Oedipus The King Creon Analysis

The theme of sight and blindness is undoubtedly important to notice while reading Oedipus the King. The number of times the words “see” or “blind” are in the play make it make it undeniably obvious that they are significant. The theme is developed throughout the dialogue, through characters such as Tiresias and Oedipus, and also directly in the irony of the play. It is important in a play about the truth because almost every character was “blind” to the truth. All of the characters, except one, can physically see, but mentally cannot see the truth.

Oedipus assumes that Creon desires to have him killed so that he could be King of Thebes. Oedipus also does not want to believe what Teiresias said because that would indicate that the prophecy has came true; he will be the one killed or thrown into exile. He does not believe the truth until he hears from a messenger and a herdsman. When Oedipus asks where the child came from the herdsman replies, "It was a child, them, of the house of Laius" (Sophocles 141). He is finally no longer suspicious of Creon. Without suspicion these characters would have failed terrible in their pursuit to live.

In all works of literature you will find characters that change. From Oedipus the King to Antigone, Creon changes a great deal. In Oedipus the King, Creon has no intention whatsoever of being king. By the end of the play he makes it clear that his intentions have changed and he does want to take Oedipus’s power and become King of Thebes. When we see Creon in Antigone he has become king and he begins to make his mistakes.

One day, Oedipus went to the Oracle of Delphi and found out that he was destined to kill his father and sleep with his mother. Oedipus tried to escape his fate by running away from Corinth, leaving who he thought were his real parents. However, he ended up running right into his real father. He saw a group of people riding a chariot at the crossroads and assumed that they were thieves. Laois happened to be one of them, and Oedipus killed him not knowing that he was his real dad. This is important since Oedipus fulfilled part of the prophecy. Oedipus remembered about his encounter with the chariot near the end of the play and said, “But he more than paid for it and soon was struck by the scepter from this very hand, lying on his back, at once thrown out of the car. I killed them all” (Sophocles, 39). Quite soon, he also won the throne of Thebes by answering the riddle of the Sphinx and unknowingly married Iocaste, his real mother.

Oedipus the King is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, that 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. When Oedipus was a baby his parents were told by a prophet that the baby would grow up to kill his father and marry his own mother. Oedipus’ mother and father sent him away to be hanged by his ankles until death. Oedipus was later found and taken to a queen and king in another kingdom where he would grow up thinking they were his real parents. When Oedipus get older he gets told by a drunken man that he is a bastard child and this sends him on a mission to find out the truth. Oedipus goes to the bind prophet for answers and after threating the prophet’s life he gets the full truth. Oedipus learns that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother, so he decides

Creon and Oedipus’ characters reflect the overall theme of free will vs. fate, and what power gods have over our fate. Creon consistently believes in the gods, and even tells Oedipus that they should wait for the oracle's advice before making any rash decisions. Oedipus, on the other hand, has consistently tried to avoid his fate and rely on his own power. He even gouges his own eyes out, in a last stubborn attempt to have some control over his life. Oedipus is determined to regain some sort of free will, and even tried to exile himself from Thebes.

“All men make mistakes- that’s not uncommon. But when they do, they’re no longer foolish or subject to bad luck if they try to fix the evil into which they’ve fallen, once they give up their intransigence.” (lines 1139-1143) says Teiresias to Creon. Teiresias comes to warn Creon of what he has in store for himself if he does not undo his wrongdoings. Teiresias helps to develop Creon into a tragic hero, helps advance the plot of the play by creating tension, and helps to develop the theme of the laws of God versus the laws of man. Their interaction with each other brings out Creon’s unreasonableness, anger, and disrespect in his character.

