Oedipus Conflicts

Conflict can arise in many different situations. In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles’ and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams conflict was an ongoing issue and it takes many turns for better as well as for worst. Conflict is described as a clash between opposing forces. There are many different types of conflicts throughout the plays. The use of intrapersonal conflict, interpersonal conflict, and personal conflict in the play provide good examples of what the characters are dealing with. Man v. man , man v. himself, and man v. fate are also great examples to categorize the type of groups and conflicts.
In the play, Oedipus Rex, the idea of man v. man becomes a significant problem. This type of conflict is known as interpersonal conflict or conflict between two people. Interpersonal conflict is the main type of conflict carried throughout the play. In the play,
there is tension between the king and the prophet. Oedipus Rex has major conflict that arise between Oedipus and Teiresias. This is between 2 people and Kreon must act as a mediator to help resolve and deescalate the situation. Oedipus gives the reader a feeling of the conflict when he says “Monster! Thy silence would incense a flint. Will nothing loose thy tongue? Can nothing melt thee, or shake thy dogged taciturnity?” (Sophacles 45). The play also states that the prophet says Oedipus is responsible for the plague and the king refuses to believe him. Refusing to believe him led to the conflict between the king and prophet (Sophacles 44).
Furthermore, another major type of conflict that is used throughout the play is intrapersonal conflict. Oedipus basically battles and destroys himself in the play. This is the idea of man v. himself. It shows how one can predict and damage their own future. Early in the play Oedipus makes a royal decree that whoever is found responsible for plague should be banished and punished. So, with his own integrity he destroys himself (Sophacles 42). The king destroys himself and predicts his own fate by using his tongue early in the play. In other terms, Oedipus is fighting against himself most of the times. He states “the monstrous offspring of a womb defiled, co-mate of him who gendered me, and child. Was ever man before afflicted thus, like Oedipus.” (Sophacles 43). He contributes to his own fate and destiny through his actions. It shows how you can damn yourself and not even realize it.
In addition, personal conflict can affect the character psychological thoughts.
This type of conflict can begin to affect the individual thoughts, values, principals, emotions, as well as their fate. The idea of man v. fate allows emphasis on how the king could not escape his fate. This puts the character against reality and what he can soon face. When the Shepard brought the infant Oedipus into the wilderness he hoped it would help him escape his fate. The oracle said he would kill his dad and marry his mom. He later killed his father and married Jocasta. By running from his fate he made sure it happened. Knowing he can’t escape it he states “ I reck not how fate deals with me but my unhappy children—for my sons be not concerned , O Kreon, they are men, and for themselves, where’er they be, can fend (Sophocles 46). This is like the lesson in The Glass Menagerie. The main character Tom questions his fate. He was torn between the desire to fulfill his dreams and his sense/ responsibility to his mother and sister (Williams 23). Both characters determined their own fate through the actions they chose to
take.
In conclusion, both the plays has a significant amount of conflict. The conflict in drama plays give the readers suspense, action, and keeps the flow right. The lessons learned and taught are optional and they vary from play to play. They type of conflicts and the group each fall in allows a breakdown of the events. Man v. man, man v. himself, and man v. fate are all lessons that the readers could use in their actual everyday lives.