Sometimes, truth can be so hurting that it becomes impossible to bear, especially if it carries some elements of shame and guilt. However, a responsible person should accept their mistakes and do whatever it takes to rectify the errors, and even ask for forgiveness. On the other hand, evil people will always fight truth and never want it to be revealed. Troy, in this play, is a replica of a wrong person whose actions and character has caused suffering to other people. When truth dawns upon him, he feels terrible and intensifies his acts of building fences around himself because he never gives his family a chance of knowing and understanding him.
They say that Tiresias is a “skilled prophet” (Sophocles 179) who “shatters [them] with terror” (Sophocles 179). By calling him “skilled”, the people believe in the skills of Tiresias, but shudder at the thought of his prediction that Oedipus is the killer. With regards to Tiresias prediction, they say “I can’t accept him, can’t deny him, don’t know what to say” (Sophocles 179). They recognize the skills of Tiresias, but are confused because they trust their king. This leaves them speechless.
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.
The search for the truth verses the comfort of ignorance is a common theme in literature. Two works that really show this are the tragic play, Oedipus Rex by sophocles and the george orwell novel, 1984. Both of these novels The novel begins on a bright cold day in mid-April, From there on a world is presented that is permeated by fear and hate with such slogans as hate week, war is peace,Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is truth.. The society they live in has nothing like our first amendment. Everything is censored by the Ministry of truth.
Throughout the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles, there are many motifs that connect to universal truths, one motif in the play is ignorance. The motif of ignorance can relate to the universal lesson of, truth is not always the best to have because it can harm yourself and others. To start with, Oedipus wants to find out who his mother and father are so he questions a messenger. In the process of this, Jocosta realizes that she is Oedipus’s mother. In addition of her finding out this new information, she cannot live with herself so she commits suicide.
Paradise. Mankind free of sin, free of troubles, free of unpredictability. But is paradise truly paradise? Is the infinite routine, complete perfection, and determination of every outcome truly satisfying? In the world of human beings, the answer is no.
The opponents are left in the dark while the informed are enlightened granting them an upper hand that can at times protect them from immense suffering. Informers are protected as those after them need them alive to one day find out what the truth they hold is, leading to the obligation to conceal the truth. Having the truth can be compelling, as it allows someone to try to change and control what will occur. It is within human nature to want to control aspects of one’s life if people know these aspects will lead to hardships. Oedipus is an example when he describes his actions, “ When I heard this I fled, and in the days that followed I would measure from the stars the whereabouts of Corinth – yes, I fled to somewhere where I should not see fulfilled the infamies told in that dreadful oracle” (Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, 794-798).
Critic Northrop Frye claims that tragic heroes “seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them… Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” A perfect example of this assertion would be King Oedipus in the classical tragic play “Oedipus Rex,” written by Sophocles, where Oedipus, himself, becomes the victim of his doomed fate. As someone who was born and raised of royal blood, he becomes too proud and ignorant, believing that he was too powerful for his fate. Using the metaphor “great trees [are] more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass,” Frye compares the heroic but unfortunate Oedipus to the great trees as they both are apt to experience victimization of tragic situations
The theme of knowledge is one that is seen throughout Oedipus Rex, The Bacchae, and Thyestes. These Greek plays use epistemology as a sounding board for each protagonist in their own way. In Greek mythology Apollo and Dionysus are both sons of Zeus. Apollo is the god of many things including light and knowledge, he appeals to purity and logic. Dionysus is the god of intoxication and madness, he appeals to instinct and emotion.
Pride often leads to someone’s downfall - this idea has been developed from the playwright “Oedipus the king” through Rey’s interactive oral presentation. He discussed that Oedipus’ excessive pride over his knowledge due to solving riddles allows him to not listen to others including the respected Prophet , his dear relative Kreon - he seldom pays heed to them and decides to pursue further for searching the predecessor’s murderer . His own path opens up hidden , dark truth about his life. From the presentation it has been evident that Oedipus was not smart enough to realize that the path he set for himself, will eventually bring nothing but pain.
According to oxford dictionary, the definition of argument is an exchange of opposite or diverging views, typically a heated or angry one argument. The definition of argument often serve group agendas while ignoring or attempting to silence others. My argument is that Antigone story is better than Oedipus the King. She tried to honor his brother by give him a proper burial rite.
Intelligence Breeds Overconfidence Intelligence is commonly seen as a gift, a perfection or a survival instinct, but many don’t realize that intelligence can undermine a person’s life. In Oedipus Rex, a theatrical play by Sophocles, displays the idea that human flaws such as intellect can flourish overconfidence which may become a downfall. The play revolves around the king Oedipus, in a burdensome experience to find out what who is the murderer of the previous king. He is confident that with his intelligence he will restore Thebes and go against the word of the gods, to later realize that his intelligence is not a gift but a destruction. As previously stated Oedipus tries to use his intelligence to stop the curse of Thebes.
Are the Gods All-Knowing and All-Powerful? Sophocles’ devotion to his religion is reflected in the plays Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, and enlightens us as readers or observers to the meaning of his plays. Sophocles wants his readers to see that man has a responsibility for his own moral actions and his own judgement and reasoning. Sophocles at the same time recognizes that to fulfill these responsibilities a man must have faithfulness in the gods. In Sophocles’ plays Oedipus Rex and Antigone, he shows that the gods should be worshipped and obeyed because they are all-powerful, they are all-knowing, and they are not subject to human notions of fairness.
The actions inspired by vengeance and justice in Homer’s Iliad shows how detrimental the effects can be on others. The Justice seeked by warlike Menelaus causes pain and suffering to many on all sides of the war. Paris by abducting Helen hurt Menelaus’s pride, “Menelaus had in mind taking revenge on the man who’d injured him” (Homer, Iliad 3. 26-27). Seeking this revenge Menelaus
Brilliantly conceived and written, Oedipus Rex is a drama of self-discovery. Achieved by amazing compression and force by limiting the dramatic action to the day on which Oedipus learns the truth of his birth and his destiny is quite the thriller. The fact that the audience knows the dark secret that Oedipus unwittingly slew his true father and married his mother does nothing to destroy the suspense. Oedipus’s search for the truth has all the tautness of a detective tale, and yet because audiences already know the truth they are aware of all the ironies in which Oedipus is enmeshed. That knowledge enables them to fear the final revelation at the same time that they pity the man whose past is gradually and relentlessly uncovered to him.
