...According to Robert Fagles, Oedipus The King is known by all to be a dramatic masterpiece. This Greek play is such a masterpiece because it tells the story of a well-known myth in Sophocles’s time and tells it in a way that was never thought of before. He had Oedipus discover through his own persistence that he was the person he had to exile. The play is a tragedy of fate that critics of the 18th and 19th centuries have tried to discount. Our generation of critics sees the situation that Oedipus is put into as an image of their own fears. Fagles mentions Sigmund Freud’s opinion of Oedipus The King, Freud says how he believes the reason the play is still so moving is due to Oedipus being unable to escape the fate that the gods have given to...
Words: 727 - Pages: 3
...Oedipus is the second of three Theban plays that Sophocles wrote. The play is set in Thebes, an ancient Egyptian city. There is a plague over the city and will not be lifted until the death of the former King Laius is solved. Throughout Oedipus there are four recurring characters: Jocasta, Creon, Tiresias, and Oedipus. These characters are the ones that get close to Oedipus and help him figure out the plague of Thebes. To better understand the story of Oedipus the characters, the theme and the plot need to be examined. The protagonist of the play is Oedipus. He is the king of Thebes and was made king by solving the riddle of the Sphinx. Jocasta is the wife of Oedipus and mother, who is later revealed in the play. She tries to make...
Words: 659 - Pages: 3
...Sophocles’ Oedipus the King tells the tale of a king who is destined to kill his father and bear children with his mother - and who did so despite everything Laius (Oedipus’s father) did to keep it from occurring. To say such an oddly specific tragedy that was also prophesied happened due to random chance is bewildering. It is shown countless times throughout the play that Oedipus is not the greatest of people. He is full of anger and pride and is extremely insecure about himself - proven when he accuses Creon of wishing to steal Oedipus’s throne. “He has been your friend before all men’s eyes; do not cast him away dishonoured on an obscure conjecture” (767-769) the Chorus tells Oedipus after he decided he wants to either banish or kill Creon....
Words: 321 - Pages: 2
...rule to govern a place in a way that is beneficial to its’ residents. In Sophocles’ play Antigone, which is a continuation of Oedipus Rex and the last play in the Oedipus Cycle, this standard is ignored. In the play, the current king of Thebes, by default is Creon. This supposed righteous king is the source of the problems that arise in his country, mainly because he displays ignorance to the Thebans. His shortly fused temper and defensive nature proves to get the best of him. Additionally, he is...
Words: 1022 - Pages: 5
...1. The text I will be working from in this Multimodal Project is ‘Oedipus the King’ by Sophocles. This play references sight and blindness multiple times since Oedipus was blinded from the truth for a long period, so I would like to emphasize this even more by visualizing it in a cartoon for readers. I also want to capture Oedipus’ ‘dreadful mark of shame’ since it is a great example of symbolism which further emphasizes the theme of the play which is power of prophecy. Finally, I would like to use the text when Oedipus is in complete shock when he discovers he is his father’s murderer and his mother’s husband. 2. Thesis: Bringing to life the literary elements and themes of ‘Oedipus the King’ through visualization of will better accentuate...
Words: 311 - Pages: 2
...truths will cause them more harm then it will good. In Sophocles Oedipus Rex readers are able to watch the main character Oedipus go through this process which can take people years of their lives happen in a span of a few short days. In this process, people discover that it is not necessarily beneficial to know every truth and that it is ok to stay blind to some issues. As people go through the aging process they are...
Words: 1594 - Pages: 7
...“Free will is … a necessary illusion”(Agard, The Humanities for Our Times) which we need to keep a degree of order in our lives. Both free will and fate are large themes in Sophocles’s play Oedipus Rex, a story about a king who learns the dreadful crimes of his past. Free will is a necessary illusion because we as humans need to believe in free will, we need to believe we have control over our own lives. If we lose the illusion then we lose our sense of control, and chaos could ensue. Life is a jumbled mess of great events, in which we are rarely involved. We try desperately for our lives to not be involved in this mess, for us to have a part of the world where tranquility exist for a person. The need for control also stems from pre-historic...
Words: 330 - Pages: 2
...theme. Sophocles, the author of Oedipus the King, used three main types of irony to develop the theme: no matter the difficulty of the feat, fate predetermines the outcome. Verbal irony occurs when a character says the opposite of what they mean. Oedipus uses sarcasm in his discussion with the chorus to attack Apollo. The second type of irony, dramatic irony, happens when the audience knows more than the characters. For example, no one but the audience knows that Oedipus killed King Laius. The last type of irony, situational, happens when the characters does the complete opposite of what the audience expects. For instance, the audience expected...
