How Does Oedipus Cause His Own Downfall

A person’s actions, feelings and behaviour towards others all largely impact their own future. Some citizens in society tend to make bad decisions in their lives and create trouble for themselves all because they did not take time to consider the influence they have upon themselves and those around them. Acting without thinking of the repercussions and behaving in difficult ways are just some examples of how people cause their own fate. One man that demonstrates these issues and causes major problems for himself is Oedipus. Oedipus’ pride, impetuous behaviour and lack of insight ultimately determine his inevitable fate.

First, Oedipus understands that injustice is put on his kingdom. innocent people who did not harm or have any part in the murder of the King are being punished. “For you, for loyal Thebans, and for all who find my actions right, I pray the favor of justice, and of all the immortal gods"(Sophocles 15). Oedipus knows that this curse is not fair and he is determined to find the murderer. “Apollo, when we sent to him, sent us back word

Oedipus is a very ignorant character. The play reveals that he killed his father and slept with his mother. To make matters worse, he has no idea that he has done either of these things. As the play progresses, hints of Oedipus’s wrongdoings pop up sporadically, yet he does not catch on until the end. Other characters realize what is going on before Oedipus does. It is Oedipus’s ignorance that prolongs his search for King Laius’s killer and his realization of his

Bernard Knox states that Oedipus’ fall was due the claim that, “[T]hese attributes of divinity – knowledge, certainty, justice – are all qualities Oedipus thought he possessed – and that is why he was the perfect example of the inadequacy of human knowledge, certainty, and justice.” In Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Oedipus believed that he possessed certainty of knowledge and justice due to his hubris, which led to his downfall. Oedipus’ tragic downfall came about from his false certainty of knowledge, his incautious judgement and actions, and delusion of self-justice. He curses the killer of Laius, not knowing that it was himself. Due to Oedipus’ eventual discovery of the truth, he is cursed at the end of the play.

Oedipus The Rex was a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles first performed in 429 Bc. Oedipus was the king of Thebes and his first goal of the story was to find out who murdered Lauis. Oedipus summons an oracle who he demands to tell him who the killer is. The oracle replies that he does not wish to tell the king anything, outraged the king demands an answer. The oracle tells Oedipus that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus is outraged naturally at his apparent future and mocks the oracle for being blind, then the oracle says he is blind. Throughout the play we see that Oedipus is a great guy well loved by the people of Thebes. He is very intelligent, a natural leader but unfortunately is fatally flawed. His hamartia is that he can not simply let things go in life which ultimately leads to his own ruin and others he loves. His ruin in life comes when he has the sudden realization of what he has done. He does fulfill his prophesy of killing his father and having sexual relations with his mother without even being aware of the situation. No great person would ever want to ruin their

The Greek tragedy Oedipus the King, by Sophocles showed how powerful the gods are and that your fate is pre-determined and there is nothing you do can change that. What man can change their fate that is already destined? Throughout Oedipus the King, the concept of fate and free will plays an essential part in the destruction of Oedipus. A person’s fate is not a thing of destiny; no human being can change it.

All throughout Oedipus the King, Sophocles has Oedipus on an unknown journey from ignorance to knowledge. Oedipus believes that he has nothing to do with the murder of King Laius even though the truth is laid out in front of him multiple times. As the story goes on, Oedipus begins to become more open-minded to new information that has an unknown cost. Therefore, through the journey to recognition, the once great and powerful Oedipus, can cause his own demise. Sophocles demonstrates that ignorance will blind one from the truth and knowledge will open one's eyes.

“Is it endurable that I should hear such words from him? Go and a curse go with you! Quick, home with you! Out of my house at once!” (7). Oedipus was easily angered. He was a prideful individual who tried everyway possible to avenge the death of Laius, his real father. He did not want to listen to anyone who told him that he is the one who killed Laius and will not accept the prediction about his life and refused any idea of his fate. His pride also played apart in his eagerness trying to find the killer of Laius. He believed that he was the only one who could figure it out and wanted to show off. This led to him finding out that he had killed him! And eventually realized his wife, Locastus, was his mother! This is a wonderful example that shows that pride comes before

