Oedipus The King By Sophocles

In “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe and “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles, both Okonkwo and Oedipus possess tragic flaws, which lead to their eventual downfalls, thus making both “Oedipus The King” and “Things Fall Apart” fall under the category of tragedy. This aside, these aspects of their personalities in these texts by Sophocles and Achebe are not helped by the negative twists of fate that seem to make the problems with their behavior more pronounced, thus more tragic in the end. Due—is the nature of fate as it functions in terms of tragedy and the tragic elements of both of these stories, both Oedipus and Okonkwo are partially to blame for their demise, but on the other hand, each of these characters possesses traits that seem to invite tragedy. The difference of both these stories is that Okonkwo bears more responsibility for his downfall than Oedipus, simply because he had more opportunities to change the course of his fate. Oedipus, on the other hand, despite his rash actions, is more a victim of fate than Okonkwo.

Many people believe that fate has planned out their lives and despite efforts on their part what was meant to happen, will eventually happen. This belief has been handed down over the centuries from some of the first civilizations, such as the Greeks. However, not all Greek citizens wanted destiny to take control of their lives. Some decided to choose freewill over the will of the gods. In Oedipus the King, Sophocles writes a cautionary tale meant to warn the doubters in Greek society that regardless of their beliefs in gods and prophecies, it is necessary to heed their warnings. Oedipus, Jocasta, and Laius are Sophocles’ characters that prove that escaping one’s fate is not possible, as each of their predicted fates is realized despite extensive efforts to thwart them.

Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, follows the tragic story of a king named Oedipus who goes from an all-powerful ruler to a hopeless blind peasant. Oedipus the King was written as a play and performed in front of an audience. Sophocles shows in Oedipus the King that one cannot escape the fate of the gods. Throughout the play Oedipus struggles to find a solution and change all the troubles in his life. The play observes the story of Oedipus who defies the gods and through the journey experiences hardships in tragic flaw, tragic fall and tragic realization.

Oedipus the King was written by Sophocles and was is titled Oedipus Rex in Latin. It is one of the most well-known Greek tragedies. As is the case with Greek tragedies—or roughly most tragedies that make their way to stage—fate plays a key role in the events in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus discovers there is a plague on his city. The only way to lift the plague is by slaying the former king’s killer. As the play’s acts unfold one discovers about the prophecy concerning Oedipus. The prophecy states that Oedipus is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. But was this just by chance or his predetermined fate.

The ancient Greeks were famous for their tragedies. These dramas functioned to “ask questions about the nature of man, his position in the universe, and the powers that govern his life” (“Greek” 1). Brereton (1968) stated that tragedies typically “involved a final and impressive disaster due to an unforeseen or unrealized failure involving people who command respect and sympathy. It often entails an ironical change of fortune and usually conveys a strong impression of waste. It is always accompanied by misery and emotional distress” (20). The play, Oedipus the King, by Sophocles definitely demonstrated the characteristics of an impressive disaster unforeseen by the protagonist that involved a character of

Individuals often blame people for their wrongdoings without consideration of the gods’ role in society which can lead to false accusations. When people are controlled by higher powers, such as gods, they are not responsible for their actions because the gods have already planned their life out for them. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, King Oedipus is accused by the people of his city of some wrongdoings, the murder of his father and the incest with his mother. Sophocles uses the idea of fate to show Oedipus’ innocence and lack of control. This imagery shows that Oedipus was controlled by the gods and was unable to control his actions even though his intent was to save his parents from his prophesied downfall.

Sophocles’, The Theban Plays, takes place during the intellectual experiments in the Age of Enlightenment in Greece. The Theban Plays is dramatic literature consisting of a trilogy of plays: Oedipus the King, Oedipus of Colonus and Antigone. Oedipus the King and Oedipus of Colonus were written in a very male-focused manner. Throughout these plays, Sophocles’ main characters and main plots are written around Oedipus, Creon, Polynices, Tiresias, Theseus and very few spotlight is given to the female figures such as Jocasta, Antigone, Ismene, and Euridice. After Oedipus the King and Oedipus Colonus, Antigone comes into play in a protagonist role. Sophocles’ play, Antigone, represents a never before seen type of ‘woman power;’ or what in today’s era can be referred to as feminism—“the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes” (Merriem Webster). Antigone’s characteristics are symbolic of feminism—she is a woman who goes against the male dominated government, a woman who is strong and courageous, but even more so a woman who is willing to sacrifice her life to fight for what she believes in.

