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Analysis of Sophoclesâ Oedipus Rex
By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 27, 2020 • ( 0 )
The place of the Oedipus Tyrannus in literature is something like that of the Mona Lisa in art. Everyone knows the story, the first detective story of Western literature; everyone who has read or seen it is drawn into its enigmas and moral dilemmas. It presents a kind of nightmare vision of a world suddenly turned upside down: a decent man discovers that he has unknowingly killed his father, married his mother, and sired children by her. It is a story that, as Aristotle says in the Poetics , makes one shudder with horror and feel pity just on hearing it. In Sophoclesâ hands, however, this ancient tale becomes a profound meditation on the questions of guilt and responsibility, the order (or disorder) of our world, and the nature of man. The play stands with the Book of Job, Hamlet, and King Lear as one of Western literatureâs most searching examinations of the problem of suffering.
âCharles Segal, Oedipus Tyrannus: Tragic Heroism and the Limits of Knowledge
No other drama has exerted a longer or stronger hold on the imagination than Sophoclesâ Oedipus the King (also known as Oedipus Tyrannus or Oedipus Rex ). Tragic drama that is centered on the dilemma of a single central character largely begins with Sophocles and is exemplified by his Oedipus, arguably the most influential play ever written. The most famous of all Greek dramas, Sophoclesâ play, supported by Aristotle in the Poetics, set the standard by which tragedy has been measured for nearly two-and-a-half millennia. For Aristotle, Sophoclesâ play featured the ideal tragic hero in Oedipus, a man of âgreat repute and good fortune,â whose fall, coming from his horrifying discovery that he has killed his father and married his mother, is masterfully arranged to elicit tragedyâs proper cathartic mixture of pity and terror. The playâs relentless exploration of human nature, destiny, and suffering turns an ancient tale of a manâs shocking history into one of the core human myths. Oedipus thereby joins a select group of fictional characters, including Odysseus, Faust, Don Juan, and Don Quixote, that have entered our collective consciousness as paradigms of humanity and the human condition. As classical scholar Bernard Knox has argued, âSophoclesâ Oedipus is not only the greatest creation of a major poet and the classic representative figure of his age: he is also one of a long series of tragic protagonists who stand as symbols of human aspiration and despair before the characteristic dilemma of Western civilizationâthe problem of manâs true stature, his proper place in the universe.â
For nearly 2,500 years Sophoclesâ play has claimed consideration as dramaâs most perfect and most profound achievement. Julius Caesar wrote an adaptation; Nero allegedly acted the part of the blind Oedipus. First staged in a European theater in 1585, Oedipus has been continually performed ever since and reworked by such dramatists as Pierre Corneille, John Dryden, Voltaire, William Butler Yeats, AndrĂ© Gide, and Jean Cocteau. The French neoclassical tragedian Jean Racine asserted that Oedipus was the ideal tragedy, while D. H. Lawrence regarded it as âthe finest drama of all time.â Sigmund Freud discovered in the play the key to understanding manâs deepest and most repressed sexual and aggressive impulses, and the so-called Oedipus complex became one of the founding myths of psychoanalysis. Oedipus has served as a crucial mirror by which each subsequent era has been able to see its own reflection and its understanding of the mystery of human existence.
If Aeschylus is most often seen as the great originator of ancient Greek tragedy and Euripides is viewed as the great outsider and iconoclast, it is Sophocles who occupies the central position as classical tragedyâs technical master and the ageâs representative figure over a lifetime that coincided with the rise and fall of Athensâs greatness as a political and cultural power in the fifth century b.c. Sophocles was born in 496 near Athens in Colonus, the legendary final resting place of the exiled Oedipus. At the age of 16, Sophocles, an accomplished dancer and lyre player, was selected to lead the celebration of the victory over the Persians at the battle of Salamis, the event that ushered in Athensâs golden age. He died in 406, two years before Athensâs fall to Sparta, which ended nearly a century of Athenian supremacy and cultural achievement. Very much at the center of Athenian public life, Sophocles served as a treasurer of state and a diplomat and was twice elected as a general. A lay priest in the cult of a local deity, Sophocles also founded a literary association and was an intimate of such prominent men of letters as Ion of Chios, Herodotus, and Archelaus. Urbane, garrulous, and witty, Sophocles was remembered fondly by his contemporaries as possessing all the admired qualities of balance and tranquillity. Nicknamed âthe Beeâ for his âhoneyedâ style of fl owing eloquenceâthe highest compliment the Greeks could bestow on a poet or speakerâSophocles was regarded as the tragic Homer.
