Human Actions In Oedipus The King

The Greek drama “Oedipus The King” evidently leads to the unveiling of a tragedy. Oedipus, the protagonist of the play uncovers his tragic birth story and the curse he had been baring his whole life. Oedipus is notorious for his personal insight that helped him defeat Sphinx, which lead him to becoming the king of Thebes. He is admired by the people of Thebes and is considered to be a mature, inelegant and a rational leader. From his birth, his story began with a prophecy that Oedipus would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. Through out the play numerous people, who tell him of his unknown past, visit Oedipus. Blind to the truth he casts them away until a blind man named Therisis gives a sight of truth to Oedipus. As Oedipus learns the truth he realizes the great evil his life carries. After finding his wife and also mother hung in her bedroom, Oedipus blinds himself with the gold pins that held Jocasta’s robe. Oedipus blind to the truth is finally able to see when the old blind man visits him and tells him the truth about his life. Both metaphorically and physically sight plays a significant role in understanding the irony of a blind man seeing the truth while Oedipus who isn’t blind doesn’t seem to the truth that’s right in front of him.

This information makes Oedipus uneasy. He recalls having killed a man answering Laius' description at this very spot when he was fleeing from his home in Corinth to avoid fulfillment of a similar prophecy. An aged messenger arrives from Corinth, at this point, to announce the death of King Polybus, supposed father of Oedipus, and the election of Oedipus as king in his stead. On account of the old prophecy Oedipus refuses to return to Corinth until his mother, too, is dead. To calm his fears the messenger assures him that he is not the blood son of Polybus and Merope, but a foundling from the house of Laius deserted in the mountains. This statement is confirmed by the old shepherd whom Jocasta had charged with the task of exposing her babe. Thus the ancient prophecy has been fulfilled in each

Oedipus’ doom was already predetermined by an Oracle at Delphi before the moment of his birth; thus, despite what choices the people who played a

This story is a perfect model for a great tragedy because it emphasizes on human weakness and man’s inability to change his destiny. “Oedipus the King” was introduced by Sophocles in which he introduced the achievements of Oedipus. It takes you on the journey or Oedipus and this tragic things that he goes through. Although Oedipus was a good person and a true hero, he was the unfortunate one to discover that the gods were only playing with him. Oedipus has everything a man of that time could ever want: he has a great wife and children, he becomes the king of Thebes, and has great fame throughout the lands. “The world knows my name; I am Oedipus.”

You should not be telling Oedipus to trust these prophecies. I have had many encounters with them, and they are not as trustworthy as they may seem. You are my brother, and I want peace between you and Oedipus. This is a childish drama that does not need to escalate from here on out. The whole community does not need two men fighting over something so pointless.

Oedipus the King was written by Sophocles and was is titled Oedipus Rex in Latin. It is one of the most well-known Greek tragedies. As is the case with Greek tragedies—or roughly most tragedies that make their way to stage—fate plays a key role in the events in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus discovers there is a plague on his city. The only way to lift the plague is by slaying the former king’s killer. As the play’s acts unfold one discovers about the prophecy concerning Oedipus. The prophecy states that Oedipus is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. But was this just by chance or his predetermined fate.

The plethora of examples of Oedipus attempting to prevent the prophecy from becoming true is dramatically ironic, the entire audience can see the truth is right in front of his face however, his determination that was established and known to everyone, prevents him from completing his own mission every time. If Oedipus was not determined to prevent the prophecy, he would not have fulfilled it. Additionally, he was doomed to fulfill the prophecy because he believed he could avoid it. Nevertheless, his fate was sealed by his actions of determination. Oedipus reveals his determination when he interrogates Creon, calls for Teiresias, threatens to banish Creon and Teiresias, calls for the servant who escaped the attack on Laios, calls for the shepherd who brought him to Corinth, and demands to be exiled. Throughout all of his actions he goes in with a certain intent that causes rash decisions to be made and divulges his most substantial flaw which is determination.

