Oedipus The King is a Greek Disaster
analytical Essay
954 words
Oedipus the king by Sophocles is one of the oldest ancient Greek tragedies known to the common world. The play posses all factors that a classic Greek tragedy requires. To further explain, I agree with the fact that "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles is a Greek disaster. This hard to believe, remarkable play has been proven to be a Greek tragedy by Aristotle. In Aristotle’s thoughts, a classical drama must tell the story of a downfall, have unexpected twists of fate, cause pity and fear in the audience, and have a disastrous ending. There are many examples of these fundamentals all over the play to prove that it is in fact, a tragedy.
With every Greek disaster, there is main character, also known as a “Tragic Hero” who posses tragic flaws, which lead into their downfall. Oedipus demonstrates three tragic flaws, intolerance, stubbornness, and a short temper, each of which lead into his downfall. An example of Oedipus’ stubbornness’ could be when he demands on finding the murderer of Laius and proving that the prophecy hasn’t come true. However, Jocasta Oedipus’ queen and mother already is aware of the fact that all of this chaos is true and chooses to hide the truth. "That man, why ask? Old shepherds, talk, empty nonsense, don’t give it another thought; don't even think “Oedipus replies with, “What- give up now, with a clue like this? Fail to solve the mystery of my birth? Not for all the world!” Oedipus demonstrates his impatience when he is insists on knowing the truth of his birth. In fact, how could you blame him? "That man, why ask? Old shepherd, talk, empty nonsense, don't give it another thought, don't even think “Oedipus replied with, " What- give up now, with a clue like this? Fail to solve the mystery of my birth? Not for all the world!" His temper is shown when he is unbelievably upset with Tiresias for accusing him that he is the murderer of Laius. "No, I can't say I grasped your meaning. Out with it again" Tiresias replies saying,” I say you are the murderer you hunt” Oedipus demonstrates his temper once again, and threatens Tiresias
" That obscenity, twice- by god you'll pay.”
Another important element in a Greek tragedy is an unexpected twist or occurrence for the main character. An example of an unexpected twist is when a messenger from Corinth comes to Oedipus and informs him that Polybus, who Oedipus’ believes is his father, is dead and that the people of Corinth hope for him to be their King.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that oedipus the king by sophocles is one of the oldest ancient greek tragedies known to the common world and proves that it is a tragedy by aristotle.
- Analyzes how oedipus demonstrates three tragic flaws, intolerance, stubbornness, and a short temper, each of which lead into his downfall.
- Analyzes how an unexpected twist or occurrence in a greek tragedy is an important element for the main character.
- Analyzes how every greek tradgedy, including "oedipus the king," must evoke pity and fear into the audience.
- Analyzes how every greek tragedy has a devastating ending. oedipus is disappointed and realizes that he lost everything because of the prophecy coming true.
Related
- analytical
- As a tragedy Oedipus the King spends the majority of the play discovering who he is, without knowing exactly what is occurring. The tragedy was that he suffered the improbabilities of murdering his father and then marrying his mother, it is a tail of his revelations about his past, and the events that led him to his ultimate fall. In this play, Sophocles illustrated a world of human frailty, pride, and punishment, which helped to propel, with dreadful inevitability, a protagonist moving toward catastrophe. Oedipus is the direct cause of his own undoing, however it is not because he is evil, proud, or weak, but simply because he does not know his true past or who he is. The facts that he believes to be true are unraveled, thus revealing his fate. Oedipus meets the first criterion of a Greek tragedy, which is that the protagonist is a good person. Oedipus has both a good he...
In this essay, the author
- Opines that tragedy is more of a dignified style of writing that seriously expresses sorrowful or terrible events as they relate to the sometimes heroic individual (the protagonist).
- Analyzes how sophocles illustrated a world of human frailty, pride, and punishment, which helped propel, with dreadful inevitability, the protagonist moving toward catastrophe.
- Analyzes how arthur miller's "tragedy and the common man" argues that the common man is as appropriate a subject for tragedy as the highly placed kings and noble men.
- Analyzes the similarities between the two plays, stating that both characters struggle to maintain a positive outcome in their lives and beat fate. both characters come to some form of self-inflicted harm.
- Compares willy loman and oedipus. both protagonists end their stories with a dark finish, but also divide in the choices they make to exit their lives.