During the conversation between Oedipus and Teiresias, Oedipus’ perpetual denial and rebuttal of Teiresias’ truthful claims causes the audience to experience frustration towards Oedipus, resulting in the reveal of his selfish character. When Teiresias refuses to tell Oedipus of his knowledge regarding the situation in order to protect him, his rage provokes him to say, “You planned it, you had it done, you all but killed him with your own hands” (lines 331-332). Even though Oedipus is unaware of the full truth, he immediately becomes defensive once his character is questioned. Not only does he deny everything Teiresias says, which the audience knows to

“People of this city, look, this man is Oedipus,/ Who guesses the famous riddle, who rose to greatness,/ Envy of all in the city who saw his good fortune./ And now what a fearful storm of disaster has struck him.”(1478-1480), was the final quote of the chorus in Oedipus the King. Regardless of how recognized, wealthy, or successful one is their true greatness lies in with inner qualities, such as righteousness, nobility, and fidelity, rather than in external qualities. This idea, that was established in the Athenian tragedy, written by the playwright, Sophocles, in 429 B.C., has continued to be valued nearly two millennia later. This tragedy stresses what can happen if one believes he/she is too great to take wisdom of others into account. Believing that one is above everyone else can cause substantial flaws that leads to one’s downfall, as it happened to Oedipus. As emphasized in the play, having an over-sized ego not only affects oneself, but potentially those one cares about as well.

Oedipus the King was very hubris, and he was very arrogant. He only cared about himself, he thought that he was better than everybody and that he was on a God level. He married and slept with his mother, then had kids with her. He did not know that it was his mother at the time. But after he did realize it was, he knew that his family was cursed. Oedipus stabbed out his eyes hoping he would never have to see their faces again because he knew that it was wrong. But that didn't stop anything, the gods didn't stop there. Years later, and after Oedipus moved away from Thebes, both of his sons died in war and Antigone hung herself. His life had become worse than it already was, and nobody thought that it could. Oedipus and his selfish ways led

A possible reason for his ignorance, and a fascinating twist, could be that Oedipus had originally believed that he was the murderer of Laius, and knew at the time of the story, that he had married his own mother (Daniels and Scully, 26). All the public cursing, the whole "Now my curse on the murderer" (Sophocles, 172) was really a spectacle to throw the suspicion off himself (Daniels and Scully, 26). However, most literary scholars don't believe this, as Oedipus does seem to display a great deal of remorse when he realizes that the prophecies about him are true. If it is all a setup by Oedipus, then he is both extraordinarily intelligent and stupid, by hiding the truth for so long and being self destructive at the same time (Daniels and Scully, 26). Most believe that "Oedipus has simply chosen to ignore a real possibility" (Daniels and Scully, 21). Howard Clarke said that "[Oedipus] reaches a point where he is, literally, the captive of what he is searching for." (Clarke, 593). He reached a "point in his search where he is carried along on the tide of his of his own discoveries" (Clarke, 593). A part from these interesting interpretations, Oedipus Rex can be read from cover to cover as a normal detective story with all the basic elements; suspects, crime, clues and an investigator. The whole plot rotates around one significant event, which was the killing of Laius. So now we have the crime stated, we

Oedipus has been damned to suffer his fate. The word damned is defined as being

The tragic fall of Oedipus in Sophocles play "Oedipus Rex" is both self-inflicted and result of events drawn from his own destiny. First off early on in Oedipus ' life his first deadly mistake towards succeeding his self-inflicted downfall was the murder of his father the former king. In a blind rage without any motive, he kills Liaus and his men at a rode crossing. Fate may have had led him to that point but it was his own rage that resulted in his biggest mistake. Further evidence of his self-inflicted downfall Oedipus ' was at the hands of his own ignorance. This ignorance combined with his stubborn, determined attitude does not allow him foresight. This foresight would have led to some restraint in his decision and rash actions.

Therefore, Oedipus’ strong desire to seek the truth is what leads him to his ironic downfall. Sir Tyrone Guthrie makes sure that everyone who has information belonging to the murder of King Laius or Oedipus true parents comes to Oedipus rather than him seeking the information. This shows how all the answers are being fed to Oedipus but he does not make any sense of it. Creon foreshadowed Oedipus downfall when he explained that “time alone shows a just man, though a day can show a name” which led to Oedipus gauging out his eyes for the wrong doing he did (Guthrie, Oedipus Rex, 33:13). Sigmund Freud would recall this from his patients having unresolved feelings for their parents that led them to get sick or self-inflict themselves, like Oedipus, as punishment. Though, Freud’s patients have also “…imagined themselves killing