Oedipus Page

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Oedipus Rex By Sophocles

By Juan

Review :

“One of the greatest of the classic Greek tragedies and a masterpiece of dramatic construction. Catastrophe ensues when King Oedipus discovers he has inadvertently killed his father and married his mother. Masterly use of dramatic irony greatly intensifies impact of agonizing events. Sophocles finest play, Oedipus Rex ranks as a towering landmark of Western drama.”

Editorial Review:

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek

“I remember my humanities class well enough; I can say that Greek tragedies are what operas intended to give a picture of. This is of course the world famous play that we in the semi-aficionados regard as: The play that inspired Sigmund Freud to document a complex."

By: Celia A. Escalante-Reviewer

From: Amazon.com

“Sad but True, Oedipus Rex is one of the most interesting plays, I have read in my AP English class. This was very sad, and it showed a lot of Dramatic Irony.”

By: Cordella G.-Reviewer

From: Barnes and Noble

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SUMMARY

Setting :

Athens, royal palace of Thebes.

Mood :

The mood of the play is a Greek Tragedy, and melancholy.

Main characters :

Oedipus: Formal king of Thebes, Son of King Laius and Jocasta, when born he would be part of a tragic prophecy in which he will kill his father and marry his mother and then vanish from his homeland.

Laius: King of Thebes, forced by the tragic prophecy given by the oracle to send away his son to be killed in the mountains, where the boy is given the name Oedipus due to a minor cut, and husband of Jocasta.

Jocasta: Formal Queen of Thebes, Married first to Laius, then to her own son Oedipus due to the prophecy given by the oracle.

Teireisias: Fortune Teller, tires to tell Oedipus about his tragic past and about the prophecy.

Creon: Uncle of Oedipus, and brother of Laius, serves as the right hand of Oedipus when ruling over Thebes.

Chorus: The townspeople of Thebes once attacked by the great sphinx and liberated because of Oedipus.

Oracle: The gods seeker, and prophecy messenger to the people.

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Main conflict :

Man Vs. His Fate

His Fate: Ever since his birth Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his mother and rule over the city of Thebes.
His Struggle: Oedipus found out about the tragedy he would suffer when he grows up and so decided to run away from such prophecy but what he didn't know was that in fact he would find himself closer and closer to his fate.
Consequences: When becoming King of Thebes, Oedipus decided to solve the crime committed on the last King of the city. Not knowing that he was the one who killed the King, Oedipus cursed he who had committed such crime and forbid him from ever entering the city ever again. At the end he finds out about the whole truth and he is the one deserted from the city of Thebes and he decides to shut his eyes from seeing ever again the fatal truth.

The Climax :

The climax of Oedipus Rex is after being pressured by Delphi when the prophecy is once more brought up again by Teireisias (the fortune teller) went straight forward accusing him of killing the King. Here is when Oedipus sets a curse on he who had murdered the real King which in this case was Laius. From here on more and more information is revealed to Oedipus from what had happened to King Laius, which then makes him think about the prophecy of he was told about his life making him wonder of whether or not he has a role in what had happened to King Laius which in this case it is all true.

The conclusion :

At the end Oedipus finds out that he did had part of what had happened to the real king, he was living the prophecy told to him when he was young, and that he, himself had set a curse upon him for the murderer of King Laius his own father, after this with great grief and horror his mother Jocasta and formal wife can't take no longer hearing what has been said and decides to kill herself. Oedipus with nothing left but the sorrow in his heart apologizes to his people and with great bravery pokes his eyes out in such way which he wouldn't be able to see again. Finally he is vanished from the land of Thebes and is set to live a life of an exile.

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Character analysis :

At the beginning of the story Oedipus Rex shows how he is a really good king towards the city if Thebes. Supposedly he is a stranger to that city, and even if he ironically killed the king/his father on his way to Thebes, he sought to save the city in the time when the Sphinx took over it. Later on as the play goes, a plague takes over Thebes destroying everything. Here Oedipus has already been named king over Thebes, and he shows so much care for them by saying “My children…and therefore I have come myself to hear you”, indicating the love he has and respect towards his people.

After Oedipus and the people find out the truth behind the plague, Oedipus decided he would leave to save his people no matter what fate he might suffer in the future as he said: “no for the love of god conceal me somewhere far from Thebes…away from men's eyes forever”. Then in Oedipus at Colonus we meet Theseus and like Oedipus they have both similar characteristics. And as the play goes on we get to see that Theseus is a noble man, and as Oedipus they are both great kings.

Oedipus on one hand is kind, and caring towards his people. For example he speaks to the people in a straight forward way, and he feels the pain of the people. Due to this he can't sleep, he cries, and walks at night thinking about an answer. He replies by saying “Sick as you are, not one is sick as I, each of you suffers in himself…but my spirit Groans for the city, for myself, for you”. Another characteristic about Oedipus is that he asks questions in a determined way and specific ones when he speaks to Creon. Oedipus is also a person that is denial, he may also be stubborn, arrogant, aggressive, and doesn't listen and is quick to judge. After 20 years from exile Oedipus finds himself near Athens where he must fulfill the end of the prophecy from the oracle. He now is a weary old man, and shows a different personality that he used to have. He has now become a humble man yet still holding the one thing keeping together which is his pride.

Theseus, like Oedipus has many similar characteristics. For one he has also rescued his city from something bad which was the Minotaur. Later on he became the new king of Athens and showed also a caring and respectful sentiment towards its people. Also Theseus greeted Oedipus to his land in a sympathetic way by saying: “Your presence, as you say, is a great blessing…you can be sure of me; I'll not betray you”. This proves how he cares for everyone and is just when taking a decision.

Either way it is clear how Oedipus and Theseus are similar in their characteristics and how they reign over a kingdom. As kings they both show true qualities a king must have. As it was stated a king must show respect to the people, and have love for them as if it was his family. He must also be just and sympathetic with every one, and most importantly be wise and know what it is best for his kingdom. All of these personalities form and are part of these two great kings who are Oedipus and Theseus, and finally it also lets us know what a real king should be when ruling over a kingdom.

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Favorite quotations :

- "O god—all come true, all burst to light! O light—now let me look my last on you! I stand revealed at last—cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage, cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands!"

Here Oedipus says this famous quote before ceiling his eyes to never see the tragedy committed by his fate.

- "Creon, the soul of trust, my loyal friend from the start steals against me... so hungry to overthrow me he sets this wizard on me, this scheming quack, this fortune-teller peddling lies, eyes peeled for his own profit--seer blind in his craft!"

Here Oedipus sees Creon and Teiresias as partners in a conspiracy against the crown of Thebes and as betrayers.

- “Oh no, what can I say to him? How can I ever hope to win his trust? I wronged him so, just now, in every way. You must see that—I was so wrong, so wrong.”

Here Oedipus finally sees how wrong he has judged Creon who was always faithful to him and doesn't know how to approach him.

- "No skill in the world, nothing human can penetrate the future."

Here Jocasta tells Oedipus how the prophecy he was told might be wrong to calm him down.

- "You pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers."

Here Oedipus tells the chorus to tell him their worries and he would solve them as if he was himself a god.

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Theme analysis :

In today's every day life, we can compare how Oedipus Rex relates to what most of us call fate. It is said that every thing happens for a reason, that's why this drama by Sophocles is important to explaining most of our tragedies. Like in Oedipus Rex due to a horrible prophecy the main character Oedipus tried to escape his fate, which leads him right to it and cause him more grief. This shows that we all as humans have most probably our lives already planned out by a supreme being, not many may agree with this but in most cases life is just something we need to accept and not escape. But this attitude can also be seen as a paradox: we can't just sit and wait for ones fate to dominate our life but fight for it. Our actions may change the course of our fate if not the nature of it. If so at least we can say, “I have tried. I didn't wait for my fate to unfold itself but I dominated my own life. I'm not a coward but a fighter and explorer.

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A letter to the author :

Dear Mr. Sophocles:

It is with great honor to tell you that I enjoyed your play very much, it was most interesting and it had valuable lessons to teach me about life. The book mostly reveals to me on how life is set already to us all, and how we must not run away from it but face it and try to make the best of it. The message is clear to anyone who reads it, and I'm sure that many would enjoy it.

In my opinion I believe the drama was great, not many authors are able to set such a strong base which captures immediately the readers' attention. I also enjoyed the conflicts you applied to it and the suspense. What was also interesting was the fact of how you were able to tell the story when it wasn't even in a chronological order.

Some questions I would like to ask you are: How did you come up with such amazing story? What inspired you to create the character Oedipus? What would have happened to the rest of the story if Oedipus never found out about the truth? How would have you felt if everyone praised your work during your time?

I enjoyed very much the play, but if I could change one thing about it, it would have to be the fact that everything could go in order so that it wouldn't be so complicated to understand when reading the play. Either way your play is one of the most inspired works in our time, and all of your other plays have helped everyone by teaching them a lesson on how life is predominated by tragedies.

Sincerely,

Juan Guerrero

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Creative Writing :

Ode to Fate

We are born with our life set, without knowing that all we got is merely just a bet.

Waiting to risk it all in a moment for best or for worst, and even though

We try to escape it fate will catch up and make us pay what we owe.

To a point we make our lives to our own way, but on the other hand

It has fate written all over it not knowing that it was planned

Since the first day. Life is just something we borrow

and fate has given it to us and we decide how