The Riddle Of The Sphinx : How Oedipus Was Destroyed By Knowledge

Oedipus The King is a tragedy written by Sophocles that emphasises the conflict of human knowledge versus divine knowledge using irony. Human knowledge is limited and very short-sighted, while divine knowledge has no restrictions meaning a person with divine knowledge has a clear idea of the “big picture”. Sophocles uses irony to emphasise the difference in knowledge. Oedipus is the son of Laius, and when the Oracles of Delphi prophesies that Laius will be killed by the hands of his son, Laius leaves the baby (Oedipus) on top of a mountain to die. Oedipus gets rescued and grows up in Corinth, raised by King Polybus as if he were his own son. Still thinking Polybus is his father, Oedipus leaves Corinth when he finds out that he is destined to

Oedipus’s chase for knowledge explains as to why the story entailed many gloomy outcomes that were greatly detrimental. For example, Tiresias states, “Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man that’s wise” (Sophocles 23). Tiresias foreshadows the future that Oedipus will gain nothing from learning his life so story because he knows that his insight will cause Oedipus’s downfall to blind himself to death and Jocasta’s death. The quote represents the idea that fate is constant and unchangeable, and Tiresias recognizes that Oedipus’s fate will soon be legitimized and Tiresias feels disgusted toward what Oedipus has done and will do. Afterwards Jocasta’s death becomes known by a messenger who states, “Shortest to hear and tell---our glorious queen Jocasta’s dead” (Sophocles 65). Jocasta’s

Oedipus is full of knowledge and at the same time very ignorant. Due to his lack of knowledge it leads him to his blindness of the truth that lies within Thebes in being able to solve the riddle from the Sphinx. His ability to solving the riddle and destroying the Sphinx causes a spike in his hubris, believing that he is more advanced than everyone else. “Say, sirrah, hast thou ever proved thyself / A prophet? When the riddling Sphinx was here / Why hadst thou no deliverance for this folk? / And yet the riddle was not to be solved / By guess-work but required the prophet’s art; ? Wherein thou wast found lacking; neither birds / Nor sign from heaven helped thee, but _I_ came, / The simple Oedipus; _I_ stopped her mouth / By mother wit, untaught of auguries” (Sophocles PAGE 16). He is so oblivious to other events happening around him that he fails to see his arrogance his not the reason why he

Tiresias, the blind prophet, comes to convict Oedipus “I charge you to obey the decree that you yourself have. You are the differ of this land.” Being a great prophet, he knows all but refuses to tell “I will speak no further. Rage if you have a mind to.” This angers Oedipus and it makes him rant. But, without his hot temper and impulsiveness, his heroic course of self-discovery would never occur. Only

Oedipus the King has stood the test of time within the world of Literature. During the time of its conception (around 420 BC), it has grown into one of the most regarded and well-known of Greek Tragedies, it is still unforgotten and performed to the present-day. The play is one of a trifecta and it resides between the series titled, The Three Theban Plays, the other two plays include, ‘Antigone’ and ‘Oedipus at Colonus’. The play pursues the titled tragic hero as it focuses upon his ignorance, due to his artlessness regarding his former past builds toward the events of Tragedy as it unfolds. Segal remarks, “The story of Oedipus is the archetypal myth of personal identity in western culture.” (Segal, 1995, pg. 138). His royal status declines

The fight for the truth and Oedipus’ ignorance is shown to have fatal

rule of thebes: "What is it that walks on 4 feet and 2 feet and 3 feet

Oedipus the King is perhaps one of the most famous and influential of Sophocles' plays. It is a tragic play which focuses on the discovery by Oedipus that he has killed his father and married his mother. On the surface of this drama there is, without a doubt, a tone of disillusionment.

However, Oedipus does not die, and is adopted by a man named Polybus and a woman named Merope. After Oedipus hears rumors about how he is adopted, he runs away and goes to the Oracle at Delphi to find out what his prophecy is. Once Oedipus finds out about his prophecy, he runs further away from Polybus and Merope in hope of preventing his prophecy from coming true. Unfortunately, during his escape from his non-biological parents, he meets and kills his real father, Laius. After killing Laius, Oedipus enters the city of Thebes, where he solves a riddle to end a plague in the city. This success causes Thebians to crown Oedipus as king and marry Jocasta (his mother), completing his prophecy. The story then starts and is mainly centered around Oedipus’s hunt for Laius’s killer. The character traits found in Oedipus are similar to those found in the personalities of the rulers of today’s countries. Oedipus’s need to prove himself, his belief he is very powerful, and his ignorance are all flaws that are very important to our society because they each could be the reason

Sophocles was a famous Greek playwright whose works are renowned even now. In his play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles presents many themes. One of these themes is ignorance and knowledge and it is presented to the audience through symbolism. Oedipus is the main character in this play, and he is the character that Sophocles manipulates to show how knowledge and ignorance impact the story. Sophocles uses blindness and sight in order to symbolise ignorance and knowledge in many ways throughout the play and one of these ways, the solution to the riddle given to Oedipus by the Sphinx, represents how knowledge and ignorance can both be present in a situation.

