Oedipus The King: Summary

The Greek drama “Oedipus The King” evidently leads to the unveiling of a tragedy. Oedipus, the protagonist of the play uncovers his tragic birth story and the curse he had been baring his whole life. Oedipus is notorious for his personal insight that helped him defeat Sphinx, which lead him to becoming the king of Thebes. He is admired by the people of Thebes and is considered to be a mature, inelegant and a rational leader. From his birth, his story began with a prophecy that Oedipus would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. Through out the play numerous people, who tell him of his unknown past, visit Oedipus. Blind to the truth he casts them away until a blind man named Therisis gives a sight of truth to Oedipus. As Oedipus learns the truth he realizes the great evil his life carries. After finding his wife and also mother hung in her bedroom, Oedipus blinds himself with the gold pins that held Jocasta’s robe. Oedipus blind to the truth is finally able to see when the old blind man visits him and tells him the truth about his life. Both metaphorically and physically sight plays a significant role in understanding the irony of a blind man seeing the truth while Oedipus who isn’t blind doesn’t seem to the truth that’s right in front of him.

The theme of sight and blindness is undoubtedly important to notice while reading Oedipus the King. The number of times the words “see” or “blind” are in the play make it make it undeniably obvious that they are significant. The theme is developed throughout the dialogue, through characters such as Tiresias and Oedipus, and also directly in the irony of the play. It is important in a play about the truth because almost every character was “blind” to the truth. All of the characters, except one, can physically see, but mentally cannot see the truth.

In Oedipus the King, Sophocles uses his protagonist, Oedipus, to explore his pursuit of knowledge, which leads to his tragic destruction. Oedipus is a favorable king who is determined to end the curse that has been brought upon the city because the murderer of his predecessor, Laius, still lies in the city. Ironically, Oedipus delivers the curse to the city because he murdered his father, Laius. Oedipus’s desire to gain knowledge and bring the murderer of Laius to justice, results in his downfall, which causes the people around him to be greatly affected as well.

People’s actions, feelings and behaviour towards others have a large effect on their fate. Some citizens in society have flaws that cause them to make bad decision in their lives and cause trouble for themselves, even if it may happen unknowingly. Acting without thinking of repercussions and behaving in difficult ways are all examples of how people can self-inflict their fate. One man that demonstrates these issues and causes major problems for himself is Oedipus from the story King Oedipus. Oedipus’ pride, impetuous behaviour and lack of insight ultimately determine his inevitable fate.

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,

Many ancient Greek dramas have similarity. The story begins with the prophecy from the Gods. And the end of the story always comes out in tragedy. In addition, all Greek drama also contain the chorus in between the scenes in the story. The chorus has many purposes that affect the main character and audience’s appreciation and perception of the play. One of the famous drama, Oedipus the King which is written by Sophocles. In between the scenes of the story Oedipus, there are the choruses. The chorus provides short information before the scene starts to audiences in order to make them understand the events that are going on the story. And the chorus giving an impression of the next scene to the audiences.

"Know thyself" is a theme that resonates throughout the play "Oedipus the King" by Shakespeare. The main character, Oedipus, experiences and inevitable self-discovering journey that forever changed him internally and life as he knew it. Eventually, his downfall occurred due to his lack of knowledge about those around him, and most of all, himself.

In classical Greek theatre, the Chorus is an instrumental stage character comprising of a collective of twelve to fifty actors who aid in bridging the gap between the stage performers and audience members. The role of the Chorus is beneficial to the thousands of spectators in large-scale amphitheaters by leading audience reactions with the use of rhythmic song and dance. Specific to Sophocles’ tragic play Oedipus the King, the Chorus represents a band of Theban Elders, who provide three literary roles: provide the audience a summary of background information near the onset of the drama, perform as an interactive group of actors within the drama, and serve as a commentary to important developments during the performance.