- Opines that tragedy is not just a thing of kings and nobles, but that of everyday people. the differences in the plays, attest to the times they were written and the audience that is meant to view the work.
795 wordsRead More - Oedipus: The Reign of a Tragic Heroanalytical essayThe time period of Greek theater’s popularity was a very influential time in our world’s history. Without knowing what Greek theater was all about, how can someone expect to truly understand a tragic play and the history it comes with? The history behind the character of Oedipus, in the play Oedipus the King, is very complicated. His intricate past dealing with prophecies, family members, and murder is the main focus of the story. There are many characteristics that complete Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero; these being the presence of hamartia and peripeteia, a sense of self-awareness, the audience’s pity for the character, and the hero is of noble birth.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that hamartia is the fatal flaw leading to the tragic downfall of a hero, which is common in most, if not all greek tragedy plays.
- Explains the meaning of a tragic hero in aristotle's book, literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing.
- Analyzes how oedipus, the new king, thinks that whoever killed king laios will try to kill himself. the occurrence of peripeteia makes a tragic hero stand out from the other characters.
- Explains that oedipus rex was the ideal tragic hero of aristotle, according to the classical association of the atlantic states.
1250 wordsRead More - Tragic Flaws In Oedipus The Kinganalytical essayOedipus the King tells the tragic story of Oedipus and how Oedipus unwittingly fulfills his prophecy. Oedipus prophecy was that he would murder his father and marry his mother. Oedipus grew up in the kingdom of Corinth where he believed that he was the son of the Kings of Corinth; when Oedipus discovered that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus decides to leave Corinth and try to prevent the prophecy from happening. Unknowingly to him during his escape from his destiny, Oedipus murderers his father and eventually marries his mother and fulfils the prophecy. After reading Oedipus the King I believe that one of the main ideas of Oedipus the King is that Oedipus own tragic flaws lead to the fulfillment of the prophecy and his eventual downfall.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oedipus fulfills his prophecy, which was that he would murder his father and marry his mother.
- Analyzes how oedipus humiliates and gets into arguments with the people that tell him the truth about his real parents and the current situation of thebes.
- Analyzes how oedipus humiliates and gets into arguments with the people that tell him the truth about his real parents and the current situation of thebes.
- Analyzes how oedipus' quest for knowledge and his willingness to don't find the truth were tragic flaws that led to his downfall.
- Analyzes how oedipus' quest for knowledge and his willingness to don't find the truth were tragic flaws that led to his downfall.
1946 wordsRead More - Tragedy In Oedipus The King, The Tragic Heroanalytical essayOedipus the Tragic Hero Oedipus is depicted as a “marionette in the hands of a daemonic power”(pg150), but like all tragic hero’s he fights and struggles against fate even when the odds are against him. His most tragic flaw is his morality, as he struggles between the good and the evil of his life. The good is that he was pitied by the Shepard who saved him from death as a baby. The evil is his fate, where he is to kill his father and marry his mother.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oedipus is a tragic hero who suffers the consequences of his immoral actions, and must learn from these mistakes.
- Analyzes how oedipus' determination to seek the truth and care for his people makes him an admirable man and respectable king.
- Analyzes how oedipus has hamartia or flaws that lead to his demise. one of them is his excessive pride in the control over his life but in reality he has no control.
- Analyzes how oedipus could have avoided his suffering by never killing a man and never marring women old enough to be his parents.
- Analyzes how oedipus' life arouses pity from the audience because his weakness lies in that he was human.
- Analyzes how oedipus was a man dedicated to fighting and avoiding evil but he himself was the cause of so much tragedy. his ideal qualities of being intelligent and powerful, but not perfect, were not enough to keep his falling into misfortune
997 wordsRead More - Oedipus the King: A Classic Tragedyanalytical essayOedipus the King, a Classic Tragedy Aristotle, in his work The Poetics, tries to delineate the idea of a tragedy. Throughout his work Aristotle says that the hero, or at least the protagonist in a tragedy must be substantially good, almost godlike. This hero must bring upon themselves their downfall, due to their fatal flaw. If the hero is not at a high point, an audience will not care about them, and won’t notice their fall. One must fall a long way in social class in order for it to be noticed by the outside man.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how aristotle, in his work the poetics, tries to delineate the idea of a tragedy. he says that the hero must be substantially good, almost godlike.
- Analyzes how oedipus solves the riddle of the great sphinx, which leads him to become the king of thebes. catharsis is necessary for a true tragedy to exist.
