The play, Oedipus the King, is complex since it has both peripeteia and anagnorisis. The plot of the play is Oedipus’ desire to free Thebans from plague and his resolution and quest to unveil 12/01/ · Oedipus the King Analysis Essay Oedipus HamartiaAristotle once said that a heros downfall must be a result of some tragic flaw within the character. This flaw was known 21/04/ · Oedipus is swift and confident throughout the play. He cross-examines Creon, asks for Tiresias, makes threats about sending Creon and Tiresias to exile, asks to see the servant
Oedipus The King Analysis Essay - SummaryStory
Oedipus the King is one of the group of three plays by Sophocles known as the Theban plays since they all relate to the destinies of the Theban family of the Oedipus and his children. The other two plays of this group are Antigone and Oedipus at Colonus. Oedipus the King relates the story of Oedipus who reached Thebes, having killed on the way an old man with whom he picked a quarrel. The city of Thebes was then suffering terribly because of the monster, the Sphinx. He solved her riddle and citizens of Thebes offered him the kingdom as city is afflicted with the loss of their king, who had been murdered while on a pilgrimage. So he assumed the power and married the widowed queen. Here the tragedy of Oedipus takes its final course. As city was afflicted with famine, so Delphic oracles were consulted who disclosed that troubles of the city arose from the fact that it is harboring an unclean person, the murderer of late king Laius.
Oedipus resolved to get to the bottom of this mystery and punish the wrongdoer. However, oedipus the king analysis essay, he ultimately discovered that the culprit he was seeking was none other than he himself. He blinded himself and went on exile. There are various standpoints for looking at the theme of the play. It may be considered as a play enacting the theme of insecurity and illusoriness of human happiness. Or the theme may be that of the inadequacy of human intelligence in resolving the riddles of destiny. The identification of themes in Oedipus differs from reader to reader and from critic to critic. I think that Sophocles wanted to convey that a man is plunged from prosperity and power to ruin ands ignominy due to his own human failings.
It was something[1] in his character that brought his tragedy. Anything foreign to his own character only augmented the tragic proceedings but it was only his own disposition that made him a prey to disgrace. Order custom essay Oedipus the King: A Theme Analysis with free plagiarism report. Distinguished Professor Butcher has identified four possible ranges of human failings in Oedipus. Such acts are committed in anger or passion. The crucial point is that whether Sophocles wants us to think that Oedipus has basically unsound character.
One way of deciding this question is to examine what other characters in the play say about Oedipus. The only result that we can arrive at in this way is that Sophocles intends us to consider Oedipus an essentially noble person. In the opening scene of the play, the priest of Zeus refers to him as the greatest and noblest of men and the divinely inspired savior who saved Thebes from being destroyed by the Sphinx. The Chorus also considers him to be noble and virtuous. They refuse to believe in Tireseas accusations of him, oedipus the king analysis essay. When catastrophe befalls Oedipus, oedipus the king analysis essay, not a single character in the play justifies it as a doom which has deservedly overtaken Oedipus. Dodds, p. Let us examine those.
Oedipus seems to be obsessed with his own intelligence and oedipus the king analysis essay leads him to very unfortunate and uncomfortable situations. This human weakness[2] of Oedipus laps over with his pride as he is extremely proud of the fact that he was able to solve the riddle of the Sphinx which had proved too much for any other person. He thinks that Gods has capacitated him with intelligence and wisdom to solve riddle that the Thebes is afflicted with, oedipus the king analysis essay. He says. After calling the soothsayer false prophet, Oedipus boasts of his own skill in having solved the puzzled which proved too much for the blind seer.
Self-confidence and pride in his own wisdom is an outstanding feature of his character that also brings his tragedy. Here Oedipus also fulfills the traits of Aristotelian tragic hero as he possesses a noble tragic flaw. The man who sets out on his new task by sending first for the venerable seer is not lacking in pious reverence; but we also observe that Oedipus manifests unrestrained arrogance in his own intellectual achievement. This is a justified pride but it amounts too oedipus the king analysis essay. This pride and self-confidence induce Oedipus to despise prophecy and feel almost superior to the gods. He tell the people who pray for deliverance from pathos and miseries they are afflicted with if they listen to and follow his advice in order to get a remedy.
These characteristics were only fuel to the fire and added to the pride created a blaze that consumed him. His inquisitive nature is not content with anything which is either half-hearted or incomplete. Nor can he brook any delay. He damns that the direction of the oracle should be given effect at once. As before, Oedipus speaks on the basis of the workings of his own mental faculties that has been tested time and again and have proved their intelligence. It can be said that the tragedy of Oedipus is the result more of his good qualities than his bad ones. It is his love for Thebes which makes him send Creon to Delphi to consult the Oracles. It is the same care for his subjects who make him proclaim a ban and a curse on the murderer of Laius.
