ipl-logo

Oedipus The King Literary Analysis

949 Words4 Pages

EDIPO KING The Greek tragedy of Sophocles Oedipus is the mythical king of Thebes, son of Laius and Jocasta, who killed, without knowing it, his own father and married his mother. Laius, wanting to avoid such a fate, ordered a subject to kill Oedipus at birth. Appalled by him, instead of killing him, the subject abandoned him in Mount Citeron. The wife of Polibo and Queen of Corinth, was responsible for the upbringing of the baby, calling it Oedipus, which means 'swollen feet' for having been hung. In adolescence, Oedipus travels to Thebes, finding Laius at a crossroads, they argue over the passing preference and kill him without knowing that he was the king of Thebes, and his own father.
3. Later Oedipus finds the Sphinx, a monster that killed …show more content…

(-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) The reference to the masterpiece of Oedipus Rex (which also refers to an older myth), allows Freud to cross this threshold. Of the work of Sophocles only retains two elements: (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) First, the inexorable fate that leads Oedipus to commit, without knowing it, the two greatest crimes of mankind, the murder of the father and incest with the mother, who begets cursed children; (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) Second, the desire for truth that makes him "the researcher-researched" (Starobinski), which passes from ignorance to clairvoyance, at the price of tearing out his eyes as punishment for their crimes. (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) The essential thing is to turn the figure of Oedipus into a symbolic paradigm that guarantees the universality of its discovery. (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML …show more content…

"Then he walked down the hall and came to a door, and looked inside, father? Yes son? I want to kill you, mother ?, I want ... to fuck you! "" I've walked on down the hall, and I've come to a door ... and I've seen inside Father ?, are they, I want to kill you Mother? ... I want to ... fuck you! "The End - J. Morrison
7. Freud recorded the manifestations of the Oedipus complex and measured its importance in the child's life as well as in the adult's unconscious. "I have found in me, as everywhere," he writes to W. Fliess, "feelings of love for my mother and jealousy towards my father, feelings that, I think, are common to all young children." Then he will write: "This is so easy to establish that a great effort has been really necessary not to recognize it. Every individual has known this phase but has repressed it »(Resistances against psychoanalysis, 1925). EDIPO COMPLEX

Show More
Related

  • The Mind Of Hamlet Through A Psychoanalytic Lens

    657 Words  | 3 Pages

    Freud’s interpretation of Hamlet through a psychoanalytic lens works because it explains Hamlet’s repressed feelings towards his mother, and his procrastination to avenge his father– his competition. One of his theories used to analyze literature, especially Hamlet, is the Oedipus complex, which refers to Sophocles’s Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex. In the play, Oedipus unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother. Freud believed that the Oedipus complex began in little boys during the phallic stage of their psychosexual development, which is around four to five years old.

    Read More

  • Blindness And Vision In Oedipus The King

    686 Words  | 3 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • The Tough Breaks Play Analysis

    1587 Words  | 7 Pages

    Psychoanalysis, founded by Sigmund Freud, is a type of therapy which aims to make the unconscious mind conscious by releasing repressed emotions . In this type of therapy, they believe the patient’s condition can be determined by any repressed memories of childhood as well as any conflict between their conscious and subconscious which can result in these mental illnesses. We also now know of the Oedipus and Electra complex, both based on two great Greek plays (one of which this essay is about). The Oedipus complex concerns a son’s desire for his mother and his competition with his father for her attention whereas the Electra complex is the female version of this and involves a daughter’s competition with her mother for her father’s attention and love . The themes of madness in The Bough Breaks are thought to be caused by the gods as well as Agamemnon’s ghost, but now we can analyse these symptoms of madness using psychoanalysis but also show that the Electra complex is

    Read More

  • What Is Oedipus Fatal Flaw

    1053 Words  | 5 Pages

    Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, is really a story about the necessity of placing more faith in others and their counsel than in oneself and one’s own beliefs. Repeatedly the titular character is pleaded with to listen to and accept the advice of those around him and each time he refuses to obey. Ultimately, Oedipus’ tendency to do perform the actions he would prefer to do rather than to allow his family to help guide him leads to his downfall and loss of the throne. A common characteristic of Greek tragedy is the “fatal flaw” of the main character and how this flaw leads to the character’s misfortune.

