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Sophocles intent in oedipus the king
The characterisation of Sophocles's king Oedipus
The characterisation of Sophocles's king Oedipus
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For ages, man has sought to be in command of his life. The common debate is
whether we, as human beings, have free will or if a divine force, sometimes referred to as
fate, determines our destiny. Though the two plays, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and
Sophocles’s Oedipus were written in two different eras, these two ideas are common
between them. Although Hamlet and Oedipus both strive to be in control of their lives,
Oedipus refuses to accept his destiny and therefore unknowingly fulfills his fate.
In less than 2 months of the death of Hamlet’s father, the King of Denmark, his
mother marries the brother of the deceased King. This speedy marriage causes Hamlet a
lot of grief for he feels that he has not only lost his father and his mother but also the
throne to the brother, Claudius. Throughout the play he is shown to be an intellectual and
manipulating character. After meeting with the ghost, Hamlet decides to behave mad so
that he might have a chance to revenge his father, “As I perchance hereafter shall think
meet to put an antic disposition on…” (Shakespeare, 34). This is Hamlets way of
misleading the people around him including Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, and his friends,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern while he forms a plan to revenge his father. Further along
in the play, Hamlet confronts his mother in her bedroom and tells her his opinion of
Claudius. Gertrude says that she now truly sees what she has done, but this is not enough
for him, before he leaves he says “Good night. But go not to my uncle’s bed.” (100) thus
trying to control his mother’s actions. When Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern, visit him without any reason as to why, he ge...
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fate without truly knowing the outcome. Would he have acted differently if he knew he,
among many others, would die that day? Perhaps, but in his mind his father’s revenge
was the most important and it seemed that he would stop at nothing to get it. On the other
hand, Oedipus meant well when he left Corinth and defeated the Sphinx, but in trying to
free himself from his fate, he killed his father in his departure and in his victory over the
Sphinx won Jocasta’s hand therefore completing the prophecy. In these two plays a
persons ending is already determined, but free will decides how one gets to the
destination. Oedipus’s critical mistake was trying to go against the Gods and fate. Overall
the elements of this topic have fascinated the human mind for centuries past, just as it
will for the centuries to come.
At the outset of the drama, Hamlet’s mother is apparently disturbed by her son’s appearance in solemn black at the gathering of the court, and she requests of him:
revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end...” (210). Because he had seen first
The connection between free will and moral responsibility has been a heavily debated topic by early philosophers with many ancient thinkers trying to demonstrate that humans either do have ultimate control over our actions and are not made by external forces or that humans do not have control and that the trajectory of our lives is pre-determined. The most common argument and the one I will focus on in this essay suggests that free will can not be correlated with randomness and, therefore, all other possibilities are exhausted.
Claudius is smug at the onset of the play because he appears to have gotten away
In the play Julius Caesar, Cassius tells Brutus, "Men at some times are masters of their fate." But is this true? Can we do anything we chose or is the universe's fate fixed? The answers to these questions we may never know. But we can guess. In Antigone, Creon is faced with a decision. Should he condemn Antigone to death or should he let her get away with a crime? He feels as if he has a choice between the two. But, he doesn't. It was determined that he would put Antigone in a cave and try to get her out after contemplating it carefully. No matter what he did, he could not have defied this. He had the choice between the two, but it was determined that no matter what advice he received from Haemon and Tieresius, he would inevitably choose to put her in the cave. As Oedipus portrayed, you cannot escape fate no matter how you try.
of his father and his father before him. He came to a certain point in his life where one
While up at his mothers room Hamlet had originally planned to punish her with 'verbal daggers' for her being unfaithful , her unwillingness to listen to him so he releases his murderous impulse against her.
he know that he killed his father, who’s also his own brother. Claudius is pretty much using a
commit murder for her sake”. This shows Gertrude as a vixen and suggests that she is
In “Oedipus the King,” an infant’s fate is determined that he will kill his father and marry his mother. To prevent this heartache his parents order a servant to kill the infant. The servant takes pity on the infant and gives him to a fellow shepherd, and the shepherd gives him to a king and queen to raise as their own. The young prince learns of the prophecy and flees from his interim parents because he is afraid that he is going to succeed. The young prince eventually accomplishes his prophecy without even knowing he is doing it. 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.
All throughout the play Hamlet mourns the loss of his father, especially since his father is appearing to him as a ghostly figure telling him to avenge his death, and throughout the play it sets the stage and shows us how he is plotting to get back at the assassinator. Such an instance where the ghost appears to Hamlet is when Hamlet and his mother are in her bedchamber where the ghost will make his last appearance. Hamlet tells his mother to look where the ghost appears but she cannot see it because he is the only one who that has the ability to see him.
Ever thought about who controls the decisions you make regarding your daily activities? You may think you control every aspect of your life, but some philosophers have questioned such notions. Many schools of thought explain the analogy of free will, and they present the argument of whether we have the freedom to act or other causes and effects determine our destiny. Free will in this context is defined as the freedom to choose and act where there several alternative courses of action. Theologically, the concept of free will is presented as the power to make decisions on our own without necessarily been influenced by external or predetermined courses.
The Father precipitates his Son’s not-quite-selfless speech by musing before all the angels who might actually undertake the doubtlessly miserable task of becoming
Nature is complicated. It includes many different sorts of things and one of these is human beings. Such beings exhibit one unique yet natural attribute that others things apparently do not—that is free will.
From the very beginning, Oedipus was destined to fulfill Apollo's prophecy of killing his father. Even though King Lauis tries to kill Oedipus to stop the fulfillment of this shameful prophecy, fate drives the Corinthian messenger to save Oedipus. What the gods fortell will come true and no human can stop it from happening, not even the kings. Oedipus is once again controlled by this power when he leaves the place of his child hood after he hears that he is to kill his father and marry his mother. "I shall shrink from nothing...to find the the murderer of Laius...You are the murderer..." Oedipus tried to stop the prophecy from coming true by leaving Corinth and only fate can make Oedipus turn to the road where he kills his true father. Leaving Corinth makes Oedipus lose his childhood by making him worry of such issues young people should not have to worry about and becoming a king of a strange land. Last of all, Oedipus carries the last part of the prophecy out, marrying his mother. " I would... never have been known as my mother's husband. Oedipus has no control over the outcome of his life. Fate causes Oedipus to have known the answer to the Sphinx's riddle and win his marriage to his mother, Jocasta. Had fate not intervened, the chances of marrying Jocasta would have been small since there is an enourmous number of people and places to go. Oedipus loses his sense of dignity after he discovers he is not only a murderer, but also that he had committed incest.