Bailey Holland 10-12-15 Dr. Shikiar Philosophy Aesthetics Midterm Paper Plotinus challenges Plato 's theory that art imitates nature and the world of appearances and is therefore twice removed from reality. He gives art a higher position and develops the Platonic distinction between the world of appearance and true reality and takes art as an emanation from the ultimately unknowable "One". Throughout history, writers and philosophers have expressed their views about how the life of man is ultimately defined in their works. The Greeks have played their part in this quest as well. One of the great plays of the ancient Greek world that paved the way for others was Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex”. In this play, Sophocles shows us a chapter from the life of man. Throughout the book, he hints at the idea that life poses a riddle for man to solve thus being a …show more content…
He displays the defining qualities of a “morally correct human”. Oedipus, unlike Odysseus in the Odyssey, had no divine influence, yet he still is able to continue looking for the truth after much hardship. Given all the circumstances, Oedipus still manages to live through to the end without losing composure. Sophocles would definitely honor such a man, as well as Plotinus. Both Oedipus’ life and his kingdom were filled with riddles, paradoxes, and mysteries. Oedipus’ beginning and end at Thebes arose from the riddle of the oracle. Without his parent’s confrontation with the oracle, Oedipus would not have been cast away from Thebes in the first place. Yet without the riddle of the sphinx, Oedipus would not have arrived at his royal position. This could be Sophocles’ method to involve our minds, letting us know that every action we take has an effect on us later in life. At Thebes he is bothered by the plague of the city. For this mystery, Oedipus consistently strives for the truth, disregarding all tries to stop his
“O muse! Sing in me, and through me tell the story...Of that man skilled in all the ways of contending...A wanderer, harried for years on end…” (Homer). These are the opening words of The Odyssey. This is also in the opening scene of O Brother Where Art Thou?. O Brother is a reception of the revered story of Odysseus’ journey with a bit of a twist. The works have similarities that only a person well informed of the Odyssey could see. The Odyssey and O Brother highlight the trials of the main character’s journeys. While the Odyssey was written in the eighth century, O Brother is set during the 1930s in the deep south. Each of the trials that the characters face is supposed to make them quit their journey, but they proceed with greater determination.
Insuring the portrayal of his theme, Sophocles targets the tension of his tragic play, Oedipus Rex, through the growth of the main character, Oedipus, rather than the mystery. Utilizing literary devices such as dramatic irony, soliloquies, and foreshadowing, Sophocles reveals to the audience the conclusion to the mystery of Oedipus before the hero has solved it himself; forcing the audience’s attention towards character growth of the hero, over the actual development of the mystery.
In Odyssey, Homer creates a parallel between Odysseus and Telemachos, father and son. The two are compared in the poem from every aspect. One parallel was the quest of Telemachos, in correlation with the journey of his father. In this, Odysseus is developed from a childish, passive, and untested boy, to a young man preparing to stand by his father's side. This is directly connected to the voyage of Odysseus, in that they both lead to the same finale, and are both stepping-stones towards wisdom, manhood, and scholarship.
Set ages apart, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex provide different perspectives on the topic of tragedy and what is defined as a tragic hero. Although Oedipus would be thought of as better representing the tragic hero archetype due to tradition and time period, the modern tragic hero of Oedipus Rex is more of a dismal one. Through analysis of their respective hamartias, it is exemplified that the New York businessman with his humble story proves to be more thought provoking than the King of Thebes and his melancholic tale. **By incorporating a more relatable character and plot, Arthur Miller lends help to making Willy Lowman spiral toward his own downfall while building more emotion and response from the audience than with Oedipus. When Oedipus learns of his awful actions, this invokes shock and desperation. With Willy Lowman, the audience goes for a bumpy ride until the eventual, but expected, crash. ** (NEEDS WORK)
When comparing Ulysses and Oedipus, many apparent differences can be seen. Both men are kings but view their sovereignty differently. Oedipus likes being king. He cares for his people and “his heart is heavy with the city’s pain, his own, and the people’s pain.” (i.63-34). When he is informed of the reasoning behind the plague in Thebes, Oedipus is determined to stop at nothing until Laius’s killer is avenged and the city is free of its suffering. Meanwhile, Ulysses is rather unhappy as a king. He is utterly bored and discontent with his life. He emphasizes this by saying he “cannot rest from travel” (6) and feels as though he is “always roaming with a hungry heart.”(12) Needless to say, Ulysses is a restless man that knows sitting
Oedipus becomes a more admirable character by the end of the play then during the prologue of the play. This is because his history is reveled and his fate seems to be less of his fault and more of something that was doomed to happen to him, also by his drive to help the city of Thebes shows that he cares for the city and his ability to accept his fate but to try and help others from suffering.
