Oedipus King Essays and Term Papers
Last update: August 29, 2014-
Oedipus King as a Hero
Oedipus is not one of those everyday heroes we see at the end of those million dollars Hollywood movies, but in fact a tragic hero who fails to achieve happiness in such a way that it brings upon fear and pity by everyone in the highest degree. In the play Oedipus by Sophocles, Oedipus' self-destruction and fall from power leaves him as the hero in the play. The very thing he fights so hard to
Rating:Essay Length: 769 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: May 17, 2010 -
Oedipus the King
Oedipus the King Oedipus being shown in an updated version is a very effective and understandable way to present it to audiences. The play that was viewed in class was a good adaptation of the original play. Although modern versions of Oedipus are far different today than the way they were performed during Sophocles’s time, I think he would be impressed with the way that modern versions of his play are performed. The reason
Rating:Essay Length: 736 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: November 14, 2009 -
The Tragic Fate of Oedipus the King
In the play Oedipus the King, Oedipus the main character meets with a tragic fate. In the beginning he is a mighty king, ruler of the city of Thebes. Then the people of Thebes come to him with a problem. The city is tragically on the surge of death. Oedipus, being the mighty king he is, is determined to solve the problem. Oedipus saved the city once before and became a hero. Now faced with
Rating:Essay Length: 948 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: November 18, 2009 -
Compare and Contrast the Part That the City or State (polis) Plays in Antigone and Oedipus the King.
Compare and contrast the part that the city or state (polis) plays in Antigone and Oedipus The King. Antigone is a play about the tension caused when two individuals have conflicting claims regarding law. In this case, the moral superiority of the laws of the city, represented by Creon, and the laws of the gods, represented bt Antigone. In contrast, Oedipus The King is driven by the tensions within Oedipus himself. That play both begins
Rating:Essay Length: 868 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: November 20, 2009 -
Death of a Salesman & Oedipus the King
An overwhelming desire for personal contentment and unprecedented reputation can often result in a sickly twisted distortion of reality. In Sophocles' Oedipus the King, a man well-known for his intellect and wisdom finds himself blind to the truth of h life and his parentage. Arthur Miller's play, The Death of a Salesman, tells of a tragic character so wrapped up in his delusional world that reality and illusion fuse causing an internal explosion that
Rating:Essay Length: 1,729 Words / 7 PagesSubmitted: November 25, 2009 -
Oedipus the King
Oedipus the King While reading classical literature one is bound to run into many types of heroes. The different types of heroes can range in their greatness, but above all, the tragic hero is viewed as being the most alluring of them all. A tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle, is a man who is great but also terribly flawed, who experiences a fall in misfortunes while still remaining admirable to the audience at the
Rating:Essay Length: 849 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: November 25, 2009 -
Oedipus the King
How does one take back words that were said in haste? In Sophacles’ Oedipus Rex, Oedipus longed to retract the curse that he brought upon himself but what he did could not be undone. Oedipus’ pride blinded him to himself and everything around him. He had eyes that could see physically but could not recognize any faults within himself. Ironically, a blind man was able to perceive the truth and even then Oedipus did not
Rating:Essay Length: 341 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: November 28, 2009 -
Use of Dramatic Irony in Oedipus the King
Oedipus Rex a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles in the early days of antiquity is based upon an even more ancient story in Greek mythology. Sophocles, however, knowing that his audience is aware of the outcome of the play utilizes that foreknowledge to create various situations in which dramatic and verbal irony play key roles. Through his use of irony Sophocles manages to avoid simply retelling an old tale, though the audience is cognizant
Rating:Essay Length: 1,788 Words / 8 PagesSubmitted: December 7, 2009 -
Divine Right of Kings in Oedipus and Modern Society
When the president talks to God Do they drink beer and go play golf While they pick which countries to invade Which Muslim souls still can be saved? I guess God just calls a spade a spade When the president talks to God. (Oberst) The concept of the divine right of kings has been impacting history in both literature and politics throughout the ages. Today, this concept is reemerging in contemporary American politics through
Rating:Essay Length: 595 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: December 14, 2009 -
Compare and Contrast the Part That the City or State (polis) Plays in Antigone and Oedipus the King.
In both Antigone and Oedipus the King the city plays an important part with the majority of the action in both plays taking place in public in front of a chorus of Theban citizens. Personal conflict/crises take place in public, and when personal events take place off stage, they are relied to the chorus (and the audience) through messengers. The city also helps to move the plot of the plays along, as well providing dramatic
Rating:Essay Length: 449 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: December 19, 2009 -
Sight and Blindess of Oedipus the King
Sight and Blindness Oedipus the King by Sophocles was a play written after a devastating plague struck the city of Athens in 430 B.C. The play is about how knowledge can lead to devastation and destruction based on how the characters find out the truth of the Delphic Oracle. Years before Oedipus became the king of Thebes, the previous king, Laius, had received a prophecy that his son would grow up to kill his father.