In marked contrast to his secure and stable public role and private life, Sophoclesâ plays orchestrate a disturbing challenge to assurance and certainty by pitting vulnerable and fallible humanity against the inexorable forces of nature and destiny. Sophocles began his career as a playwright in 468 b.c. with a first-prize victory over Aeschylus in the Great, or City, Dionysia, the annual Athenian drama competition. Over the next 60 years he produced more than 120 plays (only seven have survived intact), winning first prize at the Dionysia 24 times and never earning less than second place, making him unquestionably the most successful and popular playwright of his time. It is Sophocles who introduced the third speaking actor to classical drama, creating the more complex dramatic situations and deepened psychological penetration through interpersonal relationships and dialogue. âSophocles turned tragedy inward upon the principal actors,â classicist Richard Lattimore has observed, âand drama becomes drama of character.â Favoring dramatic action over narration, Sophocles brought offstage action onto the stage, emphasized dialogue rather than lengthy, undramatic monologues, and purportedly introduced painted scenery. Also of note, Sophocles replaced the connected trilogies of Aeschylus with self-contained plays on different subjects at the same contest, establishing the norm that has continued in Western drama with its emphasis on the intensity and unity of dramatic action. At their core, Sophoclesâ tragedies are essentially moral and religious dramas pitting the tragic hero against unalterable fate as defined by universal laws, particular circumstances, and individual temperament. By testing his characters so severely, Sophocles orchestrated adversity into revelations that continue to evoke an audienceâs capacity for wonder and compassion.
The story of Oedipus was part of a Theban cycle of legends that was second only to the stories surrounding the Trojan War as a popular subject for Greek literary treatment. Thirteen different Greek dramatists, including Aeschylus and Euripides, are known to have written plays on the subject of Oedipus and his progeny. Sophoclesâ great innovation was to turn Oedipusâs horrifying circumstances into a drama of self-discovery that probes the mystery of selfhood and human destiny.
The play opens with Oedipus secure and respected as the capable ruler of Thebes having solved the riddle of the Sphinx and gained the throne and Thebesâs widowed queen, Jocasta, as his reward. Plague now besets the city, and Oedipus comes to Thebesâs rescue once again when, after learning from the oracle of Apollo that the plague is a punishment for the murder of his predecessor, Laius, he swears to discover and bring the murderer to justice. The play, therefore, begins as a detective story, with the key question âWho killed Laius?â as the initial mystery. Oedipus initiates the first in a seemingly inexhaustible series of dramatic ironies as the detective who turns out to be his own quarry. Oedipusâs judgment of banishment for Laiusâs murderer seals his own fate. Pledged to restore Thebes to health, Oedipus is in fact the source of its affliction. Oedipusâs success in discovering Laiusâs murderer will be his own undoing, and the seemingly percipient, riddle-solving Oedipus will only see the truth about himself when he is blind. To underscore this point, the blind seer Teiresias is summoned. He is reluctant to tell what he knows, but Oedipus is adamant: âNo man, no place, nothing will escape my gaze. / I will not stop until I know it all.â Finally goaded by Oedipus to reveal that Oedipus himself is âthe killer youâre searching forâ and the plague that afflicts Thebes, Teiresias introduces the playâs second mystery, âWho is Oedipus?â
You have eyes to see with, But you do not see yourself, you do not see The horror shadowing every step of your life, . . . Who are your father and mother? Can you tell me?