Words: 910 - Pages: 4
...Hamartia in Oedipus the King According to the Aristotelian characteristics of good tragedy, the tragic character should not fall due to either excessive virtue or excessive wickedness, but due to what Aristotle called hamartia. Hamartia may be interpreted as either a flaw in character or an error in judgement. Oedipus, the tragic character in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, certainly makes several such mistakes; however, the pervasive pattern of his judgemental errors seems to indicate a basic character flaw that precipitates them. Oedipus’ character flaw is ego. This is made evident in the opening lines of the prologue when he states "Here I am myself--you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus." (ll. 7-9) His conceit is the root cause of a number of related problems. Among these are recklessness, disrespect, and stubbornness. Oedipus displays an attitude of recklessness and disrespect throughout the play. When he makes his proclamation and no one confesses to the murder of Laius, Oedipus loses patience immediately and rushes into his curse. Later, he displays a short temper to Tiresias: "You, you scum of the earth . . . out with it, once and for all!," (ll. 381, 383) and "Enough! Such filth from him? Insufferable--what, still alive? Get out--faster, back where you came from--vanish!" (ll. 490-492) If an unwillingness to listen may be considered stubbornness, certainly Oedipus would take advice from no one who would tell him to drop the matter of his...
Words: 4487 - Pages: 18
...Sign in Google oedipus rex thesis research paper WebImagesVideosNewsShoppingMoreSearch tools About 365,000 results (0.35 seconds) Search Results Free oedipus Essays and Papers - 123HelpMe.com www.123helpme.com/search.asp?text=oedipus Free oedipus papers, essays, and research papers. ... Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles - In “Oedipus the King,” an infant's fate is determined that he will kill his father ... Oedipus the King a Story of Fate - Research Papers ... www.termpaperwarehouse.com › English and Literature Feb 8, 2012 - Read this essay on Oedipus the King: a Story of Fate . ... Thesis: “Oedipus the King” by is generally a story about fate as it deals with its ... Oedipus Rex and Blindness Research Papers are Written ... www.papermasters.com › Research Paper Topics Oedipus Rex and Blindness research papers are custom written according to your literature or English 101 research paper requirements. Oedipus the King Research Papers on the play by Sophocles www.papermasters.com › Research Paper Topics In research papers on Oedipus the King by Sophocles, there is the example of the classic tragic hero in the character Oedipus. Often defined in research papers ... Oedipus the King Term Paper Topics - Planet Papers www.planetpapers.com/professional-essays/Oedipus-the-King.aspx Oedipus the King term papers available at Planet Papers.com, the largest free term ... 1000's of FREE Term Papers, Essays, Book Reports & Research Papers. Oedipus Rex Essay - Critical...
Words: 499 - Pages: 2
...Institution Date Oedipus Oedipus is the protagonist of the play “Oedipus the King ”. Before the play commences, Oedipus is given the kingship of Thebes. He is acknowledged for been intelligent and possessing the capacity to solve puzzles. Most of his subjects at this scene appear to be optimistic in the future of the king (Griffith 95). His intelligence was influential in saving Thebes city. Consequently, he was made the king of Thebes after resolving the riddles from the supernatural being called Sphinx that had captured that city (Sophocles and Gilbert 56). The name of Oedipus means swollen root that generally offers some important information about his personal characters. Additionally, as a baby, Oedipus was drugged from Laius’s house to the mountains and left with his two legs tied together. He was later rescued by shepherds, took him to the house of the king. In the King’s house, he grew into powerful boy (Chase 54). When Oedipus commenced his journey to Thebes he came across his father but killed him unknowingly. He later proceeded to engage in marriage with Jocasta his biological mother without knowing. This paper will describe Oedipus and reveal how he interacts with the other characters in the play. Additionally, it will reflect the speeches and actions of Oedipus while analyzing how he changes throughout the play. Moreover, the paper will offer conclusion based on these discussion. Interactions with characters Oedipus is the main character in this play. As a king, he interacts...
