Sophocles ' Oedipus The King

In the famous playwright, Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King”, a Greek tragedy which explores the idea of destiny, Oedipus is a tragic hero, who, in the exploration of his troubled past, discovers the truth of actions that render him guilty of the heinous crimes of murder, and incest. Although Oedipus was not privy to the truth behind his actions, it does not make these crimes any less unlawful, or unethical, proving that Oedipus is guilty of the murder of his father, Laius, and of having an incestuous relationship with his mother, Jocasta.

The play, Oedipus the King by Sophocles presents a grim hamartia caused from a terrible deed of long ago. Oedipus the protagonist is the powerful King of Thebes and held of high estate by the people of Thebes. As the terrible deed of Oedipus’s becomes apparent to both Oedipus and the City of Thebes his tragic flaw is slowly realized. The play will show “tragic power resides in human failing, hamartia, constantly underpinning any sense of the inevitable” (Walton). The play will show the author’s view of a tragic hero as seen in the play Oedipus the King does exemplifies Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero.

The use of hamartia is a key component to a tragedy in Greek times. In the festival of Dionysus, the use of hamartia played a key role in the production of tragic plays that enhances the audience experience in establishing morals and ideals in many different ways. Sophocles’ Oedipus the King is a key example of this, a play about the unfortunate destiny bestowed upon Oedipus. During the play, Oedipus attempts to flee from his destiny that he will marry his mother and kill his father. The dramatic irony where Oedipus tries to doubt the gods is imprudent and foolish, and his hamartia further led him to his tragic downfall. Throughout this tragedy, the use of hamartia is used to justify the catastrophic events that happened to Oedipus and his

Even though characters believe that they can avoid their fate, they truly cannot. Jocasta gave birth to a child when she was married to King Laius, and one day an oracle came to Laius and predicted his future. Jocasta was speaking to Oedipus about the prophecy that an oracle had told King Laius, "An oracle came to Laius one fine day… and it declared that doom would strike him down at the hands of a son, our son, to be born of our flesh and blood. But Laius...was killed by strangers, thieves, at a place where three roads meet...my son-he wasn't three days old and the boy's father fastened his ankles, had a henchman fling him away on a barren, trackless mountain… My baby no more murdered his father..."(Sophocles 201). Jocasta and King Laius had a free will which was to pin their child's ankles and hand him over to a shepherd to finish him. However the shepherd was unable to fulfill the task, he explains, "I pitied the little baby, master, hoped he'd [God] take him off to his own country, far away, but he saved him for this, this fate. If you are the man he says you are, believe me, you were born for pain."(Sophocles 232). The attempt made by Jocasta and King Laius failed and eventually the prophecy self- fulfilled itself. The free will of the characters has made them contribute to the result of the prophecy. Jocasta and

The Greek tragedy of Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, was able to generate such a noteworthy impact as a result of the audience’s previous knowledge of the characters and their fate. As a result of this circumstance, Sophocles was able to make a compelling use of irony and allusion. All throughout the play, Oedipus the King, Sophocles builds the entire story using dramatic irony. Despite Oedipus’s unawareness of his identity and his fate, Sophocles uses dramatic irony to let the readers know who Oedipus truly is and to foreshadow the events which unfold throughout the story. Sophocles uses many different scenes throughout the play that portray dramatic irony. Although, the three most important are Oedipus’s curse towards himself, Oedipus’s insult to Tiresias, and the fortune-teller’s prophecy about Oedipus.

From the very beginning, what makes Oedipus ' actions in his quarrel with Teiresias and also throughout the play so dramatically compelling, is the fact that the audience knows the outcome of the story. We know Oedipus ' fate even before he does, and there is no suspense about the outcome itself, instead, the audience anxiously awaits Oedipus to reveal his fate unto himself in his desperate quest to rid his city of the terrible plague, or maybe even more so, to simply discover his own unfortunate tale. Oedipus is relentless in his pursuit of the truth, and his determination is commendable. There is nothing that compels him to act in this way, instead he freely chooses, with much zeal, to initiate the chain of events that will ultimately lead to his downfall. It is this interplay between Oedipus’ own free will and his fated eventuality that is the crux of the play, and constitutes the main dramatic power.

Like all classical Greek tragedies, Sophocles’s Oedipus the King features a chorus that sings several odes over the course of the play. In Sophocles’s play, the chorus is composed of old Theban men and represents the population of Thebes as a whole. The chorus recites a parodos, four stasima, and a brief exodus. Through the choral odes, Sophocles reflects on the events and motifs of the play, including piety and faith in the Gods, the inevitability and the uncertainty of fate, and the dichotomy of right and wrong.