Oedipus rejects Teiresiasâs horrifying answer to this questionâthat Oedipus has killed his own father and has become a âsower of seed where your father has sowedââas part of a conspiracy with Jocastaâs brother Creon against his rule. In his treatment of Teiresias and his subsequent condemning of Creon to death, Oedipus exposes his pride, wrath, and rush to judgment, character flaws that alloy his evident strengths of relentless determination to learn the truth and fortitude in bearing the consequences. Jocasta comes to her brotherâs defense, while arguing that not all oracles can be believed. By relating the circumstances of Laiusâs death, Jocasta attempts to demonstrate that Oedipus could not be the murderer while ironically providing Oedipus with the details that help to prove the case of his culpability. In what is a marvel of ironic plot construction, each step forward in answering the questions surrounding the murder and Oedipusâs parentage takes Oedipus a step back in time toward full disclosure and self-discovery.
As Oedipus is made to shift from self-righteous authority to doubt, a messenger from Corinth arrives with news that Oedipusâs supposed father, Poly-bus, is dead. This intelligence seems again to disprove the oracle that Oedipus is fated to kill his father. Oedipus, however, still is reluctant to return home for fear that he could still marry his mother. To relieve Oedipusâs anxiety, the messenger reveals that he himself brought Oedipus as an infant to Polybus. Like Jocasta whose evidence in support of Oedipusâs innocence turns into confirmation of his guilt, the messenger provides intelligence that will connect Oedipus to both Laius and Jocasta as their son and as his fatherâs killer. The messengerâs intelligence produces the crucial recognition for Jocasta, who urges Oedipus to cease any further inquiry. Oedipus, however, persists, summoning the herdsman who gave the infant to the messenger and was coincidentally the sole survivor of the attack on Laius. The herdsmanâs eventual confirmation of both the facts of Oedipusâs birth and Laiusâs murder produces the playâs staggering climax. Aristotle would cite Sophoclesâ simultaneous con-junction of Oedipusâs recognition of his identity and guilt with his reversal of fortuneâcondemned by his own words to banishment and exile as Laiusâs murdererâas the ideal artful arrangement of a dramaâs plot to produce the desired cathartic pity and terror.
The play concludes with an emphasis on what Oedipus will now do after he knows the truth. No tragic hero has fallen further or faster than in the real time of Sophoclesâ drama in which the time elapsed in the play coincides with the performance time. Oedipus is stripped of every illusion of his authority, control, righteousness, and past wisdom and is forced to contend with a shame that is impossible to expiateâpatricide and incestual relations with his motherâin a world lacking either justice or alleviation from suffering. Oedipusâs heroic grandeur, however, grows in his diminishment. Fundamentally a victim of circumstances, innocent of intentional sin whose fate was preordained before his birth, Oedipus refuses the consolation of blamelessness that victimization confers, accepting in full his guilt and self-imposed sentence as an outcast, criminal, and sinner. He blinds himself to confirm the moral shame that his actions, unwittingly or not, have provoked. It is Oedipusâs capacity to endure the revelation of his sin, his nature, and his fate that dominates the playâs conclusion. Oedipusâs greatest strengthsâhis determination to know the truth and to accept what he learnsâsets him apart as one of the most pitiable and admired of tragic heroes. âThe closing note of the tragedy,â Knox argues, âis a renewed insistence on the heroic nature of Oedipus; the play ends as it began, with the greatness of the hero. But it is a different kind of greatness. It is now based on knowledge, not, as before on ignorance.â The now-blinded Oedipus has been forced to see and experience the impermanence of good fortune, the reality of unimaginable moral shame, and a cosmic order that is either perverse in its calculated cruelty or chaotically random in its designs, in either case defeating any human need for justice and mercy.
The Chorus summarizes the harsh lesson of heroic defeat that the play so majestically dramatizes:
Look and learn all citizens of Thebes. This is Oedipus. He, who read the famous riddle, and we hailed chief of men, All envied his power, glory, and good fortune. Now upon his head the sea of disaster crashes down. Mortality is manâs burden. Keep your eyes fixed on your last day. Call no man happy until he reaches it, and finds rest from suffering.