A Hero and Two-Thirds Ancient literature has many great tales of heroes journeying to the ends of the earth to find mystic items, slay mythical beasts, or prove themselves to the gods. Two of the greatest heroes are Odysseus from Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey and Gilgamesh from the Sumarian epic sharing the name. While these two characters are from different areas of the world and from different eras, they have more in common than one might believe. They share several common traits, pride, direction from the gods, and the relationship they have with their loved ones, but Pride is their main flaw.
“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” includes a young, not Gary Busey, George Clooney at his finest playing, Ulysses Everett McGill. Ulysses is a fun character with a conman personality leading his crew to the treasure of a life time. The story takes place during the time of the great depression and Ulysses and his two fellow convicts escape from prison at the start of their journey. Throughout the movie, the three main characters go on an adventure to “secure the treasure”, with Ulysses depicted as their leader. He makes the men believe that fortune is in their future when, in reality, they are helping Ulysses get back to his wife before she remarries. The clock is ticking for our adventurers, as they do everything possible to make it on time. The
Leo Buscaglia, a motivational speaker and American author, once stated, “Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time” (thinkexist.com). The quotation reveals that anyone can have an adventure because life is an adventure. Homer’s the Odyssey and Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote tell the stories of Odysseus and Don Quixote. The two men’s lives are full of adventure, but they are two completely different adventures. Odysseus continually fights for his life, whereas Don Quixote simply fights for chivalry. Odysseus and Don Quixote are different adventure heroes because of the reasons for their adventures, their accomplishments, and their bravery.
Since the beginning of time epic tales have been passed on from generation to generation as a form of entertainment. Even though each epic is different in its plot, every epic has certain features in common. The prime example of their similarities is their main character, the hero of the epic. The hero's behavior changes from the beginning to the end of the tale. Since the plot revolves around the epic hero, in most cases, they are made to seem God-like, or larger then life, in their capabilities and strengths. The hero constantly has to conquer major obstacles to achieve their initial and final goal. Usually the hero is tremendously suspicious of other characters intensions. Also, this character usually demonstrates examples of hubris throughout the tale, which ultimately makes his journey more difficult. The epic heroes differences vary but in the epic tale, The Odyssey written by Homer, and the Greek drama, Oedipus The King written by Sophocles, the differences is what makes Oedipus fail and Odysseus succeed. In both these tales, the powerful gods enormously affect their decisions and the consequences they eventually have to face.
Throughout the Catholic Bible, there are multiple verses warning the reader about the harms of excessive pride. Proverbs 16:18 states, “Prides goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” The story of Lucifer, more commonly known as Satan or the Devil, is a quintessential example of how pride can lead to a downfall. As the story goes, before he was evil, Lucifer was the strongest and most beautiful archangel in God’s army. Thinking he was all-powerful and thirsty for more power, he denounced the works of God, built an army of demons, and fought a battle against him. In the end, Lucifer was defeated and cast into Hell where he was renamed Satan. Much like Lucifer, King Oedipus and Anakin Skywalker experienced downfalls due to pride. Not only are their
This essay will illustrate the types of characters depicted in Sophocles’ tragic drama, Oedipus Rex, whether static or dynamic, flat or round, and whether protrayed through the showing or telling technique.
Sophocles' trilogy of Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone is a powerful, tragic tale that examines the nature of human guilt, fate and punishment. Creon, Oedipus' uncle and brother-in-law, is the story's most dynamic character. His character experiences a drastic metamorphosis through the span of the three dramas. Creon's vision of a monarch's proper role, his concept of and respect for justice, as well as his respect for the design evolve considerably by the trilogy's tragic conclusion.
Even though Oedipus may be the hero, he is also selfish and ruthless. One example of his ruthlessness is when he meets Laius at the place where the three roads meet. Instead of letting the older man pass, he makes a scene, why should he be the one to move? He is royalty. He believes that he should move for no man. He is also selfish in the fact that when Teresias enters and gives Oedipus the clues that tell him that he has killed Laius, he refuses to believe him, to the point of insulting him, and kicking him out.
Here is a story where Oedipus the King, who has accomplished great things in his life, discovers that the gods were only playing with him. He has everything a man of that time could want; he is king of Thebes, he has a wonderful wife and children, and great fame through out the lands. He has lived a good life, but in the end everything is taken from him.