Creon soon became the official King of Thebes. Time passed by, and more problems arose. Antigone and ismene, the daughters of Oedipus, were found dead under a tree. Now, Creon was forced to find out who the murderers were. He spent nights and days trying to find the killers. This soon wore Creon down to depression. He always thought that it would be easy to be king. He never wanted to have all the responsibilities of protecting his people. His effort showed that he was not fit to be king. In fact some villagers tried to overthrow him. The villagers screamed that he could not solve anything,. They feared for their lives. They went on strike, and even threw a rock through his window. Creon was struck with awe when the people voted on having Oedipus come back as king. Creon could not believe what he was hearing. After years of torture as king, Creon decided that he had enough, and sent four messengers to inform Oedipus of his decision. He thought that anyone would be a better fit for king than he was. Meanwhile, miles and miles away in a desolate country was Oedipus in an old dusty prison cell. He sensed he was in one because he could feel tiny rats run over his feet. Food was sent under the door to him every five hours, but Oedipus was not hungry. He no longer had a reason to eat. For months, the same words repeated over and over again. “I killed my own father.” Oedipus banged his head against the wall every time he pictured his mother in bed from the past when they were married. Although he could no longer see anything, he

Many plays have grand plots only to be matched by the grand settings these plays take place in. However, in many plays portraying every action relevant to the plot on-stage is simply impractical for the materials/time required for the play and for the story itself. Off-stage action are important to the play in Oedipus the King so that the story can be portrayed in a more efficient manner without constant scene changes and ridiculous amounts of props and backdrops, for the audience to better understand the limited perspective of the characters, and to maintain secrecy and confusion throughout the play.

He was the visionary ruler with a moral compass and ruled his kingdom for 5 years. He was a noble man and appreciated by all the people of his kingdom as a caring and compassionate ruler. Married an year ago, he wed out of love rather than the customary arranged marriage prevalent then. Committed to his new Queen, the king was infatuated by her long, sexy legs, dark black hair, elegance, style and overall beauty and charm. They met at a royal celebration at a friend of his and within minutes, the king had become straight away mesmerized with her quick wit, smooth grace and overall gorgeousness. He was aroused by her intellect and wanted to marry her desparately. After a fast, dedicated and extreme romantic affair he achieved his dream. It took

Many people say Sophocles lived a very unknown and mysterious life but, his legacy memorable plays still live along generations today. One of his most famous plays that tends to be memorable to most people is Oedipus the king because Oedipus is an obvlious ignorant king who tries to blame everyone in his circle and soon realizes he's the killer, and runs away from all of the chaos. In the short article, written by Bernard Knox it relates to Oedipus the king because of how civilization is like in the city of Thebes and how there is conflicts within and outside the kingdom. Also, back then people thought it is very important to be apart of this kingdom but many people who were not from this city had a different perception of how their

After reading Sophocles’ play, Oedipus The King, I had mixed emotions as to how I would feel about Pasolini’s film version of Edipo Re and the loose adaptation of Sayles’ film Lonestar. In her essay, Marciniak remarks, “By watching an adaptation we want to prolong this magic, but the strong wish to revisit the beloved world of the book through film produces a feeling of hopeful expectation mixed with anxiety because the film is going to interfere with a world that is treasured and cherished in our hearts.” (61) Indeed, I was experiencing this mindset as I prepared to view both films. Moreover, after reading the play and viewing the two films I came to the conclusion that all three versions have a pleasingly unique touch to the Oedipus myth. Urbano said it best when he stated that, “new meanings and new pleasures can arise from free transmigration of stories among media.” (178) In fact, in each adaptation I discovered common reflective themes that make it possible for all three works to easily intertwine in my mind. The manner in which each author/auteur manipulated their creations, through use of various mediums, allowed me to experience each world with an open mind; thus, giving each work its own acknowledgement as a distinctive creation with a worthwhile storyline. The most interesting common topics that I found within each making were that of blindness and insight. All three adaptations demonstrated, in their own way, the importance of knowledge or lack of knowledge and

This production of Oedipus the King begins with the people of Thebes arriving at the town square. The people of Thebes are seen suffering from various illnesses and disabilities. Oedipus then comes forth from his palace and addresses his people, promising to find the cause of this plague and to bring an end to their suffering. Oedipus had already sent Creon to Delphi to speak with Apollo’s oracle and see what is troubling the city. Creon gets back with word that once King Laius’s murderer is found and convicted, the plague will stop.

Aristotle, in his work The Poetics, tries to delineate the idea of a tragedy. Throughout his work Aristotle says that the hero, or at least the protagonist in a tragedy must be substantially good, almost godlike. This hero must bring upon themselves their downfall, due to their fatal flaw. If the hero is not at a high point, an audience will not care about them, and won’t notice their fall. One must fall a long way in social class in order for it to be noticed by the outside man. Oedipus perfectly exemplifies a tragedy, in relation to modern society, effectively showing how too much pride can often lead to downfall or doom.