The Power of Truth (Analyzed throught Oedipus Rex)

A detailed Summary of The Power of Truth (Analyzed throught Oedipus Rex)

As described by Aristotle, it is essential that a genuine and effective tragedy tells the story of a person of noble stature falling from his or her greatness, resulting in an increasing of awareness or some gain of self-knowledge. Sophocles, a master playwright of his time, supremely accomplished this task with his play Oedipus Rex. Oedipus Rex can be described as an unsurpassed masterpiece of success gone to ruin; a profound statement of the human condition, and of the ultimate sacrifice for self-knowledge.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of success gone to ruin is Sophocles's Oedipus Rex. It's the tale of the rise and fall of the noble Oedipus, the baby who was prophesized to kill his father and beget children to his mother. The play starts with Oedipus as the King of Thebes, and his Queen being Jocasta. He does not know that the man he had killed years before was actually the former King of Thebes and his father, Laius. He also is blind to the fact that his wife, Jocasta, is also his mother. The people of Thebes see Oedipus as God-like because he saved them from the Sphinx and has promised to rid the plague that is killing people in Thebes. After he is accused by Teiresias of being the killer of Laius and the cause

Finally, Sophocles's Oedipus Rex is also a profound statement of the ultimate sacrifice for self-knowledge. Despite what the truth may mean for Oedipus, he is determined with all of his power and might to discover it. Teiresias foreshadows the end of the play when he says, "Listen to me. You mock my blindness, do you? / But I say that you, with both your eyes, are blind: / You can not see the wretchedness of your life, / Nor in whose house you live, no, nor with whom." (Oedipus Rex, Scene 1. 398-401) He says that Oedipus is blind from the truth, although Oedipus does posses the power of

Thebes and husband of the lovely Jocasta, it is all destroyed and he becomes nothing but a poor, depressed, blind wanderer.

Every person at some point in their life is faced with a situation in which the truth has been concealed from them. Most would choose to try to uncover that truth. Is knowing the truth always good? In Oedipus's case, it is because of the self-knowledge and wisdom that he gains, although he becomes blinded from the world. Oedipus Rex, the masterpiece of success gone to ruin that is unsurpassed, is truly genius in its emphasis of human condition and the ultimate sacrifice for self-knowledge.

sight, while Teiresias does not. He foreshadows that in the end, Oedipus too will be blind. Teiresias also calls the murderer of Laius "A blind man, /

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Approximate Word count = 925
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English