Few plays have dealt so unflinchingly with existential truths or have as bravely defined human heroism in the capacity to see, suffer, and endure.
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Oedipus Rex
Introduction.
Oedipus Rex is a famous tragedy written by Sophocles. It is also known by its Greek name âOedipus Tyrannusâ or âOedipus the kingâ. It was first performed in 429 BC. Sophocles is now placed among the great ancient Greek Tragedians. He wrote three famous tragedies that include Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone that describe the sufferings of a king and his children after him.
Definition of a tragedy
Oedipus rex summary.
The play starts outside the palace of King Oedipus. The city of Thebes is shown suffering a plague because of which people are terrified. The fields become barren and people start suffering from different diseases. The people of Thebes gather along with a priest and other elders to request Oedipus, the king of Thebes, to help them and save them from this plague. They come to the king to ask for help because he saved them once from the sphinx too. The sphinx was a monster with the womanâs head, lionessâ body, eagleâs wings and serpentâs tale.
Oedipus appreciates the chorus for their prayers. Oedipus then addresses to all the people and forbids them to give shelter to the murderer of king Laius. He also announces that if the murderer is present in the crowd, he can come forward and admit his crime. However, he promises not to kill the person if he comes forward to surrender and he only suggests banishment for him. The chorus suggests Oedipus to call Teiresias, the blind prophet, to resolve this matter. Oedipus tells them that he has already sent someone to call him.
Jocasta and Oedipus feel relief on this news. Jocasta becomes happy and tells Oedipus that this is another proof that proves the prophecies wrong. Oedipus believes her but he tells her that he is still worried about the other prophecy that he will marry his mother. The messenger tells Oedipus that now he doesnât need to stay away from his home, Corinth. He tells him that he can come back any time without any fear because his mother, Merope, is not his real mother and Polybus was not his real father either.
Finally, Oedipusâ men come with a shepherd. Seeing the terrible condition of Jocasta, the chorus also starts thinking that something bad is going to happen so they also start begging Oedipus to leave the mystery unsolved but Oedipus doesnât listen to them either. The shepherd looks terrified and doesnât want to answer the kingâs question. Oedipus forces him to tell the truth. He tells Oedipus it is true that he gave a baby boy to another shepherd. He admits that the baby was king Laiusâ son whom Jocasta and Laius left to die on a hillside because they were terrified of an oracleâs prophecy.
Creon also enters the palace after hearing the whole story. He consoles Oedipus and asks him to come inside so that no one can see him. Oedipus also begs Creon to let him leave the city but he suggests meeting Apollo first. Oedipus refuses to meet anyone. Oedipus says that the only punishment for the sinner is banishment. He requests Creon to bring his daughters to him as he wants to meet them before leaving. He also asks Creon to take care of them.Â
Themes in Oedipus Rex
It is the main theme of this play and fate plays an important role in the whole play. When king Laius and queen Jocasta hear the prophecy that their son will kill his father and marry his mother, they leave their son to die but the child doesnât die and is taken to Corinth. When Oedipus grows up, he also comes to know about this prophecy so he leaves that place but he doesnât know that his fate is taking him towards his real parents. No matter how hard he tries to escape his fate, he does the same as was written. The role of fate remains prominent in the play and in the end, Oedipus finds that he is only a puppet in the hands of gods and prophets.
Individual will/action
Pity and fear, plague and health, self-discovery and memories of the past, search for truth.
Oedipus promises people to find out the truth and punish the culprit so he starts his search. Many people request him to stop his search but he doesnât listen to them. Teiresias begs him not to ask him about the truth because it will only bring pain to everyone. He forces him to speak. Later when things start to become clear, Jocasta also requests Oedipus to stop finding the truth but he doesnât listen to her either. Then he finds out the bitter truth and ends up punishing himself.Â
Guilt and Shame
Blind faith, oedipus rex characters analysis.
