Oedipus the King and Alienation
Alienation
Alienation is the process of becoming a separate part of the society; this is connected to the social side of life. It leaves one with a feeling of loneliness, which can either be mental or physical. As a result, characters in this instance become alienated from the world they live in. Three examples of characters who suffer from alienation are Oedipus from the play Oedipus the King, “the monster” from the novel Frankenstein, and Hamlet in the play Hamlet. These three characters go through the several stages of alienation to relieve themselves from the feeling of loneliness. The stages of alienation include initiation, journey, suffering, and reconciliation. Initiation is an examination of oneself to decide the steps of changing out of alienation. Journey is the process in which the alienated one goes through different steps, mentally or emotionally, from one experience to the next. Suffering is the pain or distress that alienation causes. Reconciliation is the last step in alienation that reunites the alienated one with their society, peers, or even loved ones. In the play Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, Oedipus is alienated from the city of Thebes because he kills his own father and commits incest with his own mother. The city of Thebes was under a plague until the murderer of King Laius was found. Oedipus becomes the new King after the death of Laius and begins his search for the murderer. Oedipus searches for Tiresias, the blind prophet. When he gets to Tiresias he asks him what he knows about the murder. Tiresias responds by telling Oedipus the truth brings him nothing except pain. He continues to refuse to tell Oedipus what he sees. Oedipus gets mad at the old prophet and begins to accuse him of the murder of the King. This angers Tiresias and he tells the truth that he has
Alienation is the process of becoming a separate part of the society; this is connected to the social side of life. It leaves one with a feeling of loneliness, which can either be mental or physical. As a result, characters in this instance become alienated from the world they live in. Three examples of characters who suffer from alienation are Oedipus from the play Oedipus the King, “the monster” from the novel Frankenstein, and Hamlet in the play Hamlet. These three characters go through the several stages of alienation to relieve themselves from the feeling of loneliness. The stages of alienation include initiation, journey, suffering, and reconciliation. Initiation is an examination of oneself to decide the steps of changing out of alienation. Journey is the process in which the alienated one goes through different steps, mentally or emotionally, from one experience to the next. Suffering is the pain or distress that alienation causes. Reconciliation is the last step in alienation that reunites the alienated one with their society, peers, or even loved ones. In the play Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, Oedipus is alienated from the city of Thebes because he kills his own father and commits incest with his own mother. The city of Thebes was under a plague until the murderer of King Laius was found. Oedipus becomes the new King after the death of Laius and begins his search for the murderer. Oedipus searches for Tiresias, the blind prophet. When he gets to Tiresias he asks him what he knows about the murder. Tiresias responds by telling Oedipus the truth brings him nothing except pain. He continues to refuse to tell Oedipus what he sees. Oedipus gets mad at the old prophet and begins to accuse him of the murder of the King. This angers Tiresias and he tells the truth that he has
Cited: Shakespeare, William, and Cyrus Henry Hoy. Hamlet; an Authoritative Text, Intellectual Backgrounds, Extracts from the Sources, Essays in Criticism. New York: Norton, 1963. Print. Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and J. Paul Hunter. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, Contexts, Nineteenth- century Responses, Modern Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996. Print. Sophocles, Stephen Berg, and Diskin Clay. Oedipus the King. New York: Oxford UP, 1978. Print.