Oedipus

Predetermined Destiny of Oedipus The word destiny can be a delicate topic to discuss since people have contrasting opinions about it. Some people think that everyone has the free will to create their own destiny and how we act and live our lives is how our destiny is shaped and lived. Others think that from the moment we are born, our destiny is already predetermined and nothing we do will change our story. In the play “Oedipus the King” we see how Oedipus’ destiny is a predetermined future…

Oedipus’ Tragic Flaw Why would a city elect Oedipus as their king? At the beginning of the story, the explanation was given why Oedipus had become the king of Thebes. The way Oedipus became king was by solving the riddle; additionally, saving the city from the Sphinx. As soon as he saved the city he earned the right to be the king in addition marry Jocasta. People can agree that it is plausible for Oedipus’ multiple flaws to develop from one main flaw which is his pride. Everyone in…

The Tragic Destiny of Oedipus Oedipus the king by Sophocles is a distressing play filled with transgression, grief, and tragedies. The unfortunate incidents that the tragic hero, Oedipus, goes through invoke catharsis in the readers. He has been prophesied a dreadful fortune and feels as though “...no one suffers more than [him]” (Sophocles 27).Foretold destiny cannot be derailed as fate will always interfere and insure that the prophecy is fulfilled. Moreover, every tragic hero has a tragic…

identity, he must endure some hardships before he receives the answers he seeks. Oedipus’ mission of discovering his identity includes mental turmoil and uncertainty, emotional sorrow, and physical and psychological pain upon the achievement of his self-realization. Oedipus’ first experience with suffering that contributes to his self-realization begins with his questioning of his true heritage. As a baby, Oedipus’ biological parents, Laius and Jocasta, who were the king and queen of…

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…

Sophocles’ Medea and Euripides’ Oedipus are both horribly tragic characters. They are similar characters in that they worsen their situations through pride, duty, and rage. However, they also vary drastically in terms of morality, fate, and sophistication. Sophocles’ Medea and Euripides’ Oedipus clearly define two opposing sides of Greek tragedy. First, Medea and Oedipus similarly elevate the severity of their predicaments through pride. She clearly feels that she deserved far better from Jason…

Professor Gentry Fate, Destiny and Free Will in Oedipus the King Before I analyze the play I have to first define what Fate, Destiny and Free will is. I think Fate is development of events that are outside of one’s control and those events are predetermined by the Gods or supernatural powers. On the other side Free Will is when one controls their own actions. Concepts of Fate, Free will and Destiny are common in Oedipus the King. Even though the choices Oedipus made were of his own free will, I…

the truth. The play Oedipus Rex part of Sophocles’ work of Drama shows wilful blindness and ignorance in many ways. The play tells the story of the city of Thebes and it’s king Oedipus. The city of Thebes is sickened by plague and Oedipus vows to rid the city of the disease. When he learns he must avenge the murder of Thebes previous king Laïos, he undergoes a quest to find the murderer. On his way he discovers dark secrets about himself and his past. Within Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex a sight motif…

Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex depicts a story of a young, prideful man who becomes the King of Thebes; meanwhile ignoring an inevitable prophecy of killing his birth father Laius and marrying his mother Jocasta. During the play, the author emphasizes Oedipus’s tragic flaw of being unaware of himself or his true identity. His ignorant and stubborn behavior both contribute to the irony behind the words inscribed on the temple at Delphi: “know thyself “. Oedipus does not know himself because he is…

and mankind is subject to the inexorability of the unperceivable. In Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, prophet and oracle of Apollo, Tiresias, embodies a pivotal role as both a tragic hero and instrument of inevitable calamity for central protagonist, Oedipus. Tiresias functions as a veracious construct of the inevitability of fate, through the subjection of the play’s embodiment of exaltation and grandeur, Oedipus, to utter futility, explicating the inferiority of self-perceived freewill in…