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Selfish Quotes In Oedipus The King

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In the story, Oedipus The King by Sophocles demonstrates selfishness can bring consequences. The main character in this story is Oedipus, he defeated the Sphinx and became king. He was a horrible ruler and treated others horribly. A plot twist also occurred in this story when Oedipus found out the parents that had taken care of him for years, weren’t his biological parents. A messenger had entered the place one day to let him know that his father had died. 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 …show more content…

The evidence connects to my central idea that selfishness can drive us to chaos. This story shows the king had become ignorant and only cared about his needs. Forgetting about everyone else including the city overall had gone downhill with diseases spreading across fruit blossoms, women in labor having miscarriages, and several other awful things occurring. Even though all of this was happening Oedipus was acting as if all was well and everything would just magically get resolved one way or another. He wants to be known as royalty and have the best of the best but that doesn't help with the fact that he does not know how to help in bad situations. As well as, on page 3 it states, “But the soul inside me sorrows for myself, and for the city, and for you—all together. You are not rousing me from a deep sleep. You must know I’ve been shedding many tears and, in my wandering thoughts, exploring many pathways. After a careful search I followed up the one thing I could find 80 and acted on it. So I have sent away my brother-in-law, son of Menoeceus, Creon, to Pythian Apollo’s shrine, to learn from him what I might do or say to save our city.” (Sophocles, line 70) In this piece of the text or …show more content…

Moreover, in this story called, “Oedipus the King” Oedipus’s parents should have raised their kid and not let any of this occur. We should be aware of our actions and see if it’s selfish or not. This all happened because Oedipus’s biological parents were selfish and didn’t want to deal with their own mistakes. Having a baby sent to get killed was an awful decision. They could’ve loved the baby as their own but they chose to abandon their own blood with no real excuse. This shows, people’s selfishness can get the best of

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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

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"Evil not done unconsiously, but willed. The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves." (Page 130, Right column) Point This shows that it was Oedipus's fault that he did as he did, that is was not the profacyes fault.

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The privileges he is granted by his power blind him to the fact that he is still, no matter how much respect and glory he earns, a human. Aa the chorus states, "for all his power, Time, all seeing Time has dragged him to the light" (adapted from 1339-40). Not only does Oedipus's power do nothing to protect him from his eventual downfall, but it also makes Oedipus a worse leader and person. His pride leads him to do a plethora of horrible things, from torturing an innocent old man to dismissing his wife's desperate pleas to stop his search. Many people in positions of power do not deserve any of their privileges, and are much less honorable than the people they control.

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657 Words | 3 Pages

When the people of Thebes find out Oedipus is the killer of Laius, the former king, Oedipus goes through his tragic downfall of great suffering. Oedipus boosts himself up and degrades others, but it turn he ends up suffering greatly and pitying himself for it. Oedipus’ display of pride throughout the story causes him to feel great pity for himself as he suffers his ultimate downfall.

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776 Words | 4 Pages

Oedipus fails to overcome the fate that has been set out for him by the gods. Though the case was different for him, as unlike Hamlet, Oedipus really couldn’t have done anything to avoid his fate of killing his father and marrying his mother. He believed that his real parents were in Corinth and the best way to avoid his fate was to flee the city. Unfortunately for Oedipus, what he had not known was that he was adopted, and his real parents lived in Thebes, the city he fled to. It was nearly impossible for him to have avoided his fate.

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880 Words | 4 Pages

ll 154, 196) . Afterwards when Oedipus’ parenthood was questioned, he had not yet realised or accepted his biological parents as Iocastê and King Laïus, and the truth of his actions towards them. The audience had inferred the truth long before Oedipus, thus giving them a sense of suspense, waiting for the truth to be revealed. This conveys

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408 Words | 2 Pages

In Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the themes of fate and agency are very strong throughout the play.  Both sides of the argument can be greatly supported.   The attributes of a person have either a positive or negative affect on the choices that they make.   For Oedipus, his main attribute was the desire for knowledge and understanding about his own life. Because of this strong will and desire, this was Oedipus’ driving force in the play to lead him to the truth of his beginnings.

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The fate of Oedipus was not his own but he caused a disruption of a nation that could have been

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1053 Words | 5 Pages

Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, is really a story about the necessity of placing more faith in others and their counsel than in oneself and one’s own beliefs. Repeatedly the titular character is pleaded with to listen to and accept the advice of those around him and each time he refuses to obey. Ultimately, Oedipus’ tendency to do perform the actions he would prefer to do rather than to allow his family to help guide him leads to his downfall and loss of the throne. A common characteristic of Greek tragedy is the “fatal flaw” of the main character and how this flaw leads to the character’s misfortune.

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393 Words | 2 Pages

In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the only one to accept responsibility when he discovers the truth. Jocasta, his mother and wife, realizes the truth before Oedipus does and she diminishes herself of responsibility by committing suicide. At the end of the play, Oedipus wasn’t a coward like his mother and took the blame of his own actions. This makes the tortured and blind man a hero.

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790 Words | 4 Pages

As more information is uncovered, Oedipus’ legacy is exponentially diminished as a childhood prophecy revolving around Oedipus, murdering his father and marrying his mother, is brought to light. Knowledge possesses the power to catalyse devastation in stages as demonstrated through Oedipus’ ignorance, his overwhelming curiosity, and his psychological anguish. From the beginning, Oedipus was raised in a legion of lies, believing Merope and Polybus to be his true parents. This cloak of ignorance not only shielded Oedipus from the knowledge of his biological parents, but allowed the prophecy to act as a catalyst for his fleeing of Corinth.

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1063 Words | 5 Pages

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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571 Words | 3 Pages

He had so much that he became blind to things around around him and the things he was doing to himself and others. Everything that happens to him is brought onto him by him. He killed his father, he also married his mother. He chooses to ignore the warnings from Jocasta, he searches and searches for the killer, to soon find out it was himself. Just as Oedipus becomes king his pride and confidence in himself grows.

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739 Words | 3 Pages

Ordering their servant to take their son to dispose of him, went to go get rid of the baby, but instead of killing him he gave it away to the king and queen of Cornith. Oedipus grow up without realizing he is adopted until one day he is out with some friends drinking, one of his friend that night told him the truth. Finding out this. He travel to Delphi 's to search for the truth. But once he get their he told about a prophecy where he kills his father and marry his mother.

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1224 Words | 5 Pages

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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