Oedipus The King

1014 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Themes in King Oedipus

Oedipus The King; Did the prophecy cause his destiny?
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.

Show More
Related

  • Oedipus The King-a Tangled Web

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    The choir represents the voice of the people, the voice of the masses. People often conform to this uniform truth, they want to be like other people. This conformation leads to a uniform voice from the public. This voice is often ignorant to the truth, seemingly to the point that it creates its own truth.

    Read More

  • Sacrifice In Sophocles Oedipus The King

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, the reader finds Oedipus as an overzealous king, but one that cares deeply for the people who are under his rule. After solving the mystery of the Sphinx and under the belief that he has escaped the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother, Oedipus’ self-confidence goes into over drive. His compassion, for the pain and suffering his people are under, causes him to pronounce a curse on the murderer of Laius. Unknown to the king, he is condemning himself for the crime he committed years ago.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King

    461 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • oedipus

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Oedipus at Colonus, there are three major themes of the play, prophecy, guilt and death. Each of them is part of how Oedipus’ life plays out. The prophecy told that he was the killer of his own father and married his mother, and how the guilt, he had for committing these acts, by gouging out his own eyes; and how after his family disowned him then wanting him to help them knowing that whoever was on Oedipus’ side would win the war. Also where Oedipus’ body should be laid to rest after his death.

    Read More

  • Blindness In Oedipus The King

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    Here one sees that even after obtaining all this knowledge Oedipus, who does not believe any of it, goes on his journey to find Laius’ murderer. At this point one theme makes itself clear, Oedipus refuses to accept the truth in his life, and Sophocles makes it a point to bring this up several times through the use of tragic irony, symbolism, and repetition throughout the play.

    Read More

  • Oedipus The King: A Narrative Fiction

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    On a warm, Summer's afternoon, I sat in my room, a Wii remote clutched in my right hand and a Wii Nunchuck in the other.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Collective Unconscious In Oedipus The King

    1865 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the play, Oedipus exemplifies the limitation and fallibility of human knowledge through the usage of confirmation bias. Oedipus is portrayed as an intelligent and perceptive character, and was known throughout the kingdom of Thebes for his clairvoyance demonstrated through solving the riddle of the sphinx. Despite his intellectual ability, throughout the play we see him struggle with piecing together the simple truth that he himself was the culprit behind Laius’ murder. Oedipus utilizes fantasy because he is unable to fathom the idea that he is the evil that blighted the kingdom, therefore, he only seeks information that adhere to the belief that he is not the culprit. At first he concocts the idea that both Teiresias and Creon were conspiring against him so that Creon can take the throne away from him. In order to convince himself and everyone else that he is not the culprit, he decides to vilify Creon because if Creon were to be the murderer, he himself couldn’t possibly be. Afterwards, when Oedipus learns of his father’s death, he rejoices and fantasizes about having bested the Gods, since he believed that prophecy did not come true after all. When relying on fantasy was not enough, Oedipus turns to repression and refuses to accept the information that

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King

    635 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Oedipus The King

    467 Words  | 1 Pages

    The play begins with a request to Oedipus by the townspeople to rid Thebes of the plague, since he had so heroically solved the riddle of the Sphinx in the past. He sends Creon, his brother-in-law and uncle, to the oracles at Delphi. Creon returns with the cause for the plague; the murderer of the former King Laius was never punished for his crime. So Oedipus pledges himself to seek the killer and punish him as the gods wish.

    Read More

  • Oedipus

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus, the ruler of Thebes, approaches a group of unhappy citizens, represented by a priest, and asks them what is wrong. They answer that the city is dying and that they are sick and poor. Oedipus sympathizes and tells them that, as their ruler, he is also troubled by the sickness of the city, and has already taken steps to see that something be done about it. The first step he has taken was to send Creon to Apollo's shrine to see what the god recommends they do. As Creon appears, he tells them that the god, Apollo, said that there is bad blood in Thebes, and that until this blood is expelled Thebes will be a sick city.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: Oedipus's Submission to the Gods

    1530 Words  | 4 Pages

    The play centers on Oedipus, a man of great compassion and intelligence who was also a man of great pride. Through his intelligence, he managed to solve a riddle no one else had been able to solve. This resulted in freeing Thebes from the sphinx that had been oppressing the land and securing for Oedipus both the kingship of Thebes and Jocasta, the late king Laius's widow, for his wife. "Thus Oedipus's intelligence, a trait that brings Oedipus closer to the gods, is what causes him to commit the most heinous of all possible sins. In killing the Sphinx, Oedipus is the city's savior, but in killing Laius (and marrying Jocasta), he is the scourg...

    Read More

  • The Supernatural In Oedipus The King

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    For Oedipus, prophecy is not the main source of his fall towards society; rather, his hubris blinds himself from recognizing his personal sin in the world, thus leading to his demise. Sophocles even skillfully uses a metaphor through the words “ as led by a guide” to further explain the “supernatural being” that ultimately decides the tragic fate of the family of Oedipus. In addition, through the death of Jocasta, the reader is immediately attuned of Oedipus’ raging moment of violence and will be petrified by the overwhelming power of the gods, thus realizing the importance of being cautious before making a final choice. Indeed, after an individual settles on a decision, the gods take control of the person’s fate, hurling numerous consequences to him if he makes the wrong decision. Moreover, as Oedipus suddenly becomes the unintended victim of the gods through his sinful decision to execute Laius, he is forced to relinquish his predominate impetus for pridefulness in exchange for a heart of deep realization and forgiveness. At the end of the play, Oedipus sacrifices everything in order to remove his guilt through the consequences of his atrocious actions witnessed by the gods. After Oedipus realizes the astringent fate he was destined to encounter through his sinful murder of Laius, he immediately attempts to take responsibility for his

    Read More

  • The Role of Faith and the Gods in Oedipus Rex

    1714 Words  | 4 Pages

    The balance stricken between fate and free will, in Sophocles’ mind, is portrayed through Oedipus’ fatal flaw, which forces him to his fate, while also defining his free will. His hamartia is visible from the beginning of the play when Oedipus says to his people, “Tell me, and never doubt that I will help you” (Sophocles Prologue. 13). Clearly, he views himself as having a supreme ability to take matters into his own hands and aid the people whom he governs. This extreme desire to aid his people, which is undoubtedly an admirable quality, is coupled with an extreme desire to find answers. This thirst for knowledge is also shown at the beginning of the play through Oedipus’ interactions with Creon, where Oedipus badgers Creon with questions regarding the prophecy, asking “Murder of whom? Surely the god has named him?” (Prologue. 106). These two seemingly noble characteristics, the desire to help his people and the desire to know the truth, end up working against Oedipus, and results in the tragedy of the play. The role of fate in this beginning scene is clearly seen through the prophecy, but at this point in the plot, it is unclear ...

    Read More

More about Oedipus The King

Open Document