“You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger,” as
Buddha once stated. In the play, Oedipus the King, Oedipus emphasizes many different tragic downfalls, but a specific one stands out. When Teiresias blames Oedipus for the plague, Oedipus killing his father Laius, and Oedipus gouging out his eyes, this all prevails the downfall: anger.
Oedipus shows anger towards Teiresias because he blamed him for starting the plague. Oedipus informs the chorus that he called Tiresias just for advice. However, Teiresias believes and tells Oedipus that he killed his own father, Laius. Outraged by this, Oedipus says, “Get out--- faster, back where you came from--- vanish!” (Pg. 280 L: 491-492) Oedipus, after this, could not even bare to stand or listen to all the ludicrous words coming out of Teiresias’s mouth. Also, Oedipus says, “If I thought you would blurt out such absurdities, you’d have died waiting before I’d had you summoned.” (Pg. 280 L: 494-495) Teiresias, who was just trying to do a good deed, now has Oedipus against him. If Oedipus would have just listened, had a better attitude, and took into consideration of what Teiresias informed him about Laius, a more superior outcome would have happened. Now that Oedipus stands as a “suspect”, will the truth come out? One day, Oedipus and Creon had a serious talk
…show more content…
He gouged out his eyes. Oedipus says, “No, not with these eyes of mine, never.” (Pg. 320 L: 1507) What Oedipus meant by this was that he couldn’t look his children in the eyes, ever again, so he had to do something about it, but not death. He says, “But the hand that struck my eyes was mine, mine alone--- no one else--- I did it myself! What good were eyes to me? Nothing I could see could bring me joy.” (Pg. 319 L: 1470-1472) Oedipus knew death would solve nothing and make him look weak, so he believed gouging his eyes out would fit
In the play when Oedipus asks Teiresias to reveal the murderer of King Laois, Teiresias blames Oedipus as the murderer and Oedipus denies the blame and gets angry on Teiresias. The chorus even denies the blame on Oedipus and takes Oedipus’ side. The chorus says the following lines to protect Oedipus “This is the king who solved the famous riddle, and towered up, most powerful of men. No mortal eyes but looked on him with envy, Yet in the end ruin swept over him”(Freud 988). Oedipus on the other hand who is really mad at Teiresias blames him and Creon for plotting against him. As Oedipus was blind from the start he was unaware of his origins which will cause him to trigger the unavoidable chain of events that would lead to the fulfilment of the prophecy. But he didn’t knew the fate itself was unavoidable. The irony of theme sight and blindness is produced here when Oedipus is compared to Teiresias. Oedipus who is not blind and has the capability to see with both of his eyes doesn’t finds anything wrong in killing a man, who he later discovers was King Laois and his group. He even took over the throne of Thebes and was found to be lying with his mother thinking her as his wife and having babies with her. On the other hand is Teiresias who is really blind and unable to see than...
Oedipus is pondering whether or not he could have killed King Laius, they encourage Oedipus. “But wait until you’ve heard the witness speak. Have hope,';
Oedipus and Creon put all their efforts in to finding the killer of Laius. They take it on as their moral obligation as it has gone so far without justice being made, "But you, loyal men of Thebes who approve my actions, may our champion, Justice, may all the gods be with us.
Oedipus was filled with hubris, and this angered the gods. He believed he was more than a man. These beliefs caused him to ignore the limits he had in being a man. Oedipus needed to look at Teiresias as a window to his future. Oedipus believed that he could take on the Sphinx and rid Thebes of the plague. The plague was the god’s example of the fault of human condition.
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.
Other character flaws coming out during the investigation was that he is impulsive and he falsely accuses people. When Oedipus was talking to Teirasias, Teirasias proposed that he was the killer of Laius. But again Oedipus' quick temper occurs and he accuses Tieresius of helping Creon overtake his throne. Another example of Oedipus being impulsive was when he demanded information from the messenger from Corinth. When the messenger told Oedipus that King Polybus was not his real father Oedipus was intrigued and wanted to know the truth. On the other hand, Iocasta wanted him to stop his search because she already knew the horrible truth. Oedipus impetuously wanted to know the truth; and Iocasta, horrified, rushed away and killed herself.