Creon remains a loyal friend to Oedipus. He even forgives him when he accuses him of treason and gives the order to execute him. He claims that he never thought of turning against Oedipus. In every decision about the city of Thebes, he shares an equal part as Oedipus and Jocasta. At the end of the play, when Oedipus requests him to let him leave the city, he tells him that they should go to the oracle first but Oedipus doesnât agree. Creon brings the daughters of Oedipus to meet their father for the last time according to his will and he also promises Oedipus to take care of them after him. Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes after king Oedipus.Â
Teiresias then leaves the palace saying his last riddle. He tells that the murderer is in front of them, he is the killer of his father and the husband of his mother, he is the brother of his own children and the son of his own wife, a man who came seeing but will leave this world in blindness. His prophecy proves to be true at the end of the novel when the truth gets revealed in front of everyone and Oedipus blinds himself.Â
A chorus is a group of singers that includes the elder citizens of Thebes. As the play starts, they come to Oedipus along with a priest to request the king to save their city from the plague. They become satisfied as the king assures them that he will save them from the trouble. The chorus plays an important role in the play. They sing choral odes after every scene that helps to connect different scenes of the play. Moreover, their choral odes add to the beauty of the play and entertain the readers.Â
The chorus also prays to different gods to save their city from the plague. They forbid the king to take any strict decision against Creon and stop him from executing Creon. When the truth starts revealing, they also try to stop the king to stop his search for truth because they also start feeling that something wrong is going to happen. In the end, they lament on the kingâs fate and the play ends when the Chorus says, âCount no man happy till he dies, free of pain at lastâ.
Antigone and Ismene
The messenger from corinth.
Oedipus gets shocked on hearing this news and asks him who told him about this. He tells Oedipus that years ago someone from Thebes gave him a child as a gift and he presented it to the king and queen of Corinth as they had no children of their own. Oedipus further asks him about the person who gave him the child. He tells Oedipus that he was one of Laiusâ servants. He also helped Oedipus in recognizing the servant.Â
The Herdsman
The herdsman is the person who gave the child of king Laius and queen Jocasta to the messenger of Corinth on their orders. He is also the witness of king Laiusâ death. Initially, he lied to everyone that king Laius was murdered by some robbers but later when king Oedipus calls him in his palace and forces him to speak the truth, he tells that he witnessed the killer of King Laius and he is Oedipus.Â
The Second Messenger
Oedipus rex literary analysis.
âOedipus Rexâ is a classical work in which Sophocles has skillfully shown a straightforward interpretation of a Greek myth. Throughout the play, the use of dramatic irony makes this play a great success and masterpiece. The play discusses how fate plays its part in the life of the characters. The main character tries hard to escape his fate but in his effort to run away from it, he actually comes nearer to what gods have decided for him and ends up doing what already was prophecized.
Title of the play
Setting of the play, ending of the play.
He leaves the city as he himself announced banishment as a punishment for the criminal. Now he wins the hearts of people again and becomes the real hero at the end. Creon treats him gently forgetting about what he did to him and takes the charge of Thebes afterwards.
Writing style
Plot analysis, initial situation  , conflict   , complication.
Oedipus starts realizing that he has some link with the murder of Laius. The more he learns about the truth, the more he shows interest to solve this mystery. As he comes close to the truth, he hurts no one but himself in the entire process.
The three unities in Oedipus Rex
Unity of action, unity of place.
âOedipus Rexâ also follows the unity of action as the whole play occurs at a single place. The play is restricted to a single location that is in front of the kingâs palace in the city of Thebes.
Unity of Time
Three act plot analysis.
Oedipus knows that the city is cursed so he sends Creon to an oracle to find out the solution. Creon tells that the only solution to lift the plague is to find the murderer of King Laius and punish him. Oedipus promises people to find the culprit and save them from trouble.
Oedipus investigates Jocasta, Teiresias, the messenger and the shepherd to know about King Laiusâ murderer. Slowly he starts solving the mystery.
Analysis of the Literary Devices used in Oedipus Rex
Dramatic irony.