Humans are constantly held back by a paucity of physical and metaphorical comprehension of their senses. Every day, people are blinded by fresh knowledge. What they hear or see is not always pleasant news, and often is disconcerting, thus resulting in a grueling pursuit of truth that has frustrated many in their advancement of knowledge, including with the eponymous character in Oedipus Rex. In Sophocles’ highly acclaimed play, blindness is repeated as a pivotal symbol ironically revealing the truth. Tiresias, a blind prophet foretells Oedipus of his prophecy: Oedipus is both brother and father to his children, and he killed his own father, King Laius (Sophocles 37). This initial conflict gives rise to the overarching struggle: to find the truth behind his fate. Oedipus can physically see, but his overarching hamartia is his mental

At the beginning, Oedipus is ignorant and is constantly avoids and ignores the truth in order to protect his reputation. Oedipus’ unwillingness to open his ears to the truth develops when Tiresias reveals that he killed Laius and one of his responses is, “Your words are nothing-- / futile” (416-417). Although Oedipus begged to hear Tiresias’ words, he was not willing to pay attention or open his eyes to the unfortunate idea. Oedipus pushes aside the words Tiresias says, refusing to believe that he could be the one who killed Laius, the one who must be cursed. Later, Tiresias brings up Oedipus’ ignorance saying “you’re blind to the corruption of your life” (471), and telling him a few lines later that “No man will ever / be rooted from the earth as brutally as you” (488-489). Oedipus was put in his place and blatantly told that he is ignorant but his rise to knowledge will also bring his demise. Sophocles foreshadowed using Tiresias in that way, but Oedipus was so into avoiding any confrontation with the truth at the beginning that he would respond calling Tiresias’ visions “absurdities” (494). Therefore, even though the truth has been revealed to him, Oedipus still chooses to remain blind to the truth in order to remain good in the eyes of his people.

It is the responsibility of man to take ownership of his destiny which separates the human condition for that of other earthly beasts. From birth, Oedipus, the tragic hero of Sophocles’ Greek Tragedy Oedipus Rex, is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Although by the opening act of the play, Oedipus has earned the throne of Thebes for solving the riddle of the Sphinx, the eponymous character is unaware that he has already fulfilled his prophecy. Meanwhile, the people of Thebes are dying of a plague that will only end when the unknown murderer of Laius, the previous Theban King, is punished. Through retrospection, Oedipus believes that he might be responsible for Laius death and is told that the King and Queen of Corinth who

The tale of Oedipus and his prophecy has intrigued not only the citizens of Greece in the ancient times, but also people all over the world for several generations. Most notable about the play was its peculiar structure, causing the audience to think analytically about the outcomes of Oedipus’ actions and how it compares with Aristotle’s beliefs. Another way that the people have examined the drama is by looking at the paradoxes (such as the confrontation of Tiresias and Oedipus), symbols (such as the Sphinx), and morals that has affected their perceptions by the end of the play. Nonetheless, the most important aspect is how relevant the story is and how it has influenced modern ideas like that of Freud and other people of today.

Ignorance can blind an individual from the truth. Plays were of great importance in early Greek culture. Plays were the main source of entertainment, and one of the most exceptional examples is Oedipus the King written by Sophocles. The drama is tremendously uplifted by the character development and the excellent structure Sophocles has put forward. Interactions between characters and each character’s motivations generate brilliant themes throughout the play. Sophocles uses a technique called recognition, which illustrates a character’s turn from ignorance to the truth. The play is about the city of Thebes which is racked by a plague and a crisis that is quickly wiping humans from the earth. The great king of Thebes is Oedipus who must dispose of the problem very quickly. He welcomes information from the god Apollo, who says Oedipus must punish the killer of the former king, Laius. In one of the instances where Oedipus tries to find the killer, he encounters Tiresias, who is a physically blind man but can see everything because he is a prophet of Apollo. Tiresias possesses the information but declines to cooperate with Oedipus. After a series of verbal insults, the audience is left in awe when Tiresias puts the blame on Oedipus. Similarly to Oedipus the King, dialogue “Allegory of the Cave” written by Plato also in the early Greek times, shows that ignorance can lead an individual to be blind from the truth. Sophocles magnificently develops a question of “Who sees and who is blind”. Also in Oedipus the King, Sophocles exhibits how selflessness and ignorance can blind a person from the truth, but eventually has to go through recognition which can cause great agony.