Themes In Oedipus The King

In Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the element of fate versus freewill shows up frequently all through the play. It is foreseen to Oedipus' parents, Jocasta and Laius, that their child would grow up to slaughter his father and wed his mother. Jocasta and Laius endeavor to dispose of their child, however, fate triumphs. Oedipus' fate all through the play has been chosen by the fate which adds to his annihilation. Various societies and cultures all through history have embraced similar perspectives, accepting a fate or destiny for their lives. Such points of view are very common is Greek myths who had confidence in "the three Fates" — goddesses who controlled the lives of individuals and the world in general. Clotho the youngest spins the thread of human life. She decides who will be born and when. Lachesis, a matron, measures the thread deciding a person’s lot in life. She is shown with a measuring stick, a scroll, a book, or a globe that represents the horoscope. Atropos, the oldest, choses the mechanism of death and ends the life of each mortal by cutting their thread. She is usually portrayed with a cutting instrument, a scroll, a wax tablet, a sundial, or a pair of scales. Even in modern day, some Christian philosophies incorporate destiny as fate. Many Jews acknowledge that their God has an arrangement for their people and nation.

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.

In Sophocles play Oedipus the King, Sophocles depicts the horrible fate of Oedipus, a pompous, arrogant young ruler. The story begins in the Greek town of Thebes. A plague has descended upon the Thebians causing death and famine throughout the land. Oedipus, being the heroic king, takes full responsibility to find out the cause of their aliments. While working to discover the source of the plague, Oedipus stumbles upon the tragic truth of his heritage and the horrifying implications of his appointment to the throne. Unfortunately for Oedipus, everything ends in tragedy. With the suicide of his mother/wife and the self-inflicted blindness followed by exile from Thebes, Oedipus paved the path to his own

The story of Oedipus the King have many symbols and metaphors that can be interpreted differently from person to person. There are many metaphors that are used as symbols in Oedipus the King, which includes sight and blindness, self-affliction, and the three way crossroad. These are the three main symbols that were used in the story, and sight means knowledge, self-affliction stems from a sense of guilt, and the three way crossroad stands for decisions.

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.

The plays King Oedipus and Antigone are featured in The Theban Plays, written by Sophocles and translated by E. F. Walton. These plays tell the tragic events experienced during Oedipus’s and Antigone’s stories, and can be used to compare the flawed characteristics and actions of the two characters. Antigone shares the characteristics of pride and determination as well as a tendency to make risky decisions with her father, Oedipus, and while they are not inherently bad, each turn into a flaw as Antigone and Oedipus go throughout their journey.

The plays starts with the city is fulfilled with the disaster from the Gods because there is sin and evil happened before Oedipus became king, and the murder who kills the king Laius need to discover and obtain the punishment. It was strongly reflecting to the background of ancient Greek society and God’s involvement in the humans’ life. Essentially, it demonstrates the Greek god has the ultimate power, being divinities of the fate, and shows how helpless of the position the people in. When Tiresias hide the information about the murder, Oedipus became angry, but he noticed Oedipus that his personal cargos is more than his desire to know the truth. (Sophocles 365). Oedipus do not know this warning is about he is the prime for the death of Laius and sleep with his mother, he still continues follow the clue to find out the truth to save his people. His actions is deliberate but it was triggered a curse set upon him many years. So the Tiresias gives a conundrum that Oedipus starts to fall and lost everything. “Revealed at last, brother and father both to the children he embraces…he spilled his father’s blood!”(Sophocles 185). Fate played an important role among the humans and Greeks believed their lives were directly decided by the goddesses. Oedipus knew there will be oracle happened on him

     From the very beginning of the play, we can already see that Oedipus is a great but flawed man. He proves to us

Sophocles’ Oedipus is a dramatic play that deals with tragedy and comedy. Tragedy can awaken humans to the place of grasping hope and growth; Aristotle’s and Sophocles’ display an all-inclusive story of the tragedy of fate. Sophocles’ tragedy is an emotional story of a ruler who kills his father and unwarily takes his mother as his significant other. A tragic hero characterizes one who makes unwise decisions that prompts catastrophe overcome. Due to the prophecy that their new son would kill his father, Laius and, Jocasta, King and Queen of Thebes, gave their infant to a shepherd with orders that he be left on a mountainside to die. The shepherd, however,

All gods above this earth fall weak in the wake of man’s steps. This is a statement that King Oedipus might agree with in the beginning of Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, a tragedy located in the time period of Ancient Greece. In this masterpiece, Sophocles presents the argument that the rule of the gods is above all others, which brings brilliant contrast to the tragic hero, who stated, “Why should we ever spare for the shrine of Delphi, or the birds that scream above our heads? On their showing, I was doomed to be my father’s murderer; but he is dead and buried, and here am I, who never laid hand on sword. Unless perhaps he died through pining for me; thus I could’ve killed him. But as they stand, the oracles have gone to join him underground, and they are worthless.” (Sophocles 37) This lengthy quote said by Oedipus himself, states that the oracle of Delphi, the gods, and prophets, specifically an earlier character in the play known as Teiresias, are practically worthless, and that he’s in control of his own life. In Oedipus the King, Sophocles fully believes that there is a set hierarchical

Although Oedipus the King was written by Sophocles when the Ancient Greek civilization was at its peak, far before the textbook you will read it from was created, its ideas and themes can still be applicable. Despite being far older than the simple platitude, one theme of Sophocles’ tragedy is perhaps best explained with the phrase “ignorance is bliss”. Oedipus the King also has a second theme, people pick and choose what they want to believe as it suits them. Both themes, developed through the symbolism and irony throughout the tragedy, cause us to question our own pursuits and beliefs, making it a story worth examining further.

In all works of literature, regardless of genre, there will be themes that are so universal that they can appear in two very different works. While Oedipus Rex is a Greek tragedy and The Kite Runner is a work of historical fiction, the theme of betrayal runs firmly through both of them. Lessons can truly be learned through any means and literature is a testament to that. In the two of these works, they share the theme of betrayal, the author’s treatment of the theme is shown through the character’s dialogue and their thoughts, and the author’s treatment is significant because it conveys the overall tone for both pieces.

Throughout the play “Oedipus Rex”, the main character Oedipus has a number of different character traits throughout the play. His out-look on the stories situation evolves as he begins to learn the truth about who he really is. Oedipus takes on the characteristics of a hunter as well as becoming the hunted; he is a sower yet also the seed, and a sailor-helmsman of the city. Each of these images has their own significance, and all three of these images reinforce the central idea of Oedipus as the symbolic representative of human progress, for the conquest of the wild beasts, the discovery of agriculture, and the mastery of the sea are important stages in our long development from savagery to civilization.

In literature many leaders and characters have been proven to overestimate their power. Oedipus, while not realising it himself, is one of the many literary characters that overestimates his power and wisdom. In the play, “Oedipus The King” by Sophocles, we can observe the playwrights theme of overestimating power and apply it to a couple of the characters such as Jocasta, King Laius and Oedipus.

The Greeks were known for their literature, such as The Odyssey and Homer’s Iliad. However, one of the most recognizable plays would most likely be Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles. In this play, Sophocles uses light, dark, sight, and blindness as symbolism throughout the play. However, these symbols are used to convey major themes and dramatic irony as well. In Oedipus Rex, the themes of light and dark as well as sight and blindness are used to convey major themes and dramatic irony by implicitly showing the reader that tragic events are taking course, Oedipus’s struggle between knowledge and ignorance, or his reluctance to see what is around him.