Pride, one of the most deeply engraved emotion in human society. In Oedipus the King by Sophocles we go on an adventure with Oedipus to find and solve the mysteries of Thebes and his past. Oedipus is the king of Thebes, he loves and cares for his city and his people, but unfortunately his pride, his darkness overpowers his mind and leads him to ruin. Oedipus runs away from his fate for the entirety of the story but as he thought he has escaped his fate his pride, his darkness’s control, guides him towards his inevitable fate. Oedipus is a man filled with character flaws although he had some good qualities as a king, his character flaws greatly outweighs what little positive qualities he has because his naiveté and lack of common sense which
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Oedipus throughout the story, whether forcefully or not is willing to use anything to get to the truth of the murderer of King Laius as the murderer is the cause of the plague, but as soon as Tiresias reveals that he is the murderer Oedipus outright denies the accusation and calls Tiresias as a fraud, "Come here, you pious fraud. Tell me, when did you ever prove yourself a prophet? When the Sphinx, that chanting Fury kept her death-watch here, why silent then, not a word to set our people free? There was a riddle, not for some passer-by to solve-it cried out for a prophet. Where were you? Did you rise to the crisis? Not a word, you and your birds, your gods-nothing. No, but I came by, Oedipus the ignorant, I stopped the Sphinx! With no help from the birds, the flight of my own intelligence hit the mark.” (443) Oedipus’s supreme pride throughout the play blinds him from the truth, he only hears what he wants to hear from the people he questions. Oedipus questions Tiresias on the murderer of King Laius, Tiresias in the beginning didn’t want to tell Oedipus as he knew it would only cause to upset him, but Oedipus is not willing to let anyone say no to him and eventually forced him to answer. When Tiresias reveals that Oedipus was the murderer of King Laius, Oedipus was baffled with such an accusation he couldn’t fathom how anyone can accuse him of anything since he believes he is the great savior of …show more content…
Jocasta who has realized the truth of Oedipus’s history begs Oedipus to give up on his search as it would only serve to hurt him but Oedipus couldn’t help himself, “What-give up now, talk, with a clue like this? Fail to solve the mystery of my birth? Not for all the world!” (1160) Oedipus doesn’t want to give up even though his wife, one of the few that he trusts and loves the most begs him to stop, he just couldn’t control his lust for information. Oedipus’s stubbornness essentially leads to his wife committing suicide because she couldn’t bear to see the pain and suffering that Oedipus and her family are about to face. Oedipus even goes as far as to torture an old shepherd just to get his information, “So, you won’t talk willingly-then you’ll talk with pain.”(1265) Oedipus is so fixated on finding out the truth, in order to fully feed his curiosity he is willingly torturing a person just to feed his curiosity. Oedipus in the beginning was portrayed as the king that loves and would be willing to do anything for his citizens, but this shows how he stopped caring and just craved information. Oedipus’s lack of self control with his emotions led to his inevitable
Oedipus throughout the story, whether forcefully or not is willing to use anything to get to the truth of the murderer of King Laius as the murderer is the cause of the plague, but as soon as Tiresias reveals that he is the murderer Oedipus outright denies the accusation and calls Tiresias as a fraud, "Come here, you pious fraud. Tell me, when did you ever prove yourself a prophet? When the Sphinx, that chanting Fury kept her death-watch here, why silent then, not a word to set our people free? There was a riddle, not for some passer-by to solve-it cried out for a prophet. Where were you? Did you rise to the crisis? Not a word, you and your birds, your gods-nothing. No, but I came by, Oedipus the ignorant, I stopped the Sphinx! With no help from the birds, the flight of my own intelligence hit the mark.” (443) Oedipus’s supreme pride throughout the play blinds him from the truth, he only hears what he wants to hear from the people he questions. Oedipus questions Tiresias on the murderer of King Laius, Tiresias in the beginning didn’t want to tell Oedipus as he knew it would only cause to upset him, but Oedipus is not willing to let anyone say no to him and eventually forced him to answer. When Tiresias reveals that Oedipus was the murderer of King Laius, Oedipus was baffled with such an accusation he couldn’t fathom how anyone can accuse him of anything since he believes he is the great savior of …show more content…
Jocasta who has realized the truth of Oedipus’s history begs Oedipus to give up on his search as it would only serve to hurt him but Oedipus couldn’t help himself, “What-give up now, talk, with a clue like this? Fail to solve the mystery of my birth? Not for all the world!” (1160) Oedipus doesn’t want to give up even though his wife, one of the few that he trusts and loves the most begs him to stop, he just couldn’t control his lust for information. Oedipus’s stubbornness essentially leads to his wife committing suicide because she couldn’t bear to see the pain and suffering that Oedipus and her family are about to face. Oedipus even goes as far as to torture an old shepherd just to get his information, “So, you won’t talk willingly-then you’ll talk with pain.”(1265) Oedipus is so fixated on finding out the truth, in order to fully feed his curiosity he is willingly torturing a person just to feed his curiosity. Oedipus in the beginning was portrayed as the king that loves and would be willing to do anything for his citizens, but this shows how he stopped caring and just craved information. Oedipus’s lack of self control with his emotions led to his inevitable