Oedipus Rex Essays and Term Papers
Last update: August 22, 2014-
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
Oedipus Even though "fate" seems to determine Oedipus' life, he does, in fact, have a free will. His choices brought the prophecy to life. Only his decisions (not influenced by anybody) he made. Of course those decisions were in side of the limits set by fate. When Oedipus heard a prophesy that his going to kill his father and sleep with his mother he ran away, even when he new there were suspicions of
Rating:Essay Length: 2,306 Words / 10 PagesSubmitted: February 15, 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 -
Oedipus
Oedipus is guilty because, despite knowing the prophecy that he will commit parricide and incest, he yet kills an elderly gentleman and sleeps with an elderly women. The choice was his, and this accounts for his guilt. This is implausible because, at the time he killed the old man (his father) he had no idea of the prophecy that foreseen this happening. Even if he would have known about the Gods saying that he would
Rating:Essay Length: 917 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: February 25, 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 as a Tragic Hero
The foundations of Greek tragedy were laid down by the philosopher Aristotle in his famous “Poetics” which discussed the characteristics of a tragic hero. In this composition of philosophy and literary theories, Aristotle’s ideas revolve around three crucial effects to audience members. First, the audience must develop an emotional attachment to the tragic hero. Next, the audience must fear what may befall the hero. Finally, once misfortune strikes, the audience pities the suffering hero. Clearly,
Rating:Essay Length: 597 Words / 3 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 -
Oedipus
You pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers.? This quote helps to describe the overall description of Oedipus? character in Oedipus the King written by Sophocles. Throughout Oedipus the King the ideas and themes of fate, irony, and reason reoccur numerous times. Oedipus believes in fate but he believes more in his own abilities and actions to determine his future. Irony is evident in many forms such as verbal, dramatic, and situational.
Rating:Essay Length: 862 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: March 5, 2010 -
Excruciating Truth of Oedipus
he Excruciating Truth of Oedipus Oedipus is a man of integrity and passion whose goal in life was to seek the raw truth. Throughout the story, he constantly tried to obtain that goal, but at times he tried to swallow his tongue because he sometimes had the inclination way down in his gut, he might be a killer. Worse then the fate of a killer, would be the reality of being married to his mother.
Rating:Essay Length: 261 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: March 6, 2010 -
Oedipus Tyrannus
Oedipus Tyrannus Sophocles’s play, “Oedipus Tyrannus”, is one of the most well known Greek tragedies. For those who are not familiar with the story of Oedipus, it is written about the results of a curse put on King Oedipus. After reading this play, it is apparent that there are a few different themes, though the one which will be discussed in this essay is the theme of blindness. The theme of blindness is shown through
Rating:Essay Length: 707 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: March 7, 2010 -
Oedipus the Man
For the Greeks of ancient times, a source of entertainment was often found in the theaters, where great tragedies were performed. The narratives of these tragedies evoked in the audience feelings of pain and fear that were built up as the plot progressed; but were released as the tragic events transpired. The Greek audience not only obtained pleasure from this catharsis, or purification of emotions, but also acquired gratification from the ability to understand and
Rating:Essay Length: 1,402 Words / 6 PagesSubmitted: March 11, 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 -
Spider and the Oedipus Complex
In David Cronenberg's 2002 film Spider, the character Spider suffers from an Oedipus complex that is manifested so deeply in his psyche that it becomes a part of his whole being. As a child, Spider is sickened when his parents show affection towards one another because he also desires his mother sexually. According to Sigmund Freud's Oedipus complex, it is common for male children to feel this way towards their mothers, but when the male
Rating:Essay Length: 587 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: March 22, 2010 -
Oedipus Seeks Knowledge, but only up to a Point
Oedipus seeks knowledge, but only up to a point Sophocles' classical Greek tragedy Oedipus the King is one of the centrepieces of Western literature. It also has a broader place in modern Western culture, courtesy of Dr Freud and his Oedipus complex, in which the process of growing up male is bound up with competition for the mother and the symbolic overthrow and supplanting, or ''killing'', of the father. The play can be read as
Rating:Essay Length: 810 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: March 31, 2010 -
Oedipus the King
Sophocles "Oedipus the King" is a tragic play which discusses the tragic discovery of Oedipus that he has killed his father and married his mother. The story of Oedipus was well known to the athenian’s. Oedipus is the embodiement of the perfect Athenian. He is self-confident, intelligent, and strong willed. Ironically these are the very traits which bring about his tragic discovery. Oedipus gained the rule of Thebes by answering the riddle of Sphinx. Sophocles
Rating:Essay Length: 4,610 Words / 19 PagesSubmitted: April 5, 2010 -
Cliff Notes - Oedipus Trilogy
BARRON'S BOOK NOTES SOPHOCLES' OEDIPUS TRILOGY The Athens that Sophocles knew in the fifth century B.C. was a curious place. By modern standards it was a small and uncomfortable city. There was no running water, no central heating, and no adequate transportation. The average Athenian was poorly paid, uneducated, and probably would rather watch athletic contests than go to the theater. Yet, amazingly, fifth-century Athens became a fountainhead of Western civilization in the study of
Rating:Essay Length: 10,725 Words / 43 PagesSubmitted: April 6, 2010 -
Oedipus
Plato says knowledge of truth is dependent on the perception of reality; Sophocles shows this through a king’s discovery of his painful reality. Through Oedipus the King, Sophocles shows Plato’s theme of discovery by Oedipus’ realization of the truth. When the truth is discovered one still views the illusions best, and then the truth begins to become clear, thirdly the truth is seen as it is, and finally it is seen and understood. When one
Rating:Essay Length: 456 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: April 7, 2010 -
Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles was a Greek playwright who lived during the 5th century b.c. The Oedipus Cycle is one of his most famous works; the trilogy of plays traces the ill-fated life of a noble blooded man and his descendants. Oedipus at Colonus is the second play of the set. Oedipus at Colonus is set many years after Oedipus the Rex, and Oedipus has changed his perspective on his exile from Thebes. He has decided that he
Rating:Essay Length: 660 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: April 8, 2010 -
Oedipus the King Wiki Pedia
Much of the myth of Oedipus takes place before the opening scene of the play. The main character of the tragedy is Oedipus, son of King Laius of Thebes and Queen Jocasta. After Laius learned from an oracle that "he was doomed/To perish by the hand of his own son," Jocasta ordered a messenger to injure his foot with a pin and leave the baby (Oedipus) for dead "In Cithaeron's wooded glens"; Instead, the baby
Rating:Essay Length: 316 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: April 14, 2010 -
Oedipus: A Tragic Hero
Oedipus: A Tragic Hero Oedipus Rex, or Oedipus the King is Sophocles’s first play of “The Theban Cycle.” It tells the story of a king that tries to escape his fate, but by doing so he only brings about his downfall. Oedipus is a classic example of the Aristotelian definition of a tragic hero. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as a basically good and noble person who causes his own downfall due to a flaw
Rating:Essay Length: 699 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: April 19, 2010