oedipus rex as a tragedy essay

Tragedy In Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex, a tragedy written by Sophocles, is a prime example on how Oedipus fulfills the requirements of a tragic hero. Oedipus’ character embodies all of Aristotle’s characteristics of a tragic hero from Oedipus’ hubris to Oedipus’ self-blinding as he realized his true identity. Oedipus himself realizes that he is the protagonist of the story early on in Oedipus Rex after questioning why everyone fears him and knows nothing good about him (Sophocles). Oedipus then begins his epic downfall.

Odysseus is also considered to be “a tragic figure because he had hamia: ‘his devastating flaw’ which was his insatiable need to win, be it in battle or on a voyage” (Aristotle). Oedipus’ hamia is revealed through Oedipus’ knack for solving problems. Oedipus, with god-like intelligence and skills, believes that he can solve all of Thebes problems and find whoever killed King Laius (Sophocles). Oedipus begins this path by questioning Creon about the death of Oedipus’ father; Oedipus blamed for killing him (Sophocles). After Oedipus interrogates Creon, Oedipus states: “Then I shall at once investigate these matters myself…

I am the only man who knows how to gain knowledge of such things” (Sophocles). Oedipus’ need to solve the mystery makes Oedipus blind himself, for Oedipus should not be the one making assumptions. Oedipus should have first gathered all evidence before starting his investigation to confirm what was fact and what was fiction. Oedipus should have known that he cannot solve these problems on his own without confirmation of other sources because Oedipus thinks that he is the only man capable enough to investigate Laios’ death. Oedipus’ hamia “led him headlong into the catastrophe which was the reason for Sophocles’ telling this story…

When Oedipus realized who he was, he tore out his eyes… Oedipus’ tragedy was brought on by Oedipus himself. Oedipus’ hamia led Oedipus to tear out his own eyes to punish himself for the horrible fate that Oedipus inflicted upon Oedipus” (Aristotle). Odysseus also has hamia from his need to win and Odysseu’s hubris from “being overly-proud of his cleverness” (Aristotle) is what brings about a tragic end for Odysseus. In the Odyssey, after getting home from war, Odysseus finds that Penelope has been courting unwanted suitors while Odysseu’s son, Telemachus, is still a young boy.

Odyssues does not confront Penelope and the suitors and Odyseuss retreats to his room upon seeing that he will not receive hospitality from those who do not know him (Homer). Odyssue’s hamia makes Odyssue convince himself that he can solve this problem by himself without help from others. Odyssues decides to go out with sword in hand as a beggar for food or clothing but Odyseus goes disguised as an old man wearing rags (Homer). Odyssues’ hamia prevents Odyseus from confronting Penelope and Oedipus’ hamia prevents Oedipus from investigating Oedipus’ father’s death.

Odyssues’ hamia led Odyseus to remove himself from the situation and Oedipus’ hamia led Oedipus to blind himself; both men did not want the tragedy of their fate but Odyseus felt justified in his actions while Oedips had no justification for his actions. Odysseus was not aware of how critical his hubris was until he returned home, which is similar to Oedipus because Oedipus does not know that he will kill Jocasta or that he would find out that he killed Laios until later on in the story when Creon tells Oedipus that Laios has three men who can verify Oedipus’ guilt (Sophocles).

Odyssues is the tragic hero in Oedipus Rex because Odyseus caused his own downfall when he decided to confront Penelope and Oedipus is also a tragic hero in Oedipus Rex because Oedipus caused his own downfall when he decided to investigate Laios’ death. Both Odyseuss and Oedipus have hamia which led them both to their downfalls. Odyseuss hamia was from his hubris which made him think that he could solve this problem on his own without help from others, just like Odyseus did not expect Athena or Teiresias to confront Odyseus.

Oedipus’ hamia stems from Oedipus thinking that Oedipus is the only man capable enough to solve Oedipus’ father’s death which led Oedipus to decide to investigate Oedipus’ father’s death without confirmation of other sources, just like Odyseuss thought that he could confront Penelope on his own without help from others. Odysseus and Oedipus both had hamia which led them to their tragic end; Odysseuss hamia was from his hubris while Oedipus’ hamia was from Jocasta and Laios telling Oepdius that no one else can solve this problem. (Oedipus Rex, Odyssues)

One major theme that Oedipus Rex presents is the tragedy of Oedipus as a tragic hero. A tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle, “must be a great person who experiences some serious misfortune as a result of some error or frailty; his downfall must not be brought about by his own guilt” (Aristotle). Oedipus meets all of these criteria, and is seen as a tragic hero throughout Oedipus Rex.

Oedipus makes an error in the beginning of the story by not answering Tiresias’ riddle correctly, which leaves Oedipus in his unfortunate situation at the end. Oedipus’ guilt does not lead to his downfall, because Oedipus is completely unaware of the crimes he has committed. Oedipus’ tragic flaw was his pride. Oedipus had too much pride in himself for believing that nobody could answer Tiresias’ riddle correctly; Oedipus did not even consider anything like this might happen (Oedipus Rex).

Oedipus expressed this tragic flaw while interrogating Teiresias, saying “If I am ever shown to be wrong, I shall owe you a great deal more than your fee for this enlightenment; but if I cast my shadow over you and over Creon without reason, then may the gods cast me out utterly from their sight, and may no place of refuge remain for Oedipus the wanderer” (Oedipus Rex). Oedipus will be a tragic hero until the very end, when Oedipus commits suicide. Oedipus is unaware of what he had done wrong all this time, which makes him unaware that his downfall was caused by an error or a frailty.

Oedipus did not have any idea of being guilty, but Oedipus did know about his pride. Oedipus did not care about anything else besides proving himself to others for his own satisfaction. This character flaw ended up taking part in Oedipus’ downfall by making him prove he can answer Tiresias’ riddle correctly; Oedipus will continue to believe that he was not wrong and did nothing wrong until the end of Oedipus Rex (Oedipus Rex). Oedipus is a tragic hero because Oedipus meets the criteria for a tragic hero, while making mistakes that lead him into his unfortunate situation.

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Analysis of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 27, 2020 • ( 0 )

The place of the Oedipus Tyrannus in literature is something like that of the Mona Lisa in art. Everyone knows the story, the first detective story of Western literature; everyone who has read or seen it is drawn into its enigmas and moral dilemmas. It presents a kind of nightmare vision of a world suddenly turned upside down: a decent man discovers that he has unknowingly killed his father, married his mother, and sired children by her. It is a story that, as Aristotle says in the Poetics , makes one shudder with horror and feel pity just on hearing it. In Sophocles’ hands, however, this ancient tale becomes a profound meditation on the questions of guilt and responsibility, the order (or disorder) of our world, and the nature of man. The play stands with the Book of Job, Hamlet, and King Lear as one of Western literature’s most searching examinations of the problem of suffering.

—Charles Segal, Oedipus Tyrannus: Tragic Heroism and the Limits of Knowledge

No other drama has exerted a longer or stronger hold on the imagination than Sophocles’ Oedipus the King (also known as Oedipus Tyrannus or Oedipus Rex ). Tragic drama that is centered on the dilemma of a single central character largely begins with Sophocles and is exemplified by his Oedipus, arguably the most influential play ever written. The most famous of all Greek dramas, Sophocles’ play, supported by Aristotle in the Poetics, set the standard by which tragedy has been measured for nearly two-and-a-half millennia. For Aristotle, Sophocles’ play featured the ideal tragic hero in Oedipus, a man of “great repute and good fortune,” whose fall, coming from his horrifying discovery that he has killed his father and married his mother, is masterfully arranged to elicit tragedy’s proper cathartic mixture of pity and terror. The play’s relentless exploration of human nature, destiny, and suffering turns an ancient tale of a man’s shocking history into one of the core human myths. Oedipus thereby joins a select group of fictional characters, including Odysseus, Faust, Don Juan, and Don Quixote, that have entered our collective consciousness as paradigms of humanity and the human condition. As classical scholar Bernard Knox has argued, “Sophocles’ Oedipus is not only the greatest creation of a major poet and the classic representative figure of his age: he is also one of a long series of tragic protagonists who stand as symbols of human aspiration and despair before the characteristic dilemma of Western civilization—the problem of man’s true stature, his proper place in the universe.”

For nearly 2,500 years Sophocles’ play has claimed consideration as drama’s most perfect and most profound achievement. Julius Caesar wrote an adaptation; Nero allegedly acted the part of the blind Oedipus. First staged in a European theater in 1585, Oedipus has been continually performed ever since and reworked by such dramatists as Pierre Corneille, John Dryden, Voltaire, William Butler Yeats, André Gide, and Jean Cocteau. The French neoclassical tragedian Jean Racine asserted that Oedipus was the ideal tragedy, while D. H. Lawrence regarded it as “the finest drama of all time.” Sigmund Freud discovered in the play the key to understanding man’s deepest and most repressed sexual and aggressive impulses, and the so-called Oedipus complex became one of the founding myths of psychoanalysis. Oedipus has served as a crucial mirror by which each subsequent era has been able to see its own reflection and its understanding of the mystery of human existence.

If Aeschylus is most often seen as the great originator of ancient Greek tragedy and Euripides is viewed as the great outsider and iconoclast, it is Sophocles who occupies the central position as classical tragedy’s technical master and the age’s representative figure over a lifetime that coincided with the rise and fall of Athens’s greatness as a political and cultural power in the fifth century b.c. Sophocles was born in 496 near Athens in Colonus, the legendary final resting place of the exiled Oedipus. At the age of 16, Sophocles, an accomplished dancer and lyre player, was selected to lead the celebration of the victory over the Persians at the battle of Salamis, the event that ushered in Athens’s golden age. He died in 406, two years before Athens’s fall to Sparta, which ended nearly a century of Athenian supremacy and cultural achievement. Very much at the center of Athenian public life, Sophocles served as a treasurer of state and a diplomat and was twice elected as a general. A lay priest in the cult of a local deity, Sophocles also founded a literary association and was an intimate of such prominent men of letters as Ion of Chios, Herodotus, and Archelaus. Urbane, garrulous, and witty, Sophocles was remembered fondly by his contemporaries as possessing all the admired qualities of balance and tranquillity. Nicknamed “the Bee” for his “honeyed” style of fl owing eloquence—the highest compliment the Greeks could bestow on a poet or speaker—Sophocles was regarded as the tragic Homer.

