The play Oedipus The King begins with the king and queen of Thebes, Laius and Jocasta. Laius was warned by an oracle that his own son would kill him and that he would marry his mother, Jocasta. Determined to reverse their fate, Laius pierced and bound his newborn sons feet and sent a servant away with him with strict instructions to leave the child to die on the mountain of Cithaeron. However, the servant felt badly for the infant and gave him to a shepherd who then gave the child to Polybus, king of Corinth, a neighboring realm. Polybus then named the child Oedipus (swollen foot) and raised him as his own son. Oedipus was never told that he was adopted, and when an oracle told him that he would murder his father and marry his mother he fled the city believing that the king and queen of Corinth were his parents. In the course of his travels, he met and killed Laius, thinking that the king and his servants were a band of robbers, and thus unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy.…
Oedipus Rex is full of people searching for justice. Throughout the play Oedipus acts upon what he believes is justice.…
Oedipus called himself an “abomination” because he did know that he would kill his father and marry his mother and he thought that he had avoided his fate, but he feels like he failed himself and everyone he cared for. He still feels guilty for what he did even though he didn’t know what he did because this whole incident could have been prevented many times but he didn’t follow simple rules like what we discussed in class, don’t kill anyone and don’t marry anyone older than you. Based on this I think Oedipus believes he is evil because he could have prevented everything. Although Oedipus believes people should be punished even though they were unaware of what they were doing, I don’t think people should be held responsible for their actions…
Sophocles’s use of both plot and character within his classic tragedy “Oedipus the King” portray the religious and ethical views of the Classical period of Ancient Greece to such an extent that Knox goes so far as to say that “the audience which watched Oedipus in the theatre of Dionysus was watching itself.” Marlowe uses similar tools of character construction and plot in “Dr Faustus” to reflect the beliefs and moral attitudes held in Elizabethan England. The playwrights both use the conceptions of their protagonists to present contemporary beliefs; for example, the initial portrayal of the characters of Oedipus and Dr Faustus demonstrate ideological characteristics of a man within their respective contexts. On the other hand, with the…
According to Adade-Yeboah, Ahenkora, and Amankwah (2012), “Tragedy is of action and not character as Aristotle puts it” (p. 10). Therefore, Oedipus’ tragedy deals with his ignorance and not his character. Oedipus is ignorant in the fact that he does not realize he is committing patricide or incest (Adade-Yeboah et al., 2012, p. 11). Oedipus grows up knowing two opposite people that he thought were his parents, which leads to him killing his biological father and marrying his biological mother. Oedipus then goes on to search for his biological father’s killer and soon realizes that it was he himself who committed the atrocious acts toward his family. He came to this realization after it was revealed to him by an oracle. Originally, Oedipus believes that the man he originally kills is only just a shepherd, when in return it is his biological father. According to Greenburg (2012), “Oedipus has been told, and has come to believe, that at the end of his life and in death he will have the power to protect the city that has taken him and buried him” (p. 52). Oedipus maintains the belief that things will always be the way he knew them to be and he would be in charge of the city he knew and loved. He maintains this belief until an oracle reveals his misfortune. At first, Oedipus and his wife (biological mother) refuse to believe that what they were told is true. According to…
Oedipus believes that he is married to a woman he has no relation to, and that the parents he left behind are in fact his own. Teiresias, no longer willing to allow Oedipus to be blind says, " he shall be proved father and brother both to his own children in his own house; to her that gave him birth, a son and husband both; a fellow sower in his father's bed with the same father he murdered" (535- 539). Oedipus himself was ignorant to the fact that he married his mother and then is by blood the father and brother to his children. Regardless to the fact that, Oedipus is unaware of such circumstances they are still the true. In fact ignorance can not inhibit truth from being true. There is only so long Oedipus could be blind to the facts in front of him before he is truly able to see. After Teiresias' words Oedipus begins to question his wife, Jocasta, about her previous husband's murder. All she says leads him to fear that in fact he killed him. Jocasta mentions a shepherd who was still alive that witnessed the murder, so Oedipus decides that in order to figure out if he was the murder he would question the Shepard. In refrence to questioning the shepherd, Oedipus says to Jocasta, "I'll tell you; if I find that his story is the same as yours, I at least will be clear of this guilt" (974-975). Oedipus has guilt inside himself because he is aware that he killed the king. His…
