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The Chorus In Sophocles 'Oedipus The King'

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The Reliability of The Chorus In Sophocles’ well-known tragic play, Oedipus the King the Chorus is only reliable at the end of the play. The Chorus is not reliable due to their change in opinion of the power of the g-ds and their inability to see the truth due to their bias towards Oedipus. The Chorus is reliable due to their ability to think logically, making them Oedipus’s voice of reason. Firstly, the Chorus is not a reliable source of information due to their constant change in opinion of the power of the g-ds. At the beginning of the play, when Thebes is in suffering the Chorus believes the g-ds are their only source of hope. The Chorus announces that “we calls upon you, immortal Athena, daughter of Zeus. And your sister Artemis, the protector of this land” (13) This quote shows how dependant the Chorus is on the g-ds. As the play continues the Chorus has a completely different opinion and they now believe the g-ds are not powerful. This is seen when the Chorus announces that, “the old …show more content…

The Chorus extremely respects Oedipus due to his noble actions for Thebes, “we all saw how the Sphinx came against him- there his wisdom was proved.” (27) This quote proves how proud and passionate the Chorus feels towards Oedipus. Due to their high level of pride for Oedipus they are incapable of judging Oedipus as guilty despite Tiresias’s reveal of truth, “but nether a mere man knows the truth - wether a human prophet knows more than I do - who is to be the fair judge?” (27) This quote is to display the Chorus questioning Tiresias’s honestly even though he known for always telling the truth. The Chorus is blinded by the truth due to their admiration for Oedipus, “my heart will never judge him guilty of evil action.” (28) This quote proves the Chorus is completely bias towards Oedipus therefore an unreliable source of

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IN WHAT MANNER DOES SOPHOCLES PORTRAY OEDIPUS’ HUBRIS TO SUPPLEMENT THE TRAGIC IMPACT OF THE PLAY? In ancient Athens, hubris denoted an act of degradation towards someone, while currently, it is defined as excessive pride or self-reliance. Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles near the year 430 BC, is well acquainted with the term. The play is based on a Greek myth, following Oedipus’ pursuit of the truth behind his past and its devastating implications. The author emphasizes the theme of hubris to supplement the tragic impact of the play through the meticulous presentation of the protagonist’s rise to power, the supporting characters, Oedipus’ personality traits, and the use of literary devices.

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In Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, some might argue that Odysseus’s dishonesty and deceit cause loss of trust and negative consequences. However, Odysseus’s dishonesty and deceit do not always have bad intentions, it can be seen when Odysseus and his men escaped out of Polyphemus’s cave to get out of trouble and when Odysseus received help from his men to get closer to their objective. While lying is looked down upon, people

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The central theme of the Greek epic narrative, kleos (“heroic fame”), has presented many conflicting perspectives within the Odyssey. As the vocaliser of his own fame, Odysseus’ kleos gains both a subjective and objective aspect. Kleos, the far reaching fame “heard among men” is projected through the voice of the bards, not the hero himself. As Walter Marg states, this kleos is “the great desire of the Homeric hero” , and this desire may only be satisfied by the repository of knowledge that is the bard. Hesiod, analysing the epic tradition, further suggests that these muses have the ability to speak “falsehoods that resemble truth”.

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To begin with, in the beginning of the second episode, Sophocles establishes a conflict between Creon and Oedipus. When Oedipus sees Creon at his palace, he scolds, “You-here? You have the gall / to show your face before the palace gates? / You, plotting to kill me, kill the king- / I see it all, the marauding thief himself / scheming to steal my crown and power!”

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Oedipus learns that you can’t control everything in life and also things come and go, they never stay. So instead seeing the truth and believing the lies, it’s best to see the lies and believe in the truth. Otherwise

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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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Throughout the play Antigone, Chorus and Choragos act as a narrator offering their opinion to foreshadow and to suggest how the readers and the audience should react to the event of the play. In Antigone, Chorus shows the judgments of the citizen in Thebes, which they could not tell directly to Creon as the citizen. When the guards bring Antigone from the palace the chorus comments on the action of Antigone, shows compassion to her, and honors her saying, “Yet not unpraised, not without a kind of honor,” (667). Chorus expresses their thoughts and opinion of the citizen, which helps the audience to feel compassion to Antigone and also foreshadows the death of Antigone. Furthermore, Choragos also act as a narrator who gives important advices

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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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Thesis:In Sophocles play ‘Oedipus the king’,Oedipus is an example of a tragic hero because he changed from a hero at the beginning of the play into a tragic hero by the end by experiencing power,tragic flow,downfall and death. Oedipus changes into a person no can believe of,because in the beginning he was a hero for the city of thebes by solving a riddle to defeat the monster that was killing and taking over thebes. Claim:Before the play Oedipus defeats sphinx and becomes a powerful king,At the beginning of the play people rely on Oedipus’s power and help. Data:For example the priest says “Oedipus greatest in all men’s eyes We pray,find some strength again and rescue or city”. Warrant:From this quote readers can see that how empowered oedipus feels like and how people in thebes rely on him,Clearly this scene represents the power stage of the tragic hero.

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Evidence from the play partly supports the claim that people can not judge unless they know all the facts. The first piece of evidence occurs near the start of the play when Oedipus states: As for the criminal, I pray to God - Whether, it be a lurking thief, or one of a number - I pray that the man’s life be consumed in evil and wretchedness. (Sophocles,

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In The Identity of Oedipus the King, Alister Cameron proved Oedipus as a tragic hero. He specifically wrote, “[f]or whatever his faults, Oedipus is noble. And after all, the acts he performs he is condemned to perform in ignorance. Therefore, whenever he acts, necessarily he acts blindly. Blindness is given him in his situation” (Cameron 140).

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“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” said historian Lord Acton. In Sophocles’ Antigone, Oedipus the King of Thebes newly departs after disgracing his people, and his successors to the throne, Polynices and Eteocles die in battle, thus leaving his brother Creon to inherit his throne. From the beginning, Creon uses his newfound power to impose excessive punishments against not only the people of Thebes, but also his family. As a result, the Thebans recognize his abuse of power, and express their fears through not only the chorus, but also his son. To finalize his play, Sophocles exposes how Creon uses his power to manipulate the hierarchy in Greek society; consequently offending the gods.

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Oedipus Rex Henry Rollins once stated, “Weakness is what brings ignorance, cruelty, and pride, all these things that will keep a society chained to the ground, one foot nailed to the floor.” In Sophocles play Oedipus Rex, Oedipus, the king of Thebes, weakness is his fate. Throughout the play, Oedipus is trying to outrun his fate because he feels the gods are subordinate to his powerful figure. Oedipus is seen as a god throughout Thebes because he defeated the mighty Sphinx, who was once haunting over the city. After defeating the Sphinx, Oedipus took over as king by killing his father and coupling his mother as his hubris blinded him from reality.

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I will also discuss how does the Chorus represents the Athenian audience. The role of the Chorus is like the role of a narrator. It gives detail and insight into the events and help to guide the audience. However, as Electra being a

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The Chorus connects the play to other myths and Sophocles uses the Chorus to expound upon the plays central themes such as morality, women, power, fate and free will etc. One such incidence we see in the play is towards the beginning when the Chorus describes the situation at Thebes and talks about the fate that killed the brothers. “And the common fate that slew them” This is seen when the Chorus says “Daughter of (Edipus ! Hapless child, of a hapless father! ” Here they bring out the character of Antigone by comparing her to her father by calling her passionate and wild and her actions to be a reflection to that of her

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