A Literary Analysis Of Sophocles 'Oedipus Trilogy'

Oedipus Rex is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles around 400 BC. The play is about the king of Thebes, Oedipus and his discovery on how fate is inevitable. In the play, Thebes is under a curse because their last king was murdered and no one knows who the murderer is. Oedipus takes it upon himself to discover who had killed the king and in doing so he discovers that the murderer is indeed himself. He learns this through a prophecy he had heard that stated: he would kill his father and marry his mother. Which occurs when he kills a traveler on the road and marries the queen of Thebes, who is his biological mother. In the play, Oedipus is a man full of hubris as the reader observes him denying the truth, time and time again until the evidence is undeniable. The other characters in

    The Greek tragedy Oedipus at Colonus was written by the renowned Greek playwright Sophocles at around 404 B.C.. In the play, considered to be one of the best Greek dramas ever written, Sophocles uses the now broken down and old Oedipus as a statement of hope for man. As Oedipus was royalty and honor before his exile from his kingdom of Thebes he is brought down to a poor, blind old man who wonders, “Who will receive the wandering Oedipus today?” (Sophocles 283) most of the time of his life that is now as low as a peasant’s. Although former ruler of Thebes has been blinded and desecrated to the point where he is a beggar, he will not give up on his life and on the life of his two daughters Antigone and

In his essay, “Introduction to Oedipus the King”, Bernard Knox supports free will by stating that Oedipus’ downfall was not caused by fate. According to Knox there is not a doubt that, “Oedipus is the free agent who, by his own self-willed action, discovers that his own predicted destiny has already been fulfilled” (86). He clearly states that Oedipus is responsible for his free actions during the play. He insists that Oedipus’s made the decisions to discover the truth about himself.

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.

The significant archetypal elements that make up the exciting plot that is Oedipus are the tragic hero, anagnorisis, and hubris. Oedipus is a tragic hero because he starts off as a loved and admired king who later finds that he has killed his father and is married to his mother! Oedipus is blinded by his pride, or hubris, when he doesn’t accept the truth that he has committed a sin and accuses his close friends and family of it. Anagnorisis is when the character realizes that he has made a mistake and that is too late to fix things. Anagnorisis is present in the story when he realizes

Sophocles' play Oedipus the King has endured for over two thousand years. The play's lasting appeal may be attributed to the fact it encompasses all the classical elements of tragedy as put forth by Aristotle in Poetics nearly a century before it was written. According to Aristotle, tragedy needs to be an imitation of life according to the law of probability or necessity. Tragedy is serious, complete, and has magnitude. It must have a beginning, middle, and end and be spoken in language that is fit for noble characters. Furthermore it must be acted, as opposed to epic poetry, which is narrated. Tragedy shows rather than tells. Finally it must result in the purging of pity and fear, or a catharsis. Tragedy is based in the fundamental order of the universe, it creates a cause-and-effect chain that clearly reveals what may happen at any time or place because that is the way the world operates. Tragedy arouses not only pity but also fear, because the audience can envision themselves within this cause-and-effect chain. Tragedy as a whole is composed of six elements: plot, character, language, thought, spectacle and melody. Melody and language are the media by which the effect of imitation of action is carried out, spectacle is the manner or way the tragedy is carried out, and plot, character and thought are the means that initiate the action. Oedipus the King possesses all of these elements.

The play Oedipus Rex is known as one of the greatest pieces of literature, next to Hamlet that is of course. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus became the king of Thebes while unconsciously fulfilling the prophecy that he would kill his father, Laius, and marry his mother, Jocasta. In Thebes there is a ravaging plague spreading and the only way to stop it is for Oedipus to find the murder of Laius, unaware that he is looking for none other than himself. At the end of the play, when Oedipus finds out the truth, Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus proceeds to gouge out his own eyes in despair of his patricide and incest. Sight and feet motifs are revealed to represent the theme, fate and ignorance, to help validate that the ignorant try going against their fate.

3. In the beginning of this play, Oedipus is a very caring, couragous, and concerned king. During the play he gets more frustrated and inconsiderate, while putting the blame on others. Finally, at the end of the play, Oedipus is a very wise and compassionate. During the play he loses both of his fathers, his mother/wife, his morals, and his eyesight. He gained knowledge about his past and future. I would say the central theme of this play is inevitability of one’s fate. I feel this theme fits the play well because it shows that one cannot hide from their

Oedipus was a noble man, the hero of the city of Thebes, but no hero is without flaw. The rage within him led to fulfil the prophecy foretold about his fate. It was warned that he would kill his own father, and while on the road to Thebes he was driven off the road by a man he did not know.

