ipl-logo

Tragic Mistakes In Oedipus The King By Sophocles

1043 Words5 Pages

In Oedipus the King by Sophocles a great king unknowingly makes tragic mistakes that ultimately cause him to blind himself and beg for his own exile. As his kingdom of Thebes starts to fall ill and suffer the king sends his brother Creon to ask the god Apollo what he can do to lift the curse. Oedipus learns that he must find and punish the man that killed Thebes’ previous king. When the king asks the prophet Teiresias who the killer could be, Oedipus discovers that he had killed the former king in an incident at the cities crossroads. While further investigating the issue Oedipus discovers that the people he thought to be his parents actually adopted him and that he was given up to a messenger by his parents. Oedipus tortures the Shepard that gave him to the messenger until the Shepherd tells the truth. Oedipus is told that his mother is a woman named Jocasta, which gave him up because it was prophesied that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. Oedipus happens to be married to Jocasta, and pieces things together to discover that the prophecy had come true. Jocasta is disgusted by the fact that she had given birth to her sons …show more content…

Sophocles uses the themes of fate and free will to showcase some of the consequences of not accepting one’s own fate. Oedipus discovers that he has killed his father, and slept with his mother, neither of which he know about at the time. The king makes it his objective to find the killer of the previous king in order to save his city. On the surface Oedipus is a vile human being but, if his crimes are disregarded he becomes a much more respectable and honest human being. He is judged, even by himself, for the things he has done but not for who he really is. Fate and random chance must be an accepted fact of life. If people waste their lives worrying about what they can’t control they will never make any real

Show More
Related
369 Words | 2 Pages

Andrew Wurts oedipus was the son of his Laius and Jocasta. When Oedipus was born his parents felt a need to kill him on behalf of what an oracle tells them. oedipus the king, written by sophocles is the story of the fate of oedipus being attempted to be killed at birth, ruling his parents kingdom and marrying his mother, Jocasta, and killing his father, Laius. despite surviving contacted murder when he was a meer baby. Hubris is displayed throughout the story at different times.

Read More
1176 Words | 5 Pages

In life, we all face obstacles that often help shape the person that we are today. We are the masters of our own lives, and the decisions that we make not only have an impact on our own life, but the lives of those around us too. Each and every choice that we make will either have a positive outcome, or a negative one. In the story of Oedipus, one bad decision leads to his own downfall; and affects those in his life in a negative manner. Irony is a major idea that is portrayed through this story, where a plan that was meant to be avoided, instead took its course.

Read More
614 Words | 3 Pages

With the realization of his demise, Oedipus tries to protect himself from punishment and shame by gouging out his own eyes and exiling himself out to die in the place destiny prevented him from dying originally. After many years of luxurious living, Oedipus’s predestined fate tears his life apart and returns him to the place he should have died as an infant, the mountain. Through the use of, departure, initiation, and return, Sophocles displays the journey of Oedipus. Not only is Oedipus the King evidence of the use of the hero’s journey throughout many famous plays, movies, and books across all cultures and time periods, but it also seen as a perfect tragedy, in which the audience experiences both pity and fear for the main

Read More
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.

Read More
947 Words | 4 Pages

Therefore, he urges to be banished because he does not want anyone to look down on him or judge him. Wanting to save his pride, Oedipus blinds himself and urges for a banishment far away from Thebes. Oedipus’s fatal flaws lead to all the catastrophes that occur in Oedipus the King. His impulsiveness and hasty decision making influences him to murder his father, King Laius. Similarly, he is the catalyst for the death of his mother and wife, Jocasta; his persistence to know the truth drives her to commit suicide.