Through the interactive oral presentations, our class learned about the Greek religion and culture surrounding the life of Sophocles when he wrote Oedipus The King. Before the interactive oral assignments were presented, I understood the themes of hubris and sight on a low level. The interactive oral presentations really strengthened my understanding of why Sophocles used these themes in his story about a king who falls from power. Now I know that hubris was a hated characteristic in this time period and that is why Sophocles wanted to demonstrate how bad it was to his audience.

Sophocles’ play “Oedipus Tyrannus” is about how Athenians view their gods and their fate. Athenians believed that their fate was not left up to man, but that is provided solely on the whims their gods. The interesting aspect of this story is not that one believes that fate is real but that fate can be changed by not following the predictions of the oracle (seer/mediator for the god. If fate does take place for whatever reason than one took the wrong step in changing it.

Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King,” successfully demonstrates Aristotle’s definition of tragedy. According to Aristotle “tragedy” is vastly different from what one would likely describe if requested in modern times. It is common today to hear one speak of a tragic vehicular crash, but what is being spoken of as a tragedy, is an accident, not a tragedy. Thus, it is important to understand what Aristotle thought when he spoke of a “tragedy.” Based on Aristotle, POETICS, CHAPTER VI,

In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, the chorus has one of the most important roles in setting the audience’s reaction to the events going on in the play. They are the embodiment of a common man in the Ancient Greece and therefore represent the public opinion. Through the use of chorus, Sophocles interprets the actions just seen and guides the audience’s understanding of them. The choral ode from the lines 954 to 997 praises the gods’ almighty power and shuns Jocasta’s disregard of the fate and the prophecies; with this it is shown that the gods’ rule truly is all powerful and plants further fear of them into the minds of the people. The mood of anticipation can be felt, along with the demand for the gods’ reaction.

Oedipus is a play that shows the relationship between Oedipus and the prophecy. In Oedipus Rex,the theme of a prophecy and sin are evident in the plot and overall story line. Oedipus tells the story of when Oedipus, the king of thebes, finds out who his actual father is. Oedipus is about when Oedipus kills his father, and marrys his mother and has five kids with her. Once he finds this out Jocasta, his mother, hanges herself with her bed sheets, and Oedipus pocks his eyes out. Oedipus is shown to be about the relationship with humans and sin. It's about the journey that most humans face. Oedipus shows themes like the cross-roads where Oedipus kills his father. The Cross represents the cross roads that Oedipus experiences in his life. It's representative

Sophocles was a philosopher, a dramatist, and a political and military leader. He lived during the Athenian Golden Age. Sophocles wrote over 120 plays during his lifetime. He was also the only playwright during that time that did not perform in any of his plays due to his timorous voice. He was one of the masters of tragedy. He was born at Colonus in Attica in 496 B.C., into a wealthy family. Sophocles often emphasized the individual’s search for truth, focusing on human concerns rather than religious ones, as his forebear, Aeschylus, focused on these religious concerns. He later died in 406 B.C.

Shakespeare, one of the greatest playwrights of the Renaissance era, could have changed Ancient Greek Theatre plays tremendously as his approach was drastically different than that of Greek playwrights. In Oedipus by Sophocles, a curse has been set on the people of Thebes for the previous murderer of their former king Laius. King Oedipus as a child was given a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother and that indeed has occurred as it is proven by witnesses that he was the murderer of the king and that his wife is also his mother. Following this horrible news Oedipus wife commits suicide and Oedipus decides to blind himself, to only then be exiled from Thebes. Shakespeare would have changed many things about how Sophocles wrote Oedipus and one of the first things he would do are establish many settings throughout the story, add much more violence than what Sophocles already provided, and have many time changes instead of having everything crammed into one day.

“A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.” (Jean de la Fontaine), a sobering reminder of the extent to which Oedipus and his parents, Jocasta and Laius from the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles fight a predetermined course plotted for them by the gods and written by the oracles, only for it to transpire tragically. Despite the inevitability of destiny Oedipus, Laius and Jocasta defy fate with the entirety of their being, for to acknowledge the lack of free will is to live in anguish. Both Oedipus and his parents attempt to separate themselves from each other in an attempt to avoid their foretold fate. Unfortunately, they suffer the realization that, in spite of their intentions,