Rating:Essay Length: 302 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: December 21, 2009 -
Oedipus the King - Blindness
Blindness plays a two-fold part in Sophocles’ tragedy "Oedipus the King." First, Sophocles presents blindness as a physical disability affecting the auger Teiresias, and later Oedipus; but later, blindness comes to mean an inability to see the evil in one’s actions and the consequences that ensue. The irony in this lies in the fact that Oedipus, while gifted with sight, is blind to himself, in contrast to Teiresias, blind physically, but able to see
Rating:Essay Length: 300 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: January 17, 2010 -
Power of Fate in King Oedipus
Text Response: King Oedipus “Power Of Fate In King Oedipus” Are people really responsible for what they do with their lives and their actions? This very question has bamboozled the world through history. Over the years, people have questioned the influence of great or power, environment, genetics, even entertainment, as shaping how free any individual is in making choices. Oedipus the main character meets with a tragic fate. In the beginning he is a great
Rating:Essay Length: 459 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: January 22, 2010 -
Oedipus the King
Irony 1: Irony Oedipus the King Oedipus is self-confident, intelligent and strong willed. Ironically these are the very traits which bring about his demise. Sophocles makes liberal use of irony throughout “Oedipus the King”. He creates various situations in which dramatic and verbal irony play key roles in the downfall of Oedipus. Dramatic irony depends on the audience’s knowing something that the character does not and verbal irony is presented when there is a contradiction
Rating:Essay Length: 307 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: January 22, 2010 -
Oedipus the King
Oedipus The King Uploaded by texaSS on Jun 19, 2005 Oedipus' main conflicts in Sophocles' play, Oedipus the King, revolve around the fact that he did not know himself. In his lifetime, Oedipus always believed he knew where he came from and where he belonged. And it took him a long time to finally be convinced of his true past and realize his worst fear came true. Oedipus more or less rebuffs any suggestion
Rating:Essay Length: 616 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: January 28, 2010 -
Oedipus the King
Oedipus the King A hero whose destruction is brought upon by a fault in his or her own character is known as a tragic hero. This fault, that causes the characters downfall is know as the character’s tragic flaw. Oedipus from Oedipus the King fulfills the requirements of a tragic hero. He is the main character of a tragedy. He possesses a tragic flaw in which he is blind to what goes on around him
Rating:Essay Length: 496 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: February 14, 2010 -
Oedipus the King
Oedipus, at the beginning of the play speaks to the young people of Thebes and asks them why they are all there when the city is in need of help. Thebes has been cursed with a plague and the people need their god to tell them what they need to do to save their city. Oedipus sees an old priest bowing at his feet and he asks him to speak for everyone of the
Rating:Essay Length: 1,285 Words / 6 PagesSubmitted: February 15, 2010 -
Comparison of Oedipus the King, Hamlet”, Waiting for Godot
Some of the first forms of drama come from ancient Greece. “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles is a great example of ancient Greek tragedy, “Hamlet” by Shakespeare is the example of drama of Elizabethan period and Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot “ represents the drama of the 20th century and belongs to so called “Theatre of the Absurd”. Because all these dramas come from different period of time, it's natural that they differ from
Rating:Essay Length: 1,020 Words / 5 PagesSubmitted: February 18, 2010 -
King Oedipus
The play opens in front of the Theban palace. Oedipus, the king of Thebes, asks a passing priest why he and his followers are lamenting and praying. The priest replies that they pray to the gods to end the plague that has beset Thebes. This plague has wasted the city's crops and pastures and rendered all Theban women sterile. The priest begs for Oedipus's help. Oedipus tells the priest that he feels the city's pain,
Rating:Essay Length: 3,157 Words / 13 PagesSubmitted: February 27, 2010 -
Oedipus the King
Destiny and Anger In “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles, the author uses the idea of fate and free will to explain the struggle of Oedipus’s life. In the story, fate is explained as an outside supernatural force that controls life. Oedipus has a strange life story. He gets abandoned by his mother and is left to die, a different family adopts him and he ends up killing his father in a fight and gets married
Rating:Essay Length: 302 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: February 27, 2010 -
Use of Dramatic Irony in Oedipus the King
Oedipus Rex a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles in the early days of antiquity is based upon an even more ancient story in Greek mythology. Sophocles, however, knowing that his audience is aware of the outcome of the play utilizes that foreknowledge to create various situations in which dramatic and verbal irony play key roles. Through his use of irony Sophocles manages to avoid simply retelling an old tale, though the audience is cognizant
Rating:Essay Length: 1,788 Words / 8 PagesSubmitted: February 27, 2010 -
Oedipus the King
Oedipus the King Being born with a terrible prophecy, having parents send out for death, surviving death, living in a entirely lie, does it sounds like fate or is it made by decisions? In the play Oedipus the king there is a deliberation in whether Oedipus life is simply just fate with an incapacity to change it or if he chooses his fate by the choices and decisions he formulates. There is no right or
Rating:Essay Length: 831 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: March 1, 2010 -
Oedipus the King; Did the Prophecy Cause His Destiny?
Oedipus The King; Did the prophecy cause his destiny? Undoubtedly there has been a tremendous amount of speculation and dissection of this play by countless people throughout the ages. I can only draw my own conclusions as to what Sophocles intended the meaning of his play to be. The drama included a number of horrific and unthinkable moral and ethical dilemas, but I believe that was what made the play so interesting and that is
Rating:Essay Length: 358 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: March 2, 2010 -
Death of a Salesman & Oedipus the King
King Lear As the play opens, one can almost immediately see that Lear begins to make mistakes that will eventually result in his downfall. His character encompasses both power and weakness, good and evil; however, not all characters in this play have both of these characteristics. Two of Lear's daughters, Goneril and Regan, have evil tendencies such as ambition, disloyalty and deception but Kent, Lear's servant, is not only loyal to his king, but also
Rating:Essay Length: 769 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: March 12, 2010 -
Elements of Oedipus the King's Inner Character
Elements of Oedipus the King’s Inner Character “Oedipus the Rex,” or Oedipus the King, is renowned by some to be the “par of excellence” for Greek tragedy (Brunner, 1). The second produced of the three Theban plays by Sophocles, “Oedipus Rex” shows a variety of character qualities of the king that may not have been shown without the extreme circumstances he was subjected to. What elements of his character are revealed through the course of
Rating:Essay Length: 3,073 Words / 13 PagesSubmitted: March 20, 2010