The story oedipus rex is one fatal tragic with lots of twists and turns. Oedipus rex is a story about a kid who is born in the world in the city thebes and is born to the world with a horrible prophet. The oracle tells oedipus father king laius that his son will grow up and kill his father and marry his mother. Being told this king laius casted oedipus to the be killed by being thrown in the river but the shepherd had pity on the kid and pierced his ankles giving him the name oedipus. The nature of human will versus fate is the most important theme in oedipus rex by sophocles. For example Oedipus has to deal with the fate that polybus of corinth is not his father. Also oedipus wife/mother has to deal with the fact that she kept this away from oedipus and now has to deal with the fact she can’t keep this from oedipus anymore. One last reason is that oedipus can’t face the fact that he killed …show more content…
Oedipus said that if the murderer came to the light he will award them and not punish them. So after all of his bickering he goes to see the blind oracle the oracle is very reluctant to tell oedipus who the killer is because the oracle knows that oedipus is the killer and the oracle finally tells oedipus “you're the one who killed laius”. Oedipus does not want to believe this at all he cant allow himself to believe he fulfilled his horrible prophecy. He believes creon and tiresias set him up to take the thrown when this is just his fate and his prophecy being fulfilled in a different tragic way. Oedipus goes home to see his mother/wife has hung herself. Oedipus then takes a knife and stabs himself in his eyes and asked to be casted away to where he can hear no man or women. This is the fate of oedipus and
In many Greek tragedies characters are often seen trying to run away from their fate. In the process, they only end up solidifying it. In the case of Oedipus, his fate was that he would kill his father and marry his mother. In an attempt to save himself Laius, Oedipus's father attempted to kill Oedipus. Yet fate stepped in and Oedipus was found and raised by his adopted parents.
I have also observed that whether the murder and incest is the primary cause of Oedipus’s fall or not, he was entirely aware of his actions to the reader’s knowledge for no suggestion of mental impairment is mentioned. If no influence causes Oedipus to commit the acts he did, What denial can Oedipus claim in his own responsibility? Beginning back with Tiresias, Oedipus forced him to speak, Knox states, “Tiresias delivers [the prophecy] only as a result of Oedipus’ actions in the first place. ”25 Much is the same with Oedipus’s insistence that the surviving witness comes, even when again advised against it, and even, “When Creon returns and asks if Oedipus wishes to hear the oracle’s reply in public or in private, Oedipus tells his to speak before all of them,” as Knox includes.26 I am left with certainty that the events of the play are entirely and consequently to the effect of Oedipus’s actions and none others, with the inclusion of Jocasta’s own involvement and guilt in the incestuous
At the beginning, Oedipus’s righteousness causes him to want to cure the city from the deadly plague which causes him to find out his past which ultimately leads him to his downfall. Oedipus declares, “ The quest that throngs you here… is no new quest to me.” (Sophocles 7) Oedipus thinks that is the right thing to do for those who is suffering. By helping, he finds out he is the murderer of Laius and, with that knowledge, he punishes himself.
Oedipus Rex essay Final draft Oedipus certainly deserved his fate. Oedipus and his actions are clearly disrespect to the gods , he faces the fate he deserves. He was doing things that would eventually lead up to the unfortunate event of his death , he was even warned by the great and wise Teiresias , but he being himself was to stubborn and did not listen. All the things Teiresias said would happen became the truth. He killed his father, married his mother, yet he tempted his fate , he deserved everything that came his way .
In the tragedy of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, a man becomes the king of a country and tries to find his true identity. Then he tries to find the former king 's murderer and runs into more than he can handle like dealing with the horrible plague. Oedipus seeks the most information he can get about the former king 's murder. Oedipus doesn 't know who his real parents are. When he finds out he stabs his eyes out and his wife/ mother hangs herself.
In response to learning that he is the killer of Laius, he takes Jocastas brooches and sticks them in his eyes, blinding himself. He cries out, “Why should I see whose vision showed me nothing sweet to see” (Sophocles 476). Oedipus feels he must suffer due to his horrible crimes. He also asks Creon to have him exiled just as he once was going to exile him. He also requests to be left alone, “Leave me live in the mountains where Cithaeron is, that’s called my mountain, which my mother and my father while they were living would have made my tomb” (Sophocles 480).
