According to Fosso in his article “Oedipus Crux: Reasonable Doubt in Oedipus the King”, “Oedipus’s present actions in the play are free rather than determined and therefore worth scrutinizing in themselves” (Fosso, 27). From this we realize that maybe Oedipus was not completely unaware of what was happening as he makes it seem at the end of the play. Oedipus is clearly a man who seeks power, otherwise he would have not left his town in order to solve the riddle of the Sphinx and become king. The play itself says it, “many years have passed since Oedipus solved the riddle of the Sphinx and ascended the throne of Thebes” (Sophocles, 1062). If Oedipus was so unaware of the prophecy, then why did he go to a place where he was told not to go by a prophet just to become king? Of course he knew he would become king, subconsciously he knew that he was the chosen son. This means that the prophecy might not have been an unwanted one for Oedipus, but instead one that he subconsciously
Oedipus lived his entire life avoiding the prophecy foretold by Delphi. His parents abandoned him at birth because of it, he left his adoptive family because of it, and ultimately, he was blinded because of it. The prophecy itself did not cause these outcomes, but Oedipus’ actions were driven by it. His parents chose to abandon him because of their fear of the oracle’s foresight, he chose to leave because of his caution of it and he blinded himself because he’d driven himself to find the truth of his parentage. Oedipus’ situation caused him to do all
“With pride, there are many curses. With humility, there come many blessings. -Ezra Taft Benson” This quote directly states the topic of my paper. Many times Odysseus gets over confident or too prideful in the Odyssey. The Odyssey shows that having too much pride, confidence, and anger can negatively affect you, and the people around you.
For all the great strengths of these heroes it’s important to remember they’re still human. Humans are naturally flawed beings, in fact their exaggerated strengths seem to make their weaknesses more dramatic. These fatal flaws constantly get between the hero and reaching his goal contributing to setbacks, loss, and sometimes death.
Pride often leads to someone’s downfall - this idea has been developed from the playwright “Oedipus the king” through Rey’s interactive oral presentation. He discussed that Oedipus’ excessive pride over his knowledge due to solving riddles allows him to not listen to others including the respected Prophet , his dear relative Kreon - he seldom pays heed to them and decides to pursue further for searching the predecessor’s murderer . His own path opens up hidden , dark truth about his life. From the presentation it has been evident that Oedipus was not smart enough to realize that the path he set for himself, will eventually bring nothing but pain.
Odysseus is a self-made, self-assured man that prides himself on his tactical victories and conquests. Odysseus is the genius behind the Trojan Horse, the cunning man that outsmarted Polyphemus, the Suitors, and Circe. Odysseus is truly a man who can do it all.
All things considered, Oedipus was in denial and was blinded from truth. As he came closer to the truth he finds himself praying that the prophecy will not come true. His earnestness causes a panic within him that leads him to abuse his power into changing his destiny. But as a result, all thing must come to an end especially Oedipus’s physical sight. Oedipus learns that you can’t control everything in life and also things come and go, they never stay. So instead seeing the truth and believing the lies, it’s best to see the lies and believe in the truth. Otherwise
In ancient Greek literature, diseases and afflictions often play key roles within the story. In Sophocles 's tragedy Oedipus Rex, the presence and recurrence of afflictions are central elements to the plot. Oedipus and his city both possess conditions that determine the outcome of the play. The motif of ailments, like the plague and blindness, highlight the hubris and failures of Oedipus to demonstrate his reliance on the gods.
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.
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
Henry Rollins once stated, “Weakness is what brings ignorance, cruelty, and pride, all these things that will keep a society chained to the ground, one foot nailed to the floor.” In Sophocles play Oedipus Rex, Oedipus, the king of Thebes, weakness is his fate. Throughout the play, Oedipus is trying to outrun his fate because he feels the gods are subordinate to his powerful figure. Oedipus is seen as a god throughout Thebes because he defeated the mighty Sphinx, who was once haunting over the city. After defeating the Sphinx, Oedipus took over as king by killing his father and coupling his mother as his hubris blinded him from reality. Sophocles uses dramatic irony to show the ignorance of Oedipus Rex as he cannot see the truth. Oedipus cannot see the truth because his hubris is encouraged by the people and himself. Oedipus’ ignorance is also clearly displayed after an effort to save his city. Although Oedipus is a fictional character created thousands of years ago, his actions can easily connect to many people in today 's society. The theme conveyed in Sophocles play Oedipus Rex is hubris often results in one 's ignorance.
Just as Oedipus becomes king his pride and confidence in himself grows. The people look at him as some kind of savior because he has defeated the king. This basically makes his ego 10 times bigger. He also is very denying of his fate. The terrible irony in this story is that everytime he tries to do the right thing, it brings about his destruction. He can’t win for losing. He is his own worst
The Queen, Jacosta, Oedipus’ wife tells him not to believe in the prophet, because they’ve been wrong before, she then tells Oedipus about how she and King Laius had a son who was prophesied to kill Laius and sleep with her but since the child was supposedly dead the prophecy couldn’t be true. Oedipus becomes a bit weary because as a child an old man told him he was adopted and that one day he’d kill his real father and sleep with his mother, Oedipus did also kill a man at a crossroads which sounded like the way Laius died.
Another tragedy of Oedipus as a tragic hero was that he was a proud man, who thinks he knew it all and would not listen to anyone. One of his greatest acts of hubris was that he denies his fate of the oracle and defy the prophecies of the gods that later came to reality, and despite his growing up in Corinth he was a son of the land of Thebes. Likewise, the prophecy was still to come into existence since he did not only overlooked his fate; he did whatever he wants to as the king of the
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.