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Oedipus The King Pan's Labyrinth Essay

1226 Words5 Pages

Through reading Oedipus The King, Slaughterhouse 5, and watching Pan’s Labyrinth there has been one message that is most evident to me; often when humans are faced with difficult lives they resort to a state of denial so they do not have to come to terms with the unsatisfying reality of their lives. Even though morals teach people to face their problems instead of running away from them, the main characters in these three stories seem to live happier lives with denial. In all three of these stories the main character is grappling with an irreversible conflict. In Oedipus The King, Oedipus is told by Teiresias that he did in fact kill King Laius. Instead of considering that he may have in fact committed this crime Oedipus denies this allegation …show more content…

While she reaches the country her Mother is severely ill and she is greeted with an immoral black-hearted new father. Ophelia’s life is terrible and it is clearly only going to get worse as her mom dies and she is left with her new father. When Ophelia dies she does not simply go into darkness but instead she is greeted by her parents in a fictitious kingdom. I believe that the writer did this to create a more uplifting ending and to not leave viewers with the sadness of a little girl dying. The writer uses fictitious elements to prevent Ophelia from facing the dark truth of her circumstances. Coming from living in a world that made her feel insignificant it made her happy to know that there was a place that she was the center of attention. Kids crave attention and love, Ophelia did not get a lot of that in her life on earth so she compensated for that by creating a world in her mind where she would be loved. In the end of the movie Ophelia can be seen bleeding out with a smile on her face, that smile would not have been there if it wasn’t for her unwillingness to accept her current life and create a haven for herself where she would be happy to spend her

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I partially agree with Camden about Ophelia’s insanity is due to her father’s death because Ophelia is a “delicate-minded young girl, obedience to her father” meaning Ophelia always obeyed her father’s commands. What I question is, has she not once have the urge to do something that will disobey him? Or even thought about disobeying him? What I believe proves her sanity is mainly based on Polonius’ death is when John Draper [Camden’s source] had quoted “because that father, whom she loved so dearly, come to a sudden shocking end,” as he is her remaining parent figure she had left who is now gone (para. 1). It seems as if she was taught throughout her life to always obey her father, who is the lord of the household or because he is the king’s

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975 Words | 4 Pages

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), directed by Guillermo del Toro, is a gorgeously realised tale of fantasy and horror, set against the backdrop of post-Civil War Spain. The story follows a young girl, Ofelia, who travels to the countryside with her ill mother to live with her new stepfather, Vidal, a captain in Franco’s Fascist army. The film explores how Ofelia uses her imagination as a copying mechanism to deal with the monstrosities of her reality as well as to interpret the horrific events unfolding around her. Del Toro employs a number of cinematic devices including cinematography, sound and editing to effectively draw parallels between Ofelia’s reality and imagination, ultimately creating a powerful film that condemns the nature of Fascism.

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509 Words | 3 Pages

Everyone tries to convince themselves that it is all lies when you receive bad news about anything that you don’t believe in. In the play Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles in 430 BC, Oedipus is in denial about who killed the previous king, Laius. The town has asked Oedipus to save them from the disease that has spread killing all the life in town by finding the person who killed Lauis. Oedipus tells the people he will find the culprit and do whatever he needs to do to punish them. When he is given the truth, he is unwilling to accept the truth.

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614 Words | 3 Pages

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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798 Words | 4 Pages

Just one of these traumatic events could make a character go mad, but the combination of the three justifies Ophelia’s madness. The use of these three tragic events in Ophelia’s life makes her madness reasonable. The first event to happen that changes Ophelia’s demeanor is her relationship problems with her boyfriend, Hamlet. In Act III, Scene I of the play, Ophelia says to Hamlet “My lord, I have remembrances of yours, That I have longed long

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776 Words | 4 Pages

Pan’s Labyrinth is a very distinct and unusual yet captivating film which uses fantasy but also dramatic imagery to tell the story both Ofelia and Spain while under fascist rule. Pan’s Labyrinth provides a linkage between harsh realities of war and its aftermath which affects all character however, the twist of Pan’s Labyrinth film involves fantasy to restrain the seriousness of the actually story. The exploration of harsh realities of war and its aftermath with fantasy is a prevalent linkage throughout the film; the constant infusion of the real world and the fantasy. Guillermo del Toro connects scenes of horrific reality in Ofelia’s new life with equally frightening scenes in Ofelia’s fantasy, which she tried to use as a mechanism to escape or cope with her mother’s illness and step-father’s cruelty.

