The Tragedy Of Sophocles ' Oedipus

Sophocles wrote the play Oedipus the King around 430 BC. It was written and produced in Athens, Greece. The intended audience of this play was Sophocles’ fellow Greeks. He wanted to reach out to all of the citizens. Sophocles shows his audience that fate cannot be overcome.

The Greek drama “Oedipus The King” evidently leads to the unveiling of a tragedy. Oedipus, the protagonist of the play uncovers his tragic birth story and the curse he had been baring his whole life. Oedipus is notorious for his personal insight that helped him defeat Sphinx, which lead him to becoming the king of Thebes. He is admired by the people of Thebes and is considered to be a mature, inelegant and a rational leader. From his birth, his story began with a prophecy that Oedipus would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. Through out the play numerous people, who tell him of his unknown past, visit Oedipus. Blind to the truth he casts them away until a blind man named Therisis gives a sight of truth to Oedipus. As Oedipus learns the truth he realizes the great evil his life carries. After finding his wife and also mother hung in her bedroom, Oedipus blinds himself with the gold pins that held Jocasta’s robe. Oedipus blind to the truth is finally able to see when the old blind man visits him and tells him the truth about his life. Both metaphorically and physically sight plays a significant role in understanding the irony of a blind man seeing the truth while Oedipus who isn’t blind doesn’t seem to the truth that’s right in front of him.

Sophocles gives the readers many different views of the play Oedipus the King in which we can take and analysis accordingly to things we are most interested in. Throughout the play Oedipus personally changes. He starts off as a being a smart leader, calm, and determined, but at the end of the play it reveals how he is angry, irrational and is blind to certain aspects, which becomes his downfall.

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.

Greek theater encompassed many aspects that reflected the moral values and ideals of society. Their customs were tightly woven into the scripts of plays. Antigone and Oedipus the King, two renowned works of the Greek playwright Sophocles, explore these values through a plot thick with corruption, virtue, and determination. These plays reveal the burdens two Theban kings, Oedipus and Creon, as their lies and poor judgment corrode the integrity of their city, their families and themselves. Possessing a strong faith in their respective gods, the characters of these Greek plays are often led astray as they try to escape the twisted hand of fate, further warping their perception of reality. As their vain

    The first two plays of the Oedipus trilogy, Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus, were written by Sophocles around 430 BC. The first story is about Oedipus, the king of Thebes and the prophecy that leads to his downfall. The second is about the events leading up to Oedipus’s death. Oedipus’s brother-in-law, Creon is a major supporting character in these retelling of the Oedipus legend. In these plays, Creon undergoes a transformation from a loyal, diplomatic, and logical patron of Oedipus to a manipulative, aggressive, and ambitious antagonist.

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles is a tragedy revolving around the titular character Oedipus. Oedipus is a tragic hero and his story starts en media res, or, in the middle of things. I will first examine what happens before the story starts. Oedipus was the son of the king and queen of Thebes, King Laius, and Queen Jocasta. It was prophesied that Oedipus would kill Laius and marry Jocasta. To prevent this from happening, Laius and Jocasta leave Oedipus to die, but a shepherd gives him to a messenger and the messenger gives the child to the king and queen of Corinth. Through lack of communication, Oedipus does not know that Laius and Jocasta are his real parents, and they don't know that Oedipus is alive. This is where we get into Oedipus’ flaws as a tragic hero. His main flaw his Hubris, or, excessive pride. Two other important flaws are his selfishness and short temper. It is Oedipus’ short temper that causes him to kill King Laius, his father when Oedipus got some road rage. Another example of one of Oedipus’ flaws, his ignorance, and selfishness, is what causes his blindness and him being a static character. Oedipus is too ignorant to realize all the signs that point to his prophecy becoming correct, he defiles the gods and their oracles just out of spite, excessive pride, ignorance, and selfishness. His pure ignorance causes him to be blind.

    The Greek tragedy Oedipus at Colonus was written by the renowned Greek playwright Sophocles at around 404 B.C.. In the play, considered to be one of the best Greek dramas ever written, Sophocles uses the now broken down and old Oedipus as a statement of hope for man. As Oedipus was royalty and honor before his exile from his kingdom of Thebes he is brought down to a poor, blind old man who wonders, “Who will receive the wandering Oedipus today?” (Sophocles 283) most of the time of his life that is now as low as a peasant’s. Although former ruler of Thebes has been blinded and desecrated to the point where he is a beggar, he will not give up on his life and on the life of his two daughters Antigone and

