Blinded By Fate In Oedipus Rex, The King By Sophocles

Blinded by Fate The self-destruction of living a lie throughout life can bring down the strongest of any men. In the play Oedipus Rex, the King written by Sophocles shares a story of a king and his empire that suffers a curse of illness and devastation. In the attempt to free his people of this curse, Oedipus reaches out to Apollo and his prophets for answers to cure his people. Apollo and his followers are all knowing. The King summoned the spiritualist and they provide more unwelcoming information than Oedipus bargained for. In trying to uncover the fact of why the people of Thebes are cursed, Oedipus reveals that he is behind the cause of the city’s misfortune. The prophet informs Oedipus that he must find the killer of the former king

The first encounter of explosive behavior takes place with Oedipus interaction with Tiresias, the prophet whom is a blind but knows all. Tiresias refuses to share the information with Oedipus about his past and Oedipus fly 's into a rage. After the words of anger take place and the truth is not yet out in the open, Oedipus says to Tiresias “you scum of the earth” (Sophocles l 381) as he continues to belittle the prophet for not sharing what he knows. Oedipus is in full rage at this point continues to lash out at Tiresias by saying, “I have such a fury in me” (Sophocles l 395) and accuses Tiresia of helping to release his anger and uncontrollable behavior. Once Tiresias comes out with the truth and shares that Oedipus is the cause of the city being in the crisis, he more or less calls the blind prophet a liar. The King continues to tell him he will not get away with telling such a ridiculous story. Oedipus is not thinking rationally in order to react effectively; he continues to talk down to the prophet and tells him that he is a fraud. After that, he continues to act out in an erratic manner accusing his associate Creon of starting a plan to have Oedipus banished. His words alluded to the claim that Creon has involvement of the prophet’s knowledge when he asked “Is this conspiracy his or yours?” (Sophocles l 431) Oedipus’s paranoia is setting in and he is

George W. Bush is one of our leaders who posses both traits of having erratic behavior and being persistent with his intentions. In 2002 when the U.S. was attacked by terrorist by taking down the twin towers and killing several Americans, Bush reacted irrationally. Bush was quick to place blame with little to no facts about who was responsible for the attack and quickly made the decision to attack Iraq. His persistence to take charge and retaliate brought a great deal of suffering to our country. Bush was more concerned with placing blame rather than remaining calm and responding rationally. This reaction leads to the greater tragedy that we continue to live through today. Our country is continually being terrorized partially due to his knee jerk reactions and stubbornness. Next, there is Bill Clinton, and his pigheadedness to tell the truth which is significant to Oedipus’s determination to find the truth. Both of these men were determined to do what was in their best interest, without a care in the world of how it would impact the lives of others. Clinton refuses to tell the truth about his involvement with Monica Lewinski because he does not want to be exposed as an adulterer. Consequently, Oedipus does not want to stop seeking the truth because he cannot deal with reality, he refuses to see things as they really are.