A plague has stricken Thebes. The citizens gather outside the palace of their king, Oedipus, asking him to take action. Oedipus replies that he already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle at Delphi to learn how to help the city. Creon returns with a message from the oracle: the plague will end when the murderer of Laius, former king of Thebes, is caught and expelled; the murderer is within the city. Oedipus questions Creon about the murder of Laius, who was killed by thieves on his way to consult an oracle. Only one of his fellow travelers escaped alive. Oedipus promises to solve the mystery of…
Born with a prophecy claiming he would one day kill his father and marry his mother, King Oedipus is immediately set up for failure. However, this does by no means make him an incompetent ruler. Quite the opposite in fact. Oedipus proves to be a man renowned for his intellect which is exemplified when he solves the riddle of the sphinx, a supernatural mythological being who held the city of Thebes captive. Furthermore, his is a man of swift action and great insight. This is perhaps best represented with his response to the priest’s complaint, he responds adeptly, “But I have not been idle; one thing I have already done – The only thing that promised hope. My kinsman Creon… has been sent to the Pythian house of Apollo.” Oedipus is indeed one that is faithful and compassionate to his people, this is further exemplified as he orders Creon to…
This instantly places him right on top and boosts him up to fulfill the Kings position. His intuitive instincts and drive to put together his life signified him as a man always on a hunt. These qualities where huge attributes to his life however, he also had many negative traits which would end him. He was a man with a huge temper which leads right to his downfall. Since his temper is what ultimately killed his father, it was obvious that it would not stop there. His lack of emotion and sensitivity to these killing sprees was a sign of a broken man unwilling to wear his heart of his sleeve. A man of pride. This follows even more problems for Oedipus as time continues. He refuses to listen to Teiresias, the blind seer of Thebes. He is informed about his future and is taking back by all that makes sense to him now. He is left alone to figure out what to do next. Instead of handling the situation calmly and effectively, he goes out on an rampage and seeks to kill his wife/mother for not telling him to the truth. Once he arrives, he instantly finds her hung by her own hair. This forces him to completely lose his right state of mind and punishes himself by gauging his…
A tragic hero is defined as “a [great] man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake” (“Aristotle”, n.d.). Therefore, a tragic hero has some sort of tragedy that surrounds their life. A tragic hero also makes dramas more interesting and makes readers think. Dramas sometimes either exemplify or refute Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. Oedipus by Sophocles exemplifies Aristotle’s definition in four different aspects. The first aspect involves both Oedipus’ ignorance and knowledge of his life situations, the second involves his hamartia, the third involves the actual plot itself, and the fourth involves the characterization of…
The main concentration of Oedipus was preventing his downfall in the story, but due to his inner blindness and the rest of his character flaws he was unsuccessful in this journey, which is the reason that Oedipus was a static character throughout the whole story. He has various flaws, which always started multiple conflicts in the story, all of which gradually directed him to his downfall in the plot of the play. All of the shortcomings of Oedipus are the reason for his quick, horrific downfall from his kingliness into poor, ever-wandering blind man he has become by the conclusion of the story.…
King Oedipus tried to find out what killed Laius the King before he came to power, because the oracle told them that his murder needed to leave to free the city from disease. So the King used Creon to find men he needed to speak with in order to find out who killed Laius. King Oedipus did whatever he could to find out who killed Laius which was why he was thought of as a good king. I thought that he tried hard to help the people of Thebes, but it would come to haunt him in the future. Oedipus' wife Jocasta tells him where Laius was killed; she said it was at crossroads were Oedipus remembers killing a few men that were bothering him on the way to Thebes. Jocasta dreads telling Oedipus about the crossroads because without this information I believe Oedipus would never have found out the truth and would have given up his search. Oedipus then realizes that he was most likely the one to kill Laius.…
Sophocles' masterpiece Oedipus has both fascinated and terrified audiences for centuries. The story offers unique insight into the complexities of human nature, of pain and suffering. King Oedipus is fortune's fool, and at the mercy of fate throughout the entire play. It is, however, his own decisions and actions which ultimately cause his demise. With creative use of irony, Sophocles makes apparent how tragic both fate and even free will can be.…