It was only after counseling with Teiresias that Creon changes his view on his rule. At first, Creon rejects all of the seer’s insight and views him as wrong and idiotic. Teiresias knows that Creon cannot escape his doomed, predestined fate and later prophecies”...strange noise of birds...harsh and dissonant impetus...murderous talons; for the whirr of wings” (Sophocles 54). Understanding the gods, Tiresias comprehends they are angry and they sense corruption in the city of Thebes and in the leader. Creon reconsiders his foolish actions and obeys the wise seer and sentinel. After he leaves, he gives Eteocles a proper burial and returns to the tomb where he realized his mistakes too late and his son and Antigone commit suicide.

     At first glance, Oedipus and Creon are two very different people. But as time progresses their personalities and even their fates grow more and more similar. In Sophocles’s play “Oedipus the King”, Oedipus and Creon are two completely opposite people. Oedipus is brash and thoughtless, whilst Creon is wise and prudent. In “Oedipus the King”, Oedipus effectively portrays the idea of the classic “flawed hero”. He becomes arrogant and brash. He accuses Creon and Tiresias of treachery. Even worse however, Oedipus goes against the gods. This causes them to punish him severely. Creon is the exact antithesis of Oedipus. He thinks before he acts. Creon is wise and loyal. In Sophocles’ other

In his essay, “Introduction to Oedipus the King”, Bernard Knox supports free will by stating that Oedipus’ downfall was not caused by fate. According to Knox there is not a doubt that, “Oedipus is the free agent who, by his own self-willed action, discovers that his own predicted destiny has already been fulfilled” (86). He clearly states that Oedipus is responsible for his free actions during the play. He insists that Oedipus’s made the decisions to discover the truth about himself.

Leaders have unique character traits that ultimately determine how he or she act when faced with a difficult situation. Oedipus and Creon are noble leaders in the city of Thebes. Oedipus is the king, and Creon is the queen’s brother. Both of these men care dearly about the city of Thebes. Despite the similarities between Oedipus and Creon, they differ greatly in a number of important ways.

After everyone else has failed to convince Creon that he is wrong about sending Antigone away, and old, fervid Prophet comes to visit him. Teiresias is a blind old prophet who tells Creon that the gods are angry at Thebes and will curse it if Creon does not change his arrogant ways. “All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong… The only crime is pride” (232) At first Creon is stubborn still, and insults the skill of prophets, but Teiresias goes on despite the king’s words. Teiresias eaves with a final warning saying if he does not heed the God’s word, he will be punished. After consulting his chorus and hearing Teiresias’ speech Creon finally recognizes that he was wrong. His moment of recognition is “Oh it is hard to give in! but it is worse to risk everything for stubborn pride.” (235)

In order to escape the prophecy that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother, Oedipus thought it best to leave Corinth. What Oedipus did not know is that the parents he was leaving were not his biological parents.

Oedipus was born to the king of Thebes, Lauis, and his wife Jocasta. Together, they were happy, however, an oracle forewarned Lauis of a horrible fate that if his wife gave birth to a baby boy, that baby boy would kill him and remarry his wife Jocasta. With this in mind, after Jocasta gave birth to baby Oedipus (only 3 days old), he was banished from Thebes and given to a goatherd to be taken atop of Mount Cithaeron for the animals and elements to have. Holding a guilty conscious, the goatherd instead gave Oedipus to another goatherd and he was taken to the city if Corinth where King Polybus and his wife Merope were childless and took in Oedipus as their son. They changed his name to Cedipus and raise him up never knowing the truth of where he came from.

All is not well in Thebes. A mystery is in the process of being solved as the people of Thebes suffer. In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex, Thebes is being punished by the gods for a crime committed far in the past. The city of Thebes is cursed with a plague until the murderer of Laius is discovered and banished from the land. As Creon and Oedipus work to save Thebes, their different qualities show who is a better fit to be king. Oedipus saved Thebes once from the sphinx; however, Oedipus’ qualities of being arrogant, intense, and stubborn cause him to foil with Creon's character traits of being selfless, calm, and forgiving. According to Merriam Webster, a leader is someone who leads or guides. Because Creon’s character traits portray a desirable leader, Creon is a better fit to be king of Thebes.