The first character flaw responsible for the tragedy is king and queen of Thebes’ (Oedipus’ parents’) belief in an oracle about their son. The prophecy told by this oracle said that their son would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. In order to try to prevent this from happening, Iocaste and Laios pierced the child’s feet, tied them together, and instructed their servant to leave the child in the wilderness to die, which is the second character flaw. In the text, the shepherd explains everything to Oedipus. “If you must be told, then…/They said it was Laios’ child/I was told to get rid of it/It was said that the boy would kill his own father”(56-62).
He leaves Corinth and travels to Thebes, and on the way he unknowingly kills his father during a quarrel. After saving Thebes from the Sphinx, he is given the hand of Queen Jocasta, his mother, for marriage and he becomes the new king of Thebes. One of the many reasons Oedipus is a coward is that he didn’t want to face his parent s again. His thought at the moment when he blinds himself is that if he killed himself he will see his real parents in the underworld, who he had committed those crimes against. Instead of repenting for his sins he escapes them.
In the play Oedipus’ parents (King Lauis and Queen Jocasta) send him away to be killed because of prophecy that tells that Oedipus would one day kill his father (Laius) and marry his mother Jocasta. "He'll be revealed a brother and a father to his children in his house, husband and son to her who gave him birth; wife-sharer and the killer of his father." (Sophocles, line 457) However the servant did not kill Oedipus instead giving him to a childless King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth, who then raised him. Oedipus
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 the story of Oedipus Rex, the god Apollo creates a prophecy about the young son of Jocasta and Laius. When Laius goes to read the prophecy, his sons horrific fate is revealed: he will grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. In an attempt to rid their family of a terrible fate, they give the baby to a herdsman to dispose of the child. Over twenty years later, the child of Jocasta and Laius is very much alive, and has no knowledge that he has killed his actual father and is married to his mother. After he realizes the terrible acts he has committed, he exiles himself and takes out his own eyes.
In Sophocles “Oedipus the king”, Oedipus was sent to mount Cithaeron as a new born baby to die after his father (King Laius) was cursed by the gods and heard of a prophecy that his son is to kill his father and marry his mother (Queen Jocasta). The Shepard in charge of this could not kill the baby so instead Oedipus is adopted. Later Oedipus hears about the prophecy, and leaves, afraid that the prophecy would come true. Along the way he gets in a fight with a man and kills him, unknowingly his father. He then solves a riddle from the Sphinx, which has been terrorizing a kingdom, and in return, the kingdom gives him their queen's hand in marriage, which is his biological mother.
When Oedipus grew up he, too, consulted an oracle about his future and was told that he would kill his father and marry his mother. To avoid the prophecy, Oedipus ran away from the only home he had known. While wandering towards Thel1es, he was forced off the road by a chariot. In the argument that followed, he killed the driver who, unknown to Oedipus, later was identified as none other than Laius. At Thebes, he became king by
In the play Oedipus, King of Thebes, upon hearing that his city is being ravaged by fire and plague, sends his brother-in-law Creon to find a remedy from the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. When Creon returns Oedipus begins investigating the death of his predecessor, Laius, and discovers through various means that he himself was the one who had unknowingly killed Laius and then married his own mother, Jocasta. Jocasta commits suicide; Oedipus blinds himself, leaves his
He is later found, dead by her side, after committing suicide for his lost love. • Polyneices- He is the eldest son of Oedipus and Jocasta. Although he supposedly is the next in line to receive power to the throne, Eteocles takes over and banishes Polyneices from Thebes. Polyneices then gathers and army and attacks his brother. He ends up killing his brother, and being killed by his brother in battle.
Kris Zelensky Sep 6, 2011 Hon World Lit Paper Can you escape fate? Can those who have been extremely successful in life landing on top escape failure? In “Oedipus Rex” Sophocles wrote about King Oedipus’ adverse fate. A prophet told King Laius he would be murdered by his own son. So Laius gave his son to a servant to leave him abandoned to die.
Oedipus's Fate and Essential Nature Oedipus was born by the King and Queen of Thebes. King Laius and his wife Jocasta were informed by a prophet that Laius "is doomed and would perish by the hand of his own son"; if they had a child he would kill the father and marry the mother and produce offspring with her. Regardless of the curse, they had a baby. Knowing this terrible curse was brought upon them, they immediately tried to impede the prophecy, and made a decision to have the child killed. The parents stabbed bolts through the baby's feet and handed him off to a shepherd.
They destroyed him first.” (lines 945-947). Here it is ironic that in fact he did kill his father, and even more so that Jocasta’s son and the murderer of Laius is right in front of her. Situational irony also occurs when Oedipus tries to run from the prophecy in order to save his
The whole play is centered around the basic notion of oracles and prophecies even from the beginning. Laius, the King of Thebes and the husband of Queen Jocasta, decides to kill Oedipus after finding out about the prophecy put upon him. The prophecy stated “that his(Laius) doom would be death at the hands of his own son.” (228) This quote shows the audience how prophecies influenced the choices that the characters made. It reveals to the audience how prophecies played as the nucleus throughout the play. Another prophecy is when Creon, the brother-in-law of Oedipus is sent to ask about the reason for the plague at the temple in Delphi.
Oedipus is doomed since his birth; Oedipus parents told that he would murder his father and marry to his own mother by Tiresias, a blind prophet. His parents decided to kill him however
Aristotle defines Oedipus as a tragic hero for his unfortunate sequence of events. As a child, Oedipus was given a prophecy that he was to grow up marrying his mother and slaying his father. Jocasta and Laius try to impede the prophecy by killing Oedipus, but in the end, fate was the ultimate victor. Aristotle defines a tragic hero by four qualities: goodness, appropriateness, lifelike, and consistency (Aristotle's Tragic Hero). According to Aristotle, Oedipus is an ideal example of a tragic hero for causing his own downfall, having fallen from his estate, and having an undeserved punishment (sheet).
He had to kill his father, marry his mother, and have children with her. Laius brought this curse upon Oedipus because he rapped and killed a future king. When Oedipus found out about his fate he ran away from home so he would not kill his father but ended up killing him without knowing it. He married his mother after defeating the sphinx. He had four children with Jocasta, two girls and two boys.
If we look closer to the story of Oedipus, we learn from not one, but three oracles that Oedipus was destined to kill his father and lay with his mother; to the oracles, this was the will of the gods. When Oedipus tries to escape his fate, he instead runs straight into the path the gods set for him. Then, being ignorant and not thinking before he speaks, he sets his own destiny of exile and hardship while charging the late King Liaus’ murderer before finding him. So, many could say Oedipus set his own path. Or that whether he tried to escape it or not, he had a set path ