Oedipus Rex by Sophocles Essay

As is true with characters of many other works of literature, the protagonist of Oedipus the King, must contend with the horrible reality of his past. This protagonist, Oedipus, killed his father and married his mother, and what is worse, is that he is not aware of this. Throughout the entire play, his relationship with his past is one of ignorance. His ignorance of past events is what causes the play to unfold as it does. Unaware of his own reality, Oedipus leads himself to his own demise by becoming overly confident and prideful, and by distancing himself from his supporters. Through the main character’s relationship with the past, Sophocles develops his central themes of fate, sight, and pride.

Oedipus is described as a hero with god-like qualities. They worship him. The people of Thebes for instance believe that Oedipus ascended to the throne through God’s guidance. Sophocles play Oedipus definitely exemplifies Aristotle definition of a tragic hero.  Oedipus is not only a king but a person born a noble. Oedipus takes his fate into his own hands and takes his decisions head on. He is his own cause of the things happening around him, to him and in his life. Sadly, his life falls apart, but by his own doing. He has to suffer the consequences of his actions in many ways. First, he forces Teiresias to reveal his destiny as well as his father’s name. Teiresias tries to avoid all these questions but in the end he has to head warning to Oedipus against forcing him to reveal those details. Oedipus is relentless and is determined to find the truth. He continues questioning Teiresias further. Teiresias finally

This story is a perfect model for a great tragedy because it emphasizes on human weakness and man’s inability to change his destiny. “Oedipus the King” was introduced by Sophocles in which he introduced the achievements of Oedipus. It takes you on the journey or Oedipus and this tragic things that he goes through. Although Oedipus was a good person and a true hero, he was the unfortunate one to discover that the gods were only playing with him. Oedipus has everything a man of that time could ever want: he has a great wife and children, he becomes the king of Thebes, and has great fame throughout the lands. “The world knows my name; I am Oedipus.”

Oedipus solved the sphinx riddle, which had terrorized the Thebans; therefore, he was given the queen’s hand which turned out to be his biological mother. In the story Oedipus

Oedipus is living in a dream from which he is only just beginning to awake. In this dream, he not only believes that he is in control of his own fate but that he is in control of his own identity. He assumes that he has three virtues: wisdom, reason, and self-control. When he attempts to use these virtues, however, he discovers that he is mistaken on all three counts. His first mistake is believing that he is wise. From this wisdom he hopes to maintain control over the events around him, but true wisdom is actually surrendering to the fact that control is an illusion, a "seeming." His second mistake is believing that he is a rational man. Indeed, Oedipus has great cognitive

When Oedipus was born, he was left on a mountainside to die. The reason his parents did this was, an oracle predicted that he will grow up to be the murderer of his father the King. Oedipus parents did not kill him like they told to, instead Oedipus was found by a Sheppard and taken to the nearby city of Corinth. This is where Oedipus was adopted as the son of the King and Queen. Many years later, Oedipus seeks counsel from the same oracle that predicted his fate. The oracle does not tell him the identity of his true parents, instead tells him that he will kill his biological father and marry his birth mother. To ovoid this prophecy, Oedipus ran away from Corinth back to Thebes. Oedipus reaches a place where three roads meet. He comes across a chariot that was carrying King Laius. At the time he did not know that this man was his father and the King of Thebes. They begin to fight over who has the right to go first, and in self defense Oedipus kills King Laius; unknowingly fulfilling part of the prophecy. After unknowingly killing the King, Oedipus continues on his journey toward Thebes. When he got to the there the city in great distress. He also learned that a monster called the Sphinx was terrorizing the Thebans by devouring them when they failed to answer its riddle correctly. Oedipus not only defeated the Sphinx, which killed itself in rage, but won the throne of the dead king and the hand in marriage of the

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

Does the blinding truth pride hides, makes pride itself dangerous? In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus - once the proud king of Thebes - life changes through figuring out that he is the murder of the former king, and married Jocasta, his own mother. The tragedy of Oedipus is entirely the result of pride through his people, being ignorant, and losing pride. Oedipus's past accomplishments give a sense of pride. It is said that Oedipus got rid of the Sphinx on his journey to Thebes, and from this the people praised him as king (2-3).

According to the greek myth the sphinx is the daughter of Orthrus, a two headed dog, and Chimaera which is a hybrid monster. She was sent by the gods to torment the town of Thebes. She guarded the entrance to the Greek city and to have asked a riddle for travelers to allow them to passage. If the travelers answered the riddle wrong the sphinx would kill them. The most famous riddle she would ask is “Which creature in the morning goes on four legs in the morning, at mid-day on two, and the evening upon three and the more legs it has, the weaker it would be?” No one was ever able to get the answer right. Until Oedipus, the sphinx nemesis, he solved the riddle by answering with the word man. Reason being is that a man- crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two as an adult, and eventually needs a cane when he is much older. The Sphinx again asks Oedipus a second riddle following the first “there are two sisters; one gives birth to the other, who in turns gives birth to the first; who are they?” Oedipus answers the riddle with day and night. The sphinx ends up devouring

Seeking the difference between each evolution of Oedipus’s journey and how each aspect defines him. Sphinxes are seen in many different Greek myths are a part of the Titan class. Exploring their raw power and intellectual abilities plays into societal desire. Oracles are simple oracle and fortune tellers depending on the information they are providing. This plays a key role in the perception that man have about their abilities. And looking into the incestuous family complex that caused the fall of a society. This is something that has been seen in many cultures under many different situations.

Oedipus Rex, or Oedipus the King is Sophocles’s first play of “The Theban Cycle.” It tells the story of a king that tries to escape his fate, but by doing so he only brings about his downfall. Oedipus is a classic example of the Aristotelian definition of a tragic hero. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as a basically good and noble person who causes his own downfall due to a flaw in his character.

In the greek drama, Oedipus the king by Sophocles, King Oedipus shows all the characteristics of a tragic hero. By definition A tragic hero is, “A privileged, exalted character of high repute, who by virtue of a tragic flaw and fate suffers a fall from glory into suffering”. That definition perfectly describes Oedipus and his life. Throughout this whole story we see the real Oedipus emerge. Oedipus starts out in the beginning by being the best king around but by the end of the story we see the ups and downs of his life and how it changed forever. In the story we here Oedipus say these words, “ah! My poor children, known, ah known too well, the quest that brings

Fate and free will shows up in many stories, and plays a vital role in building up a character, or leading to their downfall. Fate and free will is a big theme in Oedipus Rex, and is the building bone to many of the characters lives. In Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus becomes king of Thebes. Before Oedipus came into power, the previous king of Thebes, Laius, was mysteriously murdered. A Sphinx came into power as the city had no king. However, Oedipus is able to save the city by answering the riddle told by the Sphinx, which no one else could figure out. The people of the city praise him for freeing them and Oedipus becomes king, and marries Jocasta. He is a strong and brave leader who is respected by the people of Thebes. However, after

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.

Oedipus did not have a fair start in life. His father, Laius, heard prophecy that Oedipus would one day kill his father and sleep with his mother. In order to prevent this, Laius gave Oedipus to a shepherd to be killed. Fortunately, through a string of events, Oedipus's life was saved, and he even went on to become the honored king of Thebes. Despite this feat, Oedipus still managed to make several decisions that ultimately fulfilled the original prophecy told to Laius, and inevitably sealed Oedipus?s fate.