The Coward Oedipus Is “A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit”. This quote by Thomas Jefferson portrays Oedipus because throughout ‘Oedipus Rex’ he quarrels with everybody about he truth and becomes blind to it. By blinding himself Oedipus becomes a coward because he doesn’t want to face his crimes. It all started when Oedipus hears a dreadful prophecy that he will murder his father and sleep with his mother. He leaves Corinth and travels to Thebes, and on the way he unknowingly kills his father during a quarrel.
Oedipus was similar to Macbeth because both Oedipus and Macbeth were confronted and destroyed by a set of circumstances, Oedipus by fate and Macbeth by the witches and their prophecies. Oedipus the king is given the throne of Thebes because he answered the riddle of the sphinx correctly. Oedipus unknowingly killed the king of Thebes and took his place and ruler. When he was young, Oedipus received a prophecy that he would eventually kill his father and marry his mother. Sickened by this prophecy, Oedipus ran away from home to prevent these horrid events from occurring.
Atreus himself was involved in the tragedy in which he murdered his brother’s children and served them up as a dish to eat. In the Ancient Greek world, this was seen as placing a curse of the house of Atreus which could provide an explanation to the events that occur within the play. Cassandra calls it the ‘house that hates god, the echoing womb of guilt’ which implies that there will always be terrible things happening there as the gods do not approve of it. This starts the argument that the characters have no control over their fate as Agamemnon was always going to meet a sticky end because of the
During the play, Oedipus realizes his own flaws while he investigates who the "true killer" of Laius is. The first character flaw is presented in the play Oedipus is Oedipus acting impulsively. When Oedipus first heard his prophecy from the Delphi oracle, he made an exodus out of Corinth as soon as he could. While on his journey to Thebes, a caravan cut him off. Enraged, Oedipus killed all the men except one.
Macbeth is a cold-blooded and desperate man because he has sent murderers to kill an innocent family. At this point in the play, Macbeth has lost all his value. He is so frightened to lose his crown that he will do anything and everything to protect it. When Macduff was absent for Macbeth's banquet, Macbeth became very suspicious. He
Electra fights with her mother, Clytemnestra, and her mother’s lover, Aegisthus, because she feels betrayed by them as they killed her father. When Electra and Orestes are finally reunited, they plot against their fathers killers, and finally kill them. The play has several themes, such as vengeance and deception which are extenuated by the heightened realism style of the play. In Electra’s introductory speech, I would emphasises her agony of her father’s death, as this is the main reason the character is vengeful. To fit with the heightened realism of the play, I would exaggerate the mental pain that the character is going through by associating some lines with physical pain, such as ‘But my mother, and her bed mate Aegisthus, Split open his head with a murderous axe’.
“How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead.” (III, iv, 27). Polonius is murdered by Hamlet through the arras separating the room and the halls. Hamlet at first believes that he killed the king – then proceeding to further tear down his mother’s wrongdoings. “A bloody deed – almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother.” (III, iv, 32-33).
Creon is hurt by this accusation and responds, "This accusation against me by our ruler Oedipus, it's outrageous." (Sophocles 514) Unfortunately, as the book closes, Creon looses his virtues as he becomes the new ruler of Thebes. As the story of Antigone starts, it begins with Oedipus' sons, Polynices and Eteocles. These brothers joined two different armies and ended up killing each in fratricide. Antigone, daughter of Oedipus tried to bury Polynices after the battle, but Creon has
In addition, in 3.1 Romeo murdered Tybalt to avenge the death of Mercutio by saying “Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.” (3.1. line 129). This implies that Romeo held a grudge against Tybalt for killing his own friend. This grudge motivated Romeo to kill Tybalt which then motivated Paris to fight Romeo in 5.3. This cycle of hatred between the two families is also what caused the fight scene in 1.1 where the Capulets and Montagues saw each other, then spat rude comments at each other
He is very angry and sentences Antigone to death. Ismene asks to be executed along with her sister. But Antigone doesn't want her by her side. She insists that she alone buried the brother, so she alone will receive punishment and possible reward from the gods. As if things weren't complicated enough, Antigone has a boyfriend: Haemon, the son of Creon.