Karma In Oedipus Rex

Decent Essays
Show More
Karma is like a rubber band, you can only stretch it so far before it comes back and smacks you in the face. The Greeks have given us many stories on how some good people, or even gods, can suffer drastic reversals of fortune, or in some cases, karma. Oedipus Rex is an extremely ironic piece that shows how someone’s luck can extremely change. In other greek mythology, such as stories of Achilles, Cronus, and Theseus also showed how much of a change people can be hit suddenly with a reverse of fortune.

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Sacrificial Scapegoat In Oedipus Analysis
    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited

    Sacrificial Scapegoat In Oedipus Analysis

    Jung's theory also says that often the hero becomes the sacrificial scapegoat for his people or country. The sacrificial scapegoat is defined as a hero who must die for the well being of his country, people, or for the sins of his people in order to save the land (Guerin 163). In addition Jung says that the death of the hero as a sacrificial scapegoat can often be attributed to the hero's hubris, or excessive pride in themselves and their accomplishments (Guerin 168). Oedipus is an archetypal hero because he follows the quest, and is later the sacrificial scapegoat. His quest is when he leaves his parents, who have raised him, Dorian Merope and Polybus, out of fear of the oracle.…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Analysis Of Oedipus Rex
    • 1575 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Analysis Of Oedipus Rex

    Oedipus Rex Discussion Questions 1) How does Oedipus treat those who are reluctant to obey him throughout the play? What does this tell you about Oedipus’ character? In the beginning of the play Oedipus speaks as a strong king ruling his people. He waves his hands over the people as a kind ruler over his servants.…

    • 1575 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Judgment In Oedipus The King
    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Judgment In Oedipus The King

    Judgment is a main theme in the play King Oedipus by Sophocles, and throughout the play, this theme comes up repeatedly. Sophocles might also be said to be using this idea of judgment to reflect upon the society, of Sophocles, and even that of the modern day reader. This paper will show the 3 elements of judgment that is illustrated by the play and the various angles Sophocles attempts to address using King Oedipus as the tool. The idea of judgment in the play is first portrayed as being a premature and faulty conclusion.…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Justice In Oedipus Essay
    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Justice In Oedipus Essay

    In Oedipus Tyrannus, Sophocles’ offers a perfect juxtaposition of the divine and secular justice of antiquity through the dual nature of Oedipus’ crime, which also allows for further juxtaposition with modernity’s conception of justice. Oedipus’ primary crime in the eyes of humanity is sleeping “in the same bed where he was bred” and patricide (Sophocles 57). Oedipus’ considers his crimes “humanity’s foulest deeds” due to the Greek conception of justice which emphasized a system of punishment based on humiliation, and since Oedipus experiences overwhelming shame, his belief that his crimes were terrible is validated (Sophocles 59). The fountainhead of antiquity's justice is pathos, and all crimes are met with punishments meant to conjure pain and emotional torment. In an act of defiance and relief, Oedipus gouges his…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    How Is Oedipus The King Selfish
    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages

    How Is Oedipus The King Selfish

    In Oedipus the king, text translated by David Grene. Throughout this context there have been many ideas that overlapped with HOW TO READ LITERATURE LIKE A PROFESSOR in which there have been so many ideologies, and denial emphasized in which the argument that took place between the different characters led the audience to have a clearer idea about the truth behind the incident that took place. In HTRLLAP "he is blind for a reason" it emphasizes how blindness doesn't have to be physical and it does sometimes concern the mind as well. It might control an individual's act, again not physically, but might be mentally in regards if their way of thinking, morals and values. An example for this within the context is when Oedipus neglects killing his father to avoid any negative confrontation form others that he murdered his own father, and his lack of loyalty.…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Fate And Fate In Oedipus Rex By Sophocles Antigone
    • 1283 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Fate And Fate In Oedipus Rex By Sophocles Antigone

    Humans are creatures of habit – once they get used to doing something, any change to it is jarring and often unwelcome. The chorus’ line, “The straying dreams of men/ May bring them ghosts of joy:/But as they drowse, the waking embers burn them;/or they walk with fixed eyes, as blind men walk” (Sophocles Antigone 210) articulates this idea, and the idea can be found in multiple tragic works. For example, in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus tries to escape fate but fate reminds him that he is still its puppet. Also, Creon from Antigone believes that his authority surpasses the gods’, until they abruptly bring him back down to earth.…

    • 1283 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Does Oedipus Deserve His Fate
    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Does Oedipus Deserve His Fate

