Loyalty In Oedipus The King

Ask yourself this question: are you loyal to the law? Do you think the law deserves loyalty from you? The character Odysseus in the novel The Odyssey , by Homer, is in a similar situation. That is, does Odysseus deserve loyalty from his crew? After fighting 10 years in the trojan war, Odysseus begins his lengthy journey home. Odysseus ends up getting caught in a few rough spots on the way home, lives are lost and ships are wrecked. When he gets home he comes to find out suitors are trying to overtake his palace. Over the journey home a series of events occur where Odysseus deserves loyalty from his crew. Odysseus deserves loyalty from his crew because odysseus comes up with good ideas, gives his men good advice to follow, and saves his men from life threatening situations.

As we are all aware that for generations, gender difference and power have been an issue for centuries. That being said the play Antigone by Sophocles, displays many examples of these struggles. The main topics that will be discussed, are: Antigone’s background history in Oedipus the King, the conflict between Creon the king of Thebes and Antigone, the gender difference and power.

The first main trait that demonstrates Odysseus is a worthy leader is his optimistic approach to the difficult tasks both he and his men faced during their adventure. During the time Odysseus encounters many divergent tough tasks, he always overcomes many tasks with his men when he encourages them. According to the article, “The Nine Traits that Define Great Leadership,” explain that an optimistic leader “The very best leaders are a source of positive energy. They communicate easily.” The article explains, that an optimistic leader is supposed to have a “positive energy” towards everything and they have to be easy to talk to. In other words the most ideal leaders are capable to accomplish the tasks they already have

Homer’s the Odyssey is a classic example of how separation can affect a man’s loyalty and how proving oneself can restore reputation.

The character Oedipus fits Aristotle 's criterion of character as a leader and a person because he remains consistent in trying to remove the curse from Thebes. In the introduction, Oedipus is addressing the priest about the condition of his city. "You are sick to death, but no one is as sick as I. / Your pain strikes each of you alone, each / in the confess of himself, no other. . . . my spirit / grieves for this city, for myself and all of you" (205). This shows a quality of a consistency because as a leader, he cares so much for his people as much to say that he suffers when when his people are suffering. He remains like this throughout the play. The second example is from the end of the play, when Oedipus is addressing the leader after Jocasta has just run off the stage. "Let it burst!

Initially, he approaches Teiresias, the blind prophet, who has the quality of perceiving the truth. Sophocles cleverly uses irony to emphasize the idea that everything is not always what it seems. Although Teiresias is literally blind, he sees the surroundings far better than Oedipus; Sophocles created this character to foreshadow who the real murderer is. Teiresias hesitates to reveal the murderer, and assures “that way is best(37)” for both of them. His reluctance creates a sense of commotion, allows the readers to understand that Oedipus is the killer; this is also illustrated after he expresses that “[his] grief is [Oedipus’](38).” The grief he contains prepares the audience for the catastrophic tragedy. Nevertheless, Oedipus fails to comprehend Teiresias’ warning, and calls him “cold, stubborn, fool (38)” out of anger; he could no longer resist the need of unmasking the murderer. The diction he chooses demonstrates the way he scorns the prophet, considers him to be puny as he does not provide him with the answer he wants. Finally, Teiresias is fed up after Oedipus shunned him, and blurts out “the plague is [Oedipus](39).” He discloses, Oedipus is the root of the problem that arose in Thebes; Oedipus is shaken by the statement, and deems that he is a victim of conspiracy. He conjectured that his relative Kreon hired Teiresias to plot schemes against him because of the substantial amount of money and power he bores. However, he considers himself only capable of becoming the King. Since he solved the Sphinx’s riddle, he reckons to be self entitled as “no ordinary man could solve her riddle(41,)” “even the gods’ voice were useless” to free Thebes according to him. His complacent behaviour is evident, it is manifested that his talent of solving riddles contributes to a certain degree of pride for his accomplishment, but he has generated this self-righteous attitude to

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.

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 . He did not want to believe any of it he didn't listen , he thought he knew what was correct , and being the way he was , got the worst part.

Thesis:In Sophocles play ‘Oedipus the king’,Oedipus is an example of a tragic hero because he changed from a hero at the beginning of the play into a tragic hero by the end by experiencing power,tragic flow,downfall and death.Oedipus changes into a person no can believe of,because in the beginning he was a hero for the city of thebes by solving a riddle to defeat the monster that was killing and taking over thebes.

Throughout the tragedy of Oedipus the King, Oedipus displays his imperfectly noble being for all to see. While Oedipus had saved the Thebans from the Sphinx’s riddle, Oedipus’s nobel pride and anger lead to his destruction as he attempted to find Laios’s murderer. In his mistreatment of Teiresias, and his false allegations towards Creon being a usurper, Oedipus shows his imperfectly noble character as he foolishly attempts to fight fate and the gods will.

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). After thing coming to light, Oedipus feel horrified about the

Every character in stories or in plays has their flaws and strengths; Oedipus is no exception to this. Oedipus has his strengths and weaknesses that shape him into the character he is perceived to be in the play. He is intellectual which is why the city looks up to him, he is caring, and tenacious. Like any other character Oedipus also has his flaws, he jumps to conclusions and makes rash decisions, he has anger issues, and hubris which eventually leads to his downfall.

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’s selfishness and temper eventually lead to his downfall. Oedipus selfishness made everyone else mad at him for him not believing them. He kept digging and digging himself into a deeper hole. This eventually made his punishment at the end worse for him. He also could not handle the truth so this made him disrespect the gods. He told Tiresias that he was lying and was just trying to help Ceron become ruler. Oedipus also had too much pride this also contributed to his downfall. He was telling the people that they would find the murderer and have him exiled. He was too blind to see that he killed the king.

Oedipus the King is one of the most ironic plays ever written. Sophocles, the author, is a famous philosopher of the ancient times The Play is about Oedipus, the king of Thebes, who kills his father and marries his mother. An oracle warned Laius, the king of Thebes prior to Oedipus, that his son would murder him. Accordingly, when his wife, Jocasta, had a son, he exposed the baby by first pinning his ankles together. The infant, who was adopted by King Polybus of Corinth and his wife was then brought up as their very own. In the earlier years Oedipus visits Delphi and learns that he was fated to kill his father and marry his mother. He then planned to never return to Corinth.