    Read More

  • Oedipus Hero's Journey Analysis

    614 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Metamorphosis In Buffalo Bill

    839 Words  | 4 Pages

    According Freud’s theory: “The "dissolution" of the Oedipus Complex is then achieved when the child 's rivalrous identification with the parental figure is transformed into the pacifying identifications of the Ego ideal which assume both similarity and difference and acknowledge the separateness and autonomy of the other”. ( Cavell, Marcia The Psychoanalytic Mind, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press 1996, p. 225) Every male child always has the Oedipus complex, they attaching their mothers and imitate their fathers. In the novel, he watch the video of his mother again and

    Read More

  • Outline For Oedipus The King

    1377 Words  | 6 Pages

    Background Information: In Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, Oedipus was told that he would kill his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. However, Oedipus doesn’t believe that he killed Laius but was blind to the truth for him accept it which led to his demise. 3.Thesis Statement:

    Read More

  • Loss Of Knowledge In Oedipus The King

    790 Words  | 4 Pages

    As more information is uncovered, Oedipus’ legacy is exponentially diminished as a childhood prophecy revolving around Oedipus, murdering his father and marrying his mother, is brought to light. Knowledge possesses the power to catalyse devastation in stages as demonstrated through Oedipus’ ignorance, his overwhelming curiosity, and his psychological anguish. From the beginning, Oedipus was raised in a legion of lies, believing Merope and Polybus to be his true parents. This cloak of ignorance not only shielded Oedipus from the knowledge of his biological parents, but allowed the prophecy to act as a catalyst for his fleeing of Corinth.

    Read More

  • Nobility In Oedipus The King

    444 Words  | 2 Pages

    The consequence of Oedipus’s imperfect noble nature was his eventual blindness and exile from the place he loved and cared for the

    Read More

  • Oedipus Rex Tragic Hero Essay

    409 Words  | 2 Pages

    Critic Northrop Frye claims that tragic heroes “seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them… Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” A perfect example of this assertion would be King Oedipus in the classical tragic play “Oedipus Rex,” written by Sophocles, where Oedipus, himself, becomes the victim of his doomed fate. As someone who was born and raised of royal blood, he becomes too proud and ignorant, believing that he was too powerful for his fate. Using the metaphor “great trees [are] more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass,” Frye compares the heroic but unfortunate Oedipus to the great trees as they both are apt to experience victimization of tragic situations

    Read More

  • Oedipus Rex Self Discovery Essay

    796 Words  | 4 Pages

    The plot is thoroughly integrated with the characterization of Oedipus, for it is he who impels the action forward in his concern for Thebes, his personal rashness, and his ignorance of his past. His flaws are a hot temper and impulsiveness, but without those traits his heroic course of self-discovery would never occur. Fate for Sophocles is not something essentially external to human beings but

    Read More

  • Sight Vs. Blindness In Sophocles Oedipus The King

    1063 Words  | 5 Pages

    First, he was blind to the truth about his own life. Oedipus had no idea that his real parents were Laius and Jocasta, he was so blind that he got mad at anyone that would even suggest an idea such as that. As the story went on though, Oedipus could no longer run from the truth; he was forced to open his eyes to the reality and truth of his life. Oedipus killed his father and married his mother; he is the brother to his own kids and the son of his own mother. Oedipus was the one that was causing all of the downfall and bad times in Thebes.

    Read More

  • Suspense In Oedipus Rex Essay

    780 Words  | 4 Pages

    The shepherd who knew Oedipus as an infant represents the truth of the conflict, as he is able to provide the answers to Oedipus’s mental turmoil more than any other character throughout the tragedy. This strong association of the characters with the pieces forming Oedipus’s internal struggle allows the audience to visualize the inner workings of Oedipus’s thought process. Which, in turn, creates immense suspense as different pieces of the puzzle of Oedipus’s fate are presented with each new

    Read More

  • Oedipus The King Research Paper

    1224 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Mrs. Morel In Sons And Lovers

    1440 Words  | 6 Pages

    It is mostly evident from Paul Morel who is not successful in cast off the clouds of maternal love, which prevents him to have a natural relationship with any other woman. The love between mother and son is similar to the love presented in the theory of Sigmund Freud “Oedipus complex. ’’ Sigmund Freud uses this term to explain the manifestation of infantile sexuality in the relationship of the child to his parents.

    Read More

More about Oedipus The King Literary Analysis

Open Document