Sophocles ' Oedipus The King

The fulfillment of prophesies has enthralled ancient people since the beginning of time. Greek culture, in particular, relied predominately on Athenian religion and credited their actions to the work of gods. In Sophocles’ work, Oedipus the King, Sophocles defines an indication that men may not have accountability for their own moral sanctity because their lives are determined through fate. In fact, within Oedipus the King, Oedipus has to complete an investigation of his own self and determine his punishment regardless of who it hurts because of his willingness to comply to a god. In response to this, many believe that the title of this particular tragedy is Oedipus the King because it illustrates the conflict Oedipus has with his family and state. Although this is true, the title, Oedipus the King, also exemplifies Oedipus’ response to the idea that everything that has ever happened and ever will happen is necessary. The title and evidence that supports the title in this play comprise logic that enables one to understand how the law of necessity drives Oedipus’ decisions. It eventually claims that Oedipus does not act at random but rather in response to causality, and he ultimately does so in a dignified nature.

Even though characters believe that they can avoid their fate, they truly cannot. Jocasta gave birth to a child when she was married to King Laius, and one day an oracle came to Laius and predicted his future. Jocasta was speaking to Oedipus about the prophecy that an oracle had told King Laius, "An oracle came to Laius one fine day… and it declared that doom would strike him down at the hands of a son, our son, to be born of our flesh and blood. But Laius...was killed by strangers, thieves, at a place where three roads meet...my son-he wasn't three days old and the boy's father fastened his ankles, had a henchman fling him away on a barren, trackless mountain… My baby no more murdered his father..."(Sophocles 201). Jocasta and King Laius had a free will which was to pin their child's ankles and hand him over to a shepherd to finish him. However the shepherd was unable to fulfill the task, he explains, "I pitied the little baby, master, hoped he'd [God] take him off to his own country, far away, but he saved him for this, this fate. If you are the man he says you are, believe me, you were born for pain."(Sophocles 232). The attempt made by Jocasta and King Laius failed and eventually the prophecy self- fulfilled itself. The free will of the characters has made them contribute to the result of the prophecy. Jocasta and

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.

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

Like all classical Greek tragedies, Sophocles’s Oedipus the King features a chorus that sings several odes over the course of the play. In Sophocles’s play, the chorus is composed of old Theban men and represents the population of Thebes as a whole. The chorus recites a parodos, four stasima, and a brief exodus. Through the choral odes, Sophocles reflects on the events and motifs of the play, including piety and faith in the Gods, the inevitability and the uncertainty of fate, and the dichotomy of right and wrong.

In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, the chorus has one of the most important roles in setting the audience’s reaction to the events going on in the play. They are the embodiment of a common man in the Ancient Greece and therefore represent the public opinion. Through the use of chorus, Sophocles interprets the actions just seen and guides the audience’s understanding of them. The choral ode from the lines 954 to 997 praises the gods’ almighty power and shuns Jocasta’s disregard of the fate and the prophecies; with this it is shown that the gods’ rule truly is all powerful and plants further fear of them into the minds of the people. The mood of anticipation can be felt, along with the demand for the gods’ reaction.

The Greek tragedy of Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, was able to generate such a noteworthy impact as a result of the audience’s previous knowledge of the characters and their fate. As a result of this circumstance, Sophocles was able to make a compelling use of irony and allusion. All throughout the play, Oedipus the King, Sophocles builds the entire story using dramatic irony. Despite Oedipus’s unawareness of his identity and his fate, Sophocles uses dramatic irony to let the readers know who Oedipus truly is and to foreshadow the events which unfold throughout the story. Sophocles uses many different scenes throughout the play that portray dramatic irony. Although, the three most important are Oedipus’s curse towards himself, Oedipus’s insult to Tiresias, and the fortune-teller’s prophecy about Oedipus.

Through the interactive oral presentations, our class learned about the Greek religion and culture surrounding the life of Sophocles when he wrote Oedipus The King. Before the interactive oral assignments were presented, I understood the themes of hubris and sight on a low level. The interactive oral presentations really strengthened my understanding of why Sophocles used these themes in his story about a king who falls from power. Now I know that hubris was a hated characteristic in this time period and that is why Sophocles wanted to demonstrate how bad it was to his audience.