In marked contrast to his secure and stable public role and private life, Sophocles’ plays orchestrate a disturbing challenge to assurance and certainty by pitting vulnerable and fallible humanity against the inexorable forces of nature and destiny. Sophocles began his career as a playwright in 468 b.c. with a first-prize victory over Aeschylus in the Great, or City, Dionysia, the annual Athenian drama competition. Over the next 60 years he produced more than 120 plays (only seven have survived intact), winning first prize at the Dionysia 24 times and never earning less than second place, making him unquestionably the most successful and popular playwright of his time. It is Sophocles who introduced the third speaking actor to classical drama, creating the more complex dramatic situations and deepened psychological penetration through interpersonal relationships and dialogue. “Sophocles turned tragedy inward upon the principal actors,” classicist Richard Lattimore has observed, “and drama becomes drama of character.” Favoring dramatic action over narration, Sophocles brought offstage action onto the stage, emphasized dialogue rather than lengthy, undramatic monologues, and purportedly introduced painted scenery. Also of note, Sophocles replaced the connected trilogies of Aeschylus with self-contained plays on different subjects at the same contest, establishing the norm that has continued in Western drama with its emphasis on the intensity and unity of dramatic action. At their core, Sophocles’ tragedies are essentially moral and religious dramas pitting the tragic hero against unalterable fate as defined by universal laws, particular circumstances, and individual temperament. By testing his characters so severely, Sophocles orchestrated adversity into revelations that continue to evoke an audience’s capacity for wonder and compassion.

The story of Oedipus was part of a Theban cycle of legends that was second only to the stories surrounding the Trojan War as a popular subject for Greek literary treatment. Thirteen different Greek dramatists, including Aeschylus and Euripides, are known to have written plays on the subject of Oedipus and his progeny. Sophocles’ great innovation was to turn Oedipus’s horrifying circumstances into a drama of self-discovery that probes the mystery of selfhood and human destiny.

The play opens with Oedipus secure and respected as the capable ruler of Thebes having solved the riddle of the Sphinx and gained the throne and Thebes’s widowed queen, Jocasta, as his reward. Plague now besets the city, and Oedipus comes to Thebes’s rescue once again when, after learning from the oracle of Apollo that the plague is a punishment for the murder of his predecessor, Laius, he swears to discover and bring the murderer to justice. The play, therefore, begins as a detective story, with the key question “Who killed Laius?” as the initial mystery. Oedipus initiates the first in a seemingly inexhaustible series of dramatic ironies as the detective who turns out to be his own quarry. Oedipus’s judgment of banishment for Laius’s murderer seals his own fate. Pledged to restore Thebes to health, Oedipus is in fact the source of its affliction. Oedipus’s success in discovering Laius’s murderer will be his own undoing, and the seemingly percipient, riddle-solving Oedipus will only see the truth about himself when he is blind. To underscore this point, the blind seer Teiresias is summoned. He is reluctant to tell what he knows, but Oedipus is adamant: “No man, no place, nothing will escape my gaze. / I will not stop until I know it all.” Finally goaded by Oedipus to reveal that Oedipus himself is “the killer you’re searching for” and the plague that afflicts Thebes, Teiresias introduces the play’s second mystery, “Who is Oedipus?”

You have eyes to see with, But you do not see yourself, you do not see The horror shadowing every step of your life, . . . Who are your father and mother? Can you tell me?

Oedipus rejects Teiresias’s horrifying answer to this question—that Oedipus has killed his own father and has become a “sower of seed where your father has sowed”—as part of a conspiracy with Jocasta’s brother Creon against his rule. In his treatment of Teiresias and his subsequent condemning of Creon to death, Oedipus exposes his pride, wrath, and rush to judgment, character flaws that alloy his evident strengths of relentless determination to learn the truth and fortitude in bearing the consequences. Jocasta comes to her brother’s defense, while arguing that not all oracles can be believed. By relating the circumstances of Laius’s death, Jocasta attempts to demonstrate that Oedipus could not be the murderer while ironically providing Oedipus with the details that help to prove the case of his culpability. In what is a marvel of ironic plot construction, each step forward in answering the questions surrounding the murder and Oedipus’s parentage takes Oedipus a step back in time toward full disclosure and self-discovery.

As Oedipus is made to shift from self-righteous authority to doubt, a messenger from Corinth arrives with news that Oedipus’s supposed father, Poly-bus, is dead. This intelligence seems again to disprove the oracle that Oedipus is fated to kill his father. Oedipus, however, still is reluctant to return home for fear that he could still marry his mother. To relieve Oedipus’s anxiety, the messenger reveals that he himself brought Oedipus as an infant to Polybus. Like Jocasta whose evidence in support of Oedipus’s innocence turns into confirmation of his guilt, the messenger provides intelligence that will connect Oedipus to both Laius and Jocasta as their son and as his father’s killer. The messenger’s intelligence produces the crucial recognition for Jocasta, who urges Oedipus to cease any further inquiry. Oedipus, however, persists, summoning the herdsman who gave the infant to the messenger and was coincidentally the sole survivor of the attack on Laius. The herdsman’s eventual confirmation of both the facts of Oedipus’s birth and Laius’s murder produces the play’s staggering climax. Aristotle would cite Sophocles’ simultaneous con-junction of Oedipus’s recognition of his identity and guilt with his reversal of fortune—condemned by his own words to banishment and exile as Laius’s murderer—as the ideal artful arrangement of a drama’s plot to produce the desired cathartic pity and terror.

The play concludes with an emphasis on what Oedipus will now do after he knows the truth. No tragic hero has fallen further or faster than in the real time of Sophocles’ drama in which the time elapsed in the play coincides with the performance time. Oedipus is stripped of every illusion of his authority, control, righteousness, and past wisdom and is forced to contend with a shame that is impossible to expiate—patricide and incestual relations with his mother—in a world lacking either justice or alleviation from suffering. Oedipus’s heroic grandeur, however, grows in his diminishment. Fundamentally a victim of circumstances, innocent of intentional sin whose fate was preordained before his birth, Oedipus refuses the consolation of blamelessness that victimization confers, accepting in full his guilt and self-imposed sentence as an outcast, criminal, and sinner. He blinds himself to confirm the moral shame that his actions, unwittingly or not, have provoked. It is Oedipus’s capacity to endure the revelation of his sin, his nature, and his fate that dominates the play’s conclusion. Oedipus’s greatest strengths—his determination to know the truth and to accept what he learns—sets him apart as one of the most pitiable and admired of tragic heroes. “The closing note of the tragedy,” Knox argues, “is a renewed insistence on the heroic nature of Oedipus; the play ends as it began, with the greatness of the hero. But it is a different kind of greatness. It is now based on knowledge, not, as before on ignorance.” The now-blinded Oedipus has been forced to see and experience the impermanence of good fortune, the reality of unimaginable moral shame, and a cosmic order that is either perverse in its calculated cruelty or chaotically random in its designs, in either case defeating any human need for justice and mercy.

The Chorus summarizes the harsh lesson of heroic defeat that the play so majestically dramatizes:

Look and learn all citizens of Thebes. This is Oedipus. He, who read the famous riddle, and we hailed chief of men, All envied his power, glory, and good fortune. Now upon his head the sea of disaster crashes down. Mortality is man’s burden. Keep your eyes fixed on your last day. Call no man happy until he reaches it, and finds rest from suffering.

Few plays have dealt so unflinchingly with existential truths or have as bravely defined human heroism in the capacity to see, suffer, and endure.

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A Summary and Analysis of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The plot of Sophocles’ great tragedy Oedipus the King (sometimes known as Oedipus Rex or Oedipus Tyrannos ) has long been admired. In his Poetics , Aristotle held it up as the exemplary Greek tragedy . Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it one of the three perfect plots in all of literature (the other two being Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist and Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones ).

Oedipus the King might also be called the first detective story in Western literature. Yet how well do we know Sophocles’ play? And what does a closer analysis of its plot features and themes reveal?

The city of Thebes is in the grip of a terrible plague. The city’s king, Oedipus, sends Creon to consult the Delphic oracle, who announces that if the city rids itself of a murderer, the plague will disappear. The murderer in question is the unknown killer of the city’s previous king, Laius. Oedipus adopts a sort of detective role, and endeavours to sniff out the murderer.

He himself is plagued by another prophecy: that he would one day kill his father and marry his mother. He thinks he’s managed to thwart the prophecy by leaving home – and his parents – back in Corinth. On his way from Corinth to Thebes, he had an altercation with a man on the road: neither party would back down to let the other past, and Oedipus ended up killing the man in perhaps Western literature’s first instance of road rage.

Then Oedipus learns that his ‘father’ back in Corinth was not his biological parent: he was adopted after his ‘real’ parents left him for dead on a hillside, and he was rescued by a kindly shepherd who rescued him, took the child in, and raised him as his own. (The name Oedipus is Greek for ‘swollen foot’, from the chains put through the infant’s feet when it was left on the mountain.)

Tiresias the seer then reveals that the man Oedipus killed on the road was Laius – the former king of Thebes and (shock horror! Twist!) Oedipus’ biological father. Laius’ widow, Jocasta, is Oedipus’ own mother – and the woman Oedipus had married upon his arrival in Thebes.