- Explains that tragic stories offer a sense of learning about the human condition, which is called catharsis.
- Analyzes how the fatal flaw, or hamartia, that the character makes, in oedipus, does not actually take place during the story itself.
- Analyzes how oedipus' reversal and recognition are realized while his balanced life is hanging from a thread.
1018 wordsRead More - Oedipus Tragedy Analysisanalytical essayOedipus, by Sophocles, was written around 441 B.C. Sophocles’ story is considered a Greek tragedy. Aeschylus is the person who coined the term, but “it was Sophocles who brought it to perfection” (Struck). Oedipus is one of the most famous classical dramas, and it is because of Aristotle the story reached that status. Aristotle stated his opinions in his book Poetics, which made it popular (Thorburne 384). In the story, Oedipus displays hubris when he defies the gods and runs away from his true fate which leads to his downfall.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oedipus hears from the oracle at delphi that he was destined to murder his father and marry his mother. laius and jocasta tried to defy the gods’ prophecy and gave their son to a shepherd to be killed.
- Analyzes how oedipus's downfall is blamed on his hubris. he is blind from the truth even though he has physical insight.
- Analyzes how oedipus presents himself as a man who values control and self-determination, taking his destiny into his hands only underlines more emphatically the power of the gods and fate.
- Analyzes how sophocles' oedipus is one of the most famous classical dramas. aristotle stated his opinions in his book poetics, which made it popular.
- Analyzes sophocles' dramatic irony of oedipus killing his father at a three-way crossroads. the thebans have two major plagues that are affecting the people of thebes, the first being the riddle of the sphinx.
1976 wordsRead More - Is Oedipus Rex a Story of Tragedy or Fate?analytical essayOedipus Rex a play by Sophocles can be looked at in two ways as or as not a tragedy of fate. Author Lionel Trilling states that much ingenuity has been used to show that it is not a tragedy of fate and those critics use Poetics by Aristotle to back their claim, “the protagonist of a tragedy should be a man worthy of respect and admiration but have some discernible weakness or fault of character to which his tragic disaster may be attributed. In some important sense, that is, he is to be thought responsible for what befalls him” (Trilling 5). Although this description would seem to be accurate of Oedipus who Trilling sees as being admirable, wise, and courageous with the flaw of his pride, Trilling ultimately says that the tragic disaster is not brought upon by Oedipus’ flaw. Closer inspection of the requirements for a hero in a tragedy shows that Oedipus does not fulfill the aspect of bringing the disaster through a characteristic of his own, and therefore Oedipus Rex is not a tragedy of fate. Oedipus’s pride caused him to kill Liaos and fulfill a foreseen prophecy, but he acted like any other hot headed and proud man. Thus proving Oedipus is not to blame for the tragedy of killing his father. Another perspective to look at Oedipus is to see his great tragedy as finding out about the truth which he does through his pride goading him to find the killer of Liaos. If Oedipus had stopped searching and overcame his pride all would be well, but Trilling disproves of this point, ‘A Oedipus who prudently gave up his search would be an object of condescension, even of contempt: the Oedipus who presses on to the conclusion that destroys him compels our awed respect” (Trilling 6). It is through his search that earns him the qualitie...
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how sophocles' oedipus rex is not a tragedy of fate because of his pride, which caused him to kill liaos, but acted like any other hot headed and proud man.
- Analyzes how oedipus' search earns him the qualities of a tragic hero. he never solved the puzzle of liaos' murder which leads to his discovering the terrible sin.
- Analyzes how trilling uses ethics by aristotle to exculpate oedipus from fulfilling the prophecy of killing his father.
- Narrates how they struck a charioteer as he lurched over towards them. the old man saw them and brought his double goad down upon their head.
- Explains that oedipus killed the man who pushed him off the road because he was an impetuous man quickly having his pride offended.
- Argues that reason is the most prominent way of judgment, but it is not always the only way. oedipus committed a crime against society by killing his father.
- Compares the story of oedipus rex to that of a persian parable about escaping from death only to meet him at the place he escapes.
- Analyzes how oedipus ran away from his family and a place where he was considered royalty in order to spare those around him of grief. he was unable to use intelligence and good will to overcome this situation.
