The Border Between Right And Wrong In Oedipus The King

My grandma repeatedly stated that, “Life is full of injustice, but we have got to deal with that and move on.” Individuals always face injustice, and the way someone responds to this shows their true character. Most writing pieces develop around this theme, and their respective author innovate entertainment through this process. In Oedipus Rex, the main character, Oedipus, is placed in a tremendously difficult situation. He faced a great deal of injustice and the manner in which he responds is utterly incredible.

Oedipus is one character who responds to injustice from the “Oedipus Plays,” particularly in “Oedipus Rex.” The plague is put on his kingdom due to the death of the King. He did this response to this injustice by going on a journey to discover the truth and lift the curse from the city of Thebes. Oedipus is appalled by the injustice occurring, and succeeds on his journey for justice which was highly significant.

Robert Anthony once said, "The problem with worry is that we attract the very thing we are trying to avoid." This quote directly relates to the Greek tragedy Oedipus the King by Sophocles. In this play, Sophocles gives Oedipus the tragic flaw, hubris (excessive pride in oneself), which eventually causes him to run into his fate that he wanted to escape.

Fate is the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power. It is a very common theme used in literature. We’ve seen examples from stories such as: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Iliad. We’ve been reading Oedipus the King written by Sophocles. My main thesis that I would be talking about is if: Oedipus was actually a victim of fate, or did he deserve what he got.

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.

The pursuit of justice is an endeavor that many find to be challenging and a quest itself, as one will come across various trials and complications that may stop them in their pursuit or may mislead them. As humans, we find moral correctness and righteousness a very appealing state to be in, as justice will act as a platform to satisfy the desire for this correctness. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, we meet our miserable anti-hero, Oedipus, in his pursuit for truth and righting the wrong of the plague that is affecting his people of Thebes. As he makes efforts to solve this problem, he comes to find out that he is the source of the issue, thus exposing the tragic flaw of Oedipus and effectively making this play a very effective Greek tragedy. This pursuit of righteousness ends up being the downfall of Oedipus. In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex, Oedipus pursues justice through his realization of his past, his interactions with various characters in the play, and comes to understand more of justice in his situation through his reactions to adversity in this play, in order to portray a questionably successful pursuit of justice.

Thank you for your attention, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, on this very important case. The defendant, Oedipus, has been falsely accused with patricide and incest. Oedipus was completely unaware of the fact that Laius and Jocasta were his parents, so can we really say that he had committed patricide and incest with intention.

In Oedipus the King, Sophocles uses his protagonist, Oedipus, to explore his pursuit of knowledge, which leads to his tragic destruction. Oedipus is a favorable king who is determined to end the curse that has been brought upon the city because the murderer of his predecessor, Laius, still lies in the city. Ironically, Oedipus delivers the curse to the city because he murdered his father, Laius. Oedipus’s desire to gain knowledge and bring the murderer of Laius to justice, results in his downfall, which causes the people around him to be greatly affected as well.

We are all born little happy babies. Then we start to learn words and understand what surrounds us. We are taught to react to certain things negatively, and have a bias towards some things that other family members do not agree with. You get taught things that make life miserable, like doubt, fear and worry. If you were to be living life in doubt, worry, or fear, you would be unhappy. I agree with the choruses statement saying that the human condition is essentially an unhappy one because we get taught things that are supposed to sadden us during our upbringing. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus’s fate shows his sorrowful life when he went through hardships like the curse on Thebes, denial of himself, and the worry about the fulfillment of his prophecy.

Because Oedipus knows nothing about the past of Thebes, he is not an assassin. Oedipus committed murder but unknowingly of who King Laius was. Oedipus' honor was his claim against the murder. Had it been the other way around and Oedipus had lost the battle, King Laius' alibi would have also been for reasons of honor: for reasons of royalty. Oedipus was royalty and knew it as well did King Laius. The main idea behind Oedipus' innocence is this "royalty." Regardless of either of their class standings a fight occurred and the one to start had been King Laius? men, or group, the fact that they lost is not the fault of Oedipus. In other words, King Laius and his men wanted to discipline Oedipus for not

Fate chose him to kill his dad, marry his mom, and discover it all in Oedipus Rex, Sophocles’ tragedy. Oedipus was so determined to save Thebes from the plague bestowed on them by Apollo. But little did he know that he was the source of it all. His constant reversal of fortune, neutrality, and suffering make him the perfect example of a classic Greek tragic hero.

Conscience, in modern usage, term denoting various factors in moral experience. Thus, the recognition and acceptance of a principle of conduct as binding is called conscience. In theology and ethics, the term refers to the inner sense of right and wrong in moral choices, as well as to the satisfaction that follows action regarded as right and the dissatisfaction and remorse resulting from conduct that is considered wrong. In earlier ethical theories, conscience was regarded as a separate faculty of the mind having moral jurisdiction, either absolute or as a representative of God in the human soul.

During Sophocles’s time in Athens, a plethora of social and political issues were present in its society. These issues are modeled and demonstrated through a series of examples and circumstances in Oedipus the King. Sophocles uses the story of Oedipus’s downfall as an example to the Greeks and a reflection of the current affairs in his life. He goes into further interpretation when using the city of Thebes to re enact how life is in Athens to give a more relatable of easier understood outlook on the troubles his city faces. The problems Sophocles highlights are very prevalent in modern day America as well. The same social problems Sophocles writes on are the same ones we face today in our everyday lives. Our government faces many controversial problems and questioning of leadership skills just as Sophocles showed in Oedipus the King.

Hans Rockwell 8/26/17 Question 1 Question 1.) One of the responses people usually have about Oedipus is if he really deserved the fate that he ended up with. It’s not his fault that Jocasta and Laius tried to outsmart fate and dispose of him.

Aristotle's Poetics: Comedy and Epic and Tragedy comments on the reflection of reality by it's very imitation. As with comedy being an imitation of the inferior and ugly, the role of the epic and tragedy follow the roles of characters of great importance. The idea being that only those of importance are even noticeable in the eyes of the gods, since mankind is relatively insignificant and are nothing more than an amusement to the gods.