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.…
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.…
Oedipus — Despite mother being the parent who primarily gratifies the child’s desires, the child begins forming a discrete sexual identity — “boy”, “girl” — that alters the dynamics of the parent and child relationship; the parents become the focus of infantile libidinal energy. The boy focuses his libido (sexual desire) upon his mother, and focuses jealousy and emotional rivalry against his father — because it is he who sleeps with the mother. To facilitate uniting him with the mother, the boy’s id wants to kill his father (as did Oedipus), but the ego, pragmatically based upon the reality principle, knows that his father is the stronger of the two males competing to psychosexually possess the one female. Nonetheless, the fearful boy remains…
Throughout the play, the reader will discern Oedipus is not a pleasant person seeing that he assassinated his own father also married his mother. The description of Oedipus E.R. Dodds gives in “Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex” is what any reader can concur with. He calls him an “incestuous parricide” for the way he treated Creon (Dodds 19). People may not agree that he is a careless person for doing such cruel activities because he was not aware that Laius was his father or that Jocasta was his mother.…
What if your parents put you to the dead? How would you feel? Abandoned, Lonely..? When Oedipus was born, the oracle of Delphi had prophecy that he would kill his father, king Laius and marry his mother, Jocasta. To prevent this, king Laius and Jocasta gave his baby to the shepherd to leave on mountain to die.…
Prompt #1 Hamartia Richard C. Armitage once said “I have a bit of pride, which is always my downfall.” Throughout history there have been many examples of leaders that had a flaw such as pride which lead to his/her downfall. For example, Napoleon Bonaparte, the emperor of France, was too arrogant as he overestimated his military power. Bonaparte’s dissatisfaction with the size of his empire caused him to fight for more land resulting in the downfall of himself and his nation. The Greek word Hamartia, a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of someone, applies to many historic leaders as well as Oedipus.…
If one fact were to be stated as an absolute truth, it would be that man is mortal. Man is born, man lives and man dies. Man also makes mistakes, man is not perfect, and man is flawed. In Sophocles’ play, King Oedipus, the titular character of the same name is a man who possesses many flaws and unfortunately suffers from these flaws. It is Oedipus’ pride, impetuous behaviour and lack of insight that ultimately determine his inevitable fate.…
A mystery in the traditional sense is a novel, play, or movie that deals with a puzzling crime. Although the play Oedipus Rex does not fall under this genre, it confronts the murder of the King Laios in which the transgressor is unknown. Throughout the play, Oedipus and his advisers seek to solve this enigma, which leads to a new discovery about King Oedipus’ past. The play introduces dramatic irony to the story which allows the reader to have insight on what is unknown.…
Also it needs to be taken into consideration, the environmental factors that surrounds this story which is that she did not raise him so they never psychologically played the role of mother and son which holds a major component in one's psyche. Biologically the are considered mother and son but environmentally they are unfamilar with one another in that fashion. Adding insult to injury, Oedipus in his rage and…
Prior to the plays setting “Oedipus goes to Delphi where he asks the oracle who his true parents are. To this the god responds that he will kill his father and marry his mother.” (Hogan P. 19) Determined not to allow the prophecy to come true Oedipus runs away from his home in Corinth. During Oedipus’ travel, he encounters a small group of men “where three roads meet”. Oedipus first displays his arrogance by not peacefully resolving the confrontation he encountered, knowing that the prophet prophesied Oedipus killing his own father.…
Blinded by Arrogance? Or Blinded by a Pin? Hubris, is the greek word referring to excessive pride or self confidence. Hubris is often considered to be ones “fatal flaw; meaning the characteristic that eventually leads to one 's downfall or death.…
Oedipus the King written by Sophocles is one of the best known tragic plays to date. It executes fear, pity, shame, and humiliation. It makes it hard for the reader to consider him as a hero. When one thinks about the word tragic you think of something negative, evil, outcome very dim, something completely out of control. There are five characteristics of a tragic hero.…
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.…
Having too much knowledge can destroy, more than it can benefit. The truth can bring light into our life as well darkness. It may haunt us in the future and nothing is recoverable. In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, a Greek tragedy, Oedipus becomes king after saving the city from the Sphinx but, Thebes was contaminated by a dreadful plague; a plague caused by Oedipus himself. The son of the King from Cornith, was honored and applauded by various people of Thebes for his fearless action.…
The anagnorisis of “Oedipus the king” is when Oedipus, Jocasta, and all the other character in the story find out that Oedipus actually did murder Laius his own father and Jocasta is really his mother as also his wife. Oedipus discovers that the child of King Laius and Queen Jocasta was sent given away to a shepherd to die as a child. Oedipus goes on to get some testimonies to make absolutely sure, even though it is obvious that he was Laius’s killer. He brings Tiresias to confront him to tell him the truth. “I say you are the murderer you hunt” (412) Tiresias tells Oedipus stating that he killed his own father Oedipus being ignorant he doesn’t believe Tiresias.…