preview

Outline For Oedipus The King

Good Essays

Thesis Statement and Outline
Thesis Statement: Sophocles, in his work Oedipus Rex, presents a plot attached to the structure of the Greek tragedy where fate, misfortune and death play a very important role.

I. Fate and Misfortune
A. The predestination of destiny and the madness of human beings for transgressing the divine laws: “The oracle, without answering the question about his parentage, prophesied that Oedipus would kill his father and beget children by his mother. Horrified, resolved to avert this fate, Oedipus determined never to return to Corinth”. (Greg Johnson, Thomas R. Arp, 2018, para. 2)

II. Death
B. “Because of a prophecy that their new son would kill his father, Laius and Jocasta, King and Queen of Thebes, gave their infant …show more content…

In its play, he tells the tragic story of Oedipus king of Thebes son of Laius and Jocasta, king, and queen of Thebes. These kings were warned by the oracle that his son was going to kill his father and was going to have incestuous relationships with his mother. After the time, Oedipus was born, and Laius realized that he was going to bring many problems, then ordered to kill Oedipus with one of the servants of the kingdom. Given the intrusions, the servant did not comply with the mandate and left Oedipus tied by his feet on the slopes of a mountain. Because of this, a servant of the king of Corinth meets Oedipus and King Polybus takes care of him as if he were his own son. Over time, Oedipus grows up and finds out about some rumors that his father is not really his father and decides to speak with the oracle to discover his true origin, although Polybus and Merope reassured him, he was still annoyed and traveled to consult the oracle of Delphi. The oracle tells Oedipus that he will kill his father and will have incestuous relationships with his mother. Oedipus to know his true destiny decides to flee from Corinth to prevent the prophecy from fulfilling. During his journey, he met and killed Laius, believing that the king and his companions were a band of thieves and thus, unexpectedly, the prophecy was fulfilled. Upon arriving at Thebes, Oedipus meets a sphinx. He had …show more content…

The “hero must suffer more than he deserves”, “the hero must be noble by nature, but imperfect, so that the hero must have discovered his destiny by its own action”. In the play “Oedipus Rex”, as the story narrates, Oedipus who is the hero of the story suffered more than he deserved. His parent gives him up to avoid the undesirable fate of the oracle, unleashing a countless tragedy to themselves. In the play, both the king and Oedipus tried to challenge the force of destiny and the gods, trying to escape from the misfortunes that the prophecies say will happen, which in this case were incest and death. As the ancient Greek culture shows, it is inevitable to try to change the destiny, since, as it is the product of the decisions of the gods. In this tragedy, Sophocles tries to make aa statement by clarifying that no one can escape from its destiny. As visible as it is, it is proven that the human being does whatever it takes to avoid pain, total abandonment, human misery, sacrifice, misfortune, and death. Oedipus committed an act of pride (hubris) which in a Greek culture is consider a sin. In Greek tragedy, Hubris is known as "an excessive pride toward or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis”. It was believed that an act of pride or as its known “Hubris”, the person who committed it had to paid with death or sublimation. As we know by the story, the hubris sin

Get Access