Moral Ambiguity In Oedipus Essay

“Oedipus the King” is an ancient tale which demonstrates a timeless lesson about human nature. It explores the inner characteristics of the man Oedipus and the multitude of conflicts that ultimately lead to his downfall. The play explores both the tumultuous and troubled relationships that Oedipus has with both himself and the natural world around him. Explored in this play are the conflict of human vs. self such as when Oedipus struggles with his own inner pride, the conflict of human vs human such as when Oedipus argues with Tiresias, and finally the conflict of human vs supernatural in which Oedipus fights to free himself from the fate of the Gods. Oedipus unknowingly fights both himself, his fellow man, and the gods in his quest for knowledge

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of the jury. I am the defense attorney for Oedipus in this case. The evidence that the prosecutor presented today showed Oedipus’ actions of incest and patricide; however, he had no choice in committing these sins. At the time of these actions, he did not know the identities of his real father or mother. We demand his innocence in the verdict.

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. While he becomes the King of Thebes, he starts the long his journey unraveling the truth. He is a very blind man at first but he changes throughout the play. In the end, Oedipus opens his eyes and turns out to be an accepting man.

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. In conclusion, Oedipus in the play is a tragic hero. He is not the person who he thought he always were. He let his pride and having the authority to be king, destroy his life. Oedipus let his character make the best of him. In this case, life is not always what it seems to be. Oedipus thought he was on top and had it all. His downfall overpowered him. Greatness and disaster explains the life of Oedipus in the quote. Oedipus wanted to live the rest of his life not seeing the pain and the true person he really is. The life of Oedipus is very similar to how most people live their lives today. You may think your on top of everything until life has a way of putting you down. There are many people out there who tries to fit in and be a person they know they are not. Life is very short. If you do not take the opportunity to live the life you know you suppose to live, life can pass you by without any

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). So by suffering, Oedipus still feels like a King fulfilling his duty. Thomas Gould author of The Innocence of Oedipus: The Philosophers on Oedipus the King, Part III, discusses the idea of whether Oedipus has control over his fate or not. Gould states, “Oedupus’ intentions were good, but the results of his actions were bad; and the explanation for this is that he did not have certain important pieces of information” (Gould 32). In the end, when Oedipus learns he is Laius killer, he must make the ultimate sacrifice for his crimes. The truth was right in front of him all along but he either ignored it or refused to accept it because it was not all together at once. His final fate, however, is his to choose and he chooses to

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

Oedipus’ impetuous behavior is another trait that eventually leads him to his downfall. While having a rash and short-tempered manor it seemed to have caused him to make bad judgment calls. Including when he accused Tiresias of being a part of the murder. The reason why being because Tiresias would not answer the questions the Oedipus asked. Oedipus then goes on, over exaggerating his speech towards Tiresias saying, “Did you rise to the crisis? Not a word, you and your birds, your gods-nothing. No, but I came along Oedipus the ignorant, I stopped the sphinx! With no help from the birds, the flight of my own intelligence hit the mark” (Lines 449-453). Following this quote, Oedipus ignores Tiresias’ warnings to not pursue the killer; if he did he

Oedipus denies the truth and faces the consequences later on in the play. He gets furious when everyone is blaming him for killing Laius. As he is blaming others, hubris appears within his personality. Oedipus becomes blinder as hubris takes over him. If someone tells you a truth that you do not want to accept, gather evidence before blaming others and accept the truth whether it is hard or

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.

Justice is a highly well known term that our society says to be an act of a fairground of the process of equality. In the range of the Oedipus the King, justice as well as injustice, is widely presented throughout several characters and actions of the people. Ultimately, Oedipus himself had given a clear understanding of justice in the midst of his life, which furthermore provides several obstacles that then leads to a moral overview of the following acts that each of the characters possessed. Although Oedipus was given a sense of disadvantages, he was still able to give a reality of objectivity and honesty to himself and his own well-being.

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

A prophecy, told by a god or spirit, can foretell your future destiny. If you were given the opportunity to know your prophecy given the precautions that it could positively or negatively influence your life, would you ask for it or just let it slip? In Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, Oedipus is told that he would kill his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. However, Oedipus doesn't believe this and is blind to the truth to accept it, which leads to his demise. Due to Oedipus’ atrocious decision making and the disobeying of other's orders, he realizes a sense of urgency at the end, as it was his responsibility to control his fate. Ultimately, these series of events leads to his demise.

Aristotle once stated, “a man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall (bisd303.org).” Oedipus epitomizes a true tragic hero in both his past and his actions, although he did not have any control regarding his fate. He had excessive pride and self-righteousness; he dares to compare himself to the gods in saying “you pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers (33).” He is quick-tempered and spontaneous, which leads him to jump to conclusions, causing the reader to become aware of the fact that Oedipus is mortal and imperfect, henceforth with flaws. Oedipus’ error in judgment and tragic fall lead him to his downfall. His crime was due to wickedness and ignorance about his self-identity. He was not aware that Kind

Although Oedipus appears to be an angry tyrant, his search for the truth, at the risk of losing

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.