Teiresias’s speech at the end of scene one of Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex is fairly short but it is in this encounter between Oedipus and Teiresias where the main conflict of the story begins to unfold. This is a pivotal speech in the play as it helps to develop some of the major themes in the play as well as begin to build up the tragic irony at the center of the story. When this speech is analyzed using either Aristotelian or Formalist theory key elements can be found that are effective in
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Literary Criticism: Oedipus the King The pursuit of knowledge was very critical to the Greeks. Even if the truth was terrifying and hard to grasp‚ they saw it as an important virtue. The theater served as a medium for the examining of these ideas of knowledge and truth. Many playwrights at the time used the self-realizations of their protagonists as underlying themes for their tragedies. For example‚ in Oedipus the King. Sophocles uses Oedipus’s transformation‚ along with the plot‚ to emphasize
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Thompson English II – 6 17 April 2014 Compare and Contrast Creon and Oedipus In the plays Oedipus the King and Antigone Creon and Oedipus both are similar‚ but are different in many ways too. They both share in common their overbearing determination‚ but different in their care for the people of Thebes. Initially‚ both Oedipus and Creon exert an overbearing determination that can be the tragic flaw that destroys their lives. Oedipus was determined to find the killer of King Laius saying‚ “As for
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Claudius. In Oedipus the king‚ a child is born to a royal couple‚ this king and queen want to know how their child will be in the future. So they ask an oracle to tell them the future and it tells them he will kill his father and marry his mother. They have the child taken away to be killed‚ so they save themselves‚ but instead the child ends up in a new castle and is raised by another couple as their own child. They never tell Oedipus that he is not their own. When Oedipus hears he is to kill
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101 – Section 7 September 14‚ 2015 Blindness as a Spiritual Awakening in Oedipus Rex In literature‚ blindness has come to be associated with insight and highly sensitive perception. While Oedipus gains awareness to the truth‚ no longer blind to his past‚ before blinding himself‚ he gains a more spiritual sight after blinding himself. Amidst the terror that strikes in the last few scenes of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles‚ Oedipus is finally able to take control of his fate by stabbing brooches in his eyes
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be defined as a statement that something will happen in the future (“Prophecy”). Prophecies played a major role in many ancient Greek lives. They were such a pivotal aspect of that writers incorporated them into their works‚ which can be seen in Oedipus the King by Sophocles. Not only did it affect literary life‚ but it also affected the lives of actual people. King Croesus of Lydia and Alexander the Great of Greece were two of many people heavily impacted by these foresights . Although these prophecies
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Creon and Oedipus: Creon has come to replace Oedipus at the throne Creon compares himself to Oedipus. They were loyal to him so they should be loyal to Creon “You never hesitated in your duty to our late ruler Oedipus[…] and I as in the next in blood have succeeded to the full power of the throne…until he has been tested in office” (196). No aspects of Creon are admirable in Antigone and the audience is void of sympathy for the character as he continues to indulge in his hamartia. Oedipus on the other
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Oedipus‚ Antigone‚ and the Poetry of Sappho Question One: Fully explain who Laius is‚ how he died‚ and how Laius’ s death led to the downfall of Oedipus. (5 points max) Laius was the first husband of Jocasta‚ and the biological father of Oedipus. The play begins when Laius is already dead‚ and it is explained that he was overtaken by a gang of thieves on a crossroad and killed by an unknown man. It is later found out that the son of Laius is responsible for the murder. Before the boy is born to
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The idea of fate or fatalism has been a concept that has survived the test of time. Numerous characters have succumbed to the power of fate and the character of Oedipus from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King is a prime example of the vast power of fate within literature. Sophocles effectively depicts the wrath of fate as he portrays how Oedipus fell victim to fate and his efforts to disregard fate were futile. Once again fate manages to triumph and displays no character whether king or slave can avoid its
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Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex that “if [Oedipus] was to avoid heinous pollutions‚ he must make for himself two unreadable rules; never to kill an older man; and never to marry an older woman.” This is a highly unfair assessment of Oedipus’ character‚ and expects too much of any human. Oedipus’ innocence is shown in the fact that he was ignorant of his true origins‚ he was only human‚ and he was subject to fate. According to Polybus and Merope‚ Oedipus was their son. One cannot blame Oedipus for his misguided
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