King uses strong visual imagery to compare Jack and Ullman’s positions in the power structure. When Jack first meets Ullman he describes his suit as being reassuring to the customers. However he thinks, "To the hired help it spoke more curtly: this had better be good you” (1). Jack describes Ullman’s suit as being very demanding. The word "spoke" personifies a suit, giving it more power. The suits demanding presence also portrays Ullman’s dominance over his employees. Ullman's suit is described as dark, perhaps the color black. The color black holds holds a great significance. Ullman tells Jack how, “ This year the overlooks accounts were written in black ink for the first time in almost 7 decades” (9). The color black translates into success,

Oedipus’s world revolves around the realms of power, truth, and ego. Throughout the play the astounding sense of pride is apparent, Oedipus’s crucial belief that he can overcome his fate through the play shows his pride and ego. “I thought it wrong, my children, to hear the truth from others, messengers, Here I am myself- you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus” (Oedipus the king p.159) Oedipus calls his people “My children” this suggests his sense of condescending control. Oedipus refers himself as “I, Oedipus, a name that all men know” this shows the audiences that he is aware of his power and reputation. All of Oedipus’s pride may have come from the belief that he has escaped his fate.

Oedipus a man who’s fate was out to get him, the great king of Thebes formerly prince of Corinth. He had to face many struggles in his life that he had well caused, and even though Oedipus tried to escape his fate by leaving Corinth. His true fate lied in Thebes while Corinth was just an obstacle. Oedipus is a man who in a way caused his own fate to be brought out into the light revealing everything. It was all because of Oedipus determination to figure out who killed the great king before him Laios which had turned out to be his father. Oedipus kept on going and going on how important it was to find out whom truly did it, and even though he couldn’t connect the dots. His wife and soon figured out mother did, Jocasta realized that Oedipus was her son and she wanted him to stop searching everywhere so that the truth would not be revealed. It was not come to the light and life could continue to be great. However Oedipus was a man who cared about the people so since he knew what Apollo had said to get rid of the disastrous Plague in Thebes Oedipus went on and on. Not stopping until the truth was revealed and when it was, the despair Oedipus felt was unbelievable. Some people might say that Oedipus could have just been a man who fell into his fate as it was already written for him, however Oedipus can actually be classified as a man who brought out his own fate because of his determination to find Laios killer and find out the truth of who he truly was.

The ancient Greek’s culture was greatly influenced by their belief in many gods. They believed that the gods would guide them and that everyone was destined to live out their fates. In the case of Oedipus Rex, fate drove him into a downfall. Oedipus Rex is a part of the great Sophoclean play, written by Sophocles. Sophocles wrote this story to exemplify a tragic hero, he uses specific character flaws to explain the downfall of his hero. Oedipus is a perfect tragic hero because his early life forces the audience to admire as a privilege young man and also pity him as he falls into a crushing downfall towards the end. Oedipus’s tragic flaws are pride, persistence, and ignorance. They lead to his fate and help him fulfil his destiny.

To start with, Oedipus was the biological son of Laius and Jocasta; they were from a city called Thebes. A citizen gave King Polybus and Queen Merope a child with they considered it as a gift since they were unable to have kids. Unfortunately, the child had stakes in its ankles which made the child limp for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, Oedipus grew up being contented, yet he never discovered that he was adopted.

It is widely known that the ancient Greeks believed heavily in the power of their gods, and Oedipus was not an exception to this common fact. From the moment he was born, it can be said that Oedipus became an instrument for the gods to control and do what they pleased with. Children are not able to choose who they are born from, or what they are born into, and unfortunately the gods had an unholy prophecy ready for the tragic hero to fulfill. This also played into the fact that thanks to the gods, Oedipus’s fate could not be altered or changed at all (despite Jocasta and Laius’ efforts to do just that). Tiresias, a blind prophet spoke of not being able to change the fate that the gods had set, and Oedipus was not pleased with this. Tiresias refused to tell Oedipus of the truth he so badly wanted to grasp, and Oedipus demanded that he speak. Tiresias spoke about fate and the unmoving permanence of the gods (particularly Apollo, who is said to have orchestrated and assisted in the fulfillment of Oedipus’s fate) will when he said “Nor is it fated You by my hand should fall; Apollo is Sufficient; he will bring it all to pass” (Sophocles, 22). The blind prophet spoke of how Oedipus was not destined to “fall” or face tragedy by Tiresias, but by the prophecy that was set for Oedipus by the god Apollo. Describing Apollo as “sufficient” is another example of the trust and power that the gods possessed in Greek society. This would be one of the reasons that Oedipus could not control his fate, and why his