Oedipus Rex is a Greek play written by Sophocles. The play is set in Thebes; Thebes is infected with a plague that is killing its crops and unborn children. This plague is caused by the prophecy. The prophecy states that Oedipus would kill his father and wed his mother. Laius threw out Oedipus when he was a baby to avoid this fate, but he failed because Oedipus was not killed. Oedipus was raised as a prince in Corinth. One day he was told the prophecy and feared that he would kill his father Polybus. While running away from Corinth to escape the prophecy, Oedipus killed Laius. When Oedipus arrived in Thebes, he freed the people from the sphinx. He was named king and married Jocasta. Towards the end of the play, Oedipus finds out that he had fulfilled the prophecy and is exiled from Thebes. The play Oedipus Rex highlights …show more content…
“Honor is the value of a person in his or her own eyes. Honor is a claim to worth along with social acknowledgement of worth.” (Malina 31) This phrase tells us that honor was extremely important to the ancient people. Honor is a value that was present during many occasions in the play. This value can be seen in Oedipus. He promised the citizens of Thebes that he would find the murderer of Laius and free the lands from the plague. The murderer was to be exiled from Thebes. Oedipus later found out that he himself was the murderer. Even though he was king, he honored the punishment and exiled himself from Thebes. The New Testament states that honor in women meant positive shame. Positive shame is the sensitivity of one 's own reputation. A shameless person is considered a dishonorable woman. Women have to be ashamed and remain shy to avoid human contacts that might expose her to dishonor. (Malina 50) This value can be seen in Jocasta. She feels ashamed when she finds out that her husband Oedipus turned out to be her son. In order to remain honorable, her shame led her to commit
In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is told that he will marry his mother and murder his father. He is told by the Delphic oracle this information but he wants to change his fate so he banishes himself from what he believes is place of birth. As he is wondering, he stumbles across a caravan. After some arguing, due to his hubris, he kills all the men in the caravan. One of the men in the caravan turned out to be his father, King Laios. Oedipus at the time did not know this. He then entered the city of Thebes and broke the plague of the sphinx by solving its riddle. Because of this he was awarded the recently widowed Queen Iocaste, who is actually his mother. He married Iocaste and had children with her.
The play's plot, in a nutshell, develops like this. After solving the riddle of the Sphynx, who had kept Thebes under a curse of some kind, Oedipus is invited to become king of the city. He marries Jocasta, the widow of the previous king, and they have two children. When the play begins, Thebes is again under some sort of curse, and Oedipus tries to find out its cause so that he can rescue the city. He is told that the cause of the curse is that the murderer of the previous king is still in the city and has gone unpunished. In the process of searching for the murderer, Oedipus discovers that it is he, himself, who is responsible and that he is actually the son of Jocasta and her previous husband. Horrified by his sins of incest and murder, Oedipus claws out his eyes. Jocasta commits suicide because she is so disgraced.
Oedipus was born in Corinth and later moved to Thebes. He killed his father and married his mother. He was king of Thebes. The name Oedipus stands for swollen foot which came from his own swollen foot. Oedipus and his mother , Jocasta, had four kids: Eteocles, Polyneices, Antigone, and Ismene. On his way to Thebes with the second shepherd to gain his possession, he came across his father, Laius. Laius was on his way to the Oracle, Oedipus and the chariot driver started arguing about who had the right of way. The fight ended with Oedipus killing the chariot driver and his father. When Oedipus got to Thebes he was honored and crowned king by Creon and his uncle. He came acrossed the Sphinx which asks everyone the same question and no
Sophocles wrote the play, Oedipus the King. Oedipus the King was written around 420 BC, has been noted as the most powerful expression of Greek tragic drama (Hyesso). Oedipus, who was a stranger to Thebes, became king of the city after the murder of the city’s king, Laius, about fifteen or sixteen years before the start of the play. He was offered the throne because he was successful in saving the city from the Sphinx, an event referred to repeatedly in the text of the play. He did so by solving a riddle in which killed the Sphinx. He married Laius’ widow, Jocasta, and had four children with her. When Oedipus was born, there was a prophecy that said Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. In order to prevent this, his parents pierced and bind Oedipus’s ankles and abandoned him in the mountain. They believe that Oedipus’s fate was in the God’s hands. When Oedipus grew up, he heard about this prophecy, and decided to flea town in order to avoid the possible outcome. What he did not know was that the parents who raised him, had ...
