Justice 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.

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 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.

Sometimes humans are incapable of making the right judgment or judge before we have our fact’s. This kind of judgment can do the damage we cannot reverse. In the play, Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles, is one of the prime examples of judging them without knowing facts. Oedipus Rex is a tragedy. A tragedy is a play that portrays a conflict between human beings and some superior, overwhelming force. It ends sorrowfully and disastrously, and the outcome seems inevitable. Oedipus the king, seem to be very quick to react and rage. Thebes is suffering a plague which leaves its fields and women barren. The king of Thebes has sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the house of Apollo to find how to end this plague. Creon returns, bearing good news: once the killer of the previous king, Laius, is found, Thebes will be cured of the plague. After hearing that Oedipus swears he will find the murderer and banish him. At the beginning of the play, Kreon inform’s Oedipus that they need to kill the man who had killed the king Laios in order to get rid of the deadly disease. Laios death will open so many facts that Oedipus isn’t expecting.

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.

Many times in life, people think they can determine their own destiny, but, as the Greeks believe, people cannot change fate the gods set. Though people cannot change their fate, they can take responsibility for what fate has brought them. In the story Oedipus, by Sophocles, a young king named Oedipus discovers his dreadful fate. With this fate, he must take responsibility and accept the harsh realities of what’s to come. Oedipus is a very hubris character with good intentions, but because he is too confident, he suffers. In the story, the city of Thebes is in great turmoil due to the death of the previous king, Laius. With the thought of helping his people, Oedipus opens an investigation of King Laius’s murder, and to solve the mystery,

Oedipus killed a person that just so happens to be his father and that makes him guilty. “Crimes worse than deadly done against them both”, says Oedipus, as he realizes the extent of his actions. He knew what he has done was way out of his control even though he fought hard to avoid his fate. Oedipus knew wrong was wrong, agreeing that his actions were indeed a crime.

Upon return from the war and a distressful and horrible 20 year journey, Odysseus come back to to his home, his wife and child in an unfortunate situation. His home being being taken over by wooers, his son's life, threatened, his wife being forced into a marriage she does not approve of and the woman servants raped and displaced by his own country men whom he served faithfully.{{In your introduction, include a brief summary, with the title and the author, and a thesis which address the prompt directly with 3 main points . Answer the question in the last sentence of your introduction. The 3 main points will each become 1 topic of each of your 3 body paragraphs.}}

When we were children, our parents would always tell us this famous quote “be careful what you wish for.” Wether it was, don't wish that you were never born, or you wish for that your father was dead because he got you the wrong barbie dream house that you wanted so bad for your fifth birthday. But for Oedipus, he didn't wish any of the above. Oedipus killed his father unintentionally, and because of that he won't be able to see his children grow up, or see them becoming the king or queen of Thebes. In the story Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus must be exiled from the city of Thebes, because he has killed the king of Thebes.

Oedipus stands accused of many charges no doubt but these charges do not have the justification to call him guilty. Oedipus has committed murder in a land where such a crime alone is enough to sentence someone to death. Furthermore, he was part of a horrifying insest with his own mother who comitted suicide for reasons indirectly related to Oedipus’s actions. The justification for Oedipus is that he was bound by the gods to commit such crime. No way of escaping it, Oedipus was led into a life he would have never chosen for himself.

In Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, the Chorus alters its view of Oedipus from initially comparing and identifying him as a god and heroic leader to then realizing he induced the plague upon the city; moreover, the Chorus eventually articulates its belief that Oedipus deserves his punishment, juxtaposing their original thoughts of Oedipus which later highlights his fall to instability. A murderer travels through the streets of Thebes, causing the Chorus, represented by the citizens and suffering a dreadful plague because of the wrongdoing, wants the killer captured; however, Oedipus, the king, wants to find who committed this crime, proving ironic because of prophecies revealing his responsibility in the misconduct. After Teiresias and Creon accuse Oedipus of

I believe that Oedipus is guilty for the murderer of King Laius, and that he ruined his own life. It was his choice to go see the oracle without his parents consent as seen in the beginning on page one. "doubting his parentage he inquired of the Delphic god and heard himself the prophesy declared before to Laius." After he heard this prophecy from the oracle he fled away soon meeting with his unknown father and killed him due to his short temper. "he fled from what he deemed his father's house and in his flight he encountered and unwillingly slew his father Laius." We are told this on the first page in the entrance

The border between what's right and wrong is a fixation of our human imagination , one can argue that there is no such thing as “ Power “ or a “ God “ but with everything out in the world there has to be an answer for us to understand hence why the stories and background of a certain “ creation “ are made. But what is that fine border or “ grey space “ between what is good and evil, right and wrong, controlled and freed, and what rights humans have that the universe ( Gods and Goddesses, science.. etc ) does not? In the stories of Sophocles we see this struggle in all of the characters merely because where they are from religion and the connection to “ Gods “ are the foundation of its society, the reason being that the inhabitants of the area want to know why things are, as well as want to believe in something that otherwise they can't explain. Because of this we see the division between those rights from each other, Sophocles underlined “ Oedipus was told by the oracle at Delphi that he was destined to murder his father and marry his mother.. Sphinx throws herself from her rock” ( 2 Oed ) The destiny of Oedipus is one example, the Gods had the control to Pre- Destin what would happen with his future but when the idea of human rights or human law comes into play they believe they can change what is set for him. That's why his parents tried to have him die because they believed that this grey space was much lighter than it actually is, showing that there are rights in both

Individuals are often victims of their own fate, meaning what was once seemingly impossible became truth through a predestined prophecy. Oedipus the King by Sophocles exemplifies the behavior of one who faces the grueling process of recognizing the truth; it reveals that people suffer whether they are oblivious or conscious of their own veracity. Consequently, people who go through the process of recognition often endure bittersweet results in their life; they are gifted with the reward of knowledge, but cursed by navigating the world with the truth they never wanted.