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Oedipus Rex Research Paper

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Recommended: Character traits of oedipus the king

Prior to the story, Oedipus was a hero to the people of Thebes because of his heroic efforts protecting against the Sphinx. As Oedipus rules as king for a few years after this incident, a curse plagues Thebes, and the leaders of the people come to their King to help with this tragic event. After learning this horrific news from the people, Oedipus sets out to seek a way to lift this ungrateful plague that is on his people. The king then sets his brother, Creon to receive the word from God at the shrine of Apollo on how to lift this curse that was brought onto his people. Later the word was that the curse would be lifted when the murderer of the late king Laius was unveiled and dealt with in the right way. Through many avenues, Oedipus tries …show more content…

"Speak to us all. I bear the pain of everyone, not merely my own" (Sophocles 93-94). From this point, Oedipus was able to summon certain people of importance that would lead to solving who killed Laius, and as well bring out the information in which ones were trying to hold back. Teiresias, a blind man who can see all, spoke great words that brought out the fact that Oedipus was the killer. "I repeat that you yourself are the murderer you seek" (Sophocles 361). Later, Oedipus discovers that his wife, was indeed his mother, and after Jocasta discussed the information, in which she held, went back inside to hang herself. Oedipus, from this point, rushed back inside and pierced his eyes out, to not be able to see anything else that in which does not give him joy after he found out that he was indeed the one who killed his father Laius. "But it was my own hands, no one else's, that blinded me. What need for eyes when there was nothing I could see that gave me joy?" (Sophocles 1331-1333). Finally, Oedipus was very heroic in the end to bring himself to justice for the cruel thing in which was done and went through with the punishment which spoke at the beginning of whoever killed the late king Laius. "I'll go to the peak of Cithaeron- that is the name of the place my mother and father chose for me to die- so that I can

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He and his family all remained happy in their ignorance of the truth until the plague struck Thebes. The people infer that the God Apollo is punishing the people for not finding the murderer of Laius. Oedipus, as the great ruler he may be, promises to discover the killer and dispel the plague. People try to tell him that it would be better if the past was left alone. But the king was not reluctant and continued.

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To release himself of his prideful ways, Oedipus took it upon himself to discard the eyes that failed to see the truth. To amend the situation he, “raised [the ornament] down straight into his eyeballs.” University of Pennsylvania Professor, Peter T. Struck, established a literary commentary in which he wrote, “by blinding himself, as opposed to committing suicide, Oedipus achieves a kind of surrogate death that intensifies his suffering.” Struck agrees that by committing this self-inflicted retribution, Oedipus is redeeming himself for his sins in a way that death would not allow him to do. Now that Oedipus is finally able to see the truth, he recognizes his mistakes and exclaims, “I don’t deserve to live among you…send me from Thebes”(p.80).

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With the realization of his demise, Oedipus tries to protect himself from punishment and shame by gouging out his own eyes and exiling himself out to die in the place destiny prevented him from dying originally. After many years of luxurious living, Oedipus’s predestined fate tears his life apart and returns him to the place he should have died as an infant, the mountain. Through the use of, departure, initiation, and return, Sophocles displays the journey of Oedipus. Not only is Oedipus the King evidence of the use of the hero’s journey throughout many famous plays, movies, and books across all cultures and time periods, but it also seen as a perfect tragedy, in which the audience experiences both pity and fear for the main

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Background Information: In Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, Oedipus was told that he would kill his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. However, Oedipus doesn’t believe that he killed Laius but was blind to the truth for him accept it which led to his demise. 3.Thesis Statement:

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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 .

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“We haven’t come to beg at your hearth because we think you’re the gods’ equal. We’ve come because you are the best man at handling trouble or confronting gods” (38-41). The people of Thebes are showing their respect in devotion to King Oedipus because the trust him as their well respected leader. They speak and think highly of king Oedipus based on this verse from the story. “We’ve lost almost everything, because we don’t have Odysseus to protect our house.

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They ask him to be again the hero he once was when he saved Thebes from the Sphinx, however, in the end, Oedipus finds that he is the cause of this plague set upon his people. Frye’s quote “tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape” justifies the Theban’s acts of looking at Oedipus as the solution to end the plague. Oedipus is the definition of a tragic hero; he saved the city of Thebes, became king, sought to save the city again, but discovered that he was the cause of the city’s suffering and also his

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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.

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Oedipus had a number of opportunities to run down another path, or use the strength it took to kill the men to incapacitate them long enough to get away. Instead, he chooses murder and fulfilled the

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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.

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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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In Oedipus The King, Oedipus is introduced as a wise king who cares about the well-being of the people as he solved the Sphinx riddle and saved the country. He is 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 a good king, and a son of Polybos and Merope. However, during his investigation into Laius’ murderer, he finds out that he is in fact the culprit; “All!

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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.

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Introduction The story of Oedipus the king is gloomy, yet captivating. Going from a child bond around the feet and abandon by the mountainside, to marrying his mother, his story is intriguing. In search of the truth about the prophecy and putting an end to a plague Oedipus, search for king Laius’s killer, did somethings inadvertently, making him a tragic hero. His search for truth in the death of Laius the king, as well as his birth led to the ultimate destruction and downfall of his life.

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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

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