Oedipus the King

Oedipus Rex is considered to be one of the world’s greatest tragedies while also being one of the oldest. Despite being written second, it was the first part of the theban trilogy written by Sophocles. The themes in Oedipus Rex are crucial to the play’s long lasting appeal. The various symbols throughout the story help to illustrate the theme that one often encounters their fate on the path they take to avoid it. Oedipus’ scars located on his feet, along with his name, are symbols representing…

and song.Sophocles, who wrote the great tragedy of Oedipus Rex, develops his plot and character in order to convey to the audience a message about the inevitability of fate in the lives of mortals. Oedipus 's morally upstanding character and pressure from his role as king directly influences his actions and decisions, but even as he goes through the pains of avoiding his fate, Oedipus meets with…

last page of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, the quote “Therefore we must call no man happy while he waits to see his last day, not until he has passed the border of life and death without suffering pain”(Sophocles 108), embodies the moral of the tragic play. Even though Oedipus tries to take control of his free will, he only makes his fate come true. No man is happy until he is at peace, and he is only at peaces when he is dead after that man has suffered in his life. In the play, Oedipus shows the…

Oedipus has committed retribution worthy malfeasance against individuals. Oedipus, being the king of the city of Thebes, ordered Tiresias, a blind prophet, to go to Apollo, and gain knowledge of how to lift the city of “the disease from which it is suffering,” (page 18). When Tiresias returned, he was wary of telling Oedipus the knowledge he had gained. This caused Oedipus to lose his temper and respond to Tiresias by saying “I think that you helped to plan the murder of Laius―yes, and short of…

When I first read the play Oedipus Rex, I was shocked by some of the things I read about Oedipus. I’ve always heard your innocent until proven guilty. But, Oedipus killed his father Laius, which was the former king and married his mother (Sophocles). He acted like he doesn’t know who his father was. I believe Oedipus is responsible for the death of his father. I think he knows exactly what he did, but tries to seem that he doesn’t. This kind of behavior would not be accepted in a…

after it? Despite the fact that “Oedipus The King” written by Sophocles, Ancient Greece, and “Venus and Adonis” written by Ovid, Greek mythology are two different stories, with two different individuals, Oedipus and Venus, are both driven by their desire and desperation to get what they want. Often, characters in literature show off the relationship between power and personality and this is exactly what stands out in these two plays. In both texts “Oedipus The King” and “Venus and Adonis”, we…

Oedipus’ pride affects his decision making. He is a prideful individual and wants to solve the murder, making him easily angered. Any accusations made towards him ends in impulsive decisions and threats. Threatening Creon, Oedipus gives an ultimatum that if Creon is proved of treason that he will, “Certainly, kill you, not banish,” him, (Oedipus Rex. I. 725). In this scene, Oedipus’ anger over throws his rational decisions, if they were even…

destiny that cannot be escaped. The play, Oedipus is dealing with a protagonist who tries to overcome his destiny but falls back to his life. Is destiny really hard to avoid? Oedipus believes and accepts the destiny the prophet told him and tried to obey, but he leaned towards being prideful by eventually gaining more power and controlling the land of Thebes. Oedipus’ life has fall into a swamp and the effort of escaping will make him sink deeper. Oedipus is hubris because he was not careful…

which the protagonist commits errors that leads them to an unfortunate end. The story of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles resembles an Aristotelian tragic hero. The character represented by Oedipus shows the flaws that lead him to misfortune. It is not something to rely on a higher power for, but a responsibility this “tragic hero” has no choice but to persevere through hardship and endure the tragedy of his life. Oedipus was a proud, confident man and one could see he was utterly arrogant from the…

One cannot understand the dilemma that Oedipus is stuck in in the classical Greek play Oedipus Rex. Being stuck between his own interests and the interests of his polis, emphasized by his position as King of Thebes, causes a tragic realization and emphasis on the many values of the people of his time and culture. The biggest issue Oedipus is faced with is his importance to his polis. With the polis being an essential part of Greek identity, Oedipus holds the issue of the ensuing plague as a high…