Defying the Inevitable
Around twenty-five hundred years ago in ancient Greece, the criterion for a tradegy was defined by the philosopher Aristotle as a play that concludes with a release of pity and terror. The audience would pity the tragic fate of the protagonist and fear that they might suffer a disaster themselves. Likewise, the playwright had to hold his audience's attention by creating suspense throught the play. One of the greatest tradegians of all time, Sophocles wrote the play Oedipus the King in which Oedipus is prophesied to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus is pitied because he is a decent man, simply searching for the murderer of his predecessor, the King of Thebes. He does not know he killed his father on his way from the temple of Delphi, and his wife, the queen, is actually his mother. At some points in the play, Oedipus seems to have figured out his true parentage, and at other times he is completely ignorant. Furthermore, Sophocles creates more suspense with the clashing ideas of free will and fatalism; did Oedipus choose his own destruction or was he merely a puppet of fate? Free will is the belief one can control his own fate while fatalism is the belief all events are inevitable. Although Sophocles uses charac
Tiresias makes another prophecy to prove he is truly a seer of Apollo. Oedipus cannot think clearly, he is so enraged by the prophet's words, and he does not see the connection between the descriptions Tiresias gives about the murderer and what an oracle told him about his own future. Tiresias knows all events are predetermined and everything one tries to do to avoid the inevitable is futile. "You can't destroy me. Listen to me closely: the man you've sought for so long, the murderer of Laius is here . . . Blind who now has eyes, beggar who now is rich, he will grope his way toward a foreign soil, stick tapping before him step by step. Revealed at last, brother and father both to the children he embraces, to his mother son and husband both- he sowed the loins his father sowed, he spilled his father's blood! And if you find I've lied this day onward call the prophet blind." Tiresias, the seer of Delphi, knows all events are determined by fate. The prophet is reluctant to come to Thebes and even more hesitant to tell Oedipus what he knows about the king's murderer. Tiresias says, "Send me home. You bear your burdens, I'll bear mine. It's better that way, please believe me." Understanding Oedipus will meet his doom with or without his help, Tiresias takes on an almost imploring nature, not wanting to tell Oedipus his tragic fate. Ne
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 910
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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