Oedipa’s search for truth is caught in a paradox: On one hand, she is (or at least believes she is) in search of “absolute” meaning; on the other hand, that meaning is concentrated around herself and is shutting her off from the world around her in a subjective circle of signification where the communicational void she wishes to escape is filled with illusions of meaning. Oedipa’s search is fueled by a belief that it will bring to an "end her encapsulation in her tower (Pynchon 31)." The complication to her journey is that all language (truth, communication, meaning, etc.…) is founded in entropy, on a waste of force that alone makes possible the fictional constitution of abstract truth. In The Crying of Lot 49, Pynchon uses the ideas of entropy in thermodynamics and information theory (through Maxwell’s Demon) to more fully delve into Oedipa’s paradoxical search for meaning in a world that has created, forgotten, and rediscovered it’s own truth.
Thermodynamics is the study of the relationship between heat and other energies. It deals with the changes within a system if the energy distribution in that system is unbalanced. Thermodynamic entropy is the measure of this chaos in the universe. In beginning of The Crying of Lot 49, Oedipa Maas realizes that she exists within "the confinement of [a] tower, (11)” that is similar to a closed system. Entropy thrives in closed systems; therefore, if she does not open her system she is doomed to slow degradation, till she is nothing
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.
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,
Both the reader and the characters develop similar problems in dealing with the chaos around them. Like Pynchons' reader's, Oedipa is forced to either work toward interpreting the trail of seemingly indecipherable clues being tossed in her wake or forgo it all and walk away in bewilderment. Like the reader by deciding to go on, however aimlessly, she is forcibly drawn out of the complacency of her own existence; into a chaotic system of intrigue that reaches far beyond her normal scope of understanding. In the same turn, like Oedipa the reader's role is also based on interpreting numerous symbols and metaphorical clues as a means of stumbling upon a legible conclusion that will stop the madness. Each of them arriving at a different conclusion or none at all solely depended upon how far the use of our perceptions will allow us to go. Unfortunately both Oedipa and the reader (myself included) are overwhelmed by the myriad of inconsistencies and masked innuendo saturating this book from cover to cover. Unable to sufficiently distinguish between what is real and relevant and what is unreal and irrelevant, both are left feeling disconcerted and
Charles could see Erik giving up as sharply as he felt it, the small spark that he’d come to label in his own mind as ‘life force’ dwindling to an ember and extinguishing. He was stepping forward before he could stop himself, blooding rushing in his ears against time as he spoke. “Dēsístite!“
In Sophocles' play, Oedipus, the King, there are various instances where Oedipus tries to escape his destinyenlightenmentonly to discover the truth that he cannot. Similarly, in Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" the prisoner travails to understand and adjust to his newly visited environment. In both works, the men first had to realize their ignorance before they could begin to acquire knowledge and true understanding of the complexities of the human condition. Specifically, in Oedipus, the King, it was Oedipus' illusion of himself as a man unequaled in leadership whereas in "Allegory of the Cave" it was the prisoner's initial refutations of enlightenment being shown him until he realizes its intellectual, spiritual, and social significance.
“The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves”, quote by Sophocles. Sophocles is a ancient Greek writer who created multiple plays including the tragic and heartbreaking play called Oedipus the King. Oedipus the King is a tragedy about a young king, Oedipus, who tries to help his land from disease by finding the murderer of the former king. But by solving this mystery Oedipus unravels a tragic truth about his family and fate. Over past years, they’ve been controversy of whether Oedipus is known as a tragic hero. A tragic hero is someone who makes a mistake or error that eventually leads to someone's downfall. Although there are many ways supporting Oedipus as not a tragic hero, there are multiple characteristics that define Oedipus as a
Oedipus is referred to as “Everyman” because he represents both the wise and the foolish people. He also represents pathos and hubris. For example, he and Tiresias accuse each other of blindness and arrogance; blindness of the truth and excessive pride. People of Thebes look up to Oedipus as somewhat of a God and savior, however hey do not directly compare him to a God. Therefore they expect him to heal the city’s wound.
Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus the King, stresses the idea of who is blind and who can see by demonstrating that one cannot simply just run away from their mistakes and issues. As the story unfolds, each character makes several attempts to hide from the truth. Though the foul truths may seem to be masked within the darkness, they are eventually brought into the light, shining over the devious lies placed before it. Nevertheless, the real question lies within whether or not the person receiving the truth can endure it. By coping with the truth, one sees, but by denying it, one stays blind. One way or another, however, problems arise, secrets come out, and chaos ensues because one cannot stay blinded from the truth forever.