When this terrible truth is revealed, Jocasta hangs herself, and Oedipus puts out his own eyes and leaves Thebes, going into self-imposed exile so he can free the Thebans from the plague.

This much constitutes a brief recap or summary of the plot of Oedipus the King . How we should interpret and analyse its use of prophecy and Oedipus’ own culpability, however, remains a less clear-cut matter. Is Oedipus to blame for what happens to him? Or is he simply a pawn of the gods and fates, to be used according to their whim?

Eventually, the nemesis can take no more and raises an army against Winter Kay. One of his soldiers, bearing a golden badge that resembles an eye in shape, is the one who kills Winter Kay in battle. In his dying moments, the hapless villain realises that, in seeking to avert the prophecy, he had, in fact, helped it to come true.

This is similar to the story of Oedipus the King . Oedipus heard the prophecy that he would one day murder his father and marry his mother, and so fled from his presumed parents so as to avoid fulfilling the prophecy. Such an act seems noble and it was jolly bad luck that fate had decreed that Oedipus would turn out to be a foundling and his real parents were still out there for him to bump into.

But what is clever about Sophocles’ dramatising of the myth is the way he introduces little details which reveal Oedipus’ character. The clues were already there that Oedipus was actually adopted: when he received the prophecy from the oracle, a drunk told him as much. But because the man was drunk, Oedipus didn’t believe him.

But, as the Latin phrase has it, in vino veritas . Then, it is Oedipus’ hubris, his pride, that contributes to the altercation on the road between him and Laius, the man who turns out to be his real father: if Oedipus was less stubborn, he would have played the bigger man and stepped aside to let Laius pass.

What does all this mean, when we stop and analyse it in terms of the interplay between fate and personal actions in Oedipus the King ? It means that Sophocles was aware of something which governs all our lives. Call it ‘karma’ if you will, or fate, but it works even if we remove the supernatural framework into which the action of Oedipus the King is placed.

Our actions have consequences, but that doesn’t mean that a particular action will lead to a particular consequence: it means that one action might cause something quite different to happen, which will nevertheless be linked in some way to our lives. A thief steals your wallet and you never see him, or your wallet, again. Did the criminal get away with it? Maybe.

Or maybe his habit of taking an intrusive interest in other people’s wallets will lead him, somewhere down the line, to getting what the ancient Greeks didn’t call ‘his comeuppance’. He wasn’t punished for pilfering your possessions, but he will nevertheless receive his just deserts.

Oedipus kills Laius because he is a stubborn and angry man; in his anger and pride, he allows himself to forget the prophecy (or to believe himself safe if he kills this man who definitely isn’t his father, no way ), and to kill another man. That one event will set in motion a chain of events that will see him married to his mother, the city over which he rules in the grip of plague, and – ultimately – Oedipus blinded and his wife/mother hanged.

Or perhaps that’s to impose a modern reading onto a classical text which Sophocles himself would not recognise. Yet works of art are always opening themselves up to new readings which see them reflecting our changing and evolving moral beliefs, and that is perhaps why Oedipus the King remains a great play to read, watch, analyse, and discuss. There remains something unsettling about its plot structure and its ambiguous meaning, and that is what lends it its power.

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7 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King”

Reblogged this on Writing hints and competitions and commented: Insight, the fate that launched a thousand clips

Wonderful analysis. Thank you. ~~dru~~

Thank you :)

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Oedipus Rex

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At the start of the play, the city of Thebes is suffering terribly. Citizens are dying from plague, crops fail, women are dying in childbirth and their babies are stillborn. A group of priests comes to the royal palace to ask for help from Oedipus , their king who once saved them from the tyranny of the terrible Sphinx. Oedipus has already sent his brother-in-law, Creon , to the oracle of the god Apollo to find out what can be done. (A little background: before Oedipus arrived in Thebes, the previous king, Laius, was murdered under mysterious circumstances and the murderer was never found. When Oedipus arrived in Thebes and saved the city, he was made king and married the widowed queen, Jocasta , sister of Creon.) Now Creon returns with the oracle's news: for the plague to be lifted from the city, the murderer of Laius must be discovered and punished. The oracle claims that the murderer is still living in Thebes.

Oedipus curses the unknown murderer and swears he will find and punish him. He orders the people of Thebes, under punishment of exile, to give any information they have about the death of Laius. Oedipus sends for Tiresias , the blind prophet, to help with the investigation. Tiresias comes, but refuses to tell Oedipus what he has seen in his prophetic visions. Oedipus accuses Tiresias of playing a part in Laius's death. Tiresias grows angry and says that Oedipus is the cause of the plague—he is the murderer of Laius. As the argument escalates, Oedipus accuses Tiresias of plotting with Creon to overthrow him, while Tiresias hints at other terrible things that Oedipus has done.

Convinced that Creon is plotting to overthrow him, Oedipus declares his intention to banish or execute his brother-in-law. Jocasta and the chorus believe Creon is innocent and beg Oedipus to let Creon go. He relents, reluctantly, still convinced of Creon's guilt. Jocasta tells Oedipus not to put any stock in what prophets and seers say. As an example, she tells him the prophecy she once received—that Laius, her first husband, would be killed by their own son. And yet, Laius was killed by strangers, and her own infant son was left to die in the mountains. But her description of where Laius was killed—a triple-crossroad —worries Oedipus. It's the same place where Oedipus once fought with several people and killed them, one of whom fit the description of Laius. He asks that the surviving eyewitness to Laius's murder be brought to him. He tells Jocasta that oracles have played a big part in his life as well—he received a prophecy that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother, which is why he left Corinth, the city he was raised in, and never returned.

An old messenger arrives from Corinth with the news that Oedipus's father, King Polybus, has died of old age. This encourages Oedipus. It seems his prophecy might not come true, but he remains worried because his mother is still alive. The messenger tells him not to worry—the king and queen of Corinth were not his real parents. The messenger himself brought Oedipus as a baby to the royal family as a gift after a shepherd found the boy in the mountains and gave him to the messenger. The shepherd was the same man Oedipus has already sent for—the eyewitness to Laius's murder. Jocasta begs Oedipus to abandon his search for his origins, but Oedipus insists he must know the story of his birth. Jocasta cries out in agony and leaves the stage. The shepherd arrives but doesn't want to tell what he knows. Only under threat of death does he reveal that he disobeyed the order to kill the infant son of Laius and Jocasta, and instead gave that baby to the messenger. That baby was Oedipus, who in fact killed his father Laius and married his mother. Oedipus realizes that he has fulfilled his awful prophecy. Queen Jocasta kills herself and Oedipus, in a fit of grief, gouges out his own eyes. Blind and grief-stricken, Oedipus bemoans his fate. Creon, after consulting an oracle, grants Oedipus's request and banishes him from Thebes.

Sophocles’ Oedipus as a Tragic Hero Essay

What makes oedipus a tragic hero what makes his predicament fascinating rather than merely horrifying.

Oedipus Rex is a great ancient Greek tragedy written by Sophocles in which the tragic story of the king of Phoebe is revealed. His destiny is complex and fascinating. His father, Laius, was predicted that his son would kill him. That is why little Oedipus was left in the mountains to die. However, he is found and raised by Polybus of Corinth (Sophocles 11). Unfortunately, it does not help Oedipus to avoid his destiny. When he returns to Phoebe, he kills his father and marries his mother. The story has a tragic end, but it is not the main thing that makes Oedipus a tragic hero. However, his moral disposition, internal struggle, and his doomed attempts to go against evil and fate are the main aspects that help us to consider him a tragic character (“Oedipus as a Tragic Hero”). He opposes the will of ancient gods and loses, but this struggle makes his predicament fascinating. Oedipus does not know that he kills his father and marries his mother; the only motif he follows is to protect people he loves and become happy (Wood 76). That is why all his actions are not merely horrifying.

Identify and explain the different types of irony in Oedipus Rex.

The given story is also based on irony which is introduced to emphasize Oedipus sufferings and predicaments. In the majority of cases, it comes from his ignorance as he does not know the background of the prophecy. For this reason, the dramatic irony could be found in the fact that the audience knows the events which are unknown to the protagonist. We could understand everything and be terrified of his actions. Besides, there is also the verbal irony that could be found in Oedipus words. He says that Laius murders should be punished (Sophocles 53), but we know who kills the King of Phoebe. Therefore, Oedipus attempts to avoid destiny and protect his parents could be considered the tragic irony (Dems). He does not know that Polybus is not his real father and returns to Phoebe where he kills Laius, who also tried to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. Additionally, Oedipus arrival to Phoebe is another kind of irony, a situational one (Dems). Trying to escape he comes to the city where the prophecy should be fulfilled.

Evaluate Oedipus’s actions. Is he to blame for what happens?

Cogitating about the given story, we could say that Oedipus could hardly be blamed for all his actions. He is a murderer. However, it was a cruel epoch and violence was one of the ways to solve conflicts. Though, he did not know that Laius was his father, as well as Jocasta, was his mother. He just wanted to protect his family and escaped to another state. However, his ignorance and some mysterious will resulted in the tragic events that happened during the story (Gaillard 98). Oedipus turned out to be helpless in the face of destiny and became parricide.

What is the purpose of the scene in which Oedipus bids farewell to Antigone and Ismene? Explain.

Having discovered the fact that Laius was his father, Oedipus should leave the city because of his decree. Additionally, he is one of the main causes of all misfortunes that it experiences. However, he has two favorite daughters, Antigone and Ismene. Oedipus perfectly realizes the fact that his actions and his life affected their future greatly. They are now cursed and could hardly be happy (“The Story of King Oedipus”). For this reason, the scene of his farewell has a great symbolic meaning. When saying goodbye, he realizes that their lives would be complex and tragic. However, Oedipus is helpless to help his daughters.

