The Ship Of Theseus ' Paradox Essay

Now Theseus is older and is in his father’s palace in Athens, the fame seeking youth decided to set his sights on a new journey. A journey which would lead to him being loved and remembered by all the people of Athens. During this time Athens had a severe problem, the neighboring island Crete would attack them every so often. The king of Athens decided to try and compromise with Crete. He stated if Crete left Athens alone for nine years they would send fourteen Athenian youths seven male and seven females as a sacrifice to Minos to be fed to the Minotaur king Minos pet. The king of Athens goal was to build a strong navy, so they could defend themselves from Crete. Surprisingly the king of Crete Mino kept his word and never attacked Athens. Now nine years had come, and it was Athens turn to keep their word. The king of Athens was conflicted as he knew the value of keeping one's word. Theseus seeing this as the perfect opportunity to earn new fame and liken his image in Athens volunteered as the seventh male Athenian youth. Theseus’s goal is to slay the Minotaur and save his fellow Athenians. Theseus promises his father, he will return alive and when he does, he will change the color of the sail on the ship from white to black. In the event the sails stay black his father should assume Theseus has met his demise. After the Athenians arrive in Crete they are welcomed by King Mino’s and princess Ariadne, upon seeing

Odysseus portrays himself as anything but a hero throughout Homer’s The Odyssey. Odysseus goes through his life believing he is the best. He has no regard for anyone’s feelings but his own, and he believes nothing and no one can harm him, not even the gods. Odysseus feels he is always the leader and no one can tell him otherwise. Odysseus should not be considered a hero because he portrays himself as a selfish man that failed his crew, and is controlled by his hubris.

      Since the beginning of time epic tales have been passed on from generation to generation as a form of entertainment.  Even though each epic is different in its plot, every epic has certain features in common.  The prime example of their similarities is their main character, the hero of the epic.   The hero's behavior changes from the beginning to the end of the tale.  Since the plot revolves around the epic hero, in most cases, they are made to seem God-like, or larger then life, in their capabilities and strengths.  The hero constantly has to conquer major obstacles to achieve their initial and final goal.  Usually the hero is tremendously suspicious of other characters intensions.

In his essay, “Introduction to Oedipus the King”, Bernard Knox supports free will by stating that Oedipus’ downfall was not caused by fate. According to Knox there is not a doubt that, “Oedipus is the free agent who, by his own self-willed action, discovers that his own predicted destiny has already been fulfilled” (86). He clearly states that Oedipus is responsible for his free actions during the play. He insists that Oedipus’s made the decisions to discover the truth about himself.

In Oedipus the King, Sophocles uses his protagonist, Oedipus, to explore his pursuit of knowledge, which leads to his tragic destruction. Oedipus is a favorable king who is determined to end the curse that has been brought upon the city because the murderer of his predecessor, Laius, still lies in the city. Ironically, Oedipus delivers the curse to the city because he murdered his father, Laius. Oedipus’s desire to gain knowledge and bring the murderer of Laius to justice, results in his downfall, which causes the people around him to be greatly affected as well.

The British classical scholar and lecturer in ancient Greek and Greek history A. W Gomme said, “the gods know the future, but they do not order it”. Gomme is implying that the gods are able to know what will happen, but they cannot enforce it. Oedipus Rex is a play that is filled with a lot of controversy and an origin for many arguments. One of which being if Oedipus’ fate is one of free will or determinism. In “On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex” author E.R Dodds refutes the over powering belief that Oedipus Rex is a play that follows a path of determinism. E.R. Dodds does not believe Oedipus’ fate was controlled; therefore, in his text he supports his strong belief that Oedipus is in charge of his own fate.

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.

A simple process formed the backbone of most Greek philosophy.  The ancients thought that by combining two equally valid but opposite ideas, the thesis and the antithesis, a new, higher truth could be achieved.  That truth is called the synthesis.  This tactic of integrating two seemingly opposite halves into a greater whole was a tremendous advance in human logic.  This practice is illustrated throughout Oedipus at Colonus in regard to Sophocles’ portrayal of vision, sight, and the eye.  In Colonus, there are many and varied descriptions of the aspects of the eye, whether the eye be human or divine.  To Sophocles, the eye must have been a synthesis, both physical and spiritual, yet

Oedipus Rex is a story that can be interpreted on many different levels of thinking. The ancient tale has existed for centuries and has been subjected to countless forms of analysis. What is it that makes Oedipus the King such a fascinating story? Is it the suspense of a developing mystery that captivates the audience? Or perhaps the wonderful feeling the readers get after vicariously experiencing the horror Oedipus feels? And if not that, could it be that the reader is intrigued at Sophocles' description of one man's disbelief in the gods? Whichever way one looks at it, Oedipus Tyrannus was, and remains, one of the "most highly admired plays of all time" (Wood, et al, 163).

Fate chose him to kill his dad, marry his mom, and discover it all in Oedipus Rex, Sophocles’ tragedy. Oedipus was so determined to save Thebes from the plague bestowed on them by Apollo. But little did he know that he was the source of it all. His constant reversal of fortune, neutrality, and suffering make him the perfect example of a classic Greek tragic hero.

Hans Rockwell 8/26/17 Question 1 Question 1.) One of the responses people usually have about Oedipus is if he really deserved the fate that he ended up with. It’s not his fault that Jocasta and Laius tried to outsmart fate and dispose of him.

According to Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia, an allegory is described as a fictional literary narrative or artistic expression that conveys a symbolic meaning parallel to but distinct from, and more important than, the literal meaning. This is true in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is an allegory that symbolizes the inherent struggle of humans facing the ideas of sin and redemption. In writing this poem, Coleridge spent four months of sustained writing upon his purpose of supposing that supernatural situations are real. This purpose is seen clearly in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", which demonstrates

Sophocles Oedipus the King is a tragic play which discusses the tragic discovery of Oedipus that he has killed his father and married his mother. The story of Oedipus was well-known to the Athenian's. Oedipus is the embodiment of the perfect Athenian. He is self-confident, intelligent, and strong willed. Ironically these are the very traits which bring about his tragic discovery. Oedipus gained the rule of Thebes by answering the riddle of Sphinx. Sophocles used the riddle of the sphinx as a metaphor for the 3 phases of Oedipus' life and to further characterized him as a tragic man. The Sphinx posed the following riddle to all who came to obtain the rule of Thebes: “What is it that walks on 4 feet and 2 feet and 3 feet and has only one voice, when it walks on most feet it is the weakest?” Oedipus correctly answered “Man” and became the king of Thebes. This riddle is a metaphor for the life of Oedipus. As a child man crawls on his hands and knees this is the four feet to which the Sphinx refers. Also, man is at his weakest as a small child. He depends solely on others for his nourishment and well-being. Oedipus was the child of Jocasta and King Laius who was taken to the mountain by a Shepard to be killed so the omen of the god Apollo that Laius' son would kill him and lay with Jocasta would not come true. Oedipus was the weakest of his life at this point.

Fate played an important part in the plays and literature of the Greeks as is shown in Sophocles' play

Oedipus the King would not have been successful throughout centuries as a tragic play, if Oedipus were clearly responsible for his own tragedy. The play's ongoing success was do to Oedipus' innocence which immediately makes one think he can not be fully responsible and to blame. I do not believe Sophocles would have wrote the story, or I do not think people would have ever read it or studied it had it simply been a story of a criminal's retribution. Sophocles himself believed Oedipus to be the innocent victim of an ironic tragedy, and built the play around this belief. This story was destined to happen and I believe the author would agree. The story revolves around destiny, the resistance of people to it and the ultimate ending of destiny