Oedipus The King Research Paper

Jocasta sends Creon home and demands Oedipus tell her what is going on saying, “Tell me, my lord, I beg of you, what was it / that roused your anger so?” (697-698). Oedipus is hesitant at first, but reluctantly tells her stating, “Creon says that I’m the murderer of Laius. … He sent this rascal prophet to me, since / he keeps his own mouth clean of any guilt” (705-706). Jocasta is quick to deny the claims of her brother saying “Do not concern yourself about this matter” (707). She then tells the story of the death of Laius in the hopes of easing Oedipus’ mind. Unfortunately, the death of Laius is very similar to a time when Oedipus, blind with rage, killed a group of people, who happened to be on the same path, after they threatened him. Jocasta attempts to convince Oedipus that these were different occurrences with little success, until a messenger comes to say King Polybus, Oedipus’ father, has

Oedipus, outraged at the accusation, denounces it as a plot of Creon to gain the throne. Jocasta appears just in time to avoid a battle between the two men. Seers, she assures Oedipus, are not infallible. To prove her point she cites the old prophecy that her son should kill his father and have children by his mother. She prevented its fulfillment, she confesses, by abandoning their infant son in the mountains. As for Laius, he had been killed by robber’s years later at the junction of three roads on the route to Delphi.

     From before Oedipus was born, he was doomed to kill his father and marry his mother, a very cursed fate. Throughout his life, the readers learn that Oedipus tries his hardest to avoid this dreadful proclamation; however, the gods were against him before he was even in his mother's womb, so Oedipus and the readers quickly learn that there would be no way for him to avoid

Jocasta tells Oedipus about the prophecy that Laius will be killed by his son. Oedipus began to panic and believe that he was Laius’ murderer. Feeling guilty of incest and parricide, he is willing to accept his punishment, but he has yet to fully understand the

In Oedipus the King, the oracle warns Laios that his son would kill him and marry his mother (703). When Laios’s wife gave birth to their son, he sends him away to die. Surprisingly, “he gave the baby to a shepherd to be exposed on Mount Kithareon…Laios increased the odds against the child’s survival by piercing and binding his feet, so there was no chance he could crawl away” (703). Laios thinks that because of his actions his son is free from his fate. He decided to let someone deal with the removal of his son instead of killing him himself. Laios didn’t want

“No human being possesses mantic skill./ I’ve brief but cogent evidence of that./  An oracle once came to Laius from ( let’s say) Apollo’s servants, not the god, declaring that whatever child was born to him and me would cause Laius’s death; but he was killed by strangers… Laius didn’t die the way he feared”. Lines 709- 722. This quote stated how Laius was prophesized to be murdered by his own blood, but at this moment Jocasta believed the prophecy was untrue.  She thought the prophecy was false because the only son Laius had with her had been left to die as a infant. Unfortunately,  Laius was so afraid of the prophecy that he had sent for a messenger to leave his son on a mountain to die rather than taking control and raising his son as his own.  If Lauis had raised Oedipus, the prophecy would have not come true because the messenger would never have given the child to the shepherd. This

In Oedipus's speech, it is asked that if anyone knows who the murderer(s) of Laius is/are, they should not keep quiet out of fear of being condemned. For whoever is responsible for the murder is believed to be the one responsible for the curse mentioned on the dialogue. It would be in the best interest for anyone with any knowledge to step forward.

What qualities set a tragic hero apart from an archetypal hero? According to Aristotle, a tragic hero must possess qualities such as a noble birth, some form of a tragic flaw or mistake, the loss of something valuable, and to be considered morally or ethically like the audience or better than them. Sophocles’ character Oedipus would be deemed a tragic hero due to the fact that he is highborn, prideful, and loses his eyes and throne by the end of his story. Oedipus became the King of Thebes by defeating the sphinx that plagued the city, ironically though, after murdering Laius, the throne was technically already his.

Doom sets in for Oedipus and soon, it’s confirmed beyond any shadow of a doubt that he killed Laius. Sophocles writes, “Holds them [brooches] and rams the pins right through his eyes” (Sophocles 70). The physical danger of what would happen to the person Oedipus wished the fate upon and how they would react that he overlooked to uncover the truth becomes all too relevant when he blinds himself with Jocasta’s brooches. Just as happened with Howard in the film, the physical danger that Oedipus ignored came back to haunt him.

Later Oedipus summons the prophet Tiresias for answers but when he arrives he accuses Oedipus himself of killing Laius. Oedipus pride causes him to mocks and rejects the prophet angrily, ordering him to leave him.

“How dare you disrespect the king of Corinth,” the servant shouted at Oedipus. If the servant never pushed Oedipus out of the way for Laius, Oedipus wouldn’t have killed laius leaving the group of servants at fault. Oedipus ran away from home because of what the Oracle had told him. The servant, not knowing who Oedipus is, caused the anger and started the tragedy.

all to light.” (12) Although Oedipus' determination to find the killer of Laius may be

In Greek tragedy, it is said that as individuals we fail because of our actions. However, the gods play a major role in determining an individual’s fate. The play, Oedipus The King, is about an orphan who runs away from his adoptive parent’s home.

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.

He finds the murderer of Laius as he vowed to and drives him out, but it would surely have been better for Oedipus to stay ignorant of the truth. Tiresias and Jocasta both warned him away for his own good, but the nature of fate and destiny in Greek tragedy ensures that they could not have done anything to stop him. Oedipus’ success in discovering Laius’ killer was ordered by the gods. He only started his search for justice when Creon came back from Delphi with the news that the murderer must be punished to drive out the plague. Because of this command from Apollo as well as Oedipus’ own drive to seek justice, his success was