Works Cited

Dems, Kristina. “Oedipus Rex: The Three Types of Irony.” bright hub education , Web.

Gaillard, Thierry. Oedipus Reborn, Ancient Traditions and Transgenerational Perspectives . Ecodition, 2014.

“Oedipus as a Tragic Hero.” Bachelorandmaster , Web.

Sophocles. The Oedipus Cycle: An English Version . Harcourt, 1949.

“The Story of King Oedipus.” erenow , Web.

Wood, Rebeca. Tragic Legacies: Investigating Spectres of the Past in Literature: A Comparative Literary Analysis of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Amazon Services International, 2014.

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Home / Drama / Sophocles / Oedipus Rex / Oedipus Rex as a Tragedy of Aristotle: Tragedy of Fate or Character

Oedipus Rex as a Tragedy of Aristotle: Tragedy of Fate or Character

Oedipus Rex as a Prominent Tragedy:

“Oedipus Rex”; the tragedy; has been mentioned as one of the best tragedies ever written by Sophocles . Despite its controversial genre, it gained fame in many countries. The play was translated into many modern languages and performed around the whole world. A reason why “Oedipus Rex” got famous is that it was mentioned in “Poetics”. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and the author of the book “Poetics”, mentioned Oedipus Rex as an ideal tragedy. Numerous critics do not consider “Oedipus Rex” a perfect tragedy; they are of the view that if “Oedipus Rex” is judged by Aristotle’s requirements of tragedy even then it cannot be regarded as a Greek tragedy. On the other hand, some critics say that Aristotle rightly adjudged “Oedipus Rex” and it is a perfect Greek tragedy as per the necessities of “Poetics”. Hence, this matter needs consideration and an explanation is required to decide the genre of “Oedipus Rex”.

Tragedy and its purpose:

Two types of genres have been mentioned in “Poetics”, which are comedy and tragedy. Undoubtedly, “Oedipus Rex” is not a comedy then definitely it is a tragedy but the matter of discussion is that if it is a tragedy then why does not it fulfil the constraints of a perfect tragedy? Aristotle defined “Tragedy” in his book “Poetics in the following words:-

“[tragedy is] the imitation of an action that is serious and also as having magnitude, complete in itself.” Poetics by Aristotle

It is not the main purpose of a tragedy. He concludes the definition in the followings words:-

“tragedy effects the catharsis of pity and fear.” Poetics by Aristotle

Hence, the main aim of tragedy is the catharsis of pity and fear . Aristotle did not define the word catharsis yet in simple words, it means that when a hero’s sufferings shock the audience, the audience put its feet in the hero’s shoes and shares feelings with the character. This action causes the arousal of feelings and emotions of pity and fear. Thus, we call it catharsis.

To summarize the definition of tragedy, as mentioned in poetics, we can say that following are the fundamentals of a tragedy:-

“Oedipus Rex” as Tragedy in Aristotle’s Eyes:

Aristotle referred to “Oedipus Rex” as an ideal tragedy in his book “Poetics” because it perfectly is the imitation of an action. It is serious and also causes the catharsis of pity and fear. Moreover, it has magnitude and indeed it is complete in itself; it has a proper beginning, middle and end. Aristotle focused on the plot of “Oedipus Rex” which is the prominent element of a tragedy. To understand the importance of the plot, focus on the following statement of Aristotle:-

“Without action there cannot be a tragedy there may be without character”. Poetics by Aristotle

Sophocles embroidered the plot of “Oedipus Rex” very skillfully, due to which it became a favourite of Aristotle. “Oedipus Rex” starts when the people of Thebes are suffering due to an unknown disease. King of Thebes tries to find a solution to the problem; that part of the play unveils different things. Thus, the middle of the plot is the combination of the beginning and it is leading the plot towards the end. The plot has also a proper end as it has no further event but a tragic finish. Thus, Sophocles masterly knitted every event of the plot in this tragedy.

The character of “Oedipus Rex” is also a favourite of Aristotle; he belongs to the class of kings; his nature is noble; he is good but not perfect; his hamartia is the reason behind his sufferings; he falls from prosperity to adversity. These requirements of a tragic hero cause the catharsis of pity and fear. As regards the other requirements of tragedy, Sophocles tried his best to knit them perfectly. Hence, there is no denying the fact that “Oedipus Rex” does not go beyond the requirements of a tragedy as defined by Aristotle in “Poetics”. Due to these reasons, he considered “Oedipus Rex” as the best Greek tragedy.

Modern Critics on “Oedipus Rex as Tragedy”:

Modern critics do not agree with Aristotle. They agree that “Oedipus Rex” has a perfect plot but Aristotle ignored the concept of catharsis. The main problem with “Oedipus Rex” is its hero , who seems mere a victim of circumstances. They say that Oedipus Rex does not suffer due to hamartia. It was the will of the gods that Oedipus Rex would kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus Rex tried his best to escape from his fate but his efforts were useless. When the audience watches the downfall of Oedipus Rex it does not shock the audience. It only gets the sympathy of the audience which is against the notion of tragedy.

Thus, “Oedipus Rex” does not cause the catharsis of pity and fear. The downfall of Oedipus Rex seems predestined. His hubris is not responsible for his downfall. Gods are responsible for the fall of Oedipus Rex. Aristotle himself has said that the character should suffer because of “hamartia”, “err”, or “frailty”. In the case of “Oedipus Rex”, only gods are responsible for his adverse circumstances, therefore, there is no concept of catharsis in “Oedipus Rex”.

On the contrary, some critics, who are a fan of Aristotle says that Oedipus Rex suffers due to hubris. His rash judgment, his anger and his quick decisions are responsible for his downfall. He definitely has flaws in his character. Thus, not gods but the character is responsible for his ruination. He could have saved himself if he did not kill his father. He should have not married a woman who was of his mother’s age. Be that as it may, the concept of gods is ignored. If it is the case, then we may call “Oedipus Rex” a perfect tragedy.

Conclusion:

To conclude, Oedipus Rex is a perfect Greek tragedy. In modern days, dramatists and novelists have altered the definition of tragedy but in those days, people and writers considered Aristotle’s definition of tragedy as the best definition. Whether Sophocles followed Aristotle or vice versa but it is true that tragedy was defined in that era. As mentioned earlier, Aristotle did not concentrate on the character but on the plot of the tragedy. If the character is ignored even then “Oedipus Rex” is considered as a wonderful tragedy. A tragedy is possible without character – said Aristotle. Hence, the play “Oedipus Rex” belongs to the genre of “Greek Tragedy”.

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Oedipus Rex

Read our detailed notes below on the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles . Our notes cover Oedipus Rex summary, themes, characters and analysis.

Introduction

Oedipus Rex is a famous tragedy written by Sophocles. It is also known by its Greek name “Oedipus Tyrannus” or “Oedipus the king”. It was first performed in 429 BC. Sophocles is now placed among the great ancient Greek Tragedians. He wrote three famous tragedies that include Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone that describe the sufferings of a king and his children after him.

Aristotle in his “The Poetics” called this play an exemplary Greek tragedy. “Oedipus Rex” is also considered as the first detective story in the history of Western Literature.

Definition of a tragedy

A tragedy is a sub-genre of drama that is serious and in which the main character or the hero of the play meets a tragic end because of his tragic flaw or hamartia. In Oedipus Rex, it is observed that the hamartia of Oedipus is his excessive pride or hubris which later becomes the reason behind his tragic downfall.

In this play, when a child is born in king Laius’ house, he consults an oracle to ask him about his son’s fate. The oracle tells Laius that he will be killed by his own son. Terrified of the prophecy, Laius binds his son’s feet with a pin and asks his wife to kill him. Jocasta gives her son a servant to kill him because being a mother she can’t kill her own son.

The servant left the child on a mountain top to die but then he feels a soft corner for him and gives him to a shepherd to take him far away. The shepherd names the child as “Oedipus” which means “swollen foot” because his feet get swollen due to the pin that bound his feet together. The shepherd takes the child to Corinth and gives him to Polybus and Merope, the king and queen of Corinth where he grows up as their child.

Oedipus Rex Summary

The play starts outside the palace of King Oedipus. The city of Thebes is shown suffering a plague because of which people are terrified. The fields become barren and people start suffering from different diseases. The people of Thebes gather along with a priest and other elders to request Oedipus, the king of Thebes, to help them and save them from this plague. They come to the king to ask for help because he saved them once from the sphinx too. The sphinx was a monster with the woman’s head, lioness’ body, eagle’s wings and serpent’s tale.

The sphinx stood at the entrance to the city of Thebes and used to ask riddles from the people who came across her and killed those who failed to solve her riddles. Oedipus solved her riddle and she killed herself. People made Oedipus their king as he was brave and saved them from the monster. As their former king was murdered so Oedipus got married to Jocasta, the former queen, and became the king of Thebes.

Now the people believe that the plague is sent to them by God Apollo because he is angry and wants to punish them. The king tells them that he is more worried than all of them. He knows that they are sick and in pain but that is their individual pain while Oedipus suffers the pain of all and he cried for them too. He says that he has found one way to get rid of these problems so he already has sent Creon, his brother-in-law, to the house of Apollo at Delphi to ask the oracle about this matter and its solution.

Soon Creon returns after talking to the oracle. Initially, Creon feels reluctant to speak in front of the whole crowd but then Oedipus forces him to speak and he tells everyone that there is a solution to get rid of the plague. The oracle tells him that if the murderer of Laius, the former king of Thebes before Oedipus, is found and the justice is brought to him, only then the plague will leave this place. Oedipus promises everyone that he will find the man who killed their king and caused the plague and ensures that he will punish him for his deeds. The priest and the people become satisfied and leave.