    Since birth fate chose Oedipus to kill his father, and marry his mother, after his parents found out about his prophecy they tied his feet together and left him in the mountains to die, but unfortunately for his parents a Shepherd found him and gave him away to his adopted parent in Corenth. After learning about his prophecy Oedipus left Corinth to go to thebes for the sake of his adopted parents. On the way to thebes Oedipus's bad temper caused him to kill multiple men on the way to Thebes, which ultimately ended in him killing his own father. Without knowing about anything Oedipus solved the Sphinx's riddle became king of Thebes and married his mother Jocasta for all he knows he left his parents in corrent. After becoming king Oedipus was so determined to save Thebes from the…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Why Oedipus Should Have
    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Why Oedipus Should Have

    I Should Have Known I told him to stop digging, I told him to "stop—in the name of god, if you love your own life, call off this search" (222). He didn't listen. He wanted the truth. Why did I not realize who Oedipus truly was. How could I, the Queen of Thebes, not know who this young man was when he first stepped back into my life.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Guilt In Oedipus The King
    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Guilt In Oedipus The King

    Throughout history, individuals have always sought to define others' controversial actions through guilt or innocence. However, there are circumstances and exceptions unique to every situation and perception of justice. The tendency to simplify matters of justice into innocence and guilt has been evident throughout society. In the Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex, Sophocles challenges this question led by guilt and innocence.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    King Oedipus Selfish Quotes
    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages

    King Oedipus Selfish Quotes

    Even though he seems caring at some parts, his dominant characteristic is being self-centered and arrogant because he cares more about himself, but also wants to help the people of Thebes who are cursed by the plague. In the play, a messenger informs Oedipus that Polybus is dead and his reaction to this isn’t normal. Jocasta said, “Yet this news of your father is wonderful”(Sophocles 51). This quote shows that Oedipus doesn’t care much about his “father’s” death. It was great news to Oedipus because Oedipus didn’t kill his “father”, so Oedipus believes and tells people that there was no way he could have killed Laius.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    King: Blind And Blindness In Oedipus The King
    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages

    King: Blind And Blindness In Oedipus The King

    In the story of Oedipus Rex, blindness refers to people being blind to the truth. The answer they were seeking when it came to their problems may have been obvious, but they could not see the answer. Due to them being blind to they answer they were seeking. Blindness also can be associate with being physically blind and being enlightened. A blind person in the story is said to have powers to see things that people with sight cannot see.…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Theme Of Responsibility In Oedipus The King
    • 1926 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Theme Of Responsibility In Oedipus The King

    Fate and Personal Responsibility in Oedipus the King In Sophocles 's Oedipus the King, Oedipus suffers a tragic fate after learning that he is the cause of the plague that is devastating his city. Although Oedipus does not directly bring the plague into to the city, it becomes increasingly clear throughout the play that the plague is a punishment from the gods for unknowingly killing his father and marrying his mother. The play begins in the middle of things, so understanding the preceding events is critical in understanding who is responsible for the tragedy. Before the play begins, King Laius of Thebes and his wife Jocasta abandon their son Oedipus and leave him for dead after an oracle tells them their son is fated to kill his…

    • 1926 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Tragic Destiny In Oedipus
    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Tragic Destiny In Oedipus

    The Tragic Destiny of Oedipus Oedipus the king by Sophocles is a distressing play filled with transgression, grief, and tragedies. The unfortunate incidents that the tragic hero, Oedipus, goes through invoke catharsis in the readers. He has been prophesied a dreadful fortune and feels as though “...no one suffers more than [him]” (Sophocles 27).Foretold destiny cannot be derailed as fate will always interfere and insure that the prophecy is fulfilled. Moreover, every tragic hero has a tragic flaw; rashness and temper are two of the major ones that lead Oedipus to make poor decisions. In addition, many humans use ignorance as a shield to protect themselves from a harsh reality and therefore restrain themselves from the light of true knowledge.…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Oedipus Deserve Fate
    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Essay On Oedipus Deserve Fate

    An Undeserved Fate: Oedipus “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles is a testament to his genius and greatness in this complex play. It is not easy to determine if Oedipus deserves his fate even though it was unavoidable. However, considering everything that had befallen Oedipus he remained a good person down to the very end, and I believe that he did not deserve his fate. Oedipus suffered much; the majority was out of his control. The Herdsman could have intervened several times to keep Oedipus from his own fate.…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Fate And Fate In Oedipus
    • 1107 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Fate And Fate In Oedipus

    I. Before his birth, Oedipus was assigned to a miserable life, but his stubborn attempt to fix his destiny led to his life becoming all the worse; his exile was not destined by fate but was a product of his own actions. A. The fact that Oedipus marries his mother and kills his father cannot be blamed on him because his fate was set before he was born. 1. Tiresias tells Oedipus that the prophecy made when he was born has come true and that he will “be detected in his very heart of home: his children’s father and their brother, son and husband to his mother, bed-rival to his father and assassin” (230).…

    • 1107 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings