Oedipus Rex Essay - 749 Words

In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles explores the conflict between a man’s intellectual reasoning and the universe beyond his grasp. This may seem like a generalization, but the play’s minor conflicts are arguably derivatives of the main struggle. As we would see, the fate or destiny that opposes Oedipus does not act directly on him, but creates a domino effect that through other conflicts drive him to face his destiny by unearthing his true identity. Similar to the Sphinx’s riddle that gave power to Oedipus, he must travel the different stages of life in order to â€Å"know thy-self† (Rudnytsky 264). The play opens with what may seem like a trivial conflict between Oedipus and the forces of nature, but the plague and other misfortunes that afflicted†¦show more content†¦Creon tells that â€Å"Apollo commands to take revenge upon whoever killed him [King Laius]†, and Oedipus without any further reasoning proclaims that the murderer must be exile, brin ging to himself doom (DiYanni 1310). Nevertheless, is the oracle Teiresias by accusing Oedipus of committing the murder who really sparks the conflict between Oedipus and Creon, the conflict of man versus man. Believing Creon is behind a plot to overthrow him and lacking any concrete evidence, Oedipus fails to his proclaimed intellect and fearing the prophecy could be true, mocks Teiresias for his blindness and charges Creon with treason. When the tension between both characters begins to build up Jocasta enters to give a solution by giving hopes to Oedipus stating that the prophecies were wrong because a herdsman, witness to the murder, had different information. This only prolongs the inevitably truth until the servant to which Jocasta gave up Oedipus dissipates any doubt of the â€Å"patricide and incest† Oedipus innocently committed (Letters). Both Oedipus and Jocasta thought the truth was more powerful than the prophecies or the will of the gods. Even though, their big gest mistake was based on the initial prophecy in which he would kill his father and marry his mother, which made Jocasta to give up Oedipus and Oedipus to wrongly flee from Corinth. They both, unknowingly, trying to disprove the supernatural withShow MoreRelatedOedipus Rex900 Words   |  4 PagesThe philosopher Aristotle wrote his work Poetics as a deconstruction of aesthetics approximately 50 years after the death of Sophocles, the author of Oedipus Rex. Aristotle was a great admirer of the works of Sophocles and is said to have considered Oedipus Rex to be the perfect tragedy and the basis for his thoughts in Poetics. 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The curse, sadly, had its origin in Oedipus himself and the parents which abandoned him, causing a string of events which include father murder, incest, self-doubt, suspicion, and a plethora of other events which sends Oedipus’ mind farther and farther down intoRead MoreReview Of Oedipus Rex 1342 Words   |  6 PagesJake Gilman Modern Mythology Period 8 Fusaro Oedipus Rex Reading Questions What appears to be the function of the Chorus? - The chorus in Greek tragedies has a similar function to the narrator in various books and plays. It is an outside source that describes the actions of the characters, as well as their thoughts or feelings. Just like a narrator, the chorus can be used to foreshadow an upcoming event and provide more detail than what is said on stage. However, theRead MoreOedipus The King, Or Oedipus Rex1249 Words   |  5 Pagesmost famous probably being Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, or Oedipus Rex. For a play to be considered a tragedy, it must have a tragic hero. According to Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero, they must be a decent moral person, of high social standing who eventually meets with a tragic downfall, of their own doing, suffering more than deserved, and realizing their error too late. In the play Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the epitome of a tragic hero. Oedipus Rex was generally a â€Å"good† person; he wasRead MoreOedipus Rex Translations1020 Words   |  5 Pagesversions of Oedipus Rex, the first version translated by Fitts and Fitzgerald, and the second translated by Luci Berowitz and Theodore Brunner, the emotional appeal is quite different due to the different diction of each of the translation versions. The different diction in the two versions seems to give Oedipus two different characters. The diction that the four authors use in their translations of Oedipus Rex is very effective in conveying different emotional feelings about Oedipus and his thoughts