right in the opening scene. He loves his people. I picture him standing central to the…
Oedipus Rex is an example of how a character reacts and understands justice in his time. Oedipus was the king of Thebes, so it is expected for him to be the one making important choices and justice. Oedipus demonstrates different responses to injustice, than expected.…
One of the many aspects that Oedipus failed to perceive were the clues of his own past that he refused to analyze. Oedipus learned that Lauis was traveling with four men and was killed by one, yet he never connected the fact that he knew he killed a man of the same description. These foresights to his own identity would’ve been vital to his potential wellness, but his passion overtook reason as he failed to observe all possibilities. Not only did Tiresias give Oedipus the clues to solve his riddle, but says: “Oh yes, detected in his very heart of home: his children’s father and their brother, son and husband to his mother, bed rival to his father and assassin.” Tiresias plainly tells Oedipus his identity, and how he has sinned by marrying his mother and killing his father. However, Oedipus decides to ignore this more than plain explanation and forget about it, being determined to put the blame on Creon out of his passionate rage.…
Oedipus is innocent because he sinned unknowingly. If Oedipus had not received a prophecy from the gods saying that he would kill his father and marry his mother, he would never have left Corinth. The prophecy would never of happened if it was not said. The same goes for Laius’s prophecy. It is not Oedipus’s fault that he killed…
Oedipus Is about a man who is trying to change his fate only to have it happen to him. This shows the theme of Moral blindness in multiple ways. A major point was when Oedipus and Jocasta refuse to accept the truth about the prophecy and keep denying it. This leads them to be blind to the truth. A good example of this is on page 37 where the messenger tells Oedipus about his story and realizes that the prophecy came true.…
During Oedipus’s life, he tried to live a life dedicated to his family and his people. He stood by his fellow Thebans and tried to always listen and do what’s in the best interest for them. However, living a life trying to do what’s right is never easy when you are destined to commit heinous crimes. Oedipus finds out during his search that he is the killer in which he is in search of. After learning of this news, Oedipus finally starts to see the big…
Rumors start spreading in Corinth about that Oedipus may be adopted. So, Oedipus decides to visit the Oracle to clear doubts and it said to him the exact same thing it said to his real father, Laius. That he going to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus decides to escape from Corinth, to prevent him from doing all the horrible things the prophecy says he is going to do. During his trip, he encounters a caravan of another kingdom, and the 2 groups engage in a fight. Oedipus kills a man, but without knowing, the man he kills is his biological father, Laius. Later he arrives in Thebes, his hometown, from all the kingdoms around Corinth, he arrived at the one where he was born. It doesn’t matter if Oedipus didn’t know the man he killed was his biological father or that Polybus and Merope were his adopted parents. Fate is Fate, and whatever you try to change it, you…
It is Important to remember that the Greeks gave little to no weight to the idea of intention. That believed that whether the accused had malicious intent or not was irrelevant because even if there was no malicious intent the crime was still committed and deserved just punishment. In our points of view, because Oedipus had no intent in committing the crimes, maybe even tried to avoid committing them, he did not deserve such “unjust” punishment. However, in Greek times this would have been seen as a just punishment because, like stated above, they didn’t give value to…
Oedipus makes a mistake of miscalculation that is a mere intellectual fault, not an immoral one. When Oedipus is told the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother he soon fleas Corinth. Oedipus is oblivious to the fact that Polybus and Merope are not his biological family. Oedipus’s mistake lies in leaving Corinth for Thebes, by doing this Oedipus and his real father Laius unfold their destinies and cross paths. Not long after Oedipus kills Laius not aware that he is the King of Thebes or his real biological father.…