Oedipus The King Research Paper

Oedipus the King, translated by Thomas Gould, is a very interesting and complex story. Throughout this mythical story of incest and patricide, Oedipus tries to find and expose the killer of King Laius. Little does Oedipus know, it was he who killed the former king of Thebes.

The major conflict throughout the majority of the story is that which Oedipus has with himself. Particularly that which he has with his own personality. Oedipus’s conflict with his own pride is often the driving force throughout the story. His belief in his own greatness and abilities often gets him into trouble. Oedipus has a lot to be prideful of, he thinks he is the son of a king, he was the only one to solve the riddle of the sphinx, and he is skilled in combat as noted by his interaction with his true father. At the beginning of the story Oedipus shows himself to be a good leader. Before the people come to him speaking of their woes, he claims to have already worried and thought hard about their current predicament. He demonstrates that he is a wise and capable king, yet in his eyes he has no equal. As described by Oedipus to Tiresias in their dialogue “The simple Oedipus; I stopped her mouth by natural wit, untaught of auguries. This is the man whom you would undermine” (Sophocles: 408-410) He shows a lack of willingness to listen to the ideas of others and trust the advice of those close to him. At one particular time in the story a well-known and credible seer urges Oedipus to abandon his quest for his own sake. Rather than accept this particular advice from someone who has proven to be very wise in the past,

Without Oedipus’s status as a tragic hero, he would not be as impulsive as he is portrayed in Oedipus Rex. Also, without his strong need to bring justice to the murderer for the good of the town, there would simply be no search at all. Oedipus wouldn’t be seen as a tragic character, much less the archetype for one, without inflicting justice on himself. He goes from a high to a low because he is a tragic character, and he wouldn’t be a tragic hero without his persistent search for justice. Because he is so set on creating a better place for his town, he ultimately creates his own downfall and

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

Neil Gaiman once said, “There’s none so blind as those who will not listen.” This quote relates to the theme of sight and blindness in “The Tragedy of Oedipus Rex”. King Oedipus was a man who would not accept the truth about himself. Physically he was not blind but in truth he was. There are three examples of Oedipus’s metaphysical condition of blindness which will be listed as follows. First his denial of being the source of the plague. Second, his egotistical abilities that will form his plot to change his fate. And lastly, the consequences of his denial that will lead him to his physical and emotional destruction. It would seem that in this case, Oedipus’s fate is his own enemy.

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.

In the play Oedipus The King, Oedipus ran from his destiny, blinded by truth. The overall cause of Oedipus ' trragic downfall is his unwillingness to accept his “GOD” given fate. Therefore, Oedipus The King is an example of a tragic hero, in view of the fact that tragic events will happen if you don 't hark your destiny. At the end of the play, he was a blind man who hated himself for his evil deeds. For this reason Oedipus The King can be considered a tragic hero because he committed an action which ultimately

Oedipus is one of the most round characters in the story as he goes from changing his view to changing his mood. He mostly is seeking to find a cure throughout the story and it just so happens that he is searching for the killer(s) of the king before him. During this he talks to fortune tellers and people more wise than him. He begins to blame people based on his views of them. Oedipus shows that he does not necessarily care about the people of Thebes when he says, “‘I pity you, children. You have come full longing, but i have known the story before you told it only too well. I know you are all sick, yet there is not one of you, sick though you are, that is as sick

After Oedipus realizes that he fulfilled his fate of killing his father and marrying his mother, Oedipus declares,”I have been saved for something great and terrible, something strange. Well let destiny come and take me on its way”(323). Then Oedipus gouges out his own eyes so that he cannot look upon his parents in the underworld, his children, or the city he once ruled. He then asks Creon to return him to the place he should have died as a young child, the mountain.The statement reveals that Oedipus fulfilled his fate and that Oedipus truly believes destiny set him on the path of destruction. With the realization of his demise, Oedipus tries to protect himself from punishment and shame by gouging out his own eyes and exiling himself out to die in the place destiny prevented him from dying originally. After many years of luxurious living, Oedipus’s predestined fate tears his life apart and returns him to the place he should have died as an infant, the mountain.

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

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

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.

There was a mountain named Mount Cithaeron. On one side of the mountain was the city Corinth, where King Polybus and Queen Merope, who were unable to have children, lived. One day a citizen came to them with a gift. It was a child who was found on the mountain with stakes in his ankles. They decided to adopt the child and name him Oedipus, which means ‘swollen foot’. Oedipus grows up and his parents never tell him he is adopted. One day he is out drinking with his friends and one tells him he is adopted. He runs to his mom to find the truth, who denies it. He decides to travel to the temple of Apollo at Delphi where he talks to the oracle who tells him he will kill his father, marry his mother, and have sex with her. Frightened by this prophecy, he says

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.