Sophocles ' Oedipus The King

The play, Oedipus the King by Sophocles presents a grim hamartia caused from a terrible deed of long ago. Oedipus the protagonist is the powerful King of Thebes and held of high estate by the people of Thebes. As the terrible deed of Oedipus’s becomes apparent to both Oedipus and the City of Thebes his tragic flaw is slowly realized. The play will show “tragic power resides in human failing, hamartia, constantly underpinning any sense of the inevitable” (Walton). The play will show the author’s view of a tragic hero as seen in the play Oedipus the King does exemplifies Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero.

Many people believe that fate has planned out their lives and despite efforts on their part what was meant to happen, will eventually happen. This belief has been handed down over the centuries from some of the first civilizations, such as the Greeks. However, not all Greek citizens wanted destiny to take control of their lives. Some decided to choose freewill over the will of the gods. In Oedipus the King, Sophocles writes a cautionary tale meant to warn the doubters in Greek society that regardless of their beliefs in gods and prophecies, it is necessary to heed their warnings. Oedipus, Jocasta, and Laius are Sophocles’ characters that prove that escaping one’s fate is not possible, as each of their predicted fates is realized despite extensive efforts to thwart them.

In Aristotle's work, the tragic hero can get caught up by hamartia which ends up leading him to his downfall. In Oedipus the King, which is a tragic play that is written by Sophocles it shows King Oedipus having many different flaws that are under the protection of hamartia that include madness, stubbornness, and pride that soon that end up leading to his final death. Oedipus shows an attitude of stubbornness during the progression of the play. Oedipus' stubbornness is uncovered early in the play when Tiresias who is a prophet of Apollo, mentions to Oedipus to terminate the investigation of Laius' killer. Oedipus quickly disagrees with him, he wants to find the man who murdered Lauis and brought the plague upon Thebes. Oedipus states, "By all the gods, do not deny us what you know. We ask you, all of us, on bended knees." Tiresias' persistence to withhold the truth is demolished by Oedipus' stubbornness and madness. Tiresias surrenders to Oedipus' stubbornness and states the truth which outrages Oedipus; "...The murder of the man whose murder you pursue is you." Oedipus stubbornness is so overpowering that he disregards Tiresias' bluntness without even a slight thought. Oedipus' statement, "To your heart's content. Mouth away!" which obviously shows his stubbornness when he disregards Tiresias' prophecy and regards it as gibberish. Oedipus' stubborn persistence will ultimately lead to his mother's death. At the end of the play Oedipus becomes aware that he was adopted and instantaneously investigates his origin. Jocasta, Oedipus' wife hesitantly encourages Oedipus to end his identity search, fearing that Oedipus would learn of his shameful sins of killing

The use of hamartia is a key component to a tragedy in Greek times. In the festival of Dionysus, the use of hamartia played a key role in the production of tragic plays that enhances the audience experience in establishing morals and ideals in many different ways. Sophocles’ Oedipus the King is a key example of this, a play about the unfortunate destiny bestowed upon Oedipus. During the play, Oedipus attempts to flee from his destiny that he will marry his mother and kill his father. The dramatic irony where Oedipus tries to doubt the gods is imprudent and foolish, and his hamartia further led him to his tragic downfall. Throughout this tragedy, the use of hamartia is used to justify the catastrophic events that happened to Oedipus and his

Oedipus wanted to maintain his title of king and savior of Thebes so because of his hubris and determination to find out why the city was plagued to figure a way to get rid of it, he sent Creon to Delphi where he was to ask the Oracle. Creon returns to Thebes with the cause of the plague and the solution: the killer of the King Laius had to be found and exiled from Thebes. Oedipus promises to have the murder found and punished for former King Laius’s death. King Oedipus did not know where to start looking for the murder, even though he was the murder, so he calls upon Tiresias for guidance and truth. The first time Oedipus sends for Tiresias, the blind prophet refuses claiming that Oedipus would rather not know the truth of who the killer was.

From the very beginning, what makes Oedipus ' actions in his quarrel with Teiresias and also throughout the play so dramatically compelling, is the fact that the audience knows the outcome of the story. We know Oedipus ' fate even before he does, and there is no suspense about the outcome itself, instead, the audience anxiously awaits Oedipus to reveal his fate unto himself in his desperate quest to rid his city of the terrible plague, or maybe even more so, to simply discover his own unfortunate tale. Oedipus is relentless in his pursuit of the truth, and his determination is commendable. There is nothing that compels him to act in this way, instead he freely chooses, with much zeal, to initiate the chain of events that will ultimately lead to his downfall. It is this interplay between Oedipus’ own free will and his fated eventuality that is the crux of the play, and constitutes the main dramatic power.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles is about Oedipus, a man doomed by his fate. Like most tragedies, “Oedipus the King” contains a tragic hero, a heroic figure unable to escape his/her own doom. This tragic hero usually has a hamartia or a tragic flaw which causes his/hers’ downfall. The tragic flaw that Sophocles gives Oedipus is hubris (exaggerated pride or self-confidence), which is what caused Oedipus to walk right into the fate he sought to escape.

