take for himself the reproaches that will be banes for my parents and offspring alike? What evil is absent? Your father slew his father; he ploughed his mother, where he himself was sown, and he sired you in the same fount where he himself was sired.

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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.

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