Oedipus and Christianity Essay

Oedipus tries hard to avoid the prophecy. After meeting with the oracle and hearing the prophecy, Oedipus flees from Corinth. He wants to get as far away from Polybus and Merope as possible in order to protect them. Unknowingly, this leads him straight to what the prophecy described, killing the King, and marrying the Queen, his real parents. When Polybus dies of natural causes, Oedipus is remorseful that his adoptive father died, but thrilled because he thinks the prophecy has not come true (Sophocles 930-2). All these facts point to Oedipus’s innocence for the following reasons. Oedipus flees Corinth to protect his adoptive parents from the prophecy, because he truly believes that they are his real parents. He said, “When I heard, I fled from Corinth” (Sophocles 763-6). This proves that Oedipus is innocent because he tries to avoid the prophecy. Also, Oedipus tells the messenger, “I shall never come. I must not see my parents” (Sophocles 974). This shows that even after his adoptive father is dead, he still does not want to see his adoptive mother, to prevent the prophecy from happening. Thus, Oedipus works hard to avoid the

In the beginning of the story, Oedipus is very taken back by the situation. He will not accept the truth of his fate and accuses Tiresias of lying to him so Oedipus’s bother- in- law, Creon, could take the throne. Oedipus is extremely dumbfounded by this news because he had no knowledge of killing his father or marrying his mother, but what he learns later is that who he thought were his parents were not his real parents. When he finally realizes that he did in fact marry his own mother and kill his father, he accepts it and punishes himself in order to uphold his promise to his people. By this point there is no way Oedipus can escape his fate. Tiresias says to Oedipus, “No man in the world can make the gods do more than the gods will” (811). Since he did kill his father, the previous king, Oedipus has to be shunned by all of Thebes. Because there is no way of changing his fate, he accepts his responsibilities by giving himself the punishment he assigned to the murderer of Laius.

In Oedipus the King, one of Sophocles’ most popular plays, Sophocles clearly depicts the Greek’s popular belief that fate will control a man’s life despite of man’s free will. Man was free to choose and was ultimately held responsible for his own actions. Throughout Oedipus the King, the concept of fate and free will plays an integral part in Oedipus' destruction.

     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

Oedipus the King by Sophocles is the story of a man who was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. The story continues in the tradition of classic Greek plays, which were based upon the Greeks’ beliefs at the time. The ancient Greeks believed that their gods decided what would ultimately happen to each and every person. Since those gods destined Oedipus to kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus’ life was definitely fated. However, the gods only decided where Oedipus’ life would eventually lead; they never planned the route he would take to get there. All the decisions that Oedipus made in order to fulfill his destiny, and the decisions he made after the fact, were of his own free will,

Oedipus doesn’t realize the personal consequences his hunt for the murderer will have for him, and his loyalty to the truth is based on his ignorance. His pride, ignorance and unrelenting quest for the truth ultimately contributed to his destruction. An example is when Oedipus was told [after threatening Tiresias], that he was responsible for the murder of Laius. He became enraged and called the old oracle a liar. However, Oedipus thought he could outsmart the gods, but in fact, his every action moved him closer to the prophesy becoming a reality. Upon discovery of the truth of his birth from the herdsman, Oedipus cries, “O god all come true, all burst to light!/O light now let me look my last on you!/I stand revealed at last cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage, cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands”. (631). Oedipus knew that his fate had indeed come to pass and feels cursed by it. Oedipus was guilt, of killing his father and marrying his mother. He punishes himself for the sins he committed by gouging out his eyes. The true sin is when he attempts to raise himself to the level of the gods by trying to escape his fate. Oedipus is accepting the full burden of his acts and knows that he must be punished for his sins. Therefore, this last act of gouging out his eyes was the result of Oedipus’ free will and his tragic fate came about because every sin must

After it is revealed that Oedipus blinded himself with two pins from his wife’s dress, the Chorus is in disarray and says, “O the terror- the suffering, for all the world to see, the worst terror that ever met my eyes. What madness swept over you? What god, what dark power leapt beyond all bounds, beyond belief, to crush your wretched life?- godforsaken, cursed by the gods!” (Sophocles 1434-1440). Oedipus himself begins to seek answers within himself for these very questions and the irony becomes very clear. While ultimately it was up to the gods, what really makes Oedipus a tragic hero is that he had a choice to live happily or make it worse for himself and very simply could’ve just accepted and supported the gods’ decision. The Chorus’ questioning is

