Oedipus Downfall

To begin with, in the beginning of the second episode, Sophocles establishes a conflict between Creon and Oedipus. When Oedipus sees Creon at his palace, he scolds, “You-here? You have the gall / to show your face before the palace gates? / You, plotting to kill me, kill the king- / I see it all, the marauding thief himself / scheming to steal my crown and power!” (Sophocles 594-598). Oedipus is convinced that Creon hired Tiresias to reveal false statements, so Creon could take over and become king. However, this is a false accusation, for what Tiresias proclaimed was true, and Oedipus did kill the previous king, his father, and marry his mother. Nevertheless, Oedipus does not change his judgement. When speaking to the Chorus on this matter, Oedipus reviles Creon, “He, wherever he goes, my hate goes with him” (Sophocles 745).

Oedipus and Creon both use their power to their advantage. They decline to trade off or to humble themselves before others. They willfully decline different characters the privilege to express opinions unique in relation to their own, and they abuse their power to compel others to acknowledge their perspectives. Oedipus is so haughty and self-assured that he even challenges the gods. This leads straightforwardly to his downfall, and he is severely punished. When Oedipus forces a blind prophet named Teiresias to inform him of the truth, he says, “If Creon, whom I trusted, Creon my friend, for this great office which the city once put in my hands unsought-if for this power Creon desires in secret to destroy me!” Here, he gets irrationally angry and makes accusations against Creon. Oedipus threatened Teiresias with death, when Teiresias cautioned him that he would not want to learn the truth. Towards the end of the play, Oedipus expresses that he is still apprehensive of whatever remains of the oracle’s prophecy: that he will wed his mother. The messenger tells him that he should not worry since Polybus was not his real father and Merope is not his mother either. Staggered, Oedipus asks him how he came to know this. When the messenger refuses to answer, Oedipus says, “Come, speak plainly, or it will go hard on you… you will die now unless you speak the truth” and threatens him with torture because he

Pride, one of the seven deadly sins, is all forms of media. In literature, one of the best example of pride is in the story Oedipus the King. Oedipus is the cursed King of Thebes who was destined to kill his father and marry his mother, but his pride made him believe that he was going to be fine when he left his adoptive mother and father in Corinth. Eventually, as it always does, pride caught up to him.

Foils are characters that contrast with one another to highlight particular qualities of those specific characters. Tiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes, functions as a foil throughout Sophocles’s Antigone, by telling Creon he is doomed and will not be able to escape fate. In the Oedipus the King along with Antigone , Tiresias reveals unwanted truths about Creon and Oedipus. Although he is the blind prophet, his ability to “see” beyond the present, Tiresias first accuses Oedipus of killing his father in Oedipus Rex and proceeds to tell Creon in Antigone that his laws will cause more harm to his land and death to his family. However, instead of learning from Oedipus’s mistakes, Creon rejects

Our pride often hinders us from taking other’s opinion into account despite good or bad. Nevertheless, sometimes it is better to listen to others for own well being. Oedipus, the protagonist, takes pride in his wisdom due to his belief of escaping fate, and solving a riddle to become a king. As a result,he embarks upon a dark journey by willing to unmask the culprit behind King Laois’ murderer to free his people from the plague. However, during the process, the Prophet alerts him to not investigate further and reminds him of his awful prophecy, where he kills his own father. Because of his wisdom Oedipus wants to escape his fate; he neglects the Prophet’s words and pursues further to approach a shepherd, who alike the Prophet has an unpreferable

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.

“Humble yourself or life will do it for you,” is a common quote used by many. This idea of being humble to avoid consequences applies well to the book Antigone by Sophocles. It shows how if one has too much pride, they will be humbled in one way or another. In Antigone, Creon had tunnel vision, not listening to anyone. His fatal flaw was hubris, ultimately leading to the downfall of him.

From world wars to present day national elections, pride can always be connected to many appalling, life-changing issues. Pride has always either been negative or positive, and it has been around forever. In the epic play Antigone, Sophocles demonstrates how Creon’s hubris allows for the downfall of himself and the killing of his family. Creon’s fatal flaw is his hubris. Creon not only loses his family, he also loses the trust of his people.

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.

”Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish. I have killed my son and wife. I look for comfort; my comfort lies here dead. Whatever my hands have touched has come to nothing. Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust”(Sophocles 1.5 142-146). Creon’s destruction

In response, Creon makes an alleged statement of how Oedipus understands nothing. Oedipus’s lack of vision explains his foolishness in thinking that he is in power, and that he has or is in control of anything and everything. He fastens himself onto the value of hope in exonerating himself. In other words he yearns for the feel of being free from such a shameful intimate prophesy. As the story goes on, it continues to emphasize the aura of desperation that is within Oedipus. Considering the circumstances and analyzing the evidence that will lead to the obvious truth; it is certain that Oedipus will do everything in his power to make change his

Creon is an example of a tragic hero. He is one of the major characters in Sophocles’ trilogy that consisted of ‘Oedipus the king’, ‘Oedipus at Colonus’ and ‘Antigone’. Over the course of this saga, we see Creon’s character develop with noticeable flaws. In the first story, ‘Oedipus the king’, Creon is portrayed as a cool and rational advisor to Oedipus who tried to prevent him from taking rash decisions such as banishing himself. Creon ultimately fails, and his hamartia is revealed in the subsequent story ‘Oedipus at Colonus’. Creon’s hamartia was that he had a strong belief that his reasoning and decisions were

Oedipus’s pride also was a large contribution to his downfall. He had so much that he became blind to things around around him and the things he was doing to himself and others. Everything that happens to him is brought onto him by him. He killed his father, he also married his mother. He chooses to ignore the warnings from Jocasta, he searches and searches for the killer, to soon find out it was himself.

Oedipus who tries to make Creon looks like an evil person explains to Jocasta, his wife that he caught Creon in the act of wanting to stab him, which was not the case. “Precisely, I caught him in the act, Jocasta, plotting, about to stab me in the back” (Qtd in Barnet, Burto, & Cain, p. 1117). Oedipus who was challenging and discourteous most of the time violent temper plays a significant role in his downfall makes him a tragic flaw.

In ancient Greek society, the tragedy was a deeply spiritual and emotional art form integral to daily life. Perhaps one of the best examples of Greek tragedy is Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. The work is distinguished by the deep emotion and thought it elicits from the reader. This is in part due to Sophocles’ expert portrayal of Oedipus, who bears all the attributes of an Aristotelian tragic hero. A once powerful king turned blinded pariah, Oedipus is characterized by both his pride and his honorable character. Through such characterization, Sophocles heightens the emotions in the play by demonstrating how these traits contribute to the catastrophic conclusion. Sophocles deliberately depicts Oedipus as a seemingly infallible yet prideful ruler in order to augment the subsequent devastation Oedipus causes, thus realizing the vision of an Aristotelian tragedy.