Justice In Oedipus The King

It is often said that pride comes before a down fall, but pride must first trip over the truth The downfall of Oedipus is due to flaws in his character. Throughout the play “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles, Oedipus’s character has led him to make judgements that were not in his best interest. These flaws are pride, leading to overconfidence and having poor judgement. Oedipus character also show determination which throughout the play also became a flaw as well. The character of Oedipus is ruled by fate. The tragic hero is unable to escape his fate that was spoken over his life to happen. Even though Oedipus has chosen his own actions, the consequences he is sure to face have become undeniable and cannot be changed. Due to the flaws in his character, the king will fall from the good graces of those who once believed in him.

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 .

From the beginning Oedipus was destined to fulfill a terrible prophecy, but through particular events that follow the steps of the Hero’s Journey, Oedipus becomes a powerful king of Thebes, only to be destroyed by the prophecy that should have ended his life as a child. The Hero’s Journey typically leads to self-confidence and power, however; the Hero’s Journey of Oedipus leads to his tragic demise. The Hero’s Journey lays out the steps of Oedipus’s future actions, which create suspense, fear, pity, and other emotions that captivates the audience. Similar to many famous stories, Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles in 430 B.C., follows the Hero’s Journey path, which is evident in Oedipus’s departure, initiation, and return.

Tragedies often trigger emotional responses to audiences. It allows an individual to perceive the situation and emotionally respond to it. Sophocles uses the relationships of individuals with one another that incorporate compromise and division between the clashes of stubborn heroism and defeat. In tragedies, one many often feel pity, which can be very relatable to the reader and audiences. This can be evident in “Oedipus the King.”

It is often said that an anti-climax work is more admired than its counterparts. For reasons, the struggle of humans, the ultimate failure of a hero, and the corruption of mortal spirit have always hold its ground against classic comedy. From the ages of Oedipus Rex, a tragedy carries the irony of an egoistic giant trapped in predestined downfall. Oedipus was almost certain that he had escaped the arranged destiny. This confidence led him to pursue the murderer of Thebes until, at the end, he made the horrible discovery that his wife was his mother, and that his daughters were instead, his sisters.

Brilliantly conceived and written, Oedipus Rex is a drama of self-discovery. Achieved by amazing compression and force by limiting the dramatic action to the day on which Oedipus learns the truth of his birth and his destiny is quite the thriller. The fact that the audience knows the dark secret that Oedipus unwittingly slew his true father and married his mother does nothing to destroy the suspense. Oedipus’s search for the truth has all the tautness of a detective tale, and yet because audiences already know the truth they are aware of all the ironies in which Oedipus is enmeshed. That knowledge enables them to fear the final revelation at the same time that they pity the man whose past is gradually and relentlessly uncovered to him.

A final example of Oedipus’s short temper is when he argues with Creon about being the killer of Laius. The argument heats up and Oedipus loses his temper and threatens to banish or kill Creon. Creon goes to Jocasta and states, “Sister, Oedipus your husband, thinks he has the right to do terrible wrongs-he has but to choose between two terrors: banishing or killing me” (Sophocles 448). Again, Oedipus must defeat those who seem to be against him even though they are not his enemy. It is his anger that causes Oedipus to lash out and act

Oedipus Rex was born with the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother. His parents try and get around the prophecy by giving away their son. Oedipus grows up not knowing not knowing anything about this he has his big prophecy over his head. and h He travels back to the city of Thebes where he then soon fulfills the prophecy.

Greek theatre was formed back in 500 BC by the Greek civilisation that used performing, miming and dancing as ways and means to tell stories, imitate others and for their rituals. They were two forms of plays that were showcased in the City of Dionysia; tragedy and satyr. The City of Dionysia was the festival celebrating the God Dionysus. Throughout this essay I will be describing the characteristics of Greek tragedy while using Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus the King’ as a reference.

Oedipus the King, is a play introduced in (c. 430 B.C). Written by Sophocles, the play introduces a story about a king name Oedipus. Oedipus lived a fair life, until one day his life becomes a tragedy. Soon Oedipus has to face the outcomes of the issues he created. Oedipus reveals greatness and disaster because the quote defines his journey, greatness links to the beginning of his life and disaster connects to the end. In the quote, Sophocles states, “And towered up, most power of men,/ No mortal eyes bur looked on him with envy,/ Let every men in mankind’s frailty/ Consider his last day;/ and let none/ Presume on his good fortune until he find/ Life, at his death, a memory without pain.” The quote exposes Oedipus character and the life he

Oedipus the King is a tragedy that was written by Sophocles that emphasizes the irony of an irony of a man who was determined to trace down, expose and punish an assassin who in turn became him. Oedipus the King is also known as Oedipus Rex or Oedipus Tyrannus. The art is an Athenian play that was performed in ages approximated to be 429 BC. Oedipus the King would later in the play fulfill the prophecy that he would kill his father and later on marry his mother. There is a twist of an event in the play where Oedipus is looking for the murderer of his father to bring to a halt the series of plagues that are befalling Thebes but only to find he is in search of himself (Rado, 1956).

A) Dramatic irony, something that gives play that sense of je ne sais quoi; to have the audience have and edge of knowledge that the cast/character doesn’t. In Oedipus, Oedipus is a child of Jocasta and Laius. Prophesied to murder his father, to lay with with mother and bare children. As the play entails Jocasta and Laius decide to take heed to the oracle 's prophecy and kill their newborn in fear of what was yet to come. King Laius was to have his babies ankles pinned and put on a cliffside left to die. Oedipus was taken into another kingdom adopted by the king and queen not knowing they were his real parents. He soon finds out his fate to murder his father and lay with his mother; thinking he is larger than life flees to escape his destiny not knowing he was adopted. He then meets a man escorted by men who force him to move aside. In anger he kills them not realizing that one of the men was his father, the king. As he travels to the kingdom and gains entry misfortune strikes the kingdome. Oedipus being the heroic type goes to the queen, his mother, and states, “I will bring this light again. King Phoebus/ fittingly took care about the dead,/ and you too fittingly./ And justly you will see min me and ally,/ a champion of my country and the God./ For when I drive pollution from the land/ I will not serve a distant friends advantage,/ but act as in my own interest. Whoever/ he was killed the king may readily/ wish to dispatch me with his murderous hand;/ so helping the dead

However, this does not help him because he ends up losing everyone he holds close to his heart. Although, Oedipus and Creon have similar and different leadership traits, they both end in

Both characters cause some type of conflict in the play. One character accuses the main character of murder, and the other character blackmails an important character. Tiresias is a blind prophet that comes to Oedipus and accuses him of murder.. Outrage by the statement, Oedipus true temper finally shows. An example of his temper showing is when Tiresias says

In the tragedies, Agamemnon and The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus and Oedipus the King and Antigone by Sophocles the idea of defining justice becomes a distinct repetitive theme throughout the plays. Based on the situations pertaining to family relationships Clytemnestra, Oedipus and Electra, define justice through family relationship, while Oedipus, Jocasta and Antigone define justice through personal forms by feeling guilty and sacrificing their own lives. Throughout these family tragedies, a never ending vicious cycle of taking a life for a life is used to avenge others in order to gain justice, which ultimately leads to destruction of family.