The dichotomy of social and individualistic tendencies is a source of conflict within all humans and throughout history. Psychologically healthy people have desires to be in the company of other people, while in other instances, they want to isolate themselves from the world and look inward. These two inclinations are kept in balance by leading a normal lifestyle without any extreme emotionally stimulation. However, when trauma is suffered in the psyche, this balance can be upset and people may find themselves looking only inward and shutting out the rest of the world completely. This self-imposed exile from humanity is something that the ancient Greeks understood and often explored in their mythology. A common trend in Greek mythology was to use a self-imposed exile as a defense mechanism and form of punishment as seen in the myths of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and Medea by Euripides.
The myth of Oedipus Rex includes self exile as a way for Oedipus to cope with the fate that he has suffered and worked his whole life to prevent. At the end of the play Oedipus Rex, Oedipus gouges out his own eyes because he realizes that he has fulfilled a prophecy told to him at the beginning the play that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He was so intent on not fulfilling this gruesome prediction that when he was told that the man who he thought was his father had died, he exclaimed:
Ha! Ha! O dear Jocasta, why should one
look to the Pythian hearth? Why should one look
to the birds screaming overhead? They prophesized
that I should kill my father! But he’s dead,
and hidden deep in the ear, and I stand here
who never laid a hand on spear against him,
unless perhaps he died of longing for me,
and thus I am his murderer. But th...
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... themselves than they had experienced and in the end, neither achieved anything except for alienation from the rest of their respective worlds.
In both Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles and Medea, by Euripides, the idea of a self-imposed exile is explored in depth. The reason for this motif is because when faced with great hardships and psychological damage like Oedipus and Medea have, the normal human response is to try to introvert and remove one’s self from the world which has caused it problems. This tendency, while a normal psychological defense mechanism, is not healthy because it violates the relationship that all people must have in their actions between individual and social stimulation. Only through attaining a balance between these two states of being can one truly attain healthy emotional stability and happiness, which neither Medea nor Oedipus can ever have.
Self-control can be defined as the ability to control oneself, in particular one’s emotions or desires, especially in difficult situations. Comparatively, self-image is the idea one has of one’s abilities, appearance or personality. Often self-image and self-control are thought of as separate entities, but in the case of the tragic play “Oedipus Rex,” Sophocles demonstrates the connection between the two through the tragic events that occur. Integrated in the plot is the growth of the character of Oedipus, for it is he whom indices the investigation to stop the current plague in his kingdom of Thebes, his personal rashness and ignorance of the past come back to haunt him. Oedipus’ incautiousness when discovering the true state of Thebes is
The ancient Greeks were fond believers of Fate. Fate, defined according to Webster’s, is “the principle or determining cause or will by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as the do.” The Greeks take on Fate was slightly modified. They believed that the gods determined Fate: “…fate, to which in a mysterious way the gods themselves were subject, was an impersonal force decreeing ultimate things only, and unconcerned with day by day affairs.” It was thought that these gods worked in subtle ways; this accounts for character flaws (called harmatia in Greek). Ancient Greeks thought the gods would alter a person’s character, in order for that person to suffer (or gain from) the appropriate outcome. Such was the case in Oedipus’s story.
Instead of running away from his troubles, he puts the element of fate into motion. As a reckless. hot-headed youth , Oedipus ends up inflicting immortal wounds on his. own father after a mere quarrel. He is obviously ignorant of the fact.
...Euripides, though writers of Ancient times, comment on a feature that is still present in the modern world. They state that individuals maintain dual identities as a result of different levels of trust and comfort in others in different settings. Our experiences have given us an initial mistrust or apprehension in others, which is why we have developed a separate public identity from our private identity. These separate identities are of benefit to us, though, as they are used to further our interests. Specifically, in The Odyssey and Medea, the two authors assert that our comfort level outside of home is very low. Home represents a natural state of existence where all thoughts, actions, and speech are intuitive. In contrast, the outside world maintains a state of chaos and uncertainty. There must be some difference in the way we address these two states.
King Oedipus was born and then abandoned by his biological parents, he was raised by foster parents, who treated him as their own son. His extreme obsession about wanting to know about himself is what brought his downfall because as he tried to escape his fate about the prophecy, the more the prophecy was fulfilled and things got worse for him. The story of Oedipus shows us clearly that we cannot run away from destiny since if the gods know about our future, there is absolutely nothing that can be done to reverse what the gods have foretold for us.
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.
He murders his father and marries his mother unknowingly. While it may seem to some that Oedipus was destined to carry out his fate, it is also true that Oedipus’ personality led him to his fate. It is clear to see that Oedipus is an impulsive and passionate man, which causes Oedipus to fulfill the prophecy that haunts him. He flees the kingdom of Corinthian in order to avoid his fate. Along his journey he comes to a crossroad that is blocked by a chariot, and “in a fit of anger” Oedipus kills the father he never knew (Meyer 1422).
Both authors show, in instances, the two protagonists of each story dependent upon and governed by others who they encounter. This creates an inadvertent or unwanted loss of identity due to the absence of home. Odysseus finds himself lost at sea while he tries to return to Ithaca. Even as he tries to return to civilian life, he is still influenced by his experiences as a soldier in the Trojan War. In this state, he causes undue harm to others he encounters through unnecessary violence that further deters him from making his homecoming.
Oedipus shows himself as being very pridefull when he leaves his adopted parents in Corinth. Oedipus leaves after he is told about his destiny from an old prophet. The prophet tells Oedipus that he will one day kill his father and marry his mother. Fearing this, Oedipus decides to leave Cornith. In doing this he is going against the gods, he is saying that he is not going to let this happen to him and he is going to control his own destiny.
When Oedipus hears that he fulfilled the prophecy, he moves from being in power to becoming an outcast (123HelpMe). “They will all come out clearly! Light of the sun, let me look upon you no more after today! I who first say the light bred of a match accursed, and accursed in my living with them I liked with, cursed in my killing” (1297-1302). Oedipus presumed that he deserved to be punished for his treacherous deed, and decided to gouged out his eyes as a symbol of opening his eyes to the truth (123HelpMe).
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 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.
Jevons, Frank B. “In Sophoclean Tragedy, Humans Create Their Own Fate.” In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997.
In fact, Oedipus is doomed to kill his father, marry his mother and finally to be blind. It was his destiny or fate; he has nothing to do with this end or to prevent it. It was his fate which was manipulating him; drive him from Cornith to kill his father and then to Thebes to marry his mother. His destiny made him "his wife's son, his mother husband." By the hands of fate, he turned to be the most hated man in Thebes and "the man whose life is hell for others and for himself."
When Oedipus realizes what his future holds he decides to avoid it at all costs. As a result, he picked up and ran away. He decided not to tell his parents he was leaving so that he could avoid hurting their feelings. When he was on his journey to Thebes there were people coming towards him and they got in an upset about who had the right of way where three roads crossed. He ended up killing all but one of the men there. This is where Sophocles proves that you can never run from your fate. Even Jocasta accounts for this happening, “That it was fate that he should die a victim at the hands of his own son, a son to be born to Laius and me. But now, he the king was killed by a foreign highway robber at the place were three roads meet-so goes the story” (1.1.791-796). The man he killed in that street was actually his dad.