One example of the dramatic irony is that throughout the play Oedipus struggles to find the murderer of King Laius but in reality, he himself murdered his father and then he searches for the murderer here and there. The irony here is that he searches for himself.Â
The scars on Oedipusâ feet
When Oedipus was three days old, an oracle told his father, King Laius, that the child will kill his father in the future and then he will marry his mother. King Laius bound his feet by a pin due to which they got swollen and later some scars were left on them. The scars on his feet are symbolic. They symbolize that Oedipus was marked for all the sufferings right from the time of his birth. These scars are also ironic. Although the name of Oedipus clearly points towards his feet, still he fails to discover his true identity.Â
The Crossroads
Oedipus killed a stranger at a place where three roads met. Unknowingly he killed his father. Sophocles made the point of murder unique. Oedipusâ fate followed him. The three roads actually symbolize the choices that a person has while making any decision. In the play, the three roads symbolize the choice or the path that Oedipus could have taken instead of killing a man just because of his short temperament. The three roads also symbolize the present, past and future. It is said that the Greek Goddess of the crossroads had 3 heads. One head could see the past, one the present and one the future. Â
Eyes, Vision and Blindness
More from sophocles.
A Summary and Analysis of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The plot of Sophoclesâ great tragedy Oedipus the King (sometimes known as Oedipus Rex or Oedipus Tyrannos ) has long been admired. In his Poetics , Aristotle held it up as the exemplary Greek tragedy . Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it one of the three perfect plots in all of literature (the other two being Ben Jonsonâs The Alchemist and Henry Fieldingâs Tom Jones ).
Oedipus the King might also be called the first detective story in Western literature. Yet how well do we know Sophoclesâ play? And what does a closer analysis of its plot features and themes reveal?
The city of Thebes is in the grip of a terrible plague. The cityâs king, Oedipus, sends Creon to consult the Delphic oracle, who announces that if the city rids itself of a murderer, the plague will disappear. The murderer in question is the unknown killer of the cityâs previous king, Laius. Oedipus adopts a sort of detective role, and endeavours to sniff out the murderer.
He himself is plagued by another prophecy: that he would one day kill his father and marry his mother. He thinks heâs managed to thwart the prophecy by leaving home â and his parents â back in Corinth. On his way from Corinth to Thebes, he had an altercation with a man on the road: neither party would back down to let the other past, and Oedipus ended up killing the man in perhaps Western literatureâs first instance of road rage.
Then Oedipus learns that his âfatherâ back in Corinth was not his biological parent: he was adopted after his ârealâ parents left him for dead on a hillside, and he was rescued by a kindly shepherd who rescued him, took the child in, and raised him as his own. (The name Oedipus is Greek for âswollen footâ, from the chains put through the infantâs feet when it was left on the mountain.)
Tiresias the seer then reveals that the man Oedipus killed on the road was Laius â the former king of Thebes and (shock horror! Twist!) Oedipusâ biological father. Laiusâ widow, Jocasta, is Oedipusâ own mother â and the woman Oedipus had married upon his arrival in Thebes.
When this terrible truth is revealed, Jocasta hangs herself, and Oedipus puts out his own eyes and leaves Thebes, going into self-imposed exile so he can free the Thebans from the plague.
This much constitutes a brief recap or summary of the plot of Oedipus the King . How we should interpret and analyse its use of prophecy and Oedipusâ own culpability, however, remains a less clear-cut matter. Is Oedipus to blame for what happens to him? Or is he simply a pawn of the gods and fates, to be used according to their whim?
Eventually, the nemesis can take no more and raises an army against Winter Kay. One of his soldiers, bearing a golden badge that resembles an eye in shape, is the one who kills Winter Kay in battle. In his dying moments, the hapless villain realises that, in seeking to avert the prophecy, he had, in fact, helped it to come true.
This is similar to the story of Oedipus the King . Oedipus heard the prophecy that he would one day murder his father and marry his mother, and so fled from his presumed parents so as to avoid fulfilling the prophecy. Such an act seems noble and it was jolly bad luck that fate had decreed that Oedipus would turn out to be a foundling and his real parents were still out there for him to bump into.