Read More
639 Words | 3 Pages

Laius and Jocasta sent a Shepard to kill their son, prophesied to murder his father and sleep with his mother, bringing the punishment of the oracle before the sin occurred. Oedipus admits he knew the he was “fated to couple with [his] mother” and abandoned Corinth because he couldn’t accept his fated future (873). After Oedipus unknowingly murdered Laius, he summoned the Shepard to hear an altered truth, one that didn’t have him fulfilling the oracle. Oedipus, filled with fear that the gods cursed him, plays the victim claiming that Creon made up the prophecy to gain access to his “rightful” throne. He continues conspiring and raging instead of thinking through the prophecy, leading him to reveal he is a “man of agony”

Read More
434 Words | 2 Pages

the second messenger is explaining what happened to when Oedipus went in to Jocasta room after she had killed herself. “ Cursing the wife who was not his wife,the mother/ whose womb had carried his own children and himself”. Ok so now you're probably thinking how is this Oedipus’ downfall it is just jocasta who is dead not Oedipus. yes Jocasta is dead and this is what leads Oedipus to stab out his own eyes with Jocasta's golden brooches. After this he willingly exile himself and this is what makes him a hero.

Read More
576 Words | 3 Pages

The drama, Oedipus the King, by Sophocles originally displays Oedipus as a powerful king but later, a tragic hero. Sophocles tells the story of a affluent and mighty Oedipus who is informed that he will both kill his father and marry his mother. In an attempt to avoid the prophecy, he runs right into it. Oedipus, the tragic hero in Oedipus the King, possesses certain qualities similar to most tragic heros such as a a royal background, hamartia or a fatal flaw, and a angornoris or realization of the truth.

Read More
852 Words | 4 Pages

In many people’s eyes, it is seen that fate is something that one can not escape. In Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus gives a speech to the citizens of Thebes, about the murder of their previous leader, Laius. And in this speech, he explains the hardship that the murderer will have to eventually face. In Oedipus’s speech from Oedipus Rex, Sophocles uses the literary device of dramatic irony to develop the central idea that fate is destined to happen, and can possibly bring more intensified consequences when avoided. If one tries to escape their fate, the conflicts that occur can be more severe than they were supposed to be. One can infer that what Oedipus is stating will eventually happen to him in the end of the play, if he is classified as the murderer.

Read More
1052 Words | 5 Pages

Every day, the field of Genetics is innovating and changing in groundbreaking new ways to address problems and to find solutions once only thought unattainable. One field of genetics, cloning, is a relatively new concept which was significantly formed in the late 20th century. This knowledge of cloning became readily available after the human genome was mapped out and a new idea and knowledge of the human genome was understood. The human genome project was started in 1990 by the Department of Energy and the National Health institute in an attempt to decode the 3 billion base pairs in the human genome. One this research was finished in 2003, and the human genome was mapped out, a whole new world of science was discovered.

Read More
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.

Read More
393 Words | 2 Pages

Once Oedipus found out about the killing of his father and marrying of his mother, everything goes downhill. Jocasta hangs herself after finding out about her son also being her husband and her son killing her past husband. Oedipus finds her and gouges his eyes out. These events led up to Creon taking over as king and exiling Oedipus soon after his request to be exiled. The few interactions led up to the expulsion of the main character, Oedipus.

Read More
1597 Words | 7 Pages

The Freedom of Oedipus is the Freedom of Thebes: Why Oedipus Cannot be Free Until the Truth is Exposed In Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus, the theme of human fate versus free will is explored in the age-old tale of the king of Thebes who inadvertently murdered his father and married his mother. The play opens with Oedipus, a strong man and compassionate leader whom the audience can easily admire. By the closing of the play, a journey of self-discovery has lead Oedipus to his fall from kingship and exile from the city he loves, as well as the suicide of his wife and his self-blinding.

Read More
1159 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
848 Words | 4 Pages

The Queen, Jacosta, Oedipus’ wife tells him not to believe in the prophet, because they’ve been wrong before, she then tells Oedipus about how she and King Laius had a son who was prophesied to kill Laius and sleep with her but since the child was supposedly dead the prophecy couldn’t be true. Oedipus becomes a bit weary because as a child an old man told him he was adopted and that one day he’d kill his real father and sleep with his mother, Oedipus did also kill a man at a crossroads which sounded like the way Laius died. Oedipus continued questioning the messenger and found out that he was the man everyone spoke of and Jacosta then comes to the realization that Oedipus is her son and kills herself.

Read More

More about Tragic Mistakes In Oedipus The King By Sophocles

Related Topics

Open Document