1270 wordsRead More - Oedipus Rex: An Emotional Battlefieldanalytical essaySophocles’ Oedipus Rex introduced the one of the most important tragic heroes of Greek literature. First performed in the fifth century B.C.E., the play is centered around Oedipus, the king of the Greek city-state Thebes, and his struggle to conquer his emotions as he seeks out the true story of his life. This work, inspired by a well-known Greek myth, scrutinizes both the tragic flaws of Oedipus and his heroism. Examples of Oedipus’ tragic flaws abound in the play. In his condemnation of Tiresias and Creon, Oedipus is controlled by his emotions. However, the heroism of Oedipus is also an essential theme of the drama, though it is often downplayed. Despite this, careful analysis can uncover many instances in which Oedipus exhibits his heroism by attempting to control his emotions and discover the truth of his origins. In his finest moments, Oedipus is in complete command of his emotions as he searches for the truth, while at his nadir, Oedipus is completely controlled by his emotions and is absolutely unpredictable. This contrast is, in large part, what makes Oedipus a tragic hero. Oedipus, King of Thebes, is among the greatest Hellenistic tragic heroes because of his fight to overcome his greatest flaw, his uncontrollable anger, as he heroically searches for the truth.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how sophocles' oedipus rex introduces one of the most important tragic heroes of greek literature.
- Compares oedipus and achilles of homer's iliad. both were great leaders, albeit in different contexts, and each clearly exhibited his tragic flaw.
- Analyzes how oedipus and achilles differ tremendously in their tragic flaws. the king is obviously controlled by his anger in the scene where he accuses creon
- Describes the main components of the paper.
- Analyzes how oedipus ousts his anger and gathers information to make a logical conclusion. this shows heroism in two separate yet intertwined ways.
- Describes the main components of the paper.
- Analyzes how oedipus, though fully aware he may uncover something horrible, is compelled to continue to seek the truth. the king of thebes is immensely heroic in this scene.
- Analyzes how the herdsman knows oedipus' origins and makes it equally clear that no good will come of him learning of his origin. theban king remains true to form and demands to know beyond a shadow of the doubt who he is.
- Analyzes how oedipus, along with homer's achilles, stand above all other tragic heroes created in greek literature.
- Analyzes how oedipus, blinded by his anger at an imagined plot created by creon, divulges his desire to kill him, a rational act by no means.
- Analyzes how oedipus rebounds from intense anger to strong reason in a heroic effort to eliminate his anger through whatever means available.
1811 wordsRead More - Oedipus the Kinganalytical essayOedipus the King, written by Sophocles, is a tragic drama that portrays a great deal of irony. Oedipus, the protagonist, suffers serious misfortune that is significant in that the “misfortune is logically connected with the hero’s actions” (AbleMedia LLC). When the reader learns about the background of Greek culture and the life of Sophocles, this tragic drama is able to become more alive and valuable. It is important to familiarize oneself with the author because it allows for a greater connection to the dialogue presented. Through the character development of Oedipus, one can see how ironic circumstances can turn a prideful king into a tragic figure.
In this essay, the author
- Explains thomas r. martin's an overview of classical greek history from mycenae to alexander, the development of athenian tragedy.
- Explains that oedipus, the protagonist, suffers serious misfortune that is logically connected with the hero’s actions. greek theater was financed by the athenian state.
- Analyzes how oedipus decides to restore thebes into its former state after the murder of laios. he unknowingly gives an ironic speech of which he will soon regret.
- Describes curtis, edward m., and john brugaletta's transformed thinking: loving god with all your mind.
- Analyzes meineck's "ancient drama illuminate by contemporary stagecraft: some thoughts on the use of mask and ekkyklema in ariane mnouchkine'
2062 wordsRead More - Oedipus the King: The Tragic Flaws Of Oedipusanalytical essayThe 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.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how oedipus's persistence is seen even from the beginning of the play, when he first encounters teiresias, a seer who refuses to divulge the truth
- Explains that deborah d. jones and naomi williams, humanities department handbook of augusta preparatory day school, 2nd ed.
- Analyzes jen byers' "oedipus and the search for truth," rivendell educational archive, ed. leigh denault.
- Analyzes how sophocles used character flaws in greek drama with oedipus rex.
- Analyzes how the use of ignorance in the play is expressed through light and dark imagery. oedipus's downfall was the direct result of his tragic flaws.
- Cites rivendell educational archive's "an exploration of oedipus," ed. leigh denault.
1052 wordsRead More