A chorus is a group of singers that includes the elders of Thebes. After the completion of the first scene, they sing a prayer to their gods for the recovery of their city from the plague. They pray to many gods including Apollo to save them from death and destruction as Apollo saved them once from Sphinx.

Oedipus appreciates the chorus for their prayers. Oedipus then addresses to all the people and forbids them to give shelter to the murderer of king Laius. He also announces that if the murderer is present in the crowd, he can come forward and admit his crime. However, he promises not to kill the person if he comes forward to surrender and he only suggests banishment for him. The chorus suggests Oedipus to call Teiresias, the blind prophet, to resolve this matter. Oedipus tells them that he has already sent someone to call him.

When Teiresias arrives, he claims that he knows the killer but he refuses to tell. Oedipus forces him to tell but he continuously refuses the king saying that the truth will only bring pain for him and nothing else. He also advises the king to abandon his search for the killer. Oedipus gets enraged and he accuses Teiresias of the murder saying that he is concealing the truth because he himself is the murderer. Oedipus threatens to kill him and hence he is forced to tell the truth. Teiresias tells that Oedipus is the killer of king Laius.

Oedipus doesn’t trust him and considers it just as nonsense. He threatens Teiresias by saying that he will always regret saying this nonsense against his king and he considers it is a plot of Creon against him and Oedipus believes that Creon has paid Teiresias to say these things. Oedipus orders him to leave. Teiresias then leaves saying his last riddle. He tells that the murderer is in front of them, he is the killer of his father and the husband of his mother, he is the brother of his own children and the son of his own wife, a man who came seeing but will leave this world in blindness.

The chorus also believes in their king and they refuse to accept that Oedipus has committed any crime. They consider him a faithful king who saved their city once because of his wisdom. They also start questioning the wisdom and prophecies of Teiresias.

When Creon enters, he asks people whether it is true that the king accused Teiresias and asked him to leave. He claims that he never thinks of harming king Oedipus and now he has heard rumours that the king accuses him of treachery. The chorus tries to talk to Creon but Oedipus appears and accuses Creon of killing king Laius and stealing his crown. He orders to execute Creon because of conspiring against him. The chorus and Jocasta, the wife of Oedipus and the sister of Creon, request the king to spare his life and let him go.

Jocasta asks Oedipus why he is so upset. He tells her about Teiresias and his prophecy. She relieves Oedipus by saying that he should not take the prophets and their prophecies seriously because they are never true. She starts telling him about one of the oracles who came to her and king Laius, long time ago and told them that King Laius will be killed by his own son so they gave their child to a shepherd to kill him. Everyone knows that the prophecy was wrong as the king was killed by some robbers at the crossroads when he was on his way to Delphi.

Her story troubles Oedipus. As she tells him that the king was killed at a place where three roads meet, Oedipus reminds of a similar incident that happened in his life. He also killed a stranger at a place where three roads met. He becomes worried and starts thinking about what Teiresias said. He asks Jocasta to tell him further about this incident and also investigates the appearance of king Laius. The description of Laius by Jocasta is exactly the same as the stranger killed by Oedipus.

Jocasta tells him that there was an eyewitness to the king’s death. He was a herdsman and he swore that there were five robbers who killed Laius. Oedipus calls the herdsman. While they await the witness, Jocasta asks Oedipus why he seems worried. Oedipus starts telling her about his past. He tells her that once when he was young, someone told him that he was not the real son of his father. He asked his parents about it but they refused to say that it was not true.

Then he went to an oracle to ask him about reality. The oracle told him that according to his fate, he will kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus tells her that he left his home and Corinth because he was frightened of this prophecy. Later on his journey, he messed up with a stranger who was a proud man and insulted him badly. He ended up killing him and it was the place where three roads met. He tells her that he is worried because he fears that the stranger he killed might have been Laius.

Oedipus tells Jocasta that he will not be worried anymore if the herdsman swears that he witnessed the king Laius was killed by robbers and not by me. He prays and hopes that the witness will save him from guilt and the punishment that he announced himself. Oedipus and Jocasta go to the palace and start waiting for him.

The elders pray to god Zeus and Apollo to pay attention to this serious matter and to help them solve the mystery.

Jocasta leaves the palace to go to the temple to pray for Oedipus and his safety. She also advises him not to worry as it makes her and all other people tense to see their king in this condition. After some time, a messenger came from Corinth to deliver the news of the death of Oedipus’ father Polybus, the king of Corinth.The messenger tells Oedipus that the people of Corinth now want to make him the ruler that’s why he came to him.

Jocasta and Oedipus feel relief on this news. Jocasta becomes happy and tells Oedipus that this is another proof that proves the prophecies wrong. Oedipus believes her but he tells her that he is still worried about the other prophecy that he will marry his mother. The messenger tells Oedipus that now he doesn’t need to stay away from his home, Corinth. He tells him that he can come back any time without any fear because his mother, Merope, is not his real mother and Polybus was not his real father either.

Oedipus becomes really worried and he gets shocked on hearing this. He asks the messenger how he knows about all this. The messenger tells him that years ago someone gave him a baby and he gave it to the king and the queen of Corinth as they had no child. The baby was pierced through the ankles and Oedipus also has some marks on his ankles that prove it true. Oedipus asks him about the person who gave him the baby. He tells Oedipus that a servant of king Laius gave him the baby. Oedipus orders his men to find out that servant.

The messenger also suggests Oedipus to take help from Jocasta as she gave her baby to that servant so she can identify him easily. Jocasta becomes nervous and horrified by the bitter truth. She begs Oedipus to stop his quest for truth. Oedipus tells her that he has promised people to solve this mystery and save them from trouble so now he will investigate and find out the truth. Jocasta gets more worried and leaves. Oedipus again swears to assure his people that he will not stop his investigation.

The chorus sings happily because of the new information delivered by the messenger. They also perform the holy dance and they are excited to know about their king’s real parents because they think that Oedipus is the son of some god.

Finally, Oedipus’ men come with a shepherd. Seeing the terrible condition of Jocasta, the chorus also starts thinking that something bad is going to happen so they also start begging Oedipus to leave the mystery unsolved but Oedipus doesn’t listen to them either. The shepherd looks terrified and doesn’t want to answer the king’s question. Oedipus forces him to tell the truth. He tells Oedipus it is true that he gave a baby boy to another shepherd. He admits that the baby was king Laius’ son whom Jocasta and Laius left to die on a hillside because they were terrified of an oracle’s prophecy.

The truth is finally revealed. Oedipus feels devastated thinking how he killed his father and got married to his mother and has four kids. He starts hating his identity and leaves the place. He starts searching a sword in the palace to kill himself. When he enters his bedroom, he finds that Jocasta is already dead. She came running to her room after the truth got revealed and she committed suicide by hanging herself.

Seeing her body, Oedipus becomes more depressed. He takes out the gold brooches from the queen’s dress and plunges them in his eyes. He feels severe pain as the stream of blood starts flowing through her eyes. He becomes blind forever. He cries out that he shouldn’t be able to see again in his life as he committed a terrible sin and brought destruction for all the people. He also requests the chorus to kill him.

Creon also enters the palace after hearing the whole story. He consoles Oedipus and asks him to come inside so that no one can see him. Oedipus also begs Creon to let him leave the city but he suggests meeting Apollo first. Oedipus refuses to meet anyone. Oedipus says that the only punishment for the sinner is banishment. He requests Creon to bring his daughters to him as he wants to meet them before leaving. He also asks Creon to take care of them.

Oedipus leaves the city as he himself announced that the punishment for Laius’ killer will only be banishment so he acts upon his words. Creon and Oedipus’ daughters go back to the palace and the chorus laments on the terrible fate of their king, Oedipus.

The chorus becomes surprised because the truth was concealed from them for so long. Moreover, they feel pity for the king’s fate and cry over his misfortune. They discuss how the king was a worthy man who achieved much in his life like solving the riddle of Sphinx and becoming the king of Thebes but everything gets ruined because of his cruel fate. The play ends when the Chorus says, “Count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last”.

Themes in Oedipus Rex

It is the main theme of this play and fate plays an important role in the whole play. When king Laius and queen Jocasta hear the prophecy that their son will kill his father and marry his mother, they leave their son to die but the child doesn’t die and is taken to Corinth. When Oedipus grows up, he also comes to know about this prophecy so he leaves that place but he doesn’t know that his fate is taking him towards his real parents. No matter how hard he tries to escape his fate, he does the same as was written. The role of fate remains prominent in the play and in the end, Oedipus finds that he is only a puppet in the hands of gods and prophets.

Individual will/action

Though it was Oedipus’ fate to kill his father and marry his mother yet there were certain actions that could have saved him from this destruction. Oedipus had many opportunities that could prove oracle’s prophecy wrong but his own actions became the reason behind his downfall. On his way to Thebes, he messed up with a stranger and got angry. So he killed him because of his rage. At that time, If he somehow managed to control himself and his anger then he could never have killed his own father.

Moreover, when Teiresias, chorus, and Jocasta were begging him to stop his search for truth, he didn’t stop and as a result, he came to know the bitter truth that destroyed his life. If he stopped at that time and didn’t try to explore his past then he would never have led himself to destruction.

Pity and Fear

As Oedipus Rex is a tragedy, the elements of pity and fear are also found in it. The readers feel fear as the play proceeds towards the solution of the mystery. The characters of the play also get terrified as the things start to get clear. Oedipus finds that he is the real culprit and he blinds himself by hurting his eyes with brooches and streams of blood start flowing down his face. The readers also feel pity for Oedipus because he didn’t do anything intentionally and his fate is the real cause of his tragic end.

Plague and Health

At the start of the play, the city of Thebes is shown suffering from a terrible plague that makes everyone tensed and terrified. The people of the city became sick and many died. Their fields and women become barren. The people of Thebes believe that the plague is a result of religious pollution because of which God Apollo is angry and has cursed them so they come to the king to request him to save their lives.