“ I hate the murders who killed my father. O, can this be justice, ( pg 128 ).” Oedipus finds out that he has murdered Laius, who was his father, and that he married his mother. The plot goes on to describe how he came about doing such horrific things. At first, Oedipus seems to be the villain, but it can't be so, because he did not know that he was adopted, and that the person he killed was his father. of course, he didn't know that he is marrying his mother either. A prophet named Teiresias enters next and Oedipus asks him for help discover who has killed Laius. However, the prophet is extremely reluctant to speak and begs Oedipus to let him go without saying what he knows. He then gives him some disturbing news, that Oedipus is the person whom he seeks and who killed Laius. Oedipus does not want to listen and calls the prophet a liar and a traitor, even saying that Creon, who sent him, was the designer in a plot against him to gain the throne. The prophet warns Oedipus that even if he doesn't want to hear the truth, it does not make it any less truth that he speaks. Several characters are willing to sacrifice themselves to save Thebes from destruction or for what they believe is right and just. Creon, for example, is ready to die in order to save the city. Teiresias offers to have himself killed when Oedipus suspects him of betraying the trust of…
* In one of the early Greek tragedies written by Sophocles in 470 BC, ‘Oedipus the King’ demonstrates the arrogance portrayed by human nature which he therefore turns away the obvious truth. This early Greek Myth shows the way in which Oedipus, the King of Thebes, is so arrogant in wanting the truth in regards to the mishaps that shroud his land and so persistent that he is ultimately leading himself into his own demise.…
“Oedipus the King” is a drama that portrays misfortune that dwells among mankind. The tragic sequence of events first starts with the birth of Oedipus. His biological parents are stricken with grief when they discover a secret that causes them to banish their son from the city of Thebes. Little did they know that, despite their actions, fate would still play out which would, in turn, cause the society of Thebes to be stricken by the plague. Although many people suffered from the unfortunate destiny of Oedipus, perhaps the person that suffered the most was Oedipus himself. Oedipus endured an unforgiving reality check after being blindsided by the current state of his life.…
Oedipus The King is most likely one of the greatest tragedies ever recorded. This play tells the story of the great downfall of a once honored king who by the end of the story, becomes a great curse. This is mainly due to his great sense of pride. It was believed by the Greeks that people with this immense pride thought that they were above the gods. Aristotle believed that the protagonist of every tragedy must have some type of tragic flaw that will eventually lead to his demise. To Oedipus ,of Oedipus The King, pride is his tragic flaw that leads to his downfall. Some examples of his pride taking over him were: when he correctly answered the Sphinx’s riddle, when he abandoned his adoptive parents in Corinth, and when he killed Laius in the crossroads.…
In the polis of Thebes, Oedipus was the not only the king but he was also the hero of the community. The security and health of the community depended on him and he was expected to meet every urgent crisis with a plausible solution. He was celebrated for acting decisively and making decisions and then acting on them. With all his past accomplishments and achievements, Oedipus developed a strong sense of confidence, which fueled his over inflated ego. Unfortunately, when circumstances did not turn out in his favor, such as in his conflict with Tiresias the blind prophet, Oedipus became rigid and refused to see the problem on any one else’s terms except his own. Oedipus only wanted things to go the way he thought they should go. Whatever stood in his way he tried to overcome publicly and without any compromise from the opposing party, which was illustrated in his argument in front of the palace with Creon over the murder of the former King Laius. Ultimately his attitude of confidence with no compromises contributed to his disastrous and sad end. In most cases, intelligence and diligence are valuable traits to possess, but for Oedipus they contributed to his eventual downfall. Oedipus was known for being extremely intelligent and was very talented at solving riddles. To earn the right to be King of Thebes, Oedipus solved a riddle, which as a result…
Oedipus the King by Sophocles is about Oedipus, a man doomed by his fate. Like most tragedies, “Oedipus the King” contains a tragic hero, a heroic figure unable to escape his/her own doom. This tragic hero usually has a hamartia or a tragic flaw which causes his/hers’ downfall. The tragic flaw that Sophocles gives Oedipus is hubris (exaggerated pride or self-confidence), which is what caused Oedipus to walk right into the fate he sought to escape.…
“Oedipus the King” was a tale depicting the human experience; each human has a great victory, shortly accompanied by a great demise; the rollercoaster of life. Oedipus had his great success soon become the reason for his fall. With Oedipus’ deadly flaw being ‘hubris’; his excessive pride led him to believe he was on the level of ‘gods’. Once he paraded that he was invulnerable (untouchable by even the gods), his fall would be all the more tragic. Throughout the tale however, Oedipus uses many rhetorical devices towards all his subjects without even recognizing.…
In this play, Oedipus the King, there are any references to eyes, sight, and the lacks thereof are made throughout Oedipus the King. There are parts where characters have limited physical sight, such as Teiresias's blindness, and there are also parts where their sight, in the form of perception, is limited. Most importantly, sight is used in the play as a symbol for knowledge, such as the how the oracles and the "seer" (16), Teiresias, can 'see' the truth. The play is about Oedipus's quest for knowledge and his attempts to avoid his fate. The underlying question of Oedipus the King is if one can escape their fate. Sophocles presents this question by using sight as a symbol for knowledge, and then leaves guidance for answering the question by showing that being sighted or blind can determine if one can control their fate.…