But what is clever about Sophoclesâ dramatising of the myth is the way he introduces little details which reveal Oedipusâ character. The clues were already there that Oedipus was actually adopted: when he received the prophecy from the oracle, a drunk told him as much. But because the man was drunk, Oedipus didnât believe him.
But, as the Latin phrase has it, in vino veritas . Then, it is Oedipusâ hubris, his pride, that contributes to the altercation on the road between him and Laius, the man who turns out to be his real father: if Oedipus was less stubborn, he would have played the bigger man and stepped aside to let Laius pass.
What does all this mean, when we stop and analyse it in terms of the interplay between fate and personal actions in Oedipus the King ? It means that Sophocles was aware of something which governs all our lives. Call it âkarmaâ if you will, or fate, but it works even if we remove the supernatural framework into which the action of Oedipus the King is placed.
Our actions have consequences, but that doesnât mean that a particular action will lead to a particular consequence: it means that one action might cause something quite different to happen, which will nevertheless be linked in some way to our lives. A thief steals your wallet and you never see him, or your wallet, again. Did the criminal get away with it? Maybe.
Or maybe his habit of taking an intrusive interest in other peopleâs wallets will lead him, somewhere down the line, to getting what the ancient Greeks didnât call âhis comeuppanceâ. He wasnât punished for pilfering your possessions, but he will nevertheless receive his just deserts.
Oedipus kills Laius because he is a stubborn and angry man; in his anger and pride, he allows himself to forget the prophecy (or to believe himself safe if he kills this man who definitely isnât his father, no way ), and to kill another man. That one event will set in motion a chain of events that will see him married to his mother, the city over which he rules in the grip of plague, and â ultimately â Oedipus blinded and his wife/mother hanged.
Or perhaps thatâs to impose a modern reading onto a classical text which Sophocles himself would not recognise. Yet works of art are always opening themselves up to new readings which see them reflecting our changing and evolving moral beliefs, and that is perhaps why Oedipus the King remains a great play to read, watch, analyse, and discuss. There remains something unsettling about its plot structure and its ambiguous meaning, and that is what lends it its power.
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7 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King”
Reblogged this on Writing hints and competitions and commented: Insight, the fate that launched a thousand clips
Wonderful analysis. Thank you. ~~dru~~
Thank you :)
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Oedipus the King – Sophocles – Oedipus Rex Analysis, Summary, Story
(tragedy, greek, c. 429 bce, 1,530 lines).
Introduction | Synopsis | Analysis | Resources
â Oedipus the King â (Gr: â Oidipous Tyrannos â ; Lat: â Oedipus Rex â ) is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles , first performed in about 429 BCE . It was the second of Sophocles ‘ three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology (followed by âOedipus at Colonusâ and then âAntigoneâ ).
It follows the story of King Oedipus of Thebes as he discovers that he has unwittingly killed his own father, Laius, and married his own mother, Jocasta . Over the centuries, it has come to be regarded by many as the Greek tragedy par excellence and certainly as the summit of Sophocles â achievements.
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A comprehensive overview of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, the most influential play ever written and a masterpiece of tragedy. Learn about the plot, characters, themes, and legacy of this ancient drama that explores the problem of human existence and suffering.
Oedipus Rex, also known as Oedipus the King, is a play authored by Sophocles. It was first performed in 429 BC in Athens, Greece (Knox 133). The play is the second of several Sophocles' plays, and has been regarded as an excellent piece by many scholars (Belfiore 176). This report will highlight about the author, discuss the setting of, and ...
Oedipus Rex Literary Analysis. "Oedipus Rex" is a classical work in which Sophocles has skillfully shown a straightforward interpretation of a Greek myth. Throughout the play, the use of dramatic irony makes this play a great success and masterpiece. The play discusses how fate plays its part in the life of the characters.
Summary. The city of Thebes is in the grip of a terrible plague. The city's king, Oedipus, sends Creon to consult the Delphic oracle, who announces that if the city rids itself of a murderer, the plague will disappear. The murderer in question is the unknown killer of the city's previous king, Laius. Oedipus adopts a sort of detective role ...
