Oedipus
"Oedipus the King" is the story of one man's discovery, through his persistent questioning, that he is guilty of unwittingly killing his father and marrying his mother, and his horrific reaction to this discovery. Oedipus's own strengths, his pride, self-confidence, intelligence, power, and his quickness to anger, are eventually revealed as sources of his error and frailty, ending in his self-blinding. His mistakes through ignorance, his mistakes through excesses of temper and over-confidence, along with his unjustified suspicions against Tiresias and Creon, suspicions that go so far as to express the uncertainty of truth about the oracles, and his attempt to avoid his fate, are evidence of his frailties.Oedipus's psychological make-up made him a victim of his own frailties and subject to errors of judgment. He encountered situations in life that people never believe could possibly happen; situations like marrying his mother, killing his father, and unbearable anguish leading to the gouging out of his own eyes. He did these things because of the way he reacted to new information. Oedipus was emotional in his actions, and this caused him to make decisions that he would not have made if only he would have stopped and listened
The entire play seems to be one of a test. Oedipus's intelligence which helped him in victory with the Sphinx is used to help solve his own personal riddle, that of his origins. He succeeds at the expense of physical suffering, his blindness, thus gaining Tiresias's truth. The blindness seems to symbolize man's uncertain journey through life, not seeing the realities that will face him along the way. Through his errors and frailties, Oedipus does obtain a measure of inner strength and understanding. While he ran from his hometown, he encountered and killed a group of men on the road to Thebes. He did not know who they were or from where they had come. As he recalls, "the old man himself/ were about to thrust me off the road-brute force" (page 1311, lines 898-899), and he thinks that he killed all. In giving into his anger, he made part of the prophecy come true. His biological father, Laius, was one of those men. His anger causes the avoidable death of the very person he sought to protect. He continued running and came to a city plagued by the Sphinx. Being raised a prince; Oedipus was educated by scholars, but lacked common sense. Using his intelligence, he was able to rid the city of the plague by solving the riddle of the Sphinx. The people of the city of Thebes were so overjoyed that they allowed him to marry the queen and become the new king. This made the prophecy almost completely true.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Tiresias Creon, Laius Laius, Oedipus King, Thebes Oedipus, Tiresia Creon, Bedford/St Martin, page 1311, page 1311 lines, 1311 lines, people raised, frailties oedipus, prophecy true, listened people, truth delphi, killing father, city thebes, marrying mother,
Approximate Word count = 1184
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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