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. Finally, the fisherman from “The Ledge” believes he could master the seas and time, but finds out that they play by their own
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For instance, Oedipus’ “dream” is to prevent the prophecy told to him from coming true, that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. Oedipus tells Jocasta that to avoid that fate, “I abandoned Corinth,/from that day on I gauged its landfall only/by the stars, running, always running/toward some place where I would never see/the shame of all those oracles come true” (Sophocles Oedipus Rex 997-998). The Greek gods frown upon incest and murder, and Oedipus loves his (adoptive) family and does not want them to suffer, so he did everything he could to escape the horrible prophecy, ending up in Thebes. There, he became king, and with his newfound power and wealth, began to settle into his new role, still believing he has escaped his prophecy. He angrily tells to Tiresias, “…I stopped the Sphinx! With no help from the birds,/the flight of my own intelligence hit the mark./And this is the man you’d try to overthrow?” (Sophocles Oedipus Rex 987). Oedipus has begun to drowse; assured in the fact that he has escaped the prophecy, he develops arrogance due to …show more content…
For example, the fisherman’s dream is to be the best. To do that, he has decided to try to “lick the element of time, by getting up earlier and going to bed later, planning more than the day would hold, and tackling just one other job before the deadline fell” (Hall 313). By conquering time, the fisherman would be able to achieve his dream of being the best fisherman and shooter, and find a semblance of joy. As a result, by planning everything down to the letter he becomes complacent. After all, “the fisherman had never failed to make out gunning from Devil’s Hunt. And this trip, he had a hunch, would be above the ordinary…Things were perfect” (Hall 306). Every trip so far has been successful, thus this one will be as well, and the fisherman becomes drowsier with an overconfidence that nothing could ever go wrong. However, during their outing, the skiff mysteriously vanishes. The fisherman looks for it for a while, and “At last he sighted the skiff himself…The impulse to strip himself naked was succeeded instantly by a queer calm. He simply sat down on the ledge and forgot everything except the marvelous mystery” (Hall 313). Because the skiff was floating out in the frigid sea, they could not get it. This fatal error is the beginning of the end for the three males on the ledge, and is the event that
For instance, Oedipus’ “dream” is to prevent the prophecy told to him from coming true, that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. Oedipus tells Jocasta that to avoid that fate, “I abandoned Corinth,/from that day on I gauged its landfall only/by the stars, running, always running/toward some place where I would never see/the shame of all those oracles come true” (Sophocles Oedipus Rex 997-998). The Greek gods frown upon incest and murder, and Oedipus loves his (adoptive) family and does not want them to suffer, so he did everything he could to escape the horrible prophecy, ending up in Thebes. There, he became king, and with his newfound power and wealth, began to settle into his new role, still believing he has escaped his prophecy. He angrily tells to Tiresias, “…I stopped the Sphinx! With no help from the birds,/the flight of my own intelligence hit the mark./And this is the man you’d try to overthrow?” (Sophocles Oedipus Rex 987). Oedipus has begun to drowse; assured in the fact that he has escaped the prophecy, he develops arrogance due to …show more content…
For example, the fisherman’s dream is to be the best. To do that, he has decided to try to “lick the element of time, by getting up earlier and going to bed later, planning more than the day would hold, and tackling just one other job before the deadline fell” (Hall 313). By conquering time, the fisherman would be able to achieve his dream of being the best fisherman and shooter, and find a semblance of joy. As a result, by planning everything down to the letter he becomes complacent. After all, “the fisherman had never failed to make out gunning from Devil’s Hunt. And this trip, he had a hunch, would be above the ordinary…Things were perfect” (Hall 306). Every trip so far has been successful, thus this one will be as well, and the fisherman becomes drowsier with an overconfidence that nothing could ever go wrong. However, during their outing, the skiff mysteriously vanishes. The fisherman looks for it for a while, and “At last he sighted the skiff himself…The impulse to strip himself naked was succeeded instantly by a queer calm. He simply sat down on the ledge and forgot everything except the marvelous mystery” (Hall 313). Because the skiff was floating out in the frigid sea, they could not get it. This fatal error is the beginning of the end for the three males on the ledge, and is the event that