In the drama Oedipus by Sophocles, the determination of the main character leads him to recognize his whole life has been nothing but a lie. Although Oedipus is concerned for the well being of his city, he can’t help but also be concerned for his reputation and how the city of Thebes will look at him. Ultimately, the way Oedipus reacts to events in the play leads to his downfall. Sophocles uses the play to argue that when an individual is too prideful and quick to anger, it can result in ignorance and eventually, as the individual learns of their ignorance they will experience pain and self-destruct.
The determination of Oedipus causes him to be blind to the truth which will later result in the ruining of his reputation. Oedipus shows to be determined to find the killer of Laius when he states. “I will fight for him as if he were my father, stop at nothing, search the world to lay my hands on the man who sheds his blood” (300-3). In the beginning of the play Oedipus makes finding the killer of Laius a very important task, so he can help bring the glory back to
…show more content…
Oedipus shows to be too quick to anger when he responds to Tiresias saying, “I have such fury in me..you did the killing single handed”(393,397). For Oedipus to accuse the prophet of Apollo with such a dishonorable act, makes it clear he is not in the right state of mind. This seems to be the time when Oedipus starts to self-destruct. After hearing what was said about Tiresias, Oedipus is very quick to accuse Creon of setting him up. Oedipus says to Creon, “You plotting to kill me, kill the king/I see it all, the marauding thief himself/scheming to steal my crown and power” (596-98). This shows Oedipus is blind and ignorant because he accuses someone, that someone being his brother of trying to kill him so he can take the crown and power from Oedipus. The words of Tiresias clouds the judgement of
Undoubtedly there has been a tremendous amount of speculation and dissection of this play by countless people throughout the ages. I can only draw my own conclusions as to what Sophocles intended the meaning of his play to be. The drama included a number of horrific and unthinkable moral and ethical dilemas, but I believe that was what made the play so interesting and that is exactly the way Sophocles intended it to be. The play was obviously meant to entertain and portray the author’s own insight. The underlying theme to the play is that no man should know his own destiny, it will become his undoing. This knowledge of things to come was presented to both Laius and Oedipus in the form of prophecies well in advance of it coming to be. The prophecies told of things that were so morally disturbing that they both aggressively did everything in their power to try and stop them from coming true. The story begins with Oedipus at the height of power as King of Thebes. His kingdom has encountered rough times and he has sent his nobleman Creon to seek help from the god Apollo to restore his land. Creon tells Oedipus that he must find the murderer of the previous King Laius and by finding this man and banishing him, his land will be restored. The murder occurred some time ago and King Oedipus sends for the seer Theiresias with his powers of prophecy to aid in the search for the murderer. Sophocles cleverly projects his feelings on wisdom and knowledge through Teirsias when he says “Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man that’s wise!”(23) Teirsias knows that this terrible prophecy has already been set into motion and the damage has already been done. There is really no point in telling it to Oedipus because it will only cause more harm than good. Oedipus provokes Teirsias into telling him the prophecy, “ Í tell you, king, this man, this murderer-he is here. In name he is a stranger among citizens but soon he will be shown to be a citizen true native Theban, and he’ll have no joy of the discovery: blindness for sight and beggary for riches his exchange, he shall go journeying to a foreign country tapping his way befor him with a stick.
The first of Oedipus’ fatal traits is naiveté, a flaw which causes him to unknowingly weave his own inescapable web of complications. While searching for the murderer of Laius, Creon recommends that Oedipus ask the blind prophet, Teiresias, for his thoughts. Teiresias and Oedipus begin an argument after the prophet accuses Oedipus as the murderer, and Oedipus retaliates by calling the blind man a fool. Teiresias responds with “A fool? Your parents thought me sane enough.” To which Oedipus then replies “My parents again!- Wait: who were my parents” (Sophocles, Oedipus Rex. 1.1. 423-424)? Oedipus’ naiveté regarding his parents plays a big part in his downfall because he does not know that Laius and Jocasta were his real parents. If he knows this at the time, then Oedipus could realize Teiresias is correct, and that he truly is the murderer. Another proof of Oedipus’ naiveté occurred in the second scene of part one when Oedipus returns after his talk with Teiresias and believes Creon is an enemy. He speaks towards Creon saying “You speak well: there is one fact; but I find it hard/ To learn from the deadliest enemy I have” (Sophocles, Oedipus Rex. 1.2. 5...