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle once identified the key ingredients of the tragedies that his culture is so famous for. These ingredients include a character with a fatal flaw, the realization of the fault for a particular problem and the final sudden reversal of fortune. For many tragedies, the fatal flaw is demonstrated as excessive pride, which usually serves as the driving force of the play’s action. It is common, even beneficial, to have pride in oneself, but when it becomes expressed as arrogance or in defiance of one’s fate, it is considered excessive and often leads men to engage in activities that will lead to their downfall. Aristotle (1998) stated “the tragic hero falls into bad fortune because of some flaw in his

Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King,” successfully demonstrates Aristotle’s definition of tragedy. According to Aristotle “tragedy” is vastly different from what one would likely describe if requested in modern times. It is common today to hear one speak of a tragic vehicular crash, but what is being spoken of as a tragedy, is an accident, not a tragedy. Thus, it is important to understand what Aristotle thought when he spoke of a “tragedy.” Based on Aristotle, POETICS, CHAPTER VI,

Sophocles is one of the best and most well-known ancient Greek tragedians. He influenced the development of drama especially by adding a third character and thereby reducing the importance of the chorus in the presentation of the plot. Even though he wrote 123 plays, he is mostly famous for his three plays concerning Oedipus and Antigone: these are often known as the Theban plays or The Oedipus Cycle. One of these plays is “Oedipus the King”, which will be discussed throughout this essay. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus learns, as the story unfolds, that he committed both patricide and incest. Sophocles’ use of dramatic irony emphasizes how limited

Oedipus is a play that shows the relationship between Oedipus and the prophecy. In Oedipus Rex,the theme of a prophecy and sin are evident in the plot and overall story line. Oedipus tells the story of when Oedipus, the king of thebes, finds out who his actual father is. Oedipus is about when Oedipus kills his father, and marrys his mother and has five kids with her. Once he finds this out Jocasta, his mother, hanges herself with her bed sheets, and Oedipus pocks his eyes out. Oedipus is shown to be about the relationship with humans and sin. It's about the journey that most humans face. Oedipus shows themes like the cross-roads where Oedipus kills his father. The Cross represents the cross roads that Oedipus experiences in his life. It's representative

Sophocles was a philosopher, a dramatist, and a political and military leader. He lived during the Athenian Golden Age. Sophocles wrote over 120 plays during his lifetime. He was also the only playwright during that time that did not perform in any of his plays due to his timorous voice. He was one of the masters of tragedy. He was born at Colonus in Attica in 496 B.C., into a wealthy family. Sophocles often emphasized the individual’s search for truth, focusing on human concerns rather than religious ones, as his forebear, Aeschylus, focused on these religious concerns. He later died in 406 B.C.

In the famous playwright, Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King”, a Greek tragedy which explores the idea of destiny, Oedipus is a tragic hero, who, in the exploration of his troubled past, discovers the truth of actions that render him guilty of the heinous crimes of murder, and incest. Although Oedipus was not privy to the truth behind his actions, it does not make these crimes any less unlawful, or unethical, proving that Oedipus is guilty of the murder of his father, Laius, and of having an incestuous relationship with his mother, Jocasta.

Shakespeare, one of the greatest playwrights of the Renaissance era, could have changed Ancient Greek Theatre plays tremendously as his approach was drastically different than that of Greek playwrights. In Oedipus by Sophocles, a curse has been set on the people of Thebes for the previous murderer of their former king Laius. King Oedipus as a child was given a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother and that indeed has occurred as it is proven by witnesses that he was the murderer of the king and that his wife is also his mother. Following this horrible news Oedipus wife commits suicide and Oedipus decides to blind himself, to only then be exiled from Thebes. Shakespeare would have changed many things about how Sophocles wrote Oedipus and one of the first things he would do are establish many settings throughout the story, add much more violence than what Sophocles already provided, and have many time changes instead of having everything crammed into one day.