Approximately one month ago, a teenage girl was going about her day, when she abruptly received shocking news that changed her life forever. This teenager, going by the name of Alexis Manigo was told that was not her real name; rather, it was Kamiyah Mobley. She was informed that she was snatched from her biological mother’s arms in 1998, just hours after she was born, and the woman she had been calling “mom” for the past eighteen years was actually just an unrelated stranger. Out of nowhere, this girl was told the truth; the life that she had been living was a lie. Upon hearing this story, many wondered if Alexis might have questioned the differences between her and her mom, and wondered if they were even related. Similarly, Oedipus, a highly
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Many years ago, after learning his fate, Oedipus ran away from his home town of Corinth to get away from his family, rather than accepting and facing the truth of his fate; killing his father and marrying his mother. On his journey to find a new home, he fell upon a sphinx standing in front of the gates of Thebes, demanding an answer to a riddle, and cursing the city with a drought. After solving a riddle that no one could solve, the city of Thebes crowned him king. Oedipus wrongly believed that he had immense intelligence and could solve any mystery, and could not be proven wrong. In later years, a plague fell upon Thebes, and the only resolution to stop this curse was to find who killed King Laios, so Oedipus calls for a prophet, Teiresias, to get some answers. Since Oedipus deeply regards himself as a “perfect hero”, he refuses to accept the reality that Teiresias, the prophet, delivers. Teiresias hinted to Oedipus that he was the one who killed Laios, his real father, but Oedipus was in denial and refused to believe him. Oedipus accused his brother in law, Creon, of murdering Laios when he says, “Tell me in God’s name: am I a coward, a fool. A fool who could not see your slippery game? A coward, …show more content…
He believes that he is the one and only perfect hero in the city of Thebes, as he was the one who solved the sphinx’s riddle. After the blind prophet, Teiresias, was ordered to tell Oedipus the truth about who killed King Laios, Oedipus becomes curious about who he truly is. Sophocles contrasts the physically blind prophet who is open minded and clairvoyant, to the prideful Oedipus who constantly denies the truth, and is unable to understand his reality. In the end, Oedipus was forced to learn about his true self, and having no other choices to avoid the truth, he physically blinds himself. Sophocles demonstrates that it is one’s extent of flexibility that either prevents or enables them understand the truth, and one’s physical characteristics do not determine one’s degree of understanding. In the end, it is Oedipus’ flaws that shape his destiny, and his arrogance and blindness that prevent him from accepting the opportunities to understand, and eventually put him on a path towards self
Many years ago, after learning his fate, Oedipus ran away from his home town of Corinth to get away from his family, rather than accepting and facing the truth of his fate; killing his father and marrying his mother. On his journey to find a new home, he fell upon a sphinx standing in front of the gates of Thebes, demanding an answer to a riddle, and cursing the city with a drought. After solving a riddle that no one could solve, the city of Thebes crowned him king. Oedipus wrongly believed that he had immense intelligence and could solve any mystery, and could not be proven wrong. In later years, a plague fell upon Thebes, and the only resolution to stop this curse was to find who killed King Laios, so Oedipus calls for a prophet, Teiresias, to get some answers. Since Oedipus deeply regards himself as a “perfect hero”, he refuses to accept the reality that Teiresias, the prophet, delivers. Teiresias hinted to Oedipus that he was the one who killed Laios, his real father, but Oedipus was in denial and refused to believe him. Oedipus accused his brother in law, Creon, of murdering Laios when he says, “Tell me in God’s name: am I a coward, a fool. A fool who could not see your slippery game? A coward, …show more content…
He believes that he is the one and only perfect hero in the city of Thebes, as he was the one who solved the sphinx’s riddle. After the blind prophet, Teiresias, was ordered to tell Oedipus the truth about who killed King Laios, Oedipus becomes curious about who he truly is. Sophocles contrasts the physically blind prophet who is open minded and clairvoyant, to the prideful Oedipus who constantly denies the truth, and is unable to understand his reality. In the end, Oedipus was forced to learn about his true self, and having no other choices to avoid the truth, he physically blinds himself. Sophocles demonstrates that it is one’s extent of flexibility that either prevents or enables them understand the truth, and one’s physical characteristics do not determine one’s degree of understanding. In the end, it is Oedipus’ flaws that shape his destiny, and his arrogance and blindness that prevent him from accepting the opportunities to understand, and eventually put him on a path towards self