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
Aristotle defined a tragic story as the adventure of a good man who reaches his ultimate downfall because he pushed his greatest quality too far. Sophocles advocates the definition in the tragic play Oedipus Rex. He develops the play with the great polarities of fame and shame, sight and blindness, and ignorance and insight to show Oedipus’ experiences in search for knowledge about his identity. Through his search, Oedipus pushes his quest for truth too far and ultimately reaches his doom. Oedipus’ reliance on his intellect is his greatest strength and ultimate downfall.
Oedipus is the son of the king and queen of Thebes. A prophet tells the king and queen that his son will kill him. This causes the king and queen to become worried of the possibilities so they decide to kill their son in order to prevent the predictions of the prophet from becoming true. However, Oedipus did not die and instead was rescued and eventually adopted. As time progresses Oedipus is told that he will kill his father and this frightens Oedipus so he decides to get as far as possible from his parents. During Oedipus’s journey he stumbles upon his biological father and he was unable to control his anger so he killed his father. As time goes on he eventually marries the queen of Thebes also known as his mom. He found out that her husband was killed a long time ago so Oedipus decided to investigate. A prophet tells Oedipus that he was the one that killed the king who was his father. Oedipus is angered and is told to stop trying to solve the mystery. Oedipus eventually discovers that what the prophet told him was true and is angered. He eventually meets his end. In this case Oedipus’s biggest flaw is his anger. His anger eventually causes him to face defeat. “Who would not feel his temper rise at words like these with which you shame our city” (Sophocles 1572). The quote comes directly from a conversation he was having with the prophet that told him he was
Oedipus the King conveys many lessons that are relevant to people living today despite the fact that it was written by Sophocles twenty four centuries ago. Oedipus is a child destined to kill his father and marry his mother. During his life, he makes many mistakes trying to avoid his fate. These mistakes teach us about the nature of humans under certain circumstances. Oedipus possesses personality traits which causes him to make wrong decisions. Attributes like arrogance and his inability to make calm decisions in certain scenarios due to his anger causes his downfall. Oedipus’ excessive pride, like many people today, was an important factor that brought him grief. Oedipus’ lack of patience caused him to make hasty decisions which lead him to his greatest agony. Oedipus’ massive ego turned into excessive vanity, this was the first step to his downfall. Oedipus talks to Creon about the murderer of Laius. He declares, “Then I’ll go back and drag that shadowed past to light… but by myself and for myself I’ll break this plague” (Sophocles, 11). Oedipus is saying that he will be the on...
Oedipus Rex”, by Socrates, is a play that shows the fault of men and the ultimate power of the gods. Throughout the play, the main character, Oedipus, continually failed to recognize the fault in human condition, and these failures let to his ultimate demise. Oedipus failed to realize that he, himself was the true answer to the riddle of the Sphinx. Oedipus ignored the truth told to him by the oracles and the drunk at the party, also. These attempts to get around his fate which was determined by the gods was his biggest mistake. Oedipus was filled with hubris and this angered the gods. He believed he was more that a man. These beliefs cause him to ignore the limits he had in being a man. Oedipus needed to look at Teiresias as his window to his future.
In the play, Oedipus the King, blindness is used metaphorically and physically to characterize several personas , and the images of clarity and vision are used as symbols for knowledge and insight. Enlightenment and darkness are used in much the same manner, to demonstrate the darkness of ignorance, and the irony of vision without sight.
Oedipus had a very short temper. Oedipus did not want to hear what Tiresias had to say after he begged him to tell him all that he knew. "Am I to listen to such things from him! May you be damned! Get out of here at once! Turn around and go!" (Literature, Oedipus the King, Ln. 434-436, page 1085) Oedipus went into a rage when Tiresias told him about the evils that Oedipus was living with.