Historical Context of Oedipus Rex. The story of Oedipus and the tragedies that befell his family were nothing new to Sophocles's audience. Greek authors routinely drew their basic material from a cycle of four epic poems, known as the Theban Cycle, that was already ancient in the fifth century B.C.E. and is now lost to history. The Theban Cycle ...
Introduction - Oedipus Story. "Oedipus the King" (Gr: "Oidipous Tyrannos"; Lat: "Oedipus Rex") is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, first performed in about 429 BCE. It was the second of Sophocles ' three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology (followed by "Oedipus at ...
Sophocles's tragedy Oedipus Rex debuted in 429 BCE at the Athenian City Dionysia, a festival dedicated to Dionysus, the God of theatre and revelry. The play took second place at the festival and ...
Oedipus Rex Summary. At the start of the play, the city of Thebes is suffering terribly. Citizens are dying from plague, crops fail, women are dying in childbirth and their babies are stillborn. A group of priests comes to the royal palace to ask for help from Oedipus, their king who once saved them from the tyranny of the terrible Sphinx.
In an essay on Oedipus Rex in Homer to Brecht: The European Epic and Dramatic Traditions, Paul Fry noted that "around 427 B.C., when the play was first acted, the priests of Apollo were out of ...
For a study guide on Sophocles's Oedipus Rex, focusing on literary devices and in-depth analysis, look no further! đ Dive into the tragic world of Oedipus, where fate and free will collide, with our comprehensive guide. Explore the genius of Sophocles through themes, character breakdowns, and the masterful use of literary devices that have captivated audiences for centuries. Unlock the ...
Oedipus's vision and intelligence have made him a great king of Thebesâhe solved the riddle of the Sphinx and revitalized the city. But he is blind to the truth about his own life. It takes the blind prophet, Tiresias, to point out his ignorance and to plant the firstâŠ. read analysis of Sight vs. Blindness.
Sophocles's play Oedipus Rex, first performed in the early-to-mid 400s BCE, is one of the most famous and influential tragedies left to us from the ancient Greek tradition. Based on the myth of Oedipus, whose cursed fate was to marry his mother and kill his father, the play explores themes of destiny, free will, and literal and metaphoric ...
Aristotle considered Oedipus Tyrannus the supreme example of tragic drama and modeled his theory of tragedy on it. He mentions the play no fewer than eleven times in his De poetica (c. 334-323 b.c ...
Analysis. On the surface, Oedipus Rex is a play based on the myth. At work, though, are the concepts of fate, free will, and tragic flaw. ... The Oracle at Delphi in Oedipus Rex; Oedipus Rex Essay ...
Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) study guide contains a biography of Sophocles, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes.
The popularity of the play has not changed overtime, considering the relevance of most of the themes to the modern world. The theme of 'hubris' which refers to human pride is a phenomenon which is applicable to all societies. Oedipus for example had the wrong perception that he had the cure for the afflictions of Thebes.
Oedipus. Extended Character Analysis. Oedipus is often considered the quintessential Aristotelian tragic hero. In Oedipus Rex, he begins the play at a high point as the benevolent and beloved King ...
Theme #1. Free Will. Free will is one of the most controversial themes of Oedipus Rex. This philosophical thematic strand runs parallel to other ideas, but always dominates them. Whether a man is the master of his fate and fortune is still a debatable question. Sophocles has placed Oedipus in an uncertain situation where his fate lies in his ...
Fate vs. Free Will ThemeTracker. The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Fate vs. Free Will appears in each section of Oedipus Rex. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis. How often theme appears: section length: Lines 1-340. Lines 341-708. Lines 709-997.
Oedipus Rex Summary. O edipus Rex is a Greek tragedy that tells the story of King Oedipus of Thebes, who is fated to kill his father and marry his mother.. Thebes is struck by a plague that will ...
A strong thesis statement for an essay on the tragedy Oedipus Rex could focus on the inevitability of fate, the consequences of hubris, or the interplay between free will and destiny. Another ...