Alex Fradkin Honors English II Mrs. Singer February 19‚ 2002 Whoever‚ with an earnest soul‚ Strives for some end from this low world afar‚ Still upward travels though he miss the goal‚ And strays-but towards a star. Bulwer Ever since the early man could use logic to learn and understand‚ we have questioned the concept of the human condition and its horrifying limitations. Yet with the realization of our set human abilities‚ we have also created the concept of a human hero; a man who would
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In Sophocles’ play‚ Oedipus Rex‚ there are many themes that are woven through the life of King Oedipus‚ and revealed through the key points of the plot. One of the most important themes is the inevitability of ones’ fate. Although fate is considered the usual genre of the Greeks in playwriting there‚ are specifics that Oedipus conducts unusual to our own way of thinking of a king during the Ancient Greek times. For example: Oedipus’s ignorance of believing what is said from his wife‚ Iocaste and
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Place October 15‚ 2012 Pham 1 In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (rpt. in James P. Place‚ Literature: A reader for Freshman Composition II‚ 1st ed. [Boston: Pearson‚ 2011] 122-168)‚ the oracles had prophesied that Oedipus would kill his father and beget children by his mother. Oedipus does not want to do the things that Apollo predicted; he is no puppet‚ but indeed the controller of his own fate. Oedipus was unwilling to have his fate come true; he was frightened that he would kill his
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Discuss the treatment of free will/ and fate in any two plays you have studied Fate can be described as something being destined for someone‚ while free will is the ability to act at one’s own discretion without the use of fate or gods. Both fate and free-will is portrayed in the following plays Oedipus and M. In Oedipus‚ free will is expressed in certain situations that would later determine the outcome of what is destined to be for him. On the other hand‚ in Medea‚ she uses her fate to her
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Another flaw of Oedipus that leads to his self-destruction is his excessive self-pride. He made it his mission to find the killer of Laius in order to end the misery that the plague in Thebes caused. He was sure of himself that he will save the land‚ ironically not realizing that he is the one at fault. He sees himself as being all mighty since he presumably escaped his fate. He was able to save Thebes from the Sphinx so he thinks history can repeat itself and he can be a hero ones again for his
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Fate vs. Free Will Oedipus was a king that was torn between free will and the destiny of the gods. Even though fate seemed to control Oedipus ’ life‚ he did still have a free will. The story was based on whether free will or fates were influencing the characters ’ lives. Both fate and free will went throughout the play but only free will‚ brought Laius‚ Jocasta and Oedipus to their downfalls. Their behaviors decided their future. If someone can have a destiny‚ they can have the free will to change
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Oedipus Rex‚ by Sophocles‚ and Fences‚ by August Wilson‚ are two great tragedies by two outstanding playwrights. The two stories seem intertwined by the great characters that they center around. Although the stories of Oedipus and Troy are separated by centuries‚ the characters are almost identical. Different backgrounds‚ different cultures‚ and different adversaries do not affect the manner and behavior of the main characters. If nothing else‚ the pride in each of the characters make the two so
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What makes Oedipus the King of Tragedy? How did Oedipus bring about his own destruction? Or is he the victim of a greater force such as fate or the gods? How does pride affect his actions? How do you feel as you watch him fall? Fate is a theme that is often occurring in Greek plays and tragedies in particular. From the beginning of Oedipus‚ the King‚ we know that Oedipus is destined to kill his father and marry with his mother. Oedipus discovers that his past is very different from what he had
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Ignore the Truth When Oedipus and Jocasta begin to get close to the truth about Laius’s murder‚ in Oedipus the King‚ Oedipus fastens onto a detail in the hope of exonerating himself. Jocasta says that she was told that Laius was killed by “strangers‚” whereas Oedipus knows that he acted alone when he killed a man in similar circumstances. This is an extraordinary moment because it calls into question the entire truth-seeking process Oedipus believes himself to be undertaking. Both Oedipus and Jocasta
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Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1963)‚ Karl Popper suggests that no scientific theory can be classified as truth. The only thing that can be done is to attempt to falsify the theory over and over again reject the theory repeatedly in different situations. Each failed attempt will strengthen the theory and bring it closer to the truth. Hence‚ Popper claimed that the truth of a hypothesis can never be confirmed. A hypothesis is an “if-then” statement‚ which that is an assumption of causality
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