Oedipus Search For Truth

He goes out on his search to find the murderer of King Laios, and he does. Unfortunately, it was himself, but he was still able to reveal who did this horrible crime. "Oedipus promises to save the city and drive out the plague" (Sophocles 10). He is successful because he was able to find the murderer of his father, but it turned out to be him. Oedipus is able to save his city by banishing him from feeds. I did this punished himself because he accidentally murders his own father; King Laios which he did not know was his father at the time. Oedipus is able to save his city by banishing himself from Thebes. Oedipus then punishes himself because he accidentally murders his father and then marries his mother. The innocent people of Thebes are now free from the plague, which is what the goal of the search for justice was. The search is successful because when he goes on the surge, he has a goal. The goal is to find the murderer and lift the curse, and he does just that. Oedipus is successful in a search for

The city of Thebes happens to have a plague and it's people are very worried. In order to end this plague, Oedipus has to decide if he wants to help or not. When it came to making such decision, Oedipus showed justice by looking for the killer of the king that ruled before him. He took to an understanding that in order for his to be well, he had to get justice from the horrible man that did such thing.

In Aristotle's work, the tragic hero can get caught up by hamartia which ends up leading him to his downfall. In Oedipus the King, which is a tragic play that is written by Sophocles it shows King Oedipus having many different flaws that are under the protection of hamartia that include madness, stubbornness, and pride that soon that end up leading to his final death. Oedipus shows an attitude of stubbornness during the progression of the play. Oedipus' stubbornness is uncovered early in the play when Tiresias who is a prophet of Apollo, mentions to Oedipus to terminate the investigation of Laius' killer. Oedipus quickly disagrees with him, he wants to find the man who murdered Lauis and brought the plague upon Thebes. Oedipus states, "By all the gods, do not deny us what you know. We ask you, all of us, on bended knees." Tiresias' persistence to withhold the truth is demolished by Oedipus' stubbornness and madness. Tiresias surrenders to Oedipus' stubbornness and states the truth which outrages Oedipus; "...The murder of the man whose murder you pursue is you." Oedipus stubbornness is so overpowering that he disregards Tiresias' bluntness without even a slight thought. Oedipus' statement, "To your heart's content. Mouth away!" which obviously shows his stubbornness when he disregards Tiresias' prophecy and regards it as gibberish. Oedipus' stubborn persistence will ultimately lead to his mother's death. At the end of the play Oedipus becomes aware that he was adopted and instantaneously investigates his origin. Jocasta, Oedipus' wife hesitantly encourages Oedipus to end his identity search, fearing that Oedipus would learn of his shameful sins of killing

To support this, Oedipus is stunned when Tiresias, one of his loyal subjects, refuses to tell him what happened so many years ago. “What? You know and you won’t tell? You’re bent on betraying us, destroying Thebes?” (Sophocles, line 377). Automatically, Oedipus assumes the worst of Tiresias. He believes this man is trying to betray him and his city. This quick to anger moment shows just how Oedipus thinks if someone doesn’t give him what he wants. Enraged when he hears the truth, Oedipus lashes out “You, you scum of the earth!” (Sophocles, line 381). This quote just shows how butt hurt Oedipus is when he learns about his faults. When hie ego is damaged in the slightest way, he becomes temperamental and hot headed. “No, I can’t say I grasped your meaning. Out with it, again!” 411. When Oedipus hears the truth, he lashes out, not wanting to believe in such accusations. This just shows that Oedipus can't bear the truth. “You're blind to the corruption of your life!” (Sophocles, line 471). Tiresias lashes out at Oedipus with this statement. This evidence shows just how childish Oedipus is. He doesn't think about his own faults or what he has done in the past.

Oedipus uses Tiresias as a counselor since he is a soothsayer, however the two have a very strained relationship, Oedipus summons Tiresias since he wants to learn who killed Laius and save Thebes, essentially forcing Tiresias to provide Oedipus counsel. Tiresias proceeds to reluctantly reveal the murderer bluntly by “[saying] that you are Laius’ murderer” then by reiterating it in a more cryptic form (Sophocles 14). However, Oedipus was too prideful to realize the truth and that he fits the prophecy he has heard his entire life that Tiresias recites. One of the problems in the relationship is that they strongly dislike each other and say hateful comments to each other. For example, Oedipus calls Tiresias the “worst of traitors,” while Tiresias calls Oedipus “the abominable

When the priest says, “You came to Thebes, you freed us from the tax we paid with our lives to that rasping Singer...we need now the great power men everywhere know you possess. Find some way to protect us”(41-50), it exhibits how great of a leader and hero he was to the city. The deeper he searched for the man to end this plague, however, the more horrid it got. The more information he received, he began to connect the pieces from his past. Not only did he figure out the man he killed on the path was king Laios, but it was his biological father. His fear of the prophecy that the oracle told him was becoming true. play gets even more tragic as he realizes that the queen he had four children with was his mother, who kill herself before he finds the truth. Oedipus gauged his eyes outs after seeing her dead body. Oedipus was blinded from the truth his entire life. When he finally learned the truth about himself, it blinds him.

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.