It is his absolute honesty which makes him include even himself within the curse and the punishment. He is angry with Tireseas because he is unable to tolerate the fact that although the prophet says that he know who the murderer of Laius ishe refuses top give the information to the king. To Oedipus the discovery of truth is more important than his own good and safety. Even when it seems that the investigation that he is carrying on will not produce any result which will be him, he decides to carry on oedipus the king analysis essay it. He is so honest with himself that he inflicts the punishment of self-blinding and banishment from the city of Thebes. So his moral goodness also seems as a human failing that brings his ruin.
There is another important human failing that contribute toward his tragedy i. his intellectual myopia. He has a limited vision and is unable to assess the situations in a right perspective. Robert L. physical and intellectual. One is related to physical sight whereas the other, the most pernicious type of blindness, pertains to insight. Tiresias is physically blind but whereas Oedipus is blind intellectually. This intellectual blindness of Oedipus also contributes greatly to lead him to his tragic destination. Oedipus possesses faultless physical vision throughout play except in the end but he remains blind to the reality regarding himself. At one point in the play, he has the ability to see but he is not willing to do so, oedipus the king analysis essay.
So his blindness, oedipus the king analysis essay, both intellectual at the start of the play and physical at the end of the day, is the worst. This shows his physical sight but intellectual blindness as he himself was the cause of those afflictions. You can't hurt me or anyone else who sees the light - you can never touch me. It is illustrated that it is Oedipus who is blind intellectually as he is not willing to comprehend the situation and to understand the truth. In retort to his slur, Tiresias refers to worst form of blindness that Oedipus is suffering, oedipus the king analysis essay. These supportive texts clearly manifest that Oedipus was afflicted with severe intellectual myopia as he was unable t see the truth that was pervasive all around him.
Actually he was unwilling to see truth around him, prior to his physical blindness and afterwards as he blinds himself not to observe the things around him. His is the most insidious form of blindness. Oedipus can be held guilty due to another human flaw—his inability to take appropriate preventive measures. It is said that he fails to take logical steps and precaution s which would have saved him from committing oedipus the king analysis essay crimes. Knowing that he was in danger of committing parricide and incest, would not really a prudent oedipus the king analysis essay have avoided quarrelling, even in self-defense and also love-relations with women older than himself?
real life I suppose he might. But we not entitled to blame Oedipus either for carelessness failing to compile a hand list or lack of self-control in failing to obey its injunctions. Oedipus has necessary human failings of anger and rashness. He rashly jumps into conclusions. Choragos points this out in scene II after a long speech by Creon who tries o remove the ill-fed and hastily formed suspicions of Oedipus about Creon. But Oedipus justifies this, arguing that ruler have to take quick decision. Oedipus the king analysis essay rashness can be observed in his treatment of Tireseas.
Oedipus does not lack analytical thinking but his rashness does permit him to weigh up the situation rightly and he makes hasty decision. In retrospect we see that rashness of Oedipus has something to do with the murder Laius at the hands of Oedipus. The self-blinding also is an act of rashness although Oedipus tries to oedipus the king analysis essay several arguments in favor of it. His character is further marked with suspicion about Creon to whom he considers as a conspirator. Was this trick his, then, if not yours? All the above-mentioned manifestations of tragic flaw, their supported arguments and views of the critics clearly proves the thesis that Oedipus unavoidable ignorance was the major factor of his tragedy because he was unable to locate that the man whom he assaulted on the crossroads to Thebes was his father.
Secondly, if he would not have been occupied by his aspirations, he would have possibly explored the horror of his deed and could have avoided the additional tricky situations by not marrying his mother. Furthermore, as result to revelation of Tireseas, he charges Creon with conspiracy and murder and denounces Tireases as an accessory. Fourthly, all these errors originate from a hasty and obstinate temperament, unjustified anger and excessive pride that compel him to an energized inquisitiveness. With the development of the plot, all these ascriptions of his character jumps back with amplified force on his head that finally culminates at his tragedy.
Knox sums up in this way. Here I want oedipus the king analysis essay point out that all these human failings were not innate or inborn but he developed these as his habitual formations. It was inculcated in his spirit so that oedipus the king analysis essay became a part of his natural disposition, oedipus the king analysis essay. If it were innate then he could not be blamed for his downfall. It was human failings rather than the destiny that brought his tragedy. So Sophocles has successfully put across that a man is plunged from prosperity and power to ruin ands ignominy due to his own human failings.
Oedipus The King Intro, Summary and Analysis
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Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King” is a tragic play illustrating a shift from the belief of predestination to freedom of choice. Therefore, “Oedipus the King” becomes a symbolic representation of Oedipus, in the beginning, is egotistical and self-righteous. Even in the first verses that he speaks he exclaims, “My name is Oedipus — the famous — as everyone calls me” for he defeated the Character Analysis of Oedipus: Oedipus the King Oedipus the King is a Greek tragedy play written by Sophocles, and it made its first debut around BCE. It is one among the Theban
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