Sophocles ' play “Oedipus Tyrannus” is an enigma. His play includes incest, murder and self-enlightenment all leading into the main theme of fate. Athenians believed that fate is not left up to man, but that is provided solely on the whims of the gods. Because of his dramatic approach to his plays Sophocles was considered one of the most brilliant and creative writers of his time.

Sophocles’ use of irony is amongst the greatest of all time, as demonstrated masterfully in Oedipus the King. He displays both ambition and understated humour by using irony in diverse ways, both cosmic and dramatic, as well as verbal irony to add a greater level of wit. Every word spoken holds great symbolic weight and those words contribute to a narrative that reflects the gods plans. Adversely the work of Johnathan Swift takes the form of a social satire, combining economic arguments with a sociopolitical commentary to reflect the tragedy of the people. The use of irony in A Modest Proposal is not a structural technique; it is instead the style of the essay and it is written to reflect the crude nature of humanity. Irony develops from

A reader uses a biographical perspective to understand why the author wrote their story. “A knowledge of an author’s life can help readers understand his or her work more fully” (Meyer 1361). The author may have incorporated a situation that happened in their personal life within one of their written stories. This helps the reader to get a deeper perspective of what is happening throughout the story.

Tragic hero could be said to be someone that has had a tragic flaw that leads to the hero's death and also helps the reader to sympathize with the character. Oedipus is a classic example of a tragic hero who had many flaws on the surface, such as the lack of self-knowledge, curiosity and pride, and the wisdom gained at the end.

Sophocles Oedipus the King, is a play written by Sophocles. It is one of seven plays to survive through the time. The story takes place in Thebes. Oedipus who is the king of Thebes is faced with a challenge when a plague threatens to kill and destroy Thebes. Oedipus being the king is determined to find the answer and calls upon the oracles for help. The oracles claim that they must find the man who murdered Laius, who was one the king of Thebes. Once they find and murder this man, the plague will be taken away and everyone will be okay. Oedipus sets out to solve this problem like he did when he saved Thebes from the sphinx with a riddle. Oedipus soon is accused by a Tiresias for being the murder and reason for the plague, but Oedipus doesn’t believe this for one bit and tells him to get out. As Tiresias leaves, he hints to Oedipus fate later in the story. Oedipus then calls upon his wife Jocasta for advice, and she says to ignore what they are saying. She even says that her baby with Laius was supposed to grow up and kill Laius. But they killed the baby so it wouldn’t come true. Also, Laius was killed by a band of robbers at the crossroads. Oedipus doesn’t like this because he killed a man at the crossroads that reminded him of Laius. Oedipus is so determined to find the truth that he calls for the Herdsman that witnessed Laius death at the crossroads. Oedipus father, the king of Corinth died of old age, which makes Oedipus happy because he was supposedly prophesied to

As the reader goes on to read the story by Sophocles they come to see why Aristotle considers this story to be a tragic. For the story of Oedipus the King is a true tragic from the very beginning. We come to see the hero who by the public is raised up since he or she appears on the outside to be a person of virtue. So much virtue in fact it is believed that they have no faults and are a perfect human being. However, this “hero” goes on and fails in some way. In turn he fall from their high position and fall in the lowest regards possible. This in turns causes that person to be shown pity.

Greek tragedy is drama in which a tragic hero suffers a grave misfortune which is not accidental, but is meaningful in that it is connected reasonably with the hero's actions. One may live his whole life not knowing the truth about his reality, which is how Oedipus lived in the play, Oedipus the King, by Sophocles. He did not know who his true parents were or any of the damage he caused to his country, and once the illusion of his life was destroyed, the truth was revealed. Through the illusion that was Oedipus’ life and the use of irony, Sophocles demonstrated that ignorance is bliss and revealed that the journey of fate is beyond anyone’s control.

Throughout tragedies in Greek literature, the hero always has one tragic flaw. In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus’ main flaw is his overactive hubris, which in turn clouds his overall judgment. This is evident in the Chorus’ first ode to the city of Thebes as they try to ask the Gods for the banishment of the plague. Their answer does not come from a deity, but from Oedipus himself as he enters the palace and says, “You have prayed; and you prayers shall be answered with help and release if you will obey me, and are willing to put in hand the remedy you distress requires” (Sophocles lines 213-16). By Oedipus saying this, he elevates himself to the importance of a God. The people of Thebes need to pray to him to free the plague that is ravaging the city. This is only a small taste of his arrogance early in the play. Later, the blind seer, Teiresias, comes into the palace to tell who murdered Laius. Oedipus endlessly questions him, which Teiresias only response that he does not want to utter the truth that he knows. Angered by Teiresias’ unwillingness to speak he begins to make ironic jabs at the seer’s blindness and at one point calling him outright saying that he is a “Shameless and brainless, sightless, senseless sot” (Sophocles line 374). Oedipus continues to say that because Teiresias is “Living in perpetual night you [Teiresias] cannot harm me, nor any man else that’s sees the light” (Sophocles lines 377-378). It is ironic because Teiresias knows the truth behind