Self-Discovery and memories of the past

Oedipus keeps on exploring his past. Although everyone warns him yet he doesn’t stop. Forgetting the past is a good thing sometimes but Oedipus ruins his own life because of his quest for who he really is and what was his past. The road that he adopts towards self-discovery, in reality, leads him towards his downfall.

It is a Greek term that means “Excessive pride”. It is one of the main themes of this play and it also proves to be the Hamartia or tragic flaw of Oedipus Rex. He shows pride at different points. At the beginning of the play, he addresses the people saying that he is Oedipus and he has solved the famous riddle. In his pride, he disrespects Teiresias and calls him blind. His excessive pride becomes the reason behind his tragic downfall.

Power corrupts men and the character of Oedipus is the true example of it. He becomes mad in his power. He uses it over Teiresias and disrespects him by accusing him of the king’s murder. He also gives the order to execute Creon because he thinks he is a traitor. He forces both of the shepherds to tell him the truth though they don’t want to speak.

Search for truth

Oedipus promises people to find out the truth and punish the culprit so he starts his search. Many people request him to stop his search but he doesn’t listen to them. Teiresias begs him not to ask him about the truth because it will only bring pain to everyone. He forces him to speak. Later when things start to become clear, Jocasta also requests Oedipus to stop finding the truth but he doesn’t listen to her either. Then he finds out the bitter truth and ends up punishing himself.

Guilt and Shame

As the truth comes in front of everyone that Oedipus is the person who killed his father and married his own mother, Oedipus and Jocasta fill with shame. Jocasta hangs herself because of her guilt to marry her own son and Oedipus hurts his eyes and becomes blind to punish himself for committing the shameless sin.

It is true that ignorance is a blessing. When Oedipus was unaware of reality, everything was perfect and he was living happily but when he started his quest for truth, he got destroyed. Many people try to stop his search for truth because they know it will only bring destruction but he doesn’t listen to them and the truth destroys his life. The search for truth is a good thing but sometimes staying ignorant towards some matters is the real sensibleness.

It is also an important theme. As the play starts, the people of Thebes request Oedipus to save them from the plague. Creon finds out that the only way to get rid of the plague is to bring justice to king Laius by punishing his murderer. Oedipus promises to find and punish him. Later when the truth reveals, Oedipus acts upon his words and he punishes himself. Though he can escape the punishment because he is the king yet he decides to bring justice and he says that the banishment is the only punishment for the criminal so he leaves the city of Thebes.

Blind faith

The theme of blind faith is also found throughout this play as the people strongly believe in the prophets and their prophecies. King Laius and Jocasta left their son to die on a hillside because of a prophecy that their son will kill his father and marry his mother. If they didn’t believe that prophecy and kept their son in front of them then maybe things would have been different. Moreover, listening to the same prophecy, Oedipus also left Corinth. If he didn’t trust the prophecy and kept living in Corinth then maybe he could never be able to kill his real father and marry his mother.

Furthermore, Oedipus sends Creon to Delphi to talk to an oracle about the plague. Later they call Teiresias, the blind prophet, to solve the mystery. At the end, after the truth gets revealed, Oedipus requests Creon to let him leave the city but Creon suggests that they should meet the oracle first. It clearly shows the trust and the faith of the people on oracles and prophets.

Oedipus Rex Characters Analysis

Oedipus is the hero of this tragedy. He was born in the house of king Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. An oracle tells king Laius about his child’s fate and threatens him that the child will kill him in the future. The king binds the feet of the child together and asks Jocasta to kill him. Jocasta gives her child to a servant to leave him on a hillside to die. A shepherd takes the child from there to Corinth. He names the child as “Oedipus” which means “swollen feet” because his feet got swollen as they were bound together by a pin. The shepherd gives the child to king Polybus and queen Merope of Corinth and there Oedipus grows up as their child.

Oedipus is a short-tempered and a rash decision-maker from the beginning. In Corinth, someone tells him that he is not the real son of king Polybus. He asks his parents about it but they refuse to accept it. Then he goes to an oracle and gets to know about his fate. The oracle tells him that it is his fate that he will kill his father and marry his mother. He doesn’t consult his parents about it and makes a decision to leave Corinth to escape his fate which never proves helpful.

On his way to Thebes, he meets a stranger and gets messed up with him. After some arguments between them, Oedipus becomes really angry and in anger he kills that stranger who actually is his real father. When he becomes the king of Thebes, he again proves himself a rash decision-maker. When Teiresias tells him about the prophecy, he disrespects him by calling blind and without thinking anything, he jumps on a decision that Creon is a traitor and he has sent Teiresias to speak against him. So he orders to execute Creon.

Moreover, Oedipus’ pride or hubris also becomes the cause of his tragic downfall. No doubt he solved the riddle of Sphinx and saved many lives but after this, he brags about his achievement every time, saying that he is the king who solved the famous riddle and he will also solve the problem of plague. His pride is also shown when he uses his power to force Teiresias and shepherd to tell the truth and also when he gives the order to execute Creon.

Apart from all his tragic flaws, he proves himself as a great king and the real hero of this play. Firstly he saves Thebes from the sphinx due to his intelligence. When the plague strikes the city, he tells people that he is more worried than all of them and he assures them that he will end this plague. As Creon tells him that the plague is caused because of a person who murdered King Laius and polluted this city, he announces that he will find the criminal and punish him.

When he comes to know about the truth, he could have avoided it because of his power but he fulfils his promise and decides to punish himself as he announced. Jocasta hangs herself and seeing her hanged, Oedipus couldn’t bear it and he hurts himself by hitting his eyes with brooches. He considers himself a sinful person who brought plague in the city and polluted it so he never thought that death could bring justice to what he did so he blinds himself for the rest of his life and leaves.

Oedipus was a powerful person once. He ruled Thebes as a king but at the end of the play, he totally becomes a changed person. He leaves the city of Thebes as a blind and helpless beggar who has lost everything in his life. He finds himself a puppet in the hands of gods and prophets and he has lost everything because of his fate. However, by taking the right decision and bringing justice to king Laius’ murderer, he wins the sympathy of all the people. Though he loses everything in his life, yet he remains the real hero from beginning till the end.

Jocasta is the Queen of Thebes. She got married to King Laius. Terrified by a prophecy, she let her son die on a hillside, proving herself as a heartless mother. She enjoys a good fortune and remains the queen throughout the play. After king Lauis’ death, she gets married to Oedipus and becomes the queen again but in reality, she is the mother of Oedipus and has four kids with him.

She is a caring sister and wife. When Oedipus orders to execute Creon, she begs him to let his brother go. Moreover, when she observes that Oedipus is worried, she investigates what troubles him. She also comforts him by suggesting him not to trust prophets and their prophecies. She also tells Oedipus that he is not the murderer of king Laius because he was killed by some robbers and a shepherd is a witness of it.

She prays for the safety of her husband and also tells him not to worry because it makes her and other people tense to see their king in panic. When she receives the news of king Polybus’ death, she becomes really happy and tells Oedipus that it is another proof that the prophecy of the oracle is not true. Later when things start becoming clear, she fears and begs Oedipus to stop his quest for truth. She doesn’t want to face a terrible truth and tries to stop him but he didn’t agree. She commits suicide at the end because she can’t live with a terrible truth of her life that she married her own son.

He is the brother of queen Jocasta. He remains in the play till the end. He is the true follower of God Apollo. At the beginning of the play, Oedipus sends him to an oracle at Delphi to ask him the solution of the plague. As he returns, he seems reluctant to tell what the oracle said in front of all the people but the king forces him to speak. He tells everyone that he has come with a solution to end the plague. He tells that the city of Thebes is polluted by a person who is the murderer of their former king, Laius. He tells them that to end the plague, it is necessary to find the murderer and bring justice to king Laius.

Creon remains a loyal friend to Oedipus. He even forgives him when he accuses him of treason and gives the order to execute him. He claims that he never thought of turning against Oedipus. In every decision about the city of Thebes, he shares an equal part as Oedipus and Jocasta. At the end of the play, when Oedipus requests him to let him leave the city, he tells him that they should go to the oracle first but Oedipus doesn’t agree. Creon brings the daughters of Oedipus to meet their father for the last time according to his will and he also promises Oedipus to take care of them after him. Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes after king Oedipus.

He is the blind prophet in the city of Thebes. When the plague strikes the city, king Oedipus calls him to help them in finding the murderer of king Laius. As he arrives, he fears to speak anything and keeps on telling Oedipus not to force him to speak the truth because the truth will only bring pain and nothing else. Oedipus accuses him of killing king Laius because he tries to conceal the truth. Oedipus threatens him and forces him to speak.

Teiresias tells Oedipus that he is the killer of king Laius but Oedipus doesn’t trust him and considers it nonsense. Oedipus also disrespects him and calls him blind. He accuses him of being the partner of Creon, whom Oedipus considered as a traitor, who conspired against him and has paid Teiresias to speak the nonsense. He orders him to leave the palace.

Teiresias then leaves the palace saying his last riddle. He tells that the murderer is in front of them, he is the killer of his father and the husband of his mother, he is the brother of his own children and the son of his own wife, a man who came seeing but will leave this world in blindness. His prophecy proves to be true at the end of the novel when the truth gets revealed in front of everyone and Oedipus blinds himself.

A chorus is a group of singers that includes the elder citizens of Thebes. As the play starts, they come to Oedipus along with a priest to request the king to save their city from the plague. They become satisfied as the king assures them that he will save them from the trouble. The chorus plays an important role in the play. They sing choral odes after every scene that helps to connect different scenes of the play. Moreover, their choral odes add to the beauty of the play and entertain the readers.

