Research Paper On Oedipus The King

In the early beginning before King Oedipus’s reign of Thebes lived Cadmus. Cadmus was the first Greek hero to be advised and mentored by the oracle at Delphi and was assigned to build a city called Thebes. Cadmus constructed the city of Thebes and was the first King to reign over the city. However, Cadmus encountered a dragon who guarded the well outside of the cities walls and killed it, little did he know, the dragon happened to be Apollo's favorite dragon. For his unfortunate actions, Apollo cursed Cadmus and his family for many generations to come, in which, the queen and king of Thebes would bear a child who would kill his father and marry his mother. A few generations later King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes bore a baby. King

Oedipus seems to believe that he is some sort of god, and that he is omnipotent. He tells the priest, “I see – how could I fail to see what longings bring you here?” (575, 70-71). Towards the beginning of the play, Oedipus is accusing a man, Tiresias, of trying to overthrow him and of killing the old King Laius. Keep in mind – Tiresias is blind himself. Oedipus condemns, “…short of killing him with your own hands – and given eyes I’d say you did the killing single-handed” (583, 396-397). This is just one of the first instances where loss of vision is mentioned. Oedipus is blindly calling him a liar, while he does not even know the truth himself. Oedipus many times claims that Tiresias cannot see something; however, the “things” he cannot see are almost always moral, not physical. It seems as though Oedipus blames Tiresias’ blindness for not being able to understand ethical situations. For example, “…you cannot see how far

Do you think our fate is predetermined or do we have some control over it? Many people now think that we have some control in our destiny, depending on the actions and steps that we take during our life time. On the other hand some people think that you have no control over your fate, and have to follow the destiny of your family members. In Oedipus the King, Sophocles seems to argue that man has no real control over his or her destiny. Throughout the whole story he shows us how people try to run away from their fate and no matter how hard they try to change the outcome, they can’t.

In Sophocles play, Odeipus The King, there are many types of universal themes to humans in society. The main character, Oedipus reveals traits that humans have. No one wishes to kill their father or marry their mother. However metaphorically speaking, we can relate to his emotions and behavior. His actions and how he reacts to certain situations, defines him as a worthy person.

The blind prophet gives Oedipus a taste of his own medicine and leaks that he is in fact figuratively more blind than Teiresias. The truth is right in front of his eyes and yet Oedipus does not believe it, instead allows his own determination to stand in the way by avoiding the facts. Throughout the entire story Oedipus’ tragic flaw that would otherwise be a positive trait becomes negative when he stops at nothing to prevent the prophecy from becoming true.

“Oedipus Rex” was a Greek Tragedy written by Sophocles in the fifth century BC. It was the first of a trilogy of plays surrounding the life of Oedipus. Sophocles wrote over 120 plays approximately 100 years before Aristotle even defined a tragedy and the tragic hero. Aristotle’s definition of a tragedy is “… an imitation of an action of high importance, complete and of some amplitude; in language enhanced by distinct and varying beauties; acted not narrated; by means of pity and fear effecting its purgation of these emotions” (Kennedy and Gioa 2010). According to Aristotle there were six elements to a tragedy: the plot, the character, the

Many decisions Oedipus makes help to illustrate his lack of insight, one major one being when He insults the Prophet Teiresias. While trying to discover who Lauis’ true murderer, Oedipus feels insulted by Teiresias and says to him “Living in perpetual night, you cannot harm / Me, nor any man else that sees he light” (36). In view of the fact that Oedipus knowns Teiresias is a prophet of the gods, his lack of insight is truly highlighted given his behaviour towards him. Oedipus not only acts as if he cannot be harmed by Teiresias, but then goes on to also insult him and his blindness. This displays Oedipus lack of insight because he does not think about the fact that Teiresias is all knowing as well as a close to the gods. Mocking someone so close to the gods very relevantly demonstrates how Oedipus does not have clear insight when dealing with problems, causing him even more problems. Oedipus shows a large lack of insight which leads him to

In terms of the human experience, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave reveals that most humans would rather know the truth and suffer rather than be fed a lie for their entire lives. This idea is reflected in Sophocles’’ Oedipus the King because Oedipus seeks the truth and suffers greatly when it is found. Plato’s four stages of awareness are necessary for the final form of the good, which is the truth, to be found. In both the Allegory of the Cave and Oedipus the King, these four stages of awareness; Imagination, Belief, Reason, and Understanding, take a vital role in explaining Oedipus’ suffering.

“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.

This play is different from a murder mystery because it does not end as soon as you find out who the killer is. Also, there is no twist for who the killer actually is. If the play had ended after the murderer was revealed, there would have been no explanation for what happened to the characters lives. Without doing this it would not have summed up the play and would have left the audience on a cliff hanger.

Throughout all of history, a common theme found in literature has been the idea of whether or not humans have the ability to determine their own futures or if each person has their life predetermined and nothing can be done to change that. The ancient Greeks were no different, and the play “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles has this idea intertwined throughout the entire plot. The play revolves around a king named Oedipus who rules over the land of Thebes. Oedipus deals with a prophecy about him that he does all he can to avoid, but in doing so he inadvertently causes his fate to become reality. The play “Oedipus the King” demonstrates the fate versus freewill conflict based on how Ancient Greek culture viewed prophecy, and Oedipus’s prophecy and his attempt to prevent it which was ultimately unsuccessful.

Having already solved the riddle of the Sphinx, Oedipus, the king of Thebes, is struck with yet another formidably difficult riddle. A plague has struck Thebes and is devastating the entire city. Various oracles and bird entrails suggest that it is because the murderer of the previous king, Laius, still lives unpunished. In attempt to save his kingdom, Oedipus decided to investigate the murder only to discover that he is the one who killed Laius and married his queen, Jocasta. While solving the mystery, he also figures out that Laius was actually his father and Jocasta, whom he had wedded and raised four children with, is his mother, fulfilling an earlier prophecy. Aghast at the truth, Jocasta hangs herself to death and Oedipus gouges his

     From the very beginning of the play, we can already see that Oedipus is a great but flawed man. He proves to us

Oedipus Rex Fate is the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as predetermined by a supernatural power. One common question raised by the Myth Oedipus Rex is whether Oedipus remained in the dark unknowingly or purposefully avoided knowing himself. Metaphorical blindness is a recurring motif in the play, Oedipus claims that everyone around him is “blind” and that only he can see. However, what Oedipus soon realizes is that he has no idea who he is, and that all along he has been blind himself. Though Oedipus fully realizes who he is at the end it can be argued that from the start Oedipus deep down knew part of himself, and not only willingly ignored it, but also contributed to his own demise.

"Oedipus the King" is a tragic play showing a shift from the belief of fate to freedom of choice. Therefore, Oedipus the king is a great example of those who run from fate ends up fulfilling their fate