In Sophocles’ tragic drama Oedipus the King, Oedipus, the king of Thebes, suddenly realizes that he killed his father and marries his mother. Oedipus shows great concern for his kingdom and his people, calling to “drive the corruption from the land” by bringing Laius’s murderer to justice (109). He summons Tiresias to find Laius’ murderer, but Oedipus becomes enraged when Tiresias accuses Oedipus of being the murderer. Oedipus, thinking that Creon is involved in this so-called conspiacy as well makes false accusations against Creon. Much to his surprise, however, Oedipus learns that the man he killed long ago is Laius, his father, and that Oedipus’ wife, Jocasta, is his mother, all in

Oedipus the King is a tale that starts out with the city of Thebes suffering from a drastic plague and their king, Oedipus wants to find out why. Creon is sent to find the reason why the plague is occurring, and sends Tiresias to tell Oedipus the oracle. The oracle says that the murderer of Laius must be found and punished. This caused Oedipus to proclaim that he would do everything so that he could to find the murderer. Tiresias says that the murderer is Oedipus, but Oedipus is quick to disagree. Oedipus came to the towns of Thebes because of a prophecy that was given to him. He was told that he was to kill his father and even sleep with his own mother. Once the story comes to an end, the

Oedipus has sight but lacks the ability to fully comprehend situations in multiple scenes. He is unable to interpret many clues given to him along the way, ultimately leading to his wife’s (and mother’s) death along with his own downfall as well. Oedipus requested Tiresias to help him stop the plague by figuring out who killed Laius, the past king of Thebes. When Tiresias was hesitant to tell Oedipus that he was the true murderer, he recanted all the praise he gave the prophet and said, “You will not explain / what you understand, but rather intend / to betray us and destroy the city. / … You worst of wicked men!” (Sophocles 348-350, 353). With this, the wise Tiresias said, “You have found fault with my anger, but your own, / living within you, you did not see, but blamed me” (Sophocles 356-357). His anger for not receiving what he asked of Tiresias was blinding, even though in the end it brings his Fate to the

Tiresias takes pity on Oedipus and refuses to tell him the information that he knows, he tells Oedipus to abandon his search for Laius killer and continue to live blindly. Eventually he breaks, and tells Oedipus the truth, that it was him who killed the king, who was also his father. Jocasta, who is Oedipus wife, and birth mother, tells Oedipus to ignore the prophet, and again abandon his search. She recounts the murder of her former husband, and tries to convince Oedipus that he couldn't have been responsible, because he was killed at a crossroads by multiple bandits. The crossroads detail catches Oedipus's ears, and he begins to wonder if he could have been the one to kill his

The truth that Sophocles is trying to communicate in Oedipus Rex is that the truth is a powerful thing. This truth is communicated in Oedipus not knowing that he is the murderer of Laius, then finding out; the result of Oedipus and Jocasta discovering the truth, and all the horrible events that are caused by this truth. The plot of the story is the uncovering of the truth for Oedipus, which causes Oedipus to gauge his eyes out and for Jocasta to commit suicide. It is about the hardships faced whilst not knowing this truth. Oedipus suffers through not knowing, discovering, and harmful events after discovering he is the murderer of Laius. His hardships last all throughout this play - making it a tragic tale, to say the least. This suffering brought upon Oedipus is caused by the truth that his prophecy has been fulfilled and he has killed his father and married his mother, like the prophecy says he shall.

At the beginning, Oedipus is ignorant and is constantly avoids and ignores the truth in order to protect his reputation. Oedipus’ unwillingness to open his ears to the truth develops when Tiresias reveals that he killed Laius and one of his responses is, “Your words are nothing-- / futile” (416-417). Although Oedipus begged to hear Tiresias’ words, he was not willing to pay attention or open his eyes to the unfortunate idea. Oedipus pushes aside the words Tiresias says, refusing to believe that he could be the one who killed Laius, the one who must be cursed. Later, Tiresias brings up Oedipus’ ignorance saying “you’re blind to the corruption of your life” (471), and telling him a few lines later that “No man will ever / be rooted from the earth as brutally as you” (488-489). Oedipus was put in his place and blatantly told that he is ignorant but his rise to knowledge will also bring his demise. Sophocles foreshadowed using Tiresias in that way, but Oedipus was so into avoiding any confrontation with the truth at the beginning that he would respond calling Tiresias’ visions “absurdities” (494). Therefore, even though the truth has been revealed to him, Oedipus still chooses to remain blind to the truth in order to remain good in the eyes of his people.

Detective fiction works from Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” to Chandler’s Chandler’s The Big Sleep contain the common theme of searching for the truth or solution. Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 is no different, as the main character Oedipa struggles to figure out the mystery that is Tristero. However, unlike other detective fiction novels, she doesn’t solve the mystery despite her persistent search for order and truth. Additionally, much of the narrative is chaotic and unpredictable, differing from other stories with patterns and answers. Hence, Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 illustrates a detective character failing in her search for truth, deviating from common rules and structure, to further highlight the crazy, paranoid society

The play begins with Oedipus declaring that the person guilty of Laius’ murder, and bringer of the plague on Thebes, shall be found and punished. Unknowing that he is the murderer Oedipus curses the criminal “I pray that that man’s life be consumed in evil and wretchedness.” (Sophocles, Oedipus Rex.1.1.234), and calls for Tiresias to aid him in his search. However Tiresias blames Oedipus as the criminal, “I say that you are the murderer whom you seek.” (Sophocles, Oedipus Rex.1.1.347). Oedipus spends the rest of the play trying to prove his innocence, until the truth of his acts was revealed. Overwhelmed with guilt for committing incest, Jocasta hangs herself in her bedroom and Oedipus stabs his eyes out with her brooches. Devastated by his actions Oedipus says, “I do not know how I could bear the sight of my father, when I came to the house of Death, or my mother: for I have sinned against them both so vilely that I could not make my peace” (Sophocles, Oedipus Rex.2.5.1318-21), justifying guilt as the reason for blinding himself.