Another example of Oedipus’ presumptuous temperament is when he immediately assumes that Creon is trying to take his power from him. Creon sends Tiresias to Oedipus to help him solve the crime of the plague, and when Tiresias reveals that Oedipus must die in order to save the people of Thebes, Oedipus assumes Creon is trying to take his throne. Creon even tells Oedipus, “…if you think crude, mindless stubbornness such a gift, you’ve lost your sense of balance” (Meyer 1438). Oedipus’ impulsive nature leads him to discovering the truth and reveals that he has indeed fulfilled the prophecy he was running from.
Many times humans do things that contradict another thing they do. An example of this is one thing may be good but also bad at the same time. A person who has done this more then once is Oedipus in the writer Sophocles plays. Sophocles uses imagery like light verses darkness, knowledge verses ignorance and sight verses blindness.
In Oedipus, he wanted nothing more than to help Oedipus rid the city of whatever plague the gods were hurling at them. Creon goes to Apollo's shrine to find out why the gods are angry and then brings Tiresias to help Creon see what has the gods angry. Oedipus does not want to believe the truths Tiresias is telling him and falsely accuses Creon of plotting against him to become king of Thebes. Creon is so hurt by this that he tells the chorus, "This accusation against me by our ruler Oedipus, It's outrageous. (514)" By the end of the play, Creon tells Oedipus that "I'm always as good as my word; I don't speak before I think(1520)."
In Oedipus the King, Oedipus continually seeks knowledge regarding his own past and Laius’s murder. Oedipus is warned against investigating as the truth has the potential to destroy him. Despite the cautionary advice, Oedipus uncovers more than he ever imagined. The “power of truth” is revealed and Oedipus learned the hard way that knowledge does not always bring satisfaction. Furthermore, Oedipus’ discoveries lead to the development of a prominent trait that has impacted so many leaders throughout history: pride. As a ruler, Oedipus was conceited and ignorant and believed he could escape his fate. His pride prevented him from rationally considering the best interest for himself and his city. Oedipus the king teaches the limitations
One characteristic that leads Oedipus to flight his father is impatience. Oedipus?s impatience is obvious when Creon reports news from Apollo. After Creon says only two sentences, Oedipus cuts him off by saying, ?but what were the god?s words? There is no hope / and nothing to fear in fear in what you?ve said so far? (1302). Oedipus is too important to listen to even three sentences from Creon. Oedipus also shows his impatience during a conversation with Tiresias. Oedipus blames Tiresias, who is reluctant to tell Oedipus that Oedipus himself is the murderer. Looking at the impatience behavior it explains how Oedipus comes to flight Laius on the road out Corinth. Oedipus rushes into the flight without thinking whether it is necessary when Laius?s men ?shoulder [Oedipus] off the road.? It can be that Laius?s men think Oedipus as a common person, not royal because Oedipus is walking alone, or that the group is simply in a rush for some reason. However, Oedipus ?strike[s] [Laius?s man] in anger,? (1321) without thinking why Laius?s group acts against him. Oedipus acts like a modern day outlaw ? shoot first and ask questions later. In this way, Oedipus starts the fight without patience and as a result fulfills Apollo?s prophecy perfectly.
The impetus for the downfall of Oedipus, "Known far and wide by name" (Sophocles, 1), is his anger. Enraged he slew King Laius and in anger he hastily pursued his own ruination. From the aforementioned recriminations of Tiresias to the conflict with his brother-in-law Creon (his ill temper again displayed - "Tempers such as yours most grievous to their own selves to bear,... .(Sophocles, 25); through the revealing exchanges with his wife/mother Jocasta and her slave (whose pity saved the infant Oedipus), damming insight grows in a logical sequence, all the while fueled by the Oedipal rage. Realizing the heinous nature of his actions, Oedipus blinds himself in a fit of anger and remorse - now, as Tiresias, he can see.