Oedipus is ashamed of himself and unsatisfied with his situation, even though it is not his fault. The gods wouldn’t have made the prophecies come true without the help of the oracle, which delivered the prophecies to Oedipus’ parents. It is obvious that the gods were planning to this fate before Oedipus’ birth, because through the oracle, they announced the two prophecies while Jocasta was pregnant. Above that, the gods didn’t mention Oedipus’ blindness in their prophecies; but instead, they mentioned only Oedipus’ shameful crimes that involved both the father and the mother. The purpose of this was to make both parents agree to kill their child, for Laius didn’t want to be murdered by his son, and Jocasta didn’t want to marry her son. This fear of terrible destiny led the parents to kill their child. On the other hand, if Laius and Jocasta hadn’t known about the prophecies, they would’ve kept the child, and thus he would know his parents, which makes it impossible for the prophecies to come true.

We have observed that prophecies usually end up being true in Greek Mythology. We have seen some examples of successful prophecies in The Iliad and The Odyssey. However, Oedipus thinks he is smart enough to avoid his prophecy. I argue that Oedipus must have known that prophecies have a tendency to come true. He should have known this because he is an intelligent man – just not smart enough to change his divine path.

Early on in the story, the Oracle of Delphi informs Oedipus that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. What an oracle says is unconditional, bound to happen no matter what, and no one, including Oedipus, would have been able

Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, is a play about how Oedipus lives his fate to kill his father and marry his mother, and both are extremely bad in the Greek society, although he thinks he will get out of it. The Greek notions of high power of the gods and fate, Oedipus' primarily the result of King Laius' and the things he has done also attempts to defy the gods, consequently Sophocles states prophecies from the gods of someone's fate should never be ignored. Prophecies from the Oracle of Delphi are said to King Laius and Queen Jocasta, and to Oedipus. Sophocles said prophecies should not be ignored for a reason and when King Laius went to the Oracle of Delphi and got a prophecy that his child, Oedipus, was going to kill him and marry his

Title: Oedipus Rex Author: _Sophocles Date of Publication: 429 BCE__ Genre: Tragedy Oedipus Rex Motifs and Symbols: ~Sight and Blindness: Prophecies see the past, present, and future and are portrayed as an influential and common source of information for the king. Oedipus blinds himself in the end signifying that throughout the whole play he was blind to his own fate. ~Oedipus’ swollen foot: Since birth, when he was bound at the ankles, he has had a constricting and confined movement in his life.

Oedipus’ destiny or fate had little to do with his downfall. The prophet told Oedipus that he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother, but the prophet never mentioned Oedipus murdering Laius on the highway, or solving the Sphinx’s riddle, or accepting and taking advantage of his kingship. Oedipus blinding himself was an example of free will, “for he removed from…[Jocasta’s] garment the golden brooches which she was wearing…” by choice “…and struck the sockets of his own eyes..” blinding himself Free will and hubris, according to the ancient Greeks, were separate from unavoidable fate. Oedipus’s fate was to kill his father and marry his mother. However, everything else, including fleeing Corinth, solving the Sphinx’s riddle, and finally pursuing the truth about his life, was by his own free will, a direct result of his ego and pride. Oedipus Rex is a story about the dangers of pride and arrogance, one teaching about the importance of humility and tolerance, and one stressing about the control of hubris, a potentially perilous quality that destroyed Oedipus’s vision and his life.

Although Jocasta claims that she does not believe in oracles, at one point she and Laius believed in them wholeheartedly. When Jocasta tries to console Oedipus, she says, “There was an oracle that once came to Laius, - I will not say that it was Phoebus’ own, but it was from his servants - and it told him that it was fate that he would die a victim at the hands of his own son, a son to be born or Laius and me (11). Laius and Jocasta trusted the prophecy so much that they were willing to kill their own son to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. They knew that if the boy lived, there was no choice but the prophecy to be fulfilled; therefore, since it is deemed a guarantee that all of

From the juncture Oedipus came to life, he had to bare with a curse generated by simply being his father’s son, making his destiny an unpleasant one. The prophecy exposed to him sinister dark secrets, saying he will assassinate his father and marry his mother. Because it is a prophecy meaning no matter what he does, it will materialize, Oedipus tries to avoid