Oedipus Character Analysis

Although Oedipus’s fate was already determined, he is not just a mere puppet of the gods, meaning he can control his own life. Before full knowledge of his unintentional incest, he tries to flee town in order to avoid marrying his mother. By doing this he is taking matters

At the beginning Oedipus is characterized as a great leader. For example, he solves the riddle of the Sphinx, which is the winged female monster that terrorized the city (Sophocles 487). Here we can see how Oedipus is clever and smart. In result the people of Thebes respect him for his cleverness and reward him as King. People even look at him as being almighty when it comes to handling problems such as, when there is a plague that is killing people, animals and made women give birth to nothing. They knew he would help as long as he was aware of the situation. “We’ve come because you are the best man at handling trouble or confronting the gods” (Sophocles 487). This statement shows how people depend on him and look at him as a great leader. It also shows how he is a man of action and looks after his people as a king should. With that being said, he is told to find the killer of Laios and either banish them or kill them to stop the plague. Likewise, he did what he is commanded to do, he obeys the god and search for the killer that killed the previous king. Furthermore, he follows instruction and is concerned for himself and the people of Thebes. “My heart grieves for you, for myself, and for our city” (Sophocles 487).

Oedipus is a man of unflagging determination and perseverance, but one who must learn through the working out of a terrible prophecy that there are forces beyond any man’s conceptualization or control. Oedipus’ actions were determined before his birth, yet Oedipus’ actions are entirely determined by the Gods who control him completely. In the beginning of this tragedy, Oedipus took many actions leading to his own downfall. He tried to escape Corinth when he learned of the prophecies that were supposed to take place in his life. Instead, he

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

victim of fate and his own psychology. His curiosity brings about his downfall. Ancient Greek plays weren't just portrayals of some obscure tale, but were insights into human nature. Oedipus, although a victim of circumstances, digs his own grave by curiously unravelling his past. Jocasta foresees his doom and begs him to stop, but to no avail. The curiosity of Oedipus forces him, almost like a drug, to explore the mystery regarding his birth. This curiosity is not something extraordinary in Oedipus - it is an intrinsic attribute of human nature.Knowledge is not always desired - whether it is Adam or Oedipus, their curiosity caused their eventual downfall. Oedipus was ill-fated since birth. He did not know that Laius was his biological father and therefore killed him. He arrived at Thebes, solved the riddle of the Sphinx, and married Jocasta without knowing that she in fact was his biological mother.He begot children and was living happily with his family when a sudden calamity struck Thebes. The calamity, though at first seemed public in nature, but later proved to be very personal for Oedipus. It drives home the fundamental truth about uncertainty of human life. That Laius was slayed by his own son, even after much precaution, proves the helplessness of humans in front of the designs of fate.Oedipus's mutilation of his eyes is also fated. It was committed by him in the heat of the moment and was certainly not a rational decision. It is evident to any modern reader that

As soon as you started reading anyone could tell that Oedipus thought he was perfect and nothing or nobody could dethrone him. But no matter how hard you try you can't escape destiny. When he was a baby his parents found that his destiny was to kill his father and marry his mom. They made the decision to send him to die. He was tie up just waiting to die when a Shepherd walk by and saved him. The shepherd took him to King Polybus and Queen Merope , they took care of him and he always thought they were his real parents. But you can never escape destiny. Which is why he went started as a hero but later on became a villain.

The Greek myth of Oedipus is a story surrounding Oedipus, the king of Thebes in Ancient Egypt and his relationship with his family members, specifically his mother and father. There are many different versions of the myth written by Homer and other well-known writers from the Ancient world. Although Oedipus tried very hard not to, he ended up fulfilling a dangerous prophecy, that brought disaster to his family and the city.

Oedipus tries to prevent his horrible fate from unraveling, but it still did. When he was in the crossroads of a forest, he ends up killing an old man in self defense and when he arrives in Thebes, it turns out that the old man was King Laius, unbeknownst to him. After solving a riddle by the Sphinx, he won the hand of Queen Jocasta. Oedipus tried to escape from his fate, but his ignorance of his birth caused it to start to unravel. Oedipus commits sins of murder, incest, torture, etc.