The people throughout Oedipus’ life trues very hard to allow him to escape his fate of killing his father and then marrying his mother. In the epic poem Oedipus the King, Sophocles tells the story of the tragic downfall of Oedipus. Although many people see the role of free will that brought upon Oedipus’ doom, no matter what choices were made throughout his life, his ultimate fate would always return.

Through the interactive oral presentations, our class learned about the Greek religion and culture surrounding the life of Sophocles when he wrote Oedipus The King. Before the interactive oral assignments were presented, I understood the themes of hubris and sight on a low level. The interactive oral presentations really strengthened my understanding of why Sophocles used these themes in his story about a king who falls from power. Now I know that hubris was a hated characteristic in this time period and that is why Sophocles wanted to demonstrate how bad it was to his audience.

In the play, Oedipus the King written by Sophocles the main character Oedipus goes through many tragedies that presents him as serious and superior to ordinary man. Oedipus’ character does not show how he is like an ordinary person. He is shown as a hero who is greater to the ordinary man then again sometimes, he is view to be inferior to the ordinary man. Throughout the play, Oedipus plays blindfold. Oedipus character acts more as if he has no part in the situation that occur. When Oedipus opens the search of the death of King Laius. That is the first step toward his downfall. Oedipus then covers up the murder when he hears the news. The investigation leads Oedipus’s discovery of more information about the murder and his fate.

When we think about a tragic play or protagonist, most people would think Shakespeare for his common theme of his plays to end with a tragedy. In Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, tells the tale of the protagonist Oedipus. Throughout the play, Oedipus searched for his past to discover the reason why his kingdom is plagued with wilting crops and illnesses. In the end, he becomes a tragic protagonist after discovering his past was related to the previous king’s death. While the search progressed, he demonstrated his personality to be not what he desires to show to the public. This causes the audience to develop a short of hate-love relationship, or in this case, katharsis.

As one of the most outstanding Greek tragedies of all time, Oedipus Rex invokes a great mix of pity, disgust, melancholy, and fear upon the reader. At times, the audience may fear Oedipus to transform into a tyrant, as he lambasts Creon and threatens him with death. At other times, the play gives way to melancholy and pity in moments like when the shepherd describes his inability to leave young Oedipus to die on a mountain. Sophocles crafts a story that is able to both revolt and empathize with the audience, and this is one of the main reasons why it is named one of the greatest tragedies of all time. It causes the listener to reflect on their own lives, and draw similarities and differences between their experience and Oedipus’s; and by doing

exercising his free choice by making bad decisions . Oedipus certainly meets these portrayals of a tragic hero. The dialect of tragedy consists of two circles: one is a relative point and the other is impacted and the effect on its audience. Sophocles and Aristotle’s achieve that task with absolute clearness. The modern reader, coming to the classic drama not entirely to the enjoyment, will not always surrender himself to the emotional effect. He is apt to worry about Greek ‘fatalism’ and the justice of the downfall of Oedipus, and, finding no satisfactory solution for these intellectual difficulties, loses half the pleasure that the drama was intended to produce . In dramatizing stories, there will dependably blends of passionate sentiments, suspense, and fervor to discover what’s

Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, has risen many questions concerning the main character and whether or not he acts on free will or if his future is predestined by the gods. I am going to test the theory that although Oedipus believes he is acting on his own free will, he is in fact a victim of the gods. I will analyze several different sources that discuss fate and human agency in Oedipus the King and then proceed to build my original argument on the archaic debate.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles is more than just a basic tragedy. It contains a complete combination of all the features of a tragedy. I find Sophocles' King Oedipus interesting. Not because of the whole incest thing, the killing of the father, and the sleeping with the mother. I am still too naive to appreciate the significance of that. I find Sophocles' King Oedipus fascinating because as I read it with attention, I realized how amazingly hard it was to write. Even though it’s a Greek tragedy and the reading is a little hard to understand. But, once someone gets inside the story line, its captivates one’s attention. I admit I enjoy less the content of the play than Sophocles' writing skill. When to retell a well-known story, one has to make the story enough convincing without relying on the end of the story. one must dislocate the point of the story from its end to rest. By doing that the story will not lose its appeal. One has to be a creator. So, you have to twist the whole story in such an irresistible way that it is compelling despite the fact that the outcome of the story is known. How do Sophocles solve this problem? By making King Oedipus the central character and unintentionally the architect of his own downfall. The strengths that once lead him to solve the riddle later served as his own destruction. To make a story more appropriate to the stage, which is dealing with flashbacks, forward-moving energy of the story must accommodate with the backward references that