This is the foundation for why Oedipus was blinded to his fate. Though Tiresias, the blind prophet, lacks the ability to see with his natural eyes, he possesses an insight into the lives of others. Oedipus believes his act of self-blinding was a justification and payment for his actions. It required a blind man to show Oedipus his own blind state of the tragic fate that was set before him. Oedipus believes his act of self-blinding was a payment for his actions he did according to his destiny. Now, he is no longer in a state to inflict plagues and heartbreak on those around him. Oedipus the king, now Oedipus the commoner, pays the ultimate price for the deeds he has done, permanent exile from those he loves and holds
In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus is swift to chide the actions of the murderer, and was baffled to hear that no action was taken earlier, asking his brother-in-law, “What kind of trouble, when your kingship had fallen thus, made you see to this so poorly?” (Sophocles 139-140). Oedipus values justice and he curses the person who is guilty, saying that they will be exiled for polluting the land. When he talks to Tiresias, he begs him at first, to share his wisdom. When Tiresias explains to Oedipus that it was he who murdered Laius, Oedipus gets angry and insults him.
However, that one trait did not alone take away his position of high authority. Oedipus displayed anger throughout the whole story, which did not help him at all. During the story, we learn of Oedipus' anger as he knocked a passerby at the meeting of the three highways; "I struck him in my rage". Later, this passerby whom he angrily and quickly killed, was revealed to be Laios, Oedipus' father. Oedipus' anger also quickly shifted his judgment of Teiresias. "We are in your [Teiresias] hands. There is no fairer duty", Oedipus' respect for Teiresias quickly changed as Teiresias refused to tell of what was the trouble's cause. Oedipus began claiming that "Creon has brought this decrepit fortune teller" to mean that Teiresias was thought of as a traitor in Oedipus' thinking. Oedipus' anger is also shown as he begins to insult Teiresias by calling him a "wicked old man". Oedipus' anger throughout the beginning of the play hindered himself.
Throughout the play Oedipus continuosly belittles and accused everyone of the crime that he is guilty of. In Act II, Scene II he calls Teiresias a "blind and impious traitor
Oedipus choses to seek the truth about the murderer of Laius, honourably indeed to save the people of Thebes, but through this choice he in a sense administers his own lethal injection. Oedipus is warned about the consequences of his actions by Teresias when he prophesises the outcome of the search for truth. Due to Oedipus' ego which is built up by the pedestal that the people of Thebes have put him on, he does not accept the help of Teresias and continues to search. His opinion of himself being above the Gods leads him to then again shun the help of Jocasta who once again warns him of the consequences of the search for truth. Oedipus' persistence lands him our criticism, at this point we cannot criticise Jocasta as she tries to help him, and warn him about what will happen is he persists.
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).
Despite earlier Teiresias being referred to as: “A lord clairvoyant to the lord Apollo” (Scene 1. 966). Teiresias is the one: “in whom, alone of all men, truth was born” (Scene 1. 967). Yet, when provided the divine wisdom, Oedipus rejects it and creates his own wisdom. He feels he is above the gods and anything foolish enough to get in his way. However, this incident is not the last time Oedipus’s arrogance rears its ugly head. For instance, he accuses Creon of plotting to kill him with no proof. After his violent argument with Teiresias, Oedipus summons Creon to confront him about his plot to over throw him. He has no proof in this accusation and even has the audacity to tell Creon: “You are evil incarnate” (Scene 2. 975). Oedipus assumes he has the power to rightfully accuse and judge Creon as an enemy of the gods as if he were a god himself. The chorus echoes this sentiment: “Prove his heroic mind! These evil words are lies” (Ode 1. 972). His illogical accusation is cautioned against others but still, he finds his truth to be absolute: “Let him go. And let me die, If I must. / Or be driven by him in shame from the land of Thebes” (Scene 2. 976). In a tactful choice of words, he both allows the ones who oppose his assumption that Creon is guilty and protects his
Throughout Oedipus’ quest to disprove prophecy and discover the truth about his life, his incredible hubris causes his reaction to his final discovery to be one that flaws his nobility. Upon realizing the truth, Oedipus gouges out his own eyes in attempt to become superior because he is amazed at the fact that a Tiresias, a blind prophet who he has just recently insulted because of his inability to physically see, was able to project Oedipus’ fate and outsmart the ever so noble and ever perfect Oedipus (which is how he invasions himself.) Oedipus’ desire to be the best at everything overwhelms him as he gouges out his own eyes to make himself even more superior, because his false perceptions about the true powers of blindness and sight has led him to believe that being blind makes you superior: “I did it all myself! What good were eyes to me? Nothing I could see could bring me joy.” (241) The fact that Oed...