“Gods can be evil sometimes.” In the play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles defamed the gods’ reputation, and lowered their status by making them look harmful and evil. It is known that all gods should be perfect and infallible, and should represent justice and equity, but with Oedipus, the gods decided to destroy him and his family for no reason. It might be hard to believe that gods can have humanistic traits, but in fact they do. The gods, especially Apollo, are considered evil by the reader because they destroyed an innocent man’s life and his family. They destroyed Oedipus by controlling his fate, granting people the power of prophecy, telling Oedipus about his fate through the oracle of Apollo, and finally afflicting the people of

Place yourself back in to the times of Greek tragedy and culture, the glorious palace doors overlooking the Kingdom and the elegant, admirable robes. Here you will find the setting of “Oedipus the King” written by Sophocles, adapted in 1986 by Don Taylor. Taylor adapts this version extremely well, highlighting the main themes and significant symbolising Sophocles would have used in the play outstandingly. Also he still keeps the reflection of the Greek culture of the play too.

Oedipus Rex, or Oedipus the King is Sophocles’s first play of “The Theban Cycle.” It tells the story of a king that tries to escape his fate, but by doing so he only brings about his downfall. Oedipus is a classic example of the Aristotelian definition of a tragic hero. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as a basically good and noble person who causes his own downfall due to a flaw in his character.

In “Oedipus,” Sophocles writes about a man who is hunted down by his cruel fate, and whose life is ruined in attempt to run away from it. The ancient Greek perspective reflects on the matter of the story and how the god’s highly influence the lives of humans. This viewpoint basically shows the unbounded power the Greek gods have; by being the gods of destiny, and leaving man at a helpless position. Fate plays a massive role in the lives of humans and as was believed by the ancient Greeks, their lives were simply directed by a decision of gods and goddesses. Oedipus knew his fate set by a curse cast on him; however, even when being aware it is impossible to escape fate, he still attempted to run away from it. As the play progresses Oedipus begins to understand the unbearable truth as he states “I’ve called down a dreadful curse upon myself,” followed by a response “I simply didn’t know!” (1103). It is the will of the man to realize what is inevitable and what choice is. In the Ancient Greece, Gods were praised and worshiped and any command stated by them is the undecided future. Oedipus acting as a blinded man who did not know of such fact led him to his fate and ironically is what later led him to blind himself (Gould). When Oedipus stabs his eyes out with the

Oedipus’ obsession to unravel mysteries is a factor in his fall. In fact, an ignorant Oedipus would have been far better off than a knowledgeable Oedipus (Will 44). During his stay in Corinth, a visitor calls him a bastard. His curiosity takes him to an oracle to seek an explanation, where he learns about his fate. On the other hand, Oedipus would not have embarked on this journey for ‘self-discovery’ if he had dismissed the drunkard’s remarks. Oedipus, as king of Thebes, learns from his wife that they had disposed off the son who was to kill his father; therefore, there was no possibility of the prophecy’s fulfillment. Regardless, he becomes even more determined to dig deeper. He states that he will start afresh and, once again, unravel the mystery (159-160). Indeed, Oedipus takes a step closer to his fate with every piece of information he gathers. Thus, his unyielding desire to unravel truths that could have been better left buried, leads him to the tragic revelation about his

Religion is always being questioned and challenged, but Sophocles set the stage with a theme that will give us something to ponder for “eternity” -- the question that remains and most likely will remain unanswered -- Is there a higher power that is ultimately in

There are definitely two arguments on whether or not Oedipus had fallen to fate or made his own decisions, but if you think about it, the prophecy stated literally everything that was going to happen, and maybe it would not had happened if Oedipus did not seek out everything because the prophecy only unfolded when he began to venture out and look for the problem trying to solve his own problems. Him doing this unraveled something much worse and is what led him to his banishment, so if you think about it, maybe fate did bring him to this terrible ending, but how can we be for sure because he did make these decisions himself. Jocasta and Laius were the two to blame for believing in such a thing and leaving their child to die a terrible death, only to come back and have the prophecy happen anyways.

Sophocles’ play “Oedipus Tyrannus” is about how Athenians view their gods and their fate. Athenians believed that their fate was not left up to man, but that is provided solely on the whims their gods. The interesting aspect of this story is not that one believes that fate is real but that fate can be changed by not following the predictions of the oracle (seer/mediator for the god. If fate does take place for whatever reason than one took the wrong step in changing it.