With the realization of his demise, Oedipus tries to protect himself from punishment and shame by gouging out his own eyes and exiling himself out to die in the place destiny prevented him from dying originally. After many years of luxurious living, Oedipus’s predestined fate tears his life apart and returns him to the place he should have died as an infant, the mountain. Through the use of, departure, initiation, and return, Sophocles displays the journey of Oedipus. Not only is Oedipus the King evidence of the use of the hero’s journey throughout many famous plays, movies, and books across all cultures and time periods, but it also seen as a perfect tragedy, in which the audience experiences both pity and fear for the main
Although he was ashamed of the life he had been living, he realized that the mistakes were his own, and no one can bear the weight but him. He even said it himself “No one but me can bear this weight.” The grave consequences which Oedipus suffered in the end consisted of the loss of his mother/ wife by suicide, as well as his grief becoming a threat to himself, as he stabbed his own eyes out, blinding him permanently. After suffering dreadful pain from these actions in grief, Oedipus went on to face the other consequences given by the gods and Creon. He cursed himself many times in the book saying that whoever killed Laius should be banished or killed, and he would even go on to be cursed by his wrongful actions of incest.
After tearing his own eyeballs out, Oedipus states to his daughter, “What evil is not here? Your father killed his father, plowed the one who gave him birth..” Oedipus is now fully aware of what has now happened. He felts guilty and is left broken. For he now sees what has become and now he must live blind.
He discovers he is he killer he has been searching for and has married the woman that has given birth to him. Caught up in pride and continuing down the path of bad judgement, Oedipus blinds himself because he cannot bear to look at himself nor does he desire to see what others are seeing in him. Oedipus has chosen to live out the rest of his days blind so he does have to face the harsh reality that he has caused hoping it will soon vanish from his memory. Although Oedipus didn’t intend to cause any harm, his actions brought suffering to himself and those around him. His character flaws an strengths of determination, pride , and error in judgement led to his dreadful discovery and resulted in him losing everything he once
In Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the themes of fate and agency are very strong throughout the play. Both sides of the argument can be greatly supported. The attributes of a person have either a positive or negative affect on the choices that they make. For Oedipus, his main attribute was the desire for knowledge and understanding about his own life. Because of this strong will and desire, this was Oedipus’ driving force in the play to lead him to the truth of his beginnings.
The idea of fate is a phenomenon that has been debated on for centuries for what the actual degree of validity may be. Some will argue there is no such thing and others will argue fate is the very thing they live by. It is important to note that in the play Oedipus the King, Sophocles uses the idea of fate to sway the readers ' feelings about Oedipus’ death one way or another. Oedipus makes crucial mistakes in that he commits crimes no person should even after warning from the gods, but also his combination of unethical actions in his kingdom ultimately insures his demise. For someone that made such a minimal effort to avoid this fate handed down by the gods, it is only fitting he suffered the fate he received.
Although Oedipus appears to be an angry tyrant, his search for the truth, at the risk of losing his established reputation confirms his righteousness. A plague has struck the city-state of Thebes due to the mysterious murder of Laius, the late king of Thebes. As a result, Oedipus tasks himself with finding the truth of this crime in order to save the people of his city. While doing so, a key witness, a Shepherd, appears and Oedipus begins to question him. In the beginning of the questioning between Oedipus and the Shepherd, Oedipus simply asks for basic information regarding Laius’ death.
It is a terrible, agonizing moment, even in description, but in the depths of his pain Oedipus is magnificent. He does not submit passively to his woe or plead that he committed his foul acts in ignorance, though he could be justified in doing so. He blinds himself in a rage of penitence, accepting total responsibility for what he did and determined to take the punishment of exile as well. As piteous as he appears in the final scene with Creon, there is more public spirit and more strength in his fierce grief and his resolution of exile than in any other tragic hero in the history of the theater. Oedipus unravels his life to its utmost limits of agony and finds there an unsurpassed grandeur of
Oedipus was a tragic hero he was seen as a great man and was king,but he fell to misfortune because of his disability to see past his pride and anger which led to his demise. By not being able to see past his pride and anger Oedipus was not able to to avoid his prophetic destiny. He was blinded by his pride and anger so much that it became his tragic flaw ultimately leading him to his