Hubris in the Worst of Times Not all prophecies in Greeks mythos came to pass, proving that it is possible to evade these "fates". The story of Oedipus is not like that. Oedipus falls right in the hands of the Fates when he makes the selfish choices he does. The king is too proud to find fault in himself, too ignorant to listen, and too selfish to think of anyone but himself. There were ways to avoid this, but he never did the right thing.

     The heart of the story unravels when Oedipus apparently begins to suffer a reversal of fortunes. At the beginning of the play, Oedipus is referred to by the priest as the “king of the land, [the city of Thebes’] greatest power” (16). Through all of Thebes he is thought of as a hero, a man who saved the city from the Sphinx and in his bravery has promised to find the killer of King Laius in order to save the city from doom and death. However, at the climax of the story Oedipus learns that he has been “cursed in [his] birth, cursed in marriage / and cursed in

Unfortunately, this leads him to do a brutal acts in the future. After what the King had done the god’s, then use their power to prevent Oedipus fate to unknown himself. Although, Oedipus had a heroic imagine to Thebes that would hide the real him from the people he would worry about in the town. Oedipus had the ability to handle various situations. Eventually, Oedipus becomes king, which that makes him gain more respect from Thebes not only that, but he gets to marry his own mother. Furthermore, Teresa, the prophet, explained to him the reality of the scene about the destruction, which the reason was that Oedipus had been expelled from the Gods’ for killing his father and marrying his mother causing the god’s outraged to the plague. Oedipus becomes fully aware of the fault of those wrongdoings the ones that makes him show his attitude flaw. He accepted the answers he received, but with total ignorance. Not only

Oedipus Rex was generally a “good” person; he was a caring, fair ruler to the people of Thebes, and tried to relieve his people, whom he lovingly referred to as his “children”, of all hardships that came. By calling his people his “children”, Oedipus is looked at as a father-figure and is respected by his people. He earned the title as king after solving the Sphinx’s riddle and lifting the plague from Thebes. He then married Jocasta, the recently widowed Queen of Corinth and his mother, which he did not know at the time. When Oedipus was born, an oracle had told his parents, the rulers of Corinth, that he would kill his father and marry his mother. In horror to this news, his parents had left the baby to die on a mountain side, where someone found him and raised him as their own. Oedipus learns the truth of his fate years later, he vows to leave the city of Corinth and lead a noble life, which would prevent this horrendous fate from occurring.

Oedipus displayed his faulty character throughout the play by showing how he is filled with ill-temper and pride, especially during his confrontation with Apollo’s blind prophet, Tiresias. He allowed his own hubris to take over him, eventually leading to his disaster at the end of the story. Now, some critics may argue that Oedipus did not actually go through a downfall in the play, but when looking back at the definition of a tragic hero, it can be seen that there are evidence to prove that Oedipus is a tragic hero.

Oedipus was a man who had a short temper. He became enraged when King Laius ran him off the road, so he killed him and all of his men except one. This was the beginning of the downfall of Oedipus. From here Oedipus comes into Thebes and saves them from the sphinx and married Jocasta who was King Laius’ wife. This was the downward spiral of his prophecy coming true, killing his father and marrying his mom. The one man that got away from the murder of the king and his men later identified Oedipus as the murderer and the baby of Jocasta and Laius. Oedipus’ anger continued throughout the story, he got enraged at the prophet for revieikling him as the murderer so he teamed up with Creon to overthrow him. Oedipus’ anger gets out of hand on multiple accounts and never changes, making him a static character throughout the story.

Oedipus did not have a fair start in life. His father, Laius, heard prophecy that Oedipus would one day kill his father and sleep with his mother. In order to prevent this, Laius gave Oedipus to a shepherd to be killed. Fortunately, through a string of events, Oedipus's life was saved, and he even went on to become the honored king of Thebes. Despite this feat, Oedipus still managed to make several decisions that ultimately fulfilled the original prophecy told to Laius, and inevitably sealed Oedipus?s fate.