the play, Oedipus is faced with the truth and fails to acknowledge it. He is first told by the drunk at the party, but he dismisses it as just something said by an ignorant drunk. He then visits the oracle and is told his fate determined by the gods and believes he can escape it by fleeing to Thebes. On his way, he carries out the first part of the fate by killing his father. He then makes it to Thebes and marries Jocasta, unknowingly fulfilling the fate.
Born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta in the city of Thebes, Oedipus is surrounded with controversy after a prophecy shows that Oedipus will be destined to murder his father and marry his mother. Fearing the potential consequences of the prophecy, Oedipus’ parents made the decision to abandon their baby at the top of a mountain to die using one of their servants. The servant’s consciousness, however, causes him to instead deliver the baby to a shepherd, who in turn sends him to King Polybius and Queen Merope of the kingdom Corinth. After raising the child as their own, Oedipus becomes suspicious that these weren’t his biological parents and leaves Corinth upon hearing the prophecy by the oracle Delphi. As he unknowingly travels to his birth city, Thebes, Oedipus murdered a man along with his servants after a dispute between them. Before entering Thebes, Oedipus is confronted by the guardian of the city’s Gates, the Sphinx who presents him with a riddle. If he solves the riddle, he will be able to pass. If he doesn’t, he’ll die. Oedipus’s superior intelligence and cleverness allows him to easily solve the riddle, however unbeknownst to him will be a foreshadowing of his tragic downfall. The citizens of Thebes praise Oedipus and Queen Jocasta offers to marry him since her husband was mysteriously murdered. Upon marry Jocasta and becoming the King of Thebes, a powerful plague decimates the citizens of
Oedipus Rex, also known as Oedipus the King, is one of the most ironic plays ever written. Sophocles, the author, is a famous philosopher of the ancient times. The Play is about Oedipus, the king of Thebes, who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother. An oracle warned Laius, the king of Thebes prior to Oedipus, that his son would slay him. Accordingly, when his wife, Jocasta, bore a son, he exposed the baby on Mt. Cithaeron, first pinning his ankles together (hence the name Oedipus, meaning Swell-Foot). A shepherd took pity on the infant, who was adopted by King Polybus of Corinth and his wife and was brought up as their son. In early manhood Oedipus visited Delphi and upon learning that he was fated to kill his father and marry his mother, he resolved never to return to Corinth. Travelling toward Thebes, he encountered Laius, who provoked a quarrel in which Oedipus killed him.
Greek politician and playwright, Sophocles, in his play, Oedipus the King, depicts a series of chronological events of the consequences of Oedipus’ downfall caused by his excessive pride. Sophocles’ purpose is to instruct readers that too much pride can dismally lead to unfortunate events. Sophocles illustrates an effective tone in order to inform the readers of the negative outcomes of stubbornness and denial.
The play "Oedipus Rex" is a very full and lively one to say the least. Everything a reader could ask for is included in this play. There is excitement, suspense, happiness, sorrow, and much more. Truth is the main theme of the play. Oedipus cannot accept the truth as it comes to him or even where it comes from. He is blinded in his own life, trying to ignore the truth of his life. Oedipus will find out that truth is rock solid. The story is mainly about a young man named Oedipus who is trying to find out more knowledge than he can handle. The story starts off by telling us that Oedipus has seen his moira, his fate, and finds out that in the future he will end up killing his father and marrying his mother. Thinking that his mother and father were Polybos and Merope, the only parents he knew, he ran away from home and went far away so he could change his fate and not end up harming his family. Oedipus will later find out that he cannot change fate because he has no control over it, only the God's can control what happens. Oedipus is a very healthy person with a strong willed mind who will never give up until he gets what he wants. Unfortunately, in this story these will not be good trait to have.