Oedipus the King contains many different characters. The main character and protagonist is Oedipus who is also the king of Thebes. Oedipus has a wife, Jocasta, who is also his mother and Creon’s sister whom is Oedipus’s brother-in-law. Antigone and Ismene are Oedipus’s and Jocasta’s daughters which also means they are Oedipus’s sister. There is also Tiresias who is the blind soothsayer of Thebes. Oddly, the antagonist is not a person, it is actually Oedipus’ own fate. Oedipus struggles with his fate throughout the play in many ways. For example, when he is told that he is going to kill his father and sleep with his mother, Oedipus moves away to avoid

I find that there is an equal amount of similarities and differences within the text of the play. Starting with Oedipus, we see that he is a very sympathetic leader who always wants to provide a personal connection with that of his community. He is fighting so hard to remove the plague that is stricken over his city of Thebes. This specifically tells us about what type of character Oedipus is as a person and not only that but we see him portrayed as a victim of fate throughout the entire play.

Considered one of the greatest dramas of all time, Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King follows the tragic life of Oedipus, king of Thebes. Considered a Satyr play, the Oedipus trilogy is perhaps the most famous of Sophocles’ plays. Oedipus the King, is an Athenian tragedy that was first performed somewhere around 429 BC in Athens, Greece. Originally, the Greeks referred to the play as simply “Oedipus,” as that was what Aristotle referred to it as in the Poetics. Perhaps what makes this play so memorable, is Sophocles’ uses of the tragic hero as the main theme. Sophocles uses characterization and conflict to portray Oedipus as an Aristotelian tragic hero.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles is more than just a basic tragedy. It contains a complete combination of all the features of a tragedy. I find Sophocles' King Oedipus interesting. Not because of the whole incest thing, the killing of the father, and the sleeping with the mother. I am still too naive to appreciate the significance of that. I find Sophocles' King Oedipus fascinating because as I read it with attention, I realized how amazingly hard it was to write. Even though it’s a Greek tragedy and the reading is a little hard to understand. But, once someone gets inside the story line, its captivates one’s attention. I admit I enjoy less the content of the play than Sophocles' writing skill. When to retell a well-known story, one has to make the story enough convincing without relying on the end of the story. one must dislocate the point of the story from its end to rest. By doing that the story will not lose its appeal. One has to be a creator. So, you have to twist the whole story in such an irresistible way that it is compelling despite the fact that the outcome of the story is known. How do Sophocles solve this problem? By making King Oedipus the central character and unintentionally the architect of his own downfall. The strengths that once lead him to solve the riddle later served as his own destruction. To make a story more appropriate to the stage, which is dealing with flashbacks, forward-moving energy of the story must accommodate with the backward references that

The Greeks considered tragedy the greatest form for literature.  However, the tragic ends for the characters were not ordained or set by fate, but rather caused by certain characteristics belonging to that person.  Such is the case with the characters of Sophocles' plays Oedipus the King and Antigone.  Oedipus from King Oedipus, and Antigone and Creon from Antigone posses characteristics, especially pride, that caused their tragic ends.  As the play progress, other characteristics appear and further add to the problem to such a point that it is inevitable that it will end in tragedy.  Therefore the tragedies were not a result of a plot by the fates, but rather a result of the

Sophocles Influenced then and influencing as well as today. Many great classics and tragedies in literature are associated to ancient Greek philosophers, Sophocles. Not only did he provided the world with endless intriguing ideas, he also was the mastermind behind everlasting tragedies such as Oedipus the King. His ideology, artistry, and perception have served to impact genius minds of the past and both future playwrights. The writing of the play Oedipus the King, the action, the plot, the atmosphere, the characters everything get along so well with the whole play. In Aristoteles “Guide to Playwriting” book he mentioned “Oedipus the King” as a classic tragedy, and pointed out so many things for the young playwrights to follow. Although written

Not all have survived throughout time, as there are only seven complete plays of his that are still in existence. These plays are: “Ajax”, “Antigone”, “The Trachinae”, “Oedipus the King”, “Electra”, “Philoctetes”, and “Oedipus at Colonus.” Of these seven plays, three are referred to as the Theban plays, as they take place in Thebes, these three being “Oedipus the King”, “Oedipus at Colonus”, and “Antigone” (Ancient Greece - Sophocles”). These plays followed the great King Oedipus, who was a famous hero from Sophocles’ hometown (Buller). “Oedipus the King,” also sometimes referred to as “Oedipus Rex” or “Oedipus Tyrannos” was considered to be Sophocles’ masterpiece. “Oedipus at Colonus” was the last play Sophocles ever wrote before he died (Downey). In all, over 1000 fragments of his many plays have survived, including many pieces of “Ichneutae” (“Sophocles”; “Ancient Greece -