The chorus also prays to different gods to save their city from the plague. They forbid the king to take any strict decision against Creon and stop him from executing Creon. When the truth starts revealing, they also try to stop the king to stop his search for truth because they also start feeling that something wrong is going to happen. In the end, they lament on the king’s fate and the play ends when the Chorus says, “Count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last”.

Antigone and Ismene

They are the young daughters of Oedipus and Jocasta and hence also the sisters of Oedipus. They only appear at the end of the play when Oedipus wishes to see his daughters for one last time before his banishment. Creon brings them to say goodbye to their father for the last time.

The Messenger from Corinth

He comes from Corinth to deliver the news of King Polybus’ death and he also tells Oedipus that the people of Corinth now want him to be their king. Terrified of the prophecy, Oedipus decides not to go back to Corinth until her mother Merope is alive. The messenger tells him that he needs not to worry about this and he can come back at any time without any fear because Queen Merope is not her real mother and King Laius was not his real father.

Oedipus gets shocked on hearing this news and asks him who told him about this. He tells Oedipus that years ago someone from Thebes gave him a child as a gift and he presented it to the king and queen of Corinth as they had no children of their own. Oedipus further asks him about the person who gave him the child. He tells Oedipus that he was one of Laius’ servants. He also helped Oedipus in recognizing the servant.

The Herdsman

The herdsman is the person who gave the child of king Laius and queen Jocasta to the messenger of Corinth on their orders. He is also the witness of king Laius’ death. Initially, he lied to everyone that king Laius was murdered by some robbers but later when king Oedipus calls him in his palace and forces him to speak the truth, he tells that he witnessed the killer of King Laius and he is Oedipus.

The priest comes to the king Oedipus, at the beginning of the play, along with the chorus to request Oedipus to save them from the plague. The priest and his followers also make many sacrifices to the gods to lift the plague from their city.

The Second Messenger

At the end of the play, a servant of Oedipus comes to him. He delivers the news of Jocasta’s death. He tells Oedipus and the chorus that queen Jocasta has hanged herself.

Oedipus Rex Literary Analysis

“Oedipus Rex” is a classical work in which Sophocles has skillfully shown a straightforward interpretation of a Greek myth. Throughout the play, the use of dramatic irony makes this play a great success and masterpiece. The play discusses how fate plays its part in the life of the characters. The main character tries hard to escape his fate but in his effort to run away from it, he actually comes nearer to what gods have decided for him and ends up doing what already was prophecized.

The play also throws light on how the protagonist of the play remains the true hero at the end despite his sinful deeds. The play also allows the readers to think that apart from fate, sometimes it is also the will or any action of the person that becomes the cause of his downfall.

In short, it is a successful play to tell the readers that tragedies are not only part of common people’s life but they do exist in the life of kings and queens too.

Title of the play

The title of the play “Oedipus Rex” or “Oedipus the King” is self-explanatory. Oedipus is the protagonist of this play and as he is the king so the title is in the name of the hero. Moreover, the word “Oedipus” means “swollen feet”. As the feet of Oedipus was swollen because his father bound them together by a pin that is why the shepherd named him “Oedipus”.

Setting of the Play

The entire play “Oedipus Rex” is set in the ancient city of Thebes. More precisely speaking, it is set in front of the king’s palace. As the unity of place is one of the main features of Greek tragedies so, the setting doesn’t change in this play. In the beginning, the city is presented in the grip of severe crisis. Thebes is transformed into a barren land due to a deadly plague.

This play was written in the 5th century also known as “The Golden Age of Ancient Greece”. At that time Greece was at its intellectual and political heights so new literary trends and forms were created. The tragedy is one of the products of that time and “Oedipus Rex” is the best example of it.

Ending of the Play

The end of the play is justified. Oedipus proves himself as a man of action. He blinds himself because whatever he did even unintentionally, he considers it a shameful act and terrible sin so his guilt forces him to hurt himself. Killing his father and marrying his mother was not in his hands and it happened because of the will of gods but blinding himself is totally in his hands and he decides to punish himself like this.

He leaves the city as he himself announced banishment as a punishment for the criminal. Now he wins the hearts of people again and becomes the real hero at the end. Creon treats him gently forgetting about what he did to him and takes the charge of Thebes afterwards.

Writing style

Oedipus Rex is a Greek tragedy and is very old so it translated into English. Some translations are in the simplified language but some follow its original poetic form. Some of them are in the prose form while some are the combo of both poetic and prose form. Especially the choral odes are written in the metrical form and written to be sung.

As “Oedipus Rex” is a tragedy so its tone is also tragic. Apart from that, the tone is also sympathetic and everyone feels sympathy for Oedipus. At some points in the play, the ironic and foreboding tone is also used. The foreboding tone in the play gives the readers a sense of evil to come.

Plot Analysis

Initial situation .

Oedipus knows that Thebes is in crisis so he sends Creon to get the solution to this problem. He assures people to save them from the deadly plague that struck their city.

Conflict

Oedipus gets worried when no one tells him the truth about Laius’ murder. He struggles to call Teiresias, the messenger and the shepherd to know about the reality. Everyone stops him from knowing the truth but he is desperate to know about his past and its link with the murder of king Laius.

Complication

Oedipus starts realizing that he has some link with the murder of Laius. The more he learns about the truth, the more he shows interest to solve this mystery. As he comes close to the truth, he hurts no one but himself in the entire process.

Oedipus realizes that he is the man who killed his father and married his mother. He becomes scared of the terrible sin that he committed unknowingly. This part of the play is the emotional and psychological climax of it.

Oedipus enters his bedroom and finds Jocasta hanging. Jocasta also realizes the terrible sin that they committed and so she commits suicide. This situation puts all the readers in the suspense because no one knows whether Oedipus will also commit suicide and kill himself or not. As the situation through which Oedipus goes is tough and anyone can be expected to commit suicide in such condition.

Oedipus blinds himself by gouging his eyes out with the brooches that he took out from Jocasta’s dress. He accepts his crime and begs everyone to get him exiled from Thebes as he himself suggested that banishment is the only punishment for the murderer.

Oedipus leaves the city of Thebes to save it from the curse of plague as he promised and Creon takes charge of the city.

The three unities in Oedipus Rex

In Greek classical tragedies, three organizing traits were followed which were termed as the three unities. According to Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, these three unities are Unity of action, Unity of place and Unity of time. In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles has followed the three unities that is why it is taken as one of the best examples of ancient Greek tragedies.

Unity of Action

The whole play focuses on the single action that is the investigation of king Laius’ murderer. The play has no sub-plots. Moreover, Sophocles didn’t introduce the multiple characters in the play. The drama unfolds the mystery of king Laius’ murderer and is characterized by the tragic downfall of the hero.

Unity of Place

“Oedipus Rex” also follows the unity of action as the whole play occurs at a single place. The play is restricted to a single location that is in front of the king’s palace in the city of Thebes.

Unity of Time

The unity of time is also present in this play as the fall of the hero occurs in the duration of a single day. The blind prophet, Teiresias, also warns Oedipus about it saying, “This day will bring your birth and your destruction”.

Three Act plot analysis

The whole play can be divided into three main acts:

Oedipus knows that the city is cursed so he sends Creon to an oracle to find out the solution. Creon tells that the only solution to lift the plague is to find the murderer of King Laius and punish him. Oedipus promises people to find the culprit and save them from trouble.

Oedipus investigates Jocasta, Teiresias, the messenger and the shepherd to know about King Laius’ murderer. Slowly he starts solving the mystery.

Jocasta and Oedipus realize that they have committed a terrible sin so they punish themselves. Jocasta kills herself by committing suicide while Oedipus blinds himself and is exiled from the city.

Analysis of the Literary Devices used in Oedipus Rex

Dramatic irony.

Several examples of the dramatic irony are present in “Oedipus Rex”. Most of the time, the situation is understood by the readers but not by the characters. The dramatic irony plays an important role to show the character of Oedipus as arrogant and blind towards the truth. The audience is expected to guess Oedipus’ history long before he himself gets to know about it.

One example of the dramatic irony is that throughout the play Oedipus struggles to find the murderer of King Laius but in reality, he himself murdered his father and then he searches for the murderer here and there. The irony here is that he searches for himself.

Moreover, when Oedipus forces Teiresias to tell the truth, he tells him that Oedipus himself is the murderer of king Laius. On hearing this, Oedipus becomes mad and he calls Teiresias blind. Though Teiresias is blind yet he can see the truth clearly. On the other hand, though Oedipus is having eyes yet he is blind towards the truth.

The following symbols are used in the play:

The scars on Oedipus’ feet

When Oedipus was three days old, an oracle told his father, King Laius, that the child will kill his father in the future and then he will marry his mother. King Laius bound his feet by a pin due to which they got swollen and later some scars were left on them. The scars on his feet are symbolic. They symbolize that Oedipus was marked for all the sufferings right from the time of his birth. These scars are also ironic. Although the name of Oedipus clearly points towards his feet, still he fails to discover his true identity.

The Crossroads

Oedipus killed a stranger at a place where three roads met. Unknowingly he killed his father. Sophocles made the point of murder unique. Oedipus’ fate followed him. The three roads actually symbolize the choices that a person has while making any decision. In the play, the three roads symbolize the choice or the path that Oedipus could have taken instead of killing a man just because of his short temperament. The three roads also symbolize the present, past and future. It is said that the Greek Goddess of the crossroads had 3 heads. One head could see the past, one the present and one the future.

Eyes, Vision and Blindness

The eyes and the vision symbolize the knowledge while the blindness symbolizes ignorance but in the play, Teiresias is blind but he can see everything clearly. He has the knowledge and he foresees the future. On the other hand, Oedipus has vision but he still is unable to see anything. He is blind towards the truth and he calls Teiresias blind. Teiresias then replies, “So, you mock my blindness? Let me tell you this, with your precious eyes, you’re blind to the corruption of your life….”

