Oedipus The King: A Brief Summary

Oedipus tells Creon that he is a traitor, because he thinks Creon told him to send the prophet, Tiresias, to find out who killed King Laius. Oedipus thinks that both Creon and Tiresias were plotting against him, by saying Oedipus was the person that killed the late king. Oedipus’s pride takes over and blames Creon for doing this in order to become the next king. Also Oedipus demonstrated his power by attacking Teiresias, “Monster! thy silence would incense a flint. Will nothing loose thy tongue? Can nothing melt thee, Or shake thy dogged taciturnity?”(Oedipus Lines 339-341). He refuses to listen to his advice and warnings due to him being blinded by excessive power 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!“

     Throught Oedipus Rex, Oedipus displays his heroism many times. From the Prologue of the play to the moment in which he leaves Thebes, Oedipus' heroics are extremely apparent; however, at the same time, the decisions which make Oedipus a hero ultimately become the decisions which bring him to shame and exile.

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

In the opening lines of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus introduces himself saying “Here I am myself—you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus” (7-9). With this declaration, Oedipus asserts his importance and universally renowned identity as the man who solved the riddle that freed the city of Thebes from the Sphinx. A large part of Oedipus’s character, therefore, is to determine the answers to questions unknown; his ambition stems from his desire to realize the truth. Oedipus recognizes that he must do something to save his people from the plague that is slowing destroying them because he “would be blind to misery not to pity [his] people kneeling at [his] feet” (14-15). Oedipus sends Creon to seek out the oracle for guidance, and Creon returns with a message and suggests that he tell Oedipus the news in private behind closed doors. Oedipus, however, wants to show his openness to the truth and tells Creon, “Speak out, speak to all us. I grieve for these, my people, far more than I fear for my own life” (104-106). When Oedipus learns that he must find the murderer of Laius in order to rid Thebes of the plague, he declares that he will “stop at nothing” to “lay [his] hands on the man who shed [Laius’s] blood …” (302-203). Oedipus declares that he will fight for Laius as if the man was his father, a statement that contains a

Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, is a play about how Oedipus lives his fate to kill his father and marry his mother, and both are extremely bad in the Greek society, although he thinks he will get out of it. The Greek notions of high power of the gods and fate, Oedipus' primarily the result of King Laius' and the things he has done also attempts to defy the gods, consequently Sophocles states prophecies from the gods of someone's fate should never be ignored. Prophecies from the Oracle of Delphi are said to King Laius and Queen Jocasta, and to Oedipus. Sophocles said prophecies should not be ignored for a reason and when King Laius went to the Oracle of Delphi and got a prophecy that his child, Oedipus, was going to kill him and marry his

Once Oedipus was grown up, he heard about this fate and went on the road to Thebes to escape it and killed a man. He becomes ruler of Thebes when he solves the sphinx riddle and his people are in a plague and ask for his help.. “ I know; I learned of him from others; I never saw him(8)” he actually did see him because he murdered him. “ Eventually he finds out he murdered the king of Thebes. “Put your questions. I am no murderer(30)” this quotation shows the arrogance Oedipus holds within. Oedipus has always known everything and he fears this would change everything.. And this reality tears him away from all that he has believed. Oedipus’ pride forbids him from seeing the truth---that he killed Laius. This quote also relates to Creon since he did not want to admit Antigone was doing the right thing because he did not want to seem weak.

Getting out of the bed in the morning is always hard, especially when one doesn 't want to. It 's your bubble and the longer you stay there, the harder it is to leave, yet you can 't see the wonders of the world from inside that safe space. One would be blind to the truth, they would be living a false life, one deprived of the truth they can not see. Exactly how Oedipus was in Oedipus the king, where Oedipus was blind to see his truth from his ignorance of not knowing what he was missing from his life, but is finding the truth, really worth it?

Ever since the dawn of time, it appears that psychics and fortunetellers attempt to predict the future. Some people believe that these fortunetellers benefit people in allowing the freedom of choice when dealing with an important decision. The classic Greek play, “Oedipus the King,” by Sophocles, demonstrates this belief of predicting the future. Along with this argument comes the question of whether we truly have the freedom of choice. According to Bernard Knox, Oedipus had only one freedom throughout the play: the freedom of pursuing the truth. He believes that this sets up the tragedy and drama of the play. He further goes into saying how this freedom reveals his “courage, intelligence, perseverance, the qualities that make human beings

This play is different from a murder mystery because it does not end as soon as you find out who the killer is. Also, there is no twist for who the killer actually is. If the play had ended after the murderer was revealed, there would have been no explanation for what happened to the characters lives. Without doing this it would not have summed up the play and would have left the audience on a cliff hanger.

Do people believe in destiny? Nowadays, some people will laugh at the type of questions like it. However, destiny plays an significant role in the Greek mythology. Especially in Oedipus the king, this is a story about how human try to fight against the destiny and gods. Oedipus became the king of Thebes after answered the monster’s riddle correctly, he then married his mother Jocasta, which was the dead king’s widow. However, even though he escaped from the country where he grew up, but he could not avoid the terrible curse happened. Laius, the father of Oedipus, tired to avoid have any children, and later told his servant to abandon Oedipus in the mountains in order to stop the curse by the death of his child. What Laius did not think of was,

In the story Oedipus The King (Dramatic Tragedy), Oedipus The King plays a role that will ultimately determine his own fate in the end of the book. In the story we see many factors that play a role in Oedipus’s fate, and we see there are many factors that lead to Oedipus’s tragic downfall. In a book a character can be influenced by others and what others have done in the past, but ultimately the decisions is in the characters hands and is based off their personality which results in their fate. In the beginning of the story we can see that Oedipus’s character is displayed and it is first seen as heroic when he saves Thebes.

Oedipus the King finds his country under a plague, so to fix it he calls forth wise men and consults oracles. All the signs for the reason point to him. He then learns of a prophecy that was spoken over him as a child that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He comes to find out that his wife is indeed his mother and he did kill a man that happened to be his father while running from his home so he wouldn’t kill his father, who turned out to be his adopted father. He is so distressed at his fate coming to be that he gouges out his eyes.

The mystical being who held the city hostage. Years later a curse has fallen on Thebes, which can only be lifted by the prosecution of the murderer of the former king of Thebes. The king Oedipus dedicates himself to finding the murderer of former king, Laius. After questioning dozens of citizens including a blind prophet, he is told that he was the one who killed Laius. With pride and stubbornness as high as a mountain he goes out seeking answers. Which in turn was his biggest down fall. His wife Jocasta tells him to not believe in what the prophet says and continues to say that they’ve have been wrong before. “Or not” She then continues to tell Oedipus of the fate she was told. Which was how she and king Laius had a son who was prophesied to murder Laius and sleep with her, but she also said she had that child killed, so the prophecy couldn’t come true. She encourages him not to look, but he still goes seeking truth which will lead to his end. Oedipus goes on to question shepherd. The shepherd explains that long ago he found Oedipus as a child, a little baby left out in the wilderness. The old man claims that Oedipus is the

"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