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Oedipus Rex Critical Lens Essay

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Critical Lens As said by Benjamin Disraeli in Contarini Fleming, “Circumstances are beyond the control of man; but his conduct is in his own power.” Although this quote originates from 1832, centuries before Oedipus the King was published, its logic can still be applied to Sophocles’ play. Disraeli is saying that no one can help the circumstances they are born in, but everyone has the capability to live how they want. At face-value, this may seem true; in the end everyone has the ability to make a decision. Yet, it is their circumstances that drive the choices people make. This is best shown in Oedipus, whose actions were based on the circumstances surrounding him. Oedipus lived his entire life avoiding the prophecy foretold by Delphi. His parents abandoned him at birth because of it, he left his adoptive family because of it, and ultimately, he was blinded because of it. The prophecy itself did not cause these outcomes, but Oedipus’ actions were driven by it. His parents chose to abandon him because of their fear of the oracle’s foresight, he chose to leave because of his caution of it and he blinded himself because he’d driven himself to find the truth of his parentage. Oedipus’ situation caused him to do all …show more content…

With all the hints given to him, it would be impossible for anyone in his position to repress their need to learn more. This is shown best when Oedipus says “Let the storm burst, my fixed resolve still holds, To learn my lineage, be it ne'er so low. It may be she with all a woman's pride Thinks scorn of my base parentage. But I Who rank myself as Fortune's favorite child, The giver of good gifts, shall not be shamed. She is my mother and the changing moons My brethren, and with them I wax and wane.” (1077-1086). Oedipus is so prideful because he grew up as a Prince, more evidence that it is your circumstances that decide your outcomes

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Oedipus the king gave a speech to his people in the city of Thebes and the priest on his front steps. The priest and followers are there to convince Oedipus through logos to help save them and their life sources. During these speeches Oedipus replied by showing two devices,ethos and pathos. The two devices he used in his side of the speech allowed him to gain more of the city’s trust in him, and have them rely on how serious he is about this matter.

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Imagine being told your future fate without knowing if it’s true, when it will happen, or even if you can prevent it. One king, Oedipus, in particular, was living that very reality. His fate was uncovered early on by a prophecy, so he lived life trying to run from that fate. Yet, he unknowingly lived that very life later on. He led a life of incest, committed a heinous crime, and was burdened with suffering after the acts were revealed.

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It was then revealed that they were not his real parents. He had also found out there was a prophecy that was ruining his life. This prophecy claims that Oedipus would kill his biological father and marry his mother. This all came to reality and from here his life went downhill. To start

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Life sets this and it can never be changed. Oedipus was born with a prophecy, he would kill his father and marry his mother. His father was King Laius and his mother was Jocasta. This was to be his fate for life. He cannot change this in any way.

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He refuses to listen to the counsel of those around him. In fact, Oedipus retorts to Teiresias, “Say what you will. Whatever you say is worthless” (Sophocles 19). Oedipus turns a deaf ear to the truth and a blind eye to his actions. He is crippled not by truly being blind but his foolish ignorance.

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Oedipus is affected by the Prophecy in two main stages of his life. His infancy as the son of Polybus, and his adulthood as King of Thebes where the two stages

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He is so willing to know the truth that he does not realize what will soon happen to him. Oedipus demands a messenger to speak the truth about his real parents, yet the messenger repeats that things are better left untold. Yet Oedipus thinks otherwise, the messenger warned him and this goes into the theme of the play, Oedipus is forcing himself to know the truth out of his own free will. Oedipus called for the shepherd that took him as a child and revealed the truth. Although Jocasta did not want Oedipus to investigate more, he did so anyway.

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He is resolute to find the killer and resolve the mystery of the deaths of the citizens of Thebes. He is obstinate and insistent about finding out the truth, ignoring the warnings and pleas of Teiresias, the shepherd and his wife. Refusing to heed the forewarnings that fuels his desire to find out the truth, he ends up with nothing. Sophocles may have wanted to highlight that there is no wisdom in turning a deaf ear on advice and relying only on self-belief. Oedipus is too proud and blind to his own folly of relentlessly pursuing the truth.

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In the Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King, written by the famous tragedian, Sophocles, control is in the hands of the gods. Fate is more powerful than free will in Oedipus's life because multiple prophets, Tiresias, and Delphi, told him he would eventually kill his father and lay with his mother, he ran from Corinth to Thebes believing he would be safe from fate, when he was actually running towards it and he eventually fulfills the prophecy, killing his father and laying with his mother. At the beginning of Oedipus's life, he was condemned to death by his mother, Jocasta.

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Oedipus the King is a tragedy that was written by Sophocles that emphasizes the irony of an irony of a man who was determined to trace down, expose and punish an assassin who in turn became him. Oedipus the King is also known as Oedipus Rex or Oedipus Tyrannus. The art is an Athenian play that was performed in ages approximated to be 429 BC. Oedipus the King would later in the play fulfill the prophecy that he would kill his father and later on marry his mother. There is a twist of an event in the play where Oedipus is looking for the murderer of his father to bring to a halt the series of plagues that are befalling Thebes but only to find he is in search of himself (Rado, 1956).

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First, he was blind to the truth about his own life. Oedipus had no idea that his real parents were Laius and Jocasta, he was so blind that he got mad at anyone that would even suggest an idea such as that. As the story went on though, Oedipus could no longer run from the truth; he was forced to open his eyes to the reality and truth of his life. Oedipus killed his father and married his mother; he is the brother to his own kids and the son of his own mother. Oedipus was the one that was causing all of the downfall and bad times in Thebes.

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Specifically it is his ignorance about who he really is and who his parents were. If Oedipus were not ignorant to this information he would have never become the king and would not search so vigorously for King Laius’s murderer. This ignorance leads to Oedipus’s downfall later in the story. Later in one of the plays

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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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Introduction Inequality and adherence to outdated cultural traditions are two of the main sources behind the tragedies that were seen in the case of Oedipus Rex and Antigone. For instance, in the case of Oedipus Rex, the origin behind the tragedy can be traced to the belief of King Laius in the words of an oracle. The mere fact that he was willing to believe in something that "might" come true on the basis that an oracle stated it shows that the problem is a mistaken belief in a cultural tradition that is far from what can be stated as being logical. The same can be seen in the case of Antigone wherein the female protagonist (i.e. Antigone) places religious belief over the laws established by the state. On the other end of the spectrum, the

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