Oedipus: The Two-Face of Ancient Greece Essay

In the beginning of the play Oedipus meets Laios on a road. Both were driving chariots and neither would yield the right of way. Laios attempts to kill Oedipus’ horses but Oedipus reacts fast killing Laios attendants and his own father, Laios. Oedipus went to Thebes to help and destroy a monster and bless their town. Because of his heroic act, Thebes recalls him again to help and find the murderer who killed their king Laios and punish the man. Oedipus goes and does everything he can to get evidence and find the man who killed Laios the king: “Is this your prayer? It may be answered. Come, Listen to me, act as the crisis demands… Until now I was a stranger to this tale, As I had been a stranger to the crime. Could I track the murderer without a clue?” (Sophocles 1. 1. 204 - 209). Teiresias, a chorus of Theban, elders tells Oedipus he is the murder who killed his father and also mentions he married his own mother along with having children. Oedipus finds all of that to believe and what Oedipus does is find more people to tell him the truth. Jocaste, wife and mother of Oedipus, tells him through the play to not believe such a thing. In Act three Scene five, Shepherd the man, who took Oedipus to Corinth city’s reveals to him that everything is true. Oedipus makes the decision to gouge his eyes out making himself blind to not see the whole catastrophe. He begs Creon to send him away from Theban

My grandma repeatedly stated that, “Life is full of injustice, but we have got to deal with that and move on.” Individuals always face injustice, and the way someone responds to this shows their true character. Most writing pieces develop around this theme, and their respective author innovate entertainment through this process. In Oedipus Rex, the main character, Oedipus, is placed in a tremendously difficult situation. He faced a great deal of injustice and the manner in which he responds is utterly incredible.

“Why, tell me now, how stand your claims to prescience?... To solve her riddle, sooth was needed then, which you could not afford; even from birds...The unlettered Oedipus, and ended her, by sleight of wit, untaught of augury” (15). Again, Oedipus is showing his pride by mocking Tiresias and reminding him that he solved the riddle by being astute. This also leads to his downfall since Oedipus does not realize that Tiresias might be trying to convey something to him. If Oedipus did not insult Tiresias, he might have had another chance to avoid his fate.

Often the past will present answers to questions about the future as well as questions of the now, and in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus’ past plays an integral role in his pursuit of righting the wrongs that are affecting him in the present. In the play, Oedipus must identify who has killed Laius in order to exile them to solve the qualms of his people, and in a dialogue with Jocasta, who happens to be his wife as well as his mother, she reveals to him details of the death of Laius that seem far too familiar for his comfort (Sophocles 27). This revelation of information acts as a catalyst that forces Oedipus to make the connection between his past and what Jocasta is telling him. This realization that he may have been responsible for Laius’ death exposes him to the weight of the pursuit of justice sometimes hold for humans. Through this dialogue, Oedipus comes to fear that he is the culprit of the scandal that is plaguing the situation, thus putting him in the position of a criminal who will face the due punishment for the crime. This internal conflict that Oedipus experiences creates and

In the eyes of all the people, Oedipus was looked at as no better than a slave and was treated as no better than one as well. When being led by his older daughter Antigone after 20 years of exile from his homeland Oedipus and Antigone stumble upon the city of Colonus, a beautiful city governed by King Theseus. Oedipus entering the city in old rags, as a blind poor man is a contrast between Oedipus and the beauty of Colonus of which is easily revealed. (145). Here in the cities are where the Furies dwell. Those who commit severe sins, such as murder in Oedipus’ case, are pursued to these Furies. Oedipus, well aware that the Furies must punish him as an act of punishment from the gods, asks the chorus to tell him “their awesome names so I can pray to them.” (Sophocles 285). After all that Oedipus has suffered; after killing his own mother and having wed his mother, after being betrayed by his sons, after exile, after blinding himself so he would not have to look into the eyes of the horrors of life, “why is he merely not an obsessed and vindictive old man?” (Fitzgerald 148). Oedipus was and still is an intelligent man in the play, as wee see him going for the supreme importance of the

Oedipus is the king of Thebes and unknown to him he is married to his mother Jocasta queen of Thebes. He does not realize that many years ago he had killed his real father without knowing it. Oedipus is seen as god like to the people of Thebes because it was him who solved the sphinxes riddles. In the play he is accused by Teiresias of killing the king and Oedipus blames his brother in law and kreon of trying to over throw him. Then his wife Jocasta comes into the scene and tells a story of how the king was killed. It is then that Oedipus learns of his childhood and becomes more suspicious then ever. He then calls a shepherd and a messenger to help answer questions. The people tell him to stop asking about the death because he may not like the answer but Oedipus makes the ultimate sacrifice and continues to

The entire play comes to a tragic end. And with dramatic irony is clearly seen in the entire play. Oedipus killed his father and murdered his mother, but Oedipus and Jocasta did not find out until the end, Tieresias ' warnings and prophecy clearly portray the use of irony. Rhetorical questions are seen questioning himself or fate. What, born as mine were born?”