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, entropy can be defined as “the degree of disorder or uncertainty in a system.” In his novel, The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon manipulates the definition of the scientific term “entropy” to manifest the innate chaos and disorder in both a closed thermodynamic system and in the life of the protagonist: Oedipa Maas. In the novel, Oedipa Maas explores entropy with respect to the thermodynamic sorting of molecules in Maxwell’s Demon, and the communication information regarding the “Tristero”. According to Warren Weaver’s, Recent Contributions to The Mathematical Theory of Communication, there are technical, semantic, and effectiveness problems that may distort the accuracy of communication,
The most famous scene in Sophocles’, Oedipus Rex, is when Oedipus gouges out his eyes. But, that’s not the only example of sight and blindness in this play. In Sophocles ' plays there was always extensive content where he paid considerable attention to the element of “spectacle” in his plays. When observing the theme of vision, it invites the audience to look at the action with a double perspective, through their own eyes and through the eyes of those on stage. Within this play, sight and blindness are the underlying themes. Sight is commonly associated with light or positive overtones, and blindness is attached to darkness or negative undertones. The approach to describing blindness deals with not only physical blindness but also metaphorical blindness. Oedipus ' blindness changes from bad to worse at different scenes of the play. Although the word "blindness" seems quite simple, it can be very debatable. Blindness or the inability to “see” consist of two elements; Oedipus 's ability to see vs his desire to see. Throughout many scenes, the two elements are used in pattern form. Some scholars mention the two aspects of the play in addition to discussing the theme of knowledge. Lazlo Versenyi, Thomas Hoey, Marjorie Champlain, analyze the play from different perspectives. Versenyi says the play was “a tragedy of self- knowledge”, with the use of terms
Following the victories of the Greeks invading the Persians at Marathon in 490 B.C. and Salamis in 480 B.C., Athens experienced a period of social optimism and period expansion during the first half of the fifth century B.C. The second half of the fifth century B.C. was also very successful in that Athenians tremendously developed culturally and intellectually. This was the era of Sophocles and a period where everything and anything seemed possible through man effort and reason. Sophocles wrote a trilogy of tragedies, which contained of 3 Theban plays. Oedipus Rex, the first play in the trilogy, was written during a period of political instability and plague. In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, many themes such as the quest for identity, the nature of innocence and guilt, and the abuse of power are portrayed and are pivotal for the play to build up to the tragic ending.
In the play Oedipus the King, took place around 429 BC in a place called the royal house of Thebes. However, “many years have passed by since Oedipus solved the riddle of the sphinx and now a plague has struck the city.” it’s Oedipus fate that encourage him to make bad decisions. In the play Lysistrata, was introduced around 411 BC, during a war comedy by the ancient Greeks in a city called Athens. The annual theatre festivals started in Athens, which gave birth to democracy. Over a period of time, Athens was known as a city-state that was divided among four different tribes. Both plays were a part of the festivals, which were produced by the people and citizens. It was a gift for the entire city and they enjoyed it.
"Oedipus the King" is a tragic play showing a shift from the belief of fate to freedom of choice. Therefore, Oedipus the king is a great example of those who run from fate ends up fulfilling their fate
An illicit underground mail service, ran by highly trained assassins that originated in sixteenth century Europe and is still thriving in twentieth century America, obviously the story created by an insane person, yet Oedipa Mass, of Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, has made her life devoted to unearthing this seemingly impossible gang in the 1960’s. Named co-executor of the will of an eccentric wealthy ex-boyfriend, Peirce Inverarity, Oedipa is told about a rare stamp collection owned by Inverarity that was comprised of fakes, all with similar water marks, symbols and inconsistencies that Oedipa eventually concludes must belong to an elaborate illegal mailing service named W.A.S.T.E. and further attempts to convince herself that this service is controlled by a murderous group known only as Tristero. To prove the existence of such a group, Oedipa runs through a rather elaborate internal appeal to logos to prove to herself through reason, logic, and facts that the Tristero exists. While she does collect evidence and testimonies that suggest to the groups activates, Oedipa’s major support to the group’s current state is deduced logically to remove any chance of some other possibility existing about Tristero’s doings. Though the conclusion of a deduction is meant to be infallible, Oedipa purposefully makes errors in the establishment of many of the premises required to make any sound conclusion. Though each deduction appears probable at first glance, deeper analysis