Words: 1839 - Pages: 8
...Name: Marc Krishke Instructor’s Name: Professor Karen Richie Course: English 1220 Date: 18 December 2008 Name: Marc Krishke Instructor’s Name: Professor Karen Richie Course: English 1220 Date: 12/10/08 Title: Oedipus the King: A Story of Fate Thesis: “Oedipus the King” by is generally a story about fate as it deals with its unalterable nature and the consequences that come with the attempt to change it. I. Fate and its Characteristics A. Characteristics of Fate 1. Fate as controlled by external force 2. Insignificance of man in relation to fate B. Fate according to Sophocles 1. Determined nature of fate 2. Freedom of man as manifested through his attitude towards destiny II. Oedipus A. His destiny as determined before his birth 1. The attempt of King Laius and Queen Jocasta to alter his fate 2. The futility of such attempt B. Oedipus’ lack of knowledge as instrumental in determining his fate C. Oedipus’ negative attitude towards his destiny D. Man’s attitude as uncontrolled by fate but possesses the power to influence 1. The role of arrogance and self-confidence in the fulfillment of the prophecy 2. Arrogance as a result of experience 3. Self-confidence as contributed by the people of Thebes 4. Arrogance and self-confidence as his response against fate III. Fate according to Epictetus ...
Words: 3315 - Pages: 14
...Oedipus the King Although the social standards of fifth century B.C. Greece allowed humans free will, Oedipus, in Oedipus the King written by Sophocles, was not allowed to demonstrate this. Oedipus was a leader of his time became a horrific tragedy because of this. Oedipus’s fate forced him to unconsciously go against the laws and moral precepts, ultimately leading to incest, murder, and his own self-destruction. Oedipus the King is a story told by Sophocles that shows major tragedy. Oedipus was born as the son of Laius, the once King of Thebes and his wife Jocasta. The Oracle tells Laius that his son will be his own demise and he listens to them. Jocasta gives the baby to a messenger so it will be taken away and killed. The messenger pins Oedipus ankles so he will always be marked, and the messenger hands him to a shepherd. The shepherd takes him and instead of killing him he lets him live and raises him as the prince of Corinth. Oedipus was told by the Oracle that he will eventually have sex with his mother and kill his father. Oracles speak to a purpose and are inspired by the gods who control the destiny of men. Oedipus growing up with his non-blood parents didn’t believe the Oracle because nothing that they said happened. Oedipus later on in his life became the King of Thebes, and the city was struck by a plague and needed a savor. The city was looking up to Oedipus as he looked for help, so he sent his brother-in-law Creon to go speak with the Delphi Oracle on this...
Words: 2811 - Pages: 12
...Importance of Dramatic Irony in Oedipus the King From the Roman writings of Cicero to the Russian writings of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, literature has been growing and stemming from many famous origins. One of the great originators of literature that is seen in our current society is Ancient Greece. Greek literature is famous for its writers, Aristotle, Sophocles, Plato, etc., as well as, various genres of literature, which ranged from comedy to tragedy to drama. There is a combination of one writer and one genre that I will be focusing on in this paper and that is Sophocles and his great tragedy, Oedipus the King. This play, however is not a simple tragedy, it is a branch of theater that we know as dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is defined as the discrepancy between what the characters of a drama know and what the audience knows, what is being said in the play that we know has a different meaning than it has for the characters in the play. This form of theatrical literature is seen over and over again in Oedipus the King. Oedipus sets forth on a mission that is very unknown to him, but very obvious for the audience, thus simplifying the importance of dramatic irony in this play. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus’ ignorance and the audience’s knowledge work hand-in-hand together to give a greater understanding of dramatic irony. The theatrical play on dramatic irony doesn’t only play a role on the characters, but the audience and the reader as well. Oedipus the King is one of the Three Great...
Words: 1424 - Pages: 6
...The Use of Chance in Chronicle of a Death Foretold versus Oedipus the King Chance can serve many different purposes in works of literature. Whether it is to display a certain idea or to simply add to the author's writing style, chance can have a very significant effect on a reader or an audience. In Oedipus the King by Sophocles and Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, both writers use chance to develop their plots. The chance events are what further the plot and eventually lead to the main characters’ downfall. Chance, however, also has different purposes in the works, as Marquez uses it as an element of his magical realist style of writing, while Sophocles uses it to portray Oedipus’s unavoidable fate. The multiple events involving chance seen throughout Oedipus the King lead towards the idea of one’s inevitable fate and the futility of trying to go against it. While Oedipus was fleeing Corinth and trying to escape the prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, he “came near to [a] triple crossroad and there [Oedipus] was met by a herald and a man riding on a horse-drawn wagon […] the old man himself tried to push [Oedipus] off the road,” (Sophocles 57) and in return Oedipus “killed the whole lot of them” (Sophocles 57). While trying defy his fate Oedipus was unaware that he was actually fulfilling the prophecy, by killing his father. It was completely by chance that Oedipus would happen to meet his father at that exact moment, and...
Words: 1172 - Pages: 5
