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The Human Condition In Oedipus The King

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The early days of Greek storytelling had incorporated the themes and lessons into the stories. One of the most common themes is the human condition. The human condition is a popular theme for the reason to relate an event or journey to anyone. A person can view this theme as a lesson or reflection to events in their own lives to prevent a horrible event or have their aristeia. Ego is one common human condition that is examined throughout Greek Myths which is Ego. Ego is the concept of what a person thinks of oneself compared to our people. Greek Myths show ego as the cause of human problems through the mythological characters obstructions in a journey. The human condition of ego and the effect is seen in Oedipus the King and the Odyssey. …show more content…

His ego made him blur out every offer of advice and warning given to him to cure the plague and the pollution. One classic case was when Oedipus was given help by Teiresias, the oracle, and he mocked him for his answer and called him crazy. This line comes from the meeting between Oedipus and Teiresias; Oedipus said to Teiresias “I did not know you would speak so stupidly. If I had, you would have waited a long time before I called you here.” (Sophocles Lines 523- 525) This is caused by Teiresias telling Oedipus that he was the pollution of Thebes. The response given to Oedipus caused him to go mad and carry on like a child. Teiresias tells Oedipus that he marry his own mother and killed his father. That just threw Oedipus over the edge and started calling Teiresias crazy because he didn’t like the answer. His ego got in the way because Oedipus didn’t believe Teiresias that he was the problem. He wanted the answer that would help him, but instead he blames Teiresias. If Oedipus understood that he was the problem and he should go away, he would have had saved himself from that the awful ending he had. This is another example how his ego got in the way and made him interpreted the facts around him

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What is the meaning of Ego? In today’s world, it means “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance”, it is to be self-centered and care for nothing else except for one's self or, in other terms, being an individualist. Today, people have been told to care for others instead of themselves, but that is not completely true. For example, Prometheus in Anthem by Ayn Rand- is not what one would consider to be a total egotistical person. Searching through different types of definitions and reasons about the definition of ego, the assumption is that egoism is not immoral or virtuous but the balance in between.

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Odysseus must, then, extrapolate that his arrogance in shouting his name to Polyphemos has cursed him and crew, causing him to not see his family for twenty years, and ensuring much worse fate for his crew. If it wasn’t clear then, Teiresias lays it out for him, denial of yourself, [Odysseus] and restraint of his shipmates, who also let their overconfidence get the better of them, such as on Ismaros, is the only way to make it home and atone for his past actions. Teiresias’ words cause Odysseus to step back, and momentarily be freed from his righteousness and hubris, giving him the opportunity to understand his flaws from an uninhibited perspective. The pace of his life and adventures clouded his vision, and his emotion and ego further blinded him to his faults, but being presented with responsibility for his situation and a new perspective to analyze himself from opens his eyes to what he must do. This lesson is an enormous turning point for Odysseus, it is his revelation, and his chance to correct his

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As one's ego can be there downfall. Odysseus's ego also allows him to have a fondness of revenge, getting revenge for the same things he has

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First his denial of being the source of the plague. Second, his egotistical abilities that will form his plot to change his fate. And lastly, the consequences of his denial that will lead him to his physical and emotional destruction. It would seem that in this case, Oedipus’s fate is his own enemy.

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Oedipus denies the truth and faces the consequences later on in the play. He gets furious when everyone is blaming him for killing Laius. As he is blaming others, hubris appears within his personality. Oedipus becomes blinder as hubris takes over him.

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This is illustrated through Oedipus’ blindness throughout the play. Oedipus is angered by the accusations that he killed King Laius. Instead of confronting the problem and rationally coming to the truth, he lashes out in

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The people of Thebes seeked aid from the true gods , the real protectors and deciders of one's fate , and he puts the cities problems on his shoulders, A gods duty is not a mortal mans job. Oedipus just didnt understand. “ As I should , to avenge the city and the

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Oedipus talked to Teiresias about his powers and what he knows in lines 110-125, however, Teiresias initially just wants to leave and let Oedipus deal with his own fate. As Oedipus’s patience runs out, he demands “Out with it! Have you no feeling at all!” to Teiresias, which fails to accomplish anything but anger him. Teiresias then tells Oedipus he is the actual murderer of the previous king, causing Oedipus to go into a rage where he accused Creon of being a usurper, and Teiresias of helping him in his task from lines 160-185.

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The blindness of having the eyesight but cannot see and the blindness of poking his eyes so as not to see again the social evils that he had done (Calame, 1996). His metaphorical blindness came out of pride, ignorance and as a result of the people who knows the truth and hide it from him. The second bit of his blindness comes out of shame that makes him want to avoid seeing the cause of his actions. Comparing Teiresias and Oedipus the King, Teiresias has the insight and knowledge when Oedipus has eyesight without knowledge that is termed as ignorance (Calame, 1996). Oedipus out of pride and ability to see feels that he knows the truth while he is far from the truth.

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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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When Teiresias accuses Oedipus of being the defiler of the land he forgets the problems of the people and is encased in anger making him accuse Creon of bribing Teiresias. When he is speaking to his wife, Jocasta, he can only concentrate on one thing at a time and forgets the mention of Laius having a child and also forgets the problem concerning his birth. Finally with the message from Corinth he starts to realize how everything ties together. Bloom states that “we learn that the best sort of tragic hero is a man highly esteemed and prosperous who falls into misfortune because of some serious (mega√lh) aÓmarti√a:examples, Oedipus and Thyestes.”(18).

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Oedipus’s selfishness and temper eventually lead to his downfall. Oedipus selfishness made everyone else mad at him for him not believing them. He kept digging and digging himself into a deeper hole. This eventually made his punishment at the end worse for him. He also could not handle the truth so this made him disrespect the gods.

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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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And fate controlled his actions. And the way he behaves that is because he is cursed. His knowing of the curse leads him to run and escape from it in hope to defeat it. Because going through the text we could notice that one on the main themes is blindness. Blindness is mentioned as a sign for the curse, and it might lead to his irrationality, when Tiresias said to Oedipus “you are blind to the corruption of your life” .

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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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