Theme Of Oedipus Rex And The Kite Runner

What does it mean to truly see? Do those blessed with normal vision really see?

It is amazing how two literary works from different time periods and different cultures can portray the same theme. A major theme in both The Kite Runner and Oedipus Rex is the limits of free will. The way Khaled Hosseini portrays the theme in The Kite runner is the way that the majority of Pashtuns treat the Hazaras, they are either treated as objects that people can do whatever they want with, they are treated as second class citizens or they are servants to the Pashtuns. In Oedipus Rex, the way that the theme is portrayed is that Oedipus is bound to a prophecy that he heard when he was a child.

When you think of blindness you think of sight and when you think of ignorance you think of knowledge. Throughout the play Oedipus, sight and blindness imagery is very noticeable, along with ignorance and knowledge. Sophocles creates Oedipus as a character of ignorance, confidence, and good insight. The story starts out as Oedipus is the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta. The oracle told the parents that their son would kill his father and marry his mother. The parents refused to let this happen and sent the servant to pin Oedipus’s feet together and leave him on the mountain to die. The messenger knew this was not right and stepped in immediately to help the poor child. As Oedipus grew older he found out the truth about his life and why certain things happened. Over time, Oedipus's blindness shows him the lack of knowledge he knew about his true life story.

“Who am I?” This has become the essential question asked in each literary work The Kite Runner and Oedipus Rex. Striving to find who they are the characters, Oedipus and Amir, try to figure out what they have become through their separate journeys. Most of their conclusions rely on the fact that both characters continue to look back into their past. The constant theme in both the novel and the tragedy is continuously looking into the past. Both characters constantly look at the past in ways such as their relationship with their father, the wrong choices they have made, and the secrets that lie in the family.

Even as literature has multiple genres, themes can still parallel each other regardless of appearing in two altogether varying works very different authors of distinct separate time frames conceive and write. Even as The Kite Runner is a work of historical fiction and Oedipus Rex develops a well known and praisable Greek tragedy, a theme of betrayal places itself throughout both. Literature demonstrates that learning moral is genuine through any method. In both pieces of literature, betrayal is a shared and understood theme throughout, the discourse and contemplations of each character magnifies the author’s treatment of the theme, and the author’s treatment is critical on the grounds that it conveys the general tone for the two pieces.

The play is trying to say that human have great knowledge capability and can demonstrate incredible powers of intellectual penetration and awareness. However, it is unreliable and limited because even the smartest human being will commit an error. King Oedipus perhaps meant to show that human beings are powerless before or the gods because they are the ones that created us and sort of path our journey on Earth. Disaster and error can happen to anyone and human beings must have the best attitude toward life (Sparknotes).

What similarities could current fiction novels possibly have with old Greek drama? Greek dramas and current day novels have more in common than anyone realizes. For example, there are many similarities between Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex and Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. These similarities show how writing and entertainment have not completely changed despite how long it has been. One of the most important similarities is the theme. This essay will explore these two works by looking into the similar themes, how the themes are treated, and the importance of similar themes.

Discuss whether or not a hero who is tragic by trait and definition can exist within the structure of the monomyth.

Even as literature has multiple genres, themes can still parallel each other regardless of appearing in two altogether varying works very different authors of distinctly separate time frames conceive and write. Even as The Kite Runner is written as a work of historical fiction and Oedipus Rex develops a well known and praisable Greek tragedy, a theme of betrayal places itself throughout both. Literature demonstrates that morals can genuinely be learned through any method. In both pieces of literature, betrayal is a shared and understood theme throughout, the discourse and contemplations of each character magnifies the author’s treatment of the theme, and the author’s

Tragic and foreboding are some of the many tones that overlook “Oedipus the King”. Oedipus is a hero with mostly good intentions but because of his tragic flaw of ignorance ends himself in agony. The fact

As a summer assignment, I had to read two books: The Kite runner, a novel by Khaled Hosseini, and Oedipus Rex, a play by Sophocles. The Kite Runner follows Amir’s journey as he goes through the ups and downs of his life. Amir was raised with Hassan, his servant’s son and an unlikely friendship grew between the two boys. As they grow up, all sorts of barriers were put between them, such as society, ethnicity, religion, and literacy. Amir’s life completely changes when he witnesses Hassan getting attacked by the district’s bullies, but flees instead of standing up for his friend. The guilt, resulting from his action caused their friendship to deteriorate and in the end, Amir managed to have Hassan sent away. Oedipus Rex, however, is an older tale; it is a story of self-discovery, sins, and redemption. Set in the Ancient Greek era, Oedipus Rex tells the story of a king who, unintentionally, kills his father and marries his mother and follows his reaction as he discovers the horrible truth. Despite having different stories and settings, the books shared some common themes, notably guilt and redemption.

The fate of many happens in conjunction with their decisions in different events. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles do not fail to describe the dreadful hardships of life through difficult decision-making and grim situations. Although written more than two millenniums apart, both authors manage to entwine the them regarding fate and, how it causes change in the character’s state of mind along with personality. The author showcases the theme of fate in the contrasting personality shifts of the main protagonists, their similar use of fate to escape their issues, also including their distinct decisions that alter their destiny.

Theme, the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person's thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic. Throughout “The Kite Runner” and “Oedipus Rex” there were themes that made these writing pieces their own works of art. It was quite hard to find a theme that both “The Kite Runner” and “Oedipus Rex” share in common. Shown throughout ”The Kite Runner” the strongest theme shown for the duration of the book were loyalty and devotion shown mostly in Hassan, in that he would do anything for Amir. “ For you, a thousand times over.” (Page 67) Hassan said to Amir right before he ran for the winning kite in the kite tournament. For “Oedipus Rex” the theme that was shown completely through for the play was fate and freewill. This is shown whenever Oedipus had to select a decision for himself. Then any advice or warning Oedipus was told he ignored which is how fate and freewill make the strongest theme in “Oedipus Rex.” As both stories are being told a common theme has been presented, which is that you can not ignore your past as it will come back as a reference to the present.

Fate is defined as a predetermined event that cannot be changed by mortals. In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus is marked by his fate, and he does not realize it until it is too late. Oedipus learns of his fate when he calls for Teiresias, the blind man who can read and interpret the prophecies. After being provoked by Oedipus, Teiresias angrily reveals that Oedipus is destined to kill his own father and marrying his own mother, while eventually gouging out his eyes. However, Oedipus does not fear his fate; he believes that he is invincible to these prophecies. How does one go about escaping fate? Does one have any control over these predetermined events? Oedipus is a man in pursuit of answers, and the idea of his prophecy coming to fruition does not sit well with him. He does not even fully understand fate and how it is going to affect him until he experiences it. Nevertheless, Oedipus understands that free will does exist and is seen throughout the text implementing his own actions into his everyday life. The idea of fate is flawed, and is used by Oedipus and people of today’s society as a scapegoat for one to hide behind their own poor decisions.

In the Greek tragedy, we see that Jocasta state that it is natural for human being to dream about sleeping with their mothers. She is right in the sense that we gain a sort of attraction and love for our parents. These natural feelings has come to be known as either the Oedipus or Electra complexes. There is a common command against incest that is both needed and jus due to the fact that it is morally wrong and disgusting. The command against incest is needed because it keeps citizens and most of all the kingdom morally in check. For someone to take their mother or father to bed and wed them is viewed in most societies as disgusting and unjust. This is portrayed in the play with the curse on the kingdom and Oedipus having no knowledge of his incestuios actions, however Jocosta knew what was going and viewed the situation as inevitable due to the wrath of the gods.