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939 Words | 4 Pages

Ophelia’s character went through quite a large transformation. In the play her father tells her that she is to stay away from Hamlet and she readily agrees. In the movie Ophelia doesn’t disagree with her father but she also doesn’t agree just to please him. This shows that Ophelia isn’t easily persuaded, even by her own father. Despite her father’s warning about Hamlet, Ophelia met with him in secret at her apartment until her father found out.

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701 Words | 3 Pages

Then Hamlet lies to her saying he never really loved her which made her situation worse. And she was set up to see why hamlet is acting crazy and is spied on by Claudius to see where hamlet is week. So, as you can see Ophelia is put

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1154 Words | 5 Pages

Ophelia’s madness is caused by the actions of others in the story. “Madness becomes Ophelia’s last resort, her unconscious revolt. Indeed what else is left for her to do? Offering her an escape, madness provides her with the ability to finally speak her anger and desire” (Dane,412).Her father tells her to stay away from Hamlet, who she has fallen in love with. Hamlet has warned her earlier that whatever he tells her in the future will not be true but, when he tells her he does not intent to be with her it starts the beginning of her madness.

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932 Words | 4 Pages

Ophelia goes mad throughout the story. She is overwhelmed by the loss of her father and the rejection of Hamlet. Her character is seen spiraling down a dark path that also ends in death. Ophelia is depicted as not having control over her actions; speaking and acting erratically. While Hamlet is speaking erratically and behaving oddly, he still maintains control over his actions and movement throughout the story.

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1234 Words | 5 Pages

Ophelia was the daughter of polonius, the love interest of hamlet who was brutally torn up mentally throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel all was well for her as well, her boyfriend was off at college and she was perfectly fine at home with her father. It was until her father took away a note from hamlet to her that things started going downhill. She was a weak person not like hamlet who when faced with injustice takes thing into his own hands to seek justice or revenge. She was a quite simple girl who had a gentler soul.

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937 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the play, Ophelia acts as a very honest person in the beginning, willing to tell Laertes and Polonius anything. She then receives mistreated love from Hamlet that leads her to drowning herself in a river. The true face and actions from Ophelia, Laertes, Polonius, Queen Gertrude, King Claudius, and particularly Hamlet lead to their deaths. The end result leads to unfortunate events, including death. The love throughout the kingdom of Denmark becomes toxic, killing all who lives

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745 Words | 3 Pages

Ophelia is grieving the loss of her father after Hamlet kills him. Ophelia doesn't know that Hamlet killed her father. But Ophelia has gone mad from learning about her father's death. Also, after Hamlet telling Ophelia that she needs to go to a nunnery, Ophelia is a little bit discouraged. She is discouraged because Hamlet had told her before that if Ophelia would sleep with him that they would get married.

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1427 Words | 6 Pages

Although her death initially seems to be like a suicide, yet it was an accident. Suicide may have crossed Ophelia’s mind, because of the state she was in and everything that has happened with the men in her life. The pain and grief she went through is something she would probably like to get rid of, and perhaps once the tree branch broke, she just gave up and didn’t decide to fight the river currents. She was likely aware that she was drowning, and didn’t fight it because it is ironically a solution to her problems; but she did not consciously think of committing

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1566 Words | 7 Pages

At the beginning of the play, Ophelia didn’t have the strongest mind in the room, but she certainly wasn’t broken as she was towards the end of the tragedy. There were certainly clues of Ophelia’s downfall, as she was easily broken and constantly used as a political tool instead of being treated as a human being. Shakespeare has the reader notice this, which makes them uneasy from the start about Ophelia’s character. There are constant moving parts in this play, most of which have the consequence of being negative to Ophelia. The suspense in the play builds regarding Ophelia’s character when Hamlet admits that he never loved her, making the reader worry about the girl since it was cruel and Ophelia truly loves Hamlet.

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