Oedipus Rex (the King), written by Sophocles, is the tragic play depicting the disastrous existence to which Oedipus, an Athenian, is 'fated' to endure. With a little help from the gods and the 'fated' actions and decisions of Oedipus, an almost unthinkable misfortune unfolds. Athenian perfection can consist of intelligence, self-confidence, and a strong will. Oedipus, the embodiment of such perfection, and his tragedy are common place to Athenians. Ironically, the very same exact characteristics that bring about the ominous discovery of Oedipus' fate: to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus' 'fated' decisions entangle everyone whom is of any significance to him within a quagmire of spiraling tragedy. Sophocles uses the riddle of the Sphinx as a metaphor for the three phases of Oedipus' entangled life, the three phases of human life, and to describe how every life-changing action or decision can influence other lives.
In attempting to leave Corinth and prevent the prophecy to the best of his abilities Oedipus alleviates some of the guilt that he could carry. Oedipus’s true defense is his ignorance in not knowing that “Polybus was no kin. . .in blood” (1016), believing that he was doing the right thing to prevent the prophecy and leave Corinth, he hurt himself and unfortunately put into motion the elements needed for the prophecy to come true. One may also be tempted to blame Jocasta for her role in the prophecy coming true, however that is also unfair. Firstly it is important to remember that women had little to no power in ancient Greece, even if they were queens. It is a fair assumption to make that Jocasta had no choice in the matter of marrying Oedipus when he came to Thebes, he was the new king so she would marry him to maintain her power. In considering Jocasta’s innocence it is also important to remember that she did try to kill Oedipus as a baby, which, while morally is a grey zone, shows that she should not be held solely responsible for the prophecy coming true. Jocasta’s innocence could be
Oedipus is the main character in the play Oedipus the King. Oedipus is thought of as a tragic figure because he was doomed from birth. Tiresias, an old blind prophet, told Oedipus' parents about Oedipus' fate. He told them that Oedipus would kill his father and sleep with his mother. So, his parents decided to have him killed, only it did not happen that way. He was passed off by two shepherds and finally to the King and Queen of Corinth, Polybus and Merope to raise him as their own. Oedipus finds his way back to Thebes and on the way kills his father, but Oedipus did not know that one of the men he killed was his real father. This is the beginning of the prophecy coming true. In short Oedipus obtains the throne, Marries his mother and has kids with her. Oedipus' fate has come together without him even realizing what is going on. Eventually he is told what has happened and asks to be banished by his uncle/brother-in-law Creon. The tragedy in Oedipus' life began with his birth and the realization by his parents that his whole life was doomed.
The plot of the play revolves around Oedipus during his young age; when he was young he is shown to have raped a girl who then committed suicide due to the shame. In this case, he is shown to have attracted a curse since at young age; he was blinded to sacred laws of hospitality. The king Lauis and Queen of Thebes decides to kill the infant Oedipus; but the person sent to kill hesitates to do so. Other than killing him, the servant sent takes him to the mountain to die out of exposure (Brown 254). Instead of dying out of exposure, he is rescued by a shepherd who takes him to Corinth and he is raised as a childless king. Having the knowledge of the fact that he is not the biol...
In the play Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, two themes appear; one that humans have little control of their lives because fate always catches up with them and the theme that when someone makes a mistake, they will have to pay for it.
Oedipus was a victime of fate, his futur was foretold by an Oracle, he had no way of knowing that his wife was his mother nor that the stranger he killed was his father. Oedipus could not prevent his own downfall. Oedipus was the king of Thebes, he became king when he cured the city of a deadly plague. He cured the plague by solving the riddle of the mythical creature, the Sphinkx. Now the city is suffering from another plague and as king Oedipus must solve the riddle of this one.