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Oedipus the king character analysis
Oedipus the king character analysis
Oedipus the king character analysis
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Oedipus was not even born yet when he was given his prophecy. This prophecy resulted in him being left to die as a baby. However, Oedipus survived and grew up to save an entire city of people. He then became their leader, and tried to do everything he could to keep them safe and happy. Oedipus had his flaws, but overall he was a good person. There is no possible way that Oedipus’ prophecy could have been avoided. So for these reasons, Oedipus was a victim of prophecy. Oedipus was only a couple of days old when his parents left him to die. While his mother, Jocasta, was still pregnant with him, she was given her unborn son’s prophecy: “He shall be proved father and brother both to his own children in his house; to her that gave him birth, a son and husband both; a fellow sower in his father’s bed …show more content…
The belief of many people in Oedipus’ time was that fate and prophecy are completely unavoidable. Some people in the story of Oedipus, like Jocasta and King Laius, clearly believed that fate could be avoided. By leaving their newborn child to die, they thought they were finding a loophole through his prophecy. However, this proved to be false when Oedipus survived and ended up unintentionally fulfilling his prophecy. “And it is I, I and no other have so cursed myself. And I pollute the bed of him I killed by the hands that killed him.” (p. 497). Here Oedipus admitted to the fact that he killed many men in the woods one day before becoming the leader of Thebes. He also admitted to the fact that, after hearing Jocasta’s story of how King Laius died, he was probably the one who murdered him. Oedipus was clearly very upset by this. He was aware of his prophecy at the time, but he had no knowledge of who King Laius was, or that he was his biological father. There was no possible way he could have avoided what happened in the woods. It was fate, and fate can never be
Many times in life, people think they can determine their own destiny, but, as the Greeks believe, people cannot change fate the gods set. Though people cannot change their fate, they can take responsibility for what fate has brought them. In the story Oedipus, by Sophocles, a young king named Oedipus discovers his dreadful fate. With this fate, he must take responsibility and accept the harsh realities of what’s to come. Oedipus is a very hubris character with good intentions, but because he is too confident, he suffers. In the story, the city of Thebes is in great turmoil due to the death of the previous king, Laius. With the thought of helping his people, Oedipus opens an investigation of King Laius’s murder, and to solve the mystery, he seeks advice from Tiresias, a blind prophet. When Laius comes, Oedipus insists on having the oracle told to all of Thebes showing no sign of hesitation or caution. This oracle states that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus must learn to deal with his terrible and appalling fate the way a true and honorable king would. Because...
was indeed his own, true father, Laius, that he has killed at the crossroads at
During Iocaste’s conversations with Oedipus we learn about how she believes that prophecies do not always come true and uses the example. “An oracle for Apollo said My child was doomed to kill him and my child/Poor Baby! It was my first child who died”(Sophocles 45) This brings into question if the fate that happened to Oedipus was
In the story, “Oedipus the King” before Oedipus became king of Thebes, he made choices that led to events that defined his fate. The first event emerged when Oedipus heard a drunken man saying that the ones who cared for Oedipus at Corinth were not his biological parents. The terrible news is what set forth the very first steps towards the beginning of the events that led to his fate. Oedipus confused and interested in the truth, went on to speak with God. However, the God did not answer what Oedipus questioned and instead had his fate foretold. “The god dismissed my question without reply; he spoke of other things. Some were clear, full of wretchedness, dreadful, unbearable: As, that I should lie with my own mother, breed children from all men would turn their eyes; and that I should be my father’s murderer,” (Gioia, 2010). Oedipus still unfamiliar, of who his parents were, chose to flee from home in attempt to prevent the God’s statement of his fate from coming true. Oedipus’ choice of fleeing the country was perhaps a bad decision. It was what led him to experience the first event of his fate. As Oedipus goes his...
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.
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.
Oedipus’ doom was already predetermined by an Oracle at Delphi before the moment of his birth; thus, despite what choices the people who played a part in his fate made, it became one step closer in bringing about his doom. The prophecy was first given to his parents, Jocasta and Laius, saying that their son was fated to kill his father and marry his mother. This, of course, struck fear into the hearts of Jocasta and Laius. As a result to escape this fate, they had decided to order a henchman to leave the baby on a mountainside with his legs bounded so that he would die of exposure. They believed that their actions of doing so would increase the prophecy not being fulfilled; however, the parents were oblivious at the fact whether or not the baby died or lived. With pity, the henchman instead took the baby to the city of Corinth to be raised under the throne of Polybus and Merope, whom Oedipus grew up thinking he was a legitimate child of. The actions of Laius and Jocasta played the major role in the development of fulfilling the fate prophesied. Laius and Jocasta believed the Oracle, but they had also believed they could control their fate. S...
Oedipus was born with a terrible Prophecy. From the start it was foreseen that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. His parents, Laius
Since Oedipus had no knowledge of his birth parents, he cannot be accused of knowingly fulfilling the prophecy. He had no understanding of Laius as his birth father upon killing him. One might say that Oedipus is then guilty of murder regardless, but if he had killed in self defense, that cannot be true. Likewise, if Oedipus had no understanding of Jocasta as his birth mother, then he cannot be guilty of incest. Neither can he be guilty of defiling Laius’s marriage bed, as he did not know that Jocasta was the wife of the man he had murdered.
To destroy Oedipus, the gods granted the power of prophecy to oracles that delivered these prophecies to Laius and Jocasta. As a result, they kill their child to get rid of him and his terrible prophecies. Unfortunately, these prophecies came true because Oedipus didn’t know his real parents. If he had known his real parents, he wouldn’t have killed his father and married his mother.
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.
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."
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.
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.
Throughout the play, Oedipus tries to change his fate. When he confirms through two messengers and an oracle that he is destined to marry his mother and kill his father, he completely panics. He knows that is something he definitely wants to avoid, so he decided he would attempt to change his fate. But at that time, he did not realize that your fate is your fate and it will not change.