In Oedipus the King by Sophocles the mother Jocasta spent years married to her biological son, and bore his children. The play was written as a Greek tragedy in which the characters have a fatal flaw, and this applies to Jocasta. Right after King Laius and Queen Jocasta have their son Oedipus they receive startling news from the Oracle in which it is predicted that one day their son will rise up to kill his father, then marry and sleep with his mother. In order to avoid this King Laius decided to kill their son, and Jocasta willingly agrees. After years pass by, King Laius gets killed by a passerby, Jocasta is to marry the riddle solver, and life continues as normal. Almost all at once Jocasta’s life shatters, she finds out that her husband was killed by her son, she married her

Also, when Creon asks Oedipus the possibility that he is wrong when accusing Tiresias and himself, Oedipus disregards the needs and rights of other people in order to avoid the truth of the suffering that Tiresias has bestowed upon him: “‘What if you’re wholly wrong?’ ‘No matter-I must rule’”. Oedipus became rash and selfish when faced with suffering when he threw away the rights of the citizens for his own self pleasure despite the lack of evidence and reason to do so. Therefore, when Oedipus is faced with suffering, he blames others for his own fate to avoid the truth until it is right in front of him. Therefore, unlike Tiresias and King Laius, Oedipus is more hasty and selfish when faced with suffering.

Receiving numerous praises from the people, Oedipus character begins to evolve into a self-centered person as he continues boosting his confidence in himself and promoting his pride. Consequently, with all his gained fame and status, Oedipus now views himself as a superior being who is without fault. Every increase strand of pride Oedipus acquires throughout his experience, he adds a new facet of identity ultimately creating a hallucinated sense of himself that blinds him from the search for truth and his original identity. By the time Oedipus investigates the death of Laius and meets the blind prophet, Tiresias, who knows the true murder, Oedipus has already grown into a obstinate person who only follows his mind and beliefs. As a result, when Tiresias reveals to Oedipus that he himself actually killed Laius, Oedipus quickly denies Tiresias and blames Creon for treason by stating “Creon, the soul of trust, my loyal friend from the start steals against me” (Sophocles

In the Sophocles play, “Oedipus Rex,” discrepancy between whether Oedipus is the main culprit for murdering King Laius or if Oedipus has become the scapegoat for the cause of the city’s plague that took many lives. The murder of King Laius strikes the interest of many readers and therefore creating the discussion of who would be a culprit for the crime. One side of the argument shows the Greek Gods set a curse upon Oedipus making his destiny one of wrongful conviction for a murderous crime. On the argument’s opposing side the goddesses determine Oedipus’s fate will be to murder his own father unknowingly on his way to becoming King of Thebes. Also, a third argument can be made as to Oedipus did murder his father to save his family from a

Tiresias talks Oedipus out of speaking the truth, but Oedipus becomes persistent when finding out who has done this to Thebes (Sophocles lines 338-505). This shows two different sides of Oedipus. Oedipus has a heart to feel bad for Thebes, doing his best to prevent the plague from harming more people. However, his persistence in finding the truth becomes a truth that is none of his business. Tiresias did not want to leave Oedipus in pain, understanding that the truth would reveal that Oedipus killed his father Laius and married his mother Jocasta (Sophocles lines

One moment, Oedipus is brimming with hope; the next, he’s sure that he is the killer of his father, King Laius. Every time Oedipus thinks that it can’t possibly be him, evidence proves otherwise. His wife, Jocasta, attempts to prove his innocence but “lets out part of the dire secret by her allusion to the ‘triple crossroads’” (Haigh). By attempting to assist Oedipus, she

A sense of unfairness always surrounded around the play, “Oedipus the King” mainly towards Oedipus, the protagonist of the story. Oedipus is face injustice in his life, some that he provoked himself for not listening to others and being full of pride. On the other hand, his main subject,however, is something cursed upon being brought to the world, which he cannot dominate or change it.

Creon tells that “Apollo commands to take revenge upon whoever killed him [King Laius]”, and Oedipus without any further reasoning proclaims that the murderer must be exile, bringing to himself doom (DiYanni 1310). Nevertheless, is the oracle Teiresias by accusing Oedipus of committing the murder who really sparks the conflict between Oedipus and Creon, the conflict of man versus man. Believing Creon is behind a plot to overthrow him and lacking any concrete evidence, Oedipus fails to his proclaimed intellect and fearing the prophecy could be true, mocks Teiresias for his blindness and charges Creon with treason. When the tension between both characters begins to build up Jocasta enters to give a solution by giving hopes to Oedipus stating that the prophecies were wrong because a herdsman, witness to the murder, had different information. This only prolongs the inevitably truth until the servant to which Jocasta gave up Oedipus dissipates any doubt of the “patricide and incest” Oedipus innocently committed (Letters).