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Oedipus — The tragedy of Oedipus

The Tragedy of Oedipus

Categories: Oedipus Oedipus Rex

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Published: Dec 18, 2018

Words: 974 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Hook examples for "oedipus" essay, "oedipus" essay example.

An Unavoidable Fate: Step into the world of ancient Greece, where the gods wield power over mortal lives. Join me as we unravel the timeless tragedy of Oedipus and the inexorable grip of fate that leads to his downfall.
An Intriguing Quote: Sophocles wrote, "Fate has terrible power." Let's delve into how the concept of fate and Oedipus's unwavering quest for truth drive the narrative, ultimately culminating in a tragic revelation.
The Complexity of Self-Discovery: Explore with me the theme of self-discovery as we follow Oedipus's relentless pursuit of the truth about his identity. Together, we'll dissect the consequences of his actions in the face of an inevitable destiny.
The Tragic Hero's Journey: Oedipus is the quintessential tragic hero. Join me in analyzing his noble qualities, tragic flaws, and the catastrophic consequences of his choices, all of which contribute to the profound impact of his story.
A Timeless Tale of Hubris and Irony: Despite its ancient origins, Oedipus's story remains relevant today. Explore with me how themes of hubris, irony, and the human struggle against destiny continue to resonate with modern readers and thinkers.

Works Cited

Jankowski, T. (2013). Oedipus Rex: a classic example of a tragic hero. Student Pulse, 5(05), 1-3.
Kinyua, K. (2019). Oedipus Rex as a tragic hero : a critical analysis. Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research, 1(1), 30-36.
Knox, B. M. (1979). The hero and the chorus in Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus. Greece & Rome, 26(2), 104-117.
Laios, K. (2018). Oedipus Rex and the tragic hero. Humanitas, 1(1), 23-38.
McDonald, M. (2015). Oedipus Rex: a tragic hero revisited. Journal of Hellenic Studies, 135, 39-51.
Pickard-Cambridge, A. W. (1953). The dramatic festivals of Athens (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Podlecki, A. J. (1966). The political background of the Oedipus Tyrannus. American Journal of Philology, 87(3), 225-244.
Segal, C. (1982). Oedipus Tyrannus: tragic heroism and the limits of knowledge. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 29(1), 93-105.
Sophocles. (1954). Oedipus Rex. In R. Fagles (Trans.), The Three Theban Plays (pp. 33-99). Penguin.
Webster-Merriam. (2022). Hubris. In Webster-Merriam Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hubris

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The name "Oedipus" means "swollen foot," and indeed, a foot injury plays a crucial role in the plot. Aristotle was the first philosopher to analyze drama. He used Oedipus Rex to help him define the tragic hero. According to Aristotle, the characteristics of a tragic hero are nobility, morality, hamartia, anagnorisis, peripeteia, and ...
A Summary and Analysis of Sophocles' Oedipus the King
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) The plot of Sophocles' great tragedy Oedipus the King (sometimes known as Oedipus Rex or Oedipus Tyrannos) has long been admired.In his Poetics, Aristotle held it up as the exemplary Greek tragedy.Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it one of the three perfect plots in all of literature (the other two being Ben Jonson's The Alchemist and Henry ...
Oedipus Rex Study Guide: Sophocles's Masterpiece Unveiled
Oedipus Rex is often heralded as the quintessential example of Greek tragedy, introducing us to the concept of tragic heroes and the inexorable fate that guides their lives.Sophocles' work explores themes of destiny, free will, and the search for truth, wrapped in a narrative so compelling that it has remained relevant through the ages.. Sophocles himself was not just a playwright but a ...
Oedipus the King
Introduction - Oedipus Story. "Oedipus the King" (Gr: "Oidipous Tyrannos"; Lat: "Oedipus Rex") is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, first performed in about 429 BCE. It was the second of Sophocles ' three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology (followed by "Oedipus at ...
Oedipus Rex
Oedipus Rex, play by Sophocles, performed sometime between 430 and 426 bce, that marks the summit of classical Greek drama's formal achievement, known for its tight construction, mounting tension, and perfect use of the dramatic devices of recognition and discovery. It examines the story of Oedipus, who, in attempting to flee from his fate, rushes headlong to meet it.
How is Oedipus Rex a Greek tragedy?
Essays and Criticism ... This misfortune and the character's reaction to it is what creates the tragedy. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus is the tragic hero. He is shown to be a good man and a good king.
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles Plot Summary
Oedipus Rex Summary. At the start of the play, the city of Thebes is suffering terribly. Citizens are dying from plague, crops fail, women are dying in childbirth and their babies are stillborn. A group of priests comes to the royal palace to ask for help from Oedipus, their king who once saved them from the tyranny of the terrible Sphinx.
Sophocles' Oedipus as a Tragic Hero
Oedipus Rex is a great ancient Greek tragedy written by Sophocles in which the tragic story of the king of Phoebe is revealed. His destiny is complex and fascinating. His father, Laius, was predicted that his son would kill him. That is why little Oedipus was left in the mountains to die. However, he is found and raised by Polybus of Corinth ...
Oedipus Rex as a Tragedy of Aristotle: Tragedy of Fate or Character
Aristotle referred to "Oedipus Rex" as an ideal tragedy in his book "Poetics" because it perfectly is the imitation of an action. It is serious and also causes the catharsis of pity and fear. Moreover, it has magnitude and indeed it is complete in itself; it has a proper beginning, middle and end. Aristotle focused on the plot of ...
Oedipus The King as an Example of the Perfect Aristotelian Tragedy
Oedipus' plot, for example, is the "end for which a tragedy exists" (Aristotle 522). The plot of Oedipus possess certain magnitude or "seriousness" because of the violation of two general taboos.
Oedipus Rex: Tragedy, Fate, and Ancient Wisdom
In conclusion, "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles is a cornerstone of classical literature, a play that transcends time and culture. Its exploration of themes like fate, truth, and human nature continues to captivate and provoke thought among modern audiences. It's a testament to Sophocles' genius and the enduring power of Greek tragedy to ...
Oedipus The King: Analysis of Tragic Hero and Themes
The play "Oedipus the King" is a tragedy written by Sophocles around 429 BC. The play tells the story of Oedipus, the King of Thebes, who unwittingly fulfills a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. The play explores themes of fate and free will, blindness, and knowledge vs. ignorance, making it a relevant piece of ...
Why does Oedipus Rex qualify as a classical tragedy?
Oedipus is indeed a tragic character. He is on the run from a terrifying prophecy when he actually ends up fulfilling that prophecy without even knowing it, namely by killing his father and ...
Critical Essays The Power of Fate in the Oedipus Trilogy
Creon's last-minute attempt to conform to the gods' wishes only reveals to him his own inescapable fate — the destruction of his family and the end of his rule. Antigone herself is painfully aware of the power of Fate, attributing all the tragedy in her family to the will of Zeus. When she acts decisively, choosing to obey the laws of the ...
Oedipus Rex Summary and Detailed Analysis
Contents. Oedipus Rex is a famous tragedy written by Sophocles. It is also known by its Greek name "Oedipus Tyrannus" or "Oedipus the king". It was first performed in 429 BC. Sophocles is now placed among the great ancient Greek Tragedians. He wrote three famous tragedies that include Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone that ...
The tragedy of Oedipus: [Essay Example], 974 words GradesFixer
The defect in a hero's personality is also known as their "tragic flaw". One of Oedipus" tragic flaws displayed in the tragedy is his lack of self-knowledge. When he hears the story of how the king, Laius, was brutally murdered, Oedipus is eager to get to the bottom of the story and find the person who is guilty.
Who Is Athena? Decoding the Myth and Influence of the Greek Goddess of
Essay Example: In the rich tapestry of ancient Greek mythology, Athena emerges as a luminous character, closely associated with wisdom, warfare, and artisanship. ... Oedipus Rex - Greek Mythology of Heroism and Tragedy. The Symbolism of White in Literature and Culture. The deadline is too short to read someone else's essay.
What is a good thesis statement for an essay about the tragedy Oedipus
The tragedy of Oedipus Rex lies in the king's admirable search for truth and openness that meets with obstruction from those who would hide this truth--and from his own figurative blindness to the ...

Tragedy In Oedipus Rex

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Oedipus Rex

Sophocles’ Oedipus as a Tragic Hero Essay

Identify and explain the different types of irony in Oedipus Rex.

Evaluate Oedipus’s actions. Is he to blame for what happens?

What is the purpose of the scene in which Oedipus bids farewell to Antigone and Ismene? Explain.

Works Cited

Oedipus Rex as a Tragedy of Aristotle: Tragedy of Fate or Character

Oedipus Rex as a Prominent Tragedy:

Tragedy and its purpose:

“Oedipus Rex” as Tragedy in Aristotle’s Eyes:

Modern Critics on “Oedipus Rex as Tragedy”:

Conclusion:

Introduction

Definition of a tragedy

Oedipus Rex Summary

Themes in Oedipus Rex

Individual will/action

Pity and Fear

Plague and Health

Self-Discovery and memories of the past

Search for truth

Guilt and Shame

Blind faith

Oedipus Rex Characters Analysis

Antigone and Ismene

The Messenger from Corinth

The Herdsman

The Second Messenger

Oedipus Rex Literary Analysis

Title of the play

Setting of the Play

Ending of the Play

Writing style

Plot Analysis

Conflict

Complication

The three unities in Oedipus Rex

Unity of Action

Unity of Place

Unity of Time

Three Act plot analysis

Analysis of the Literary Devices used in Oedipus Rex

The scars on Oedipus’ feet

The Crossroads

Eyes, Vision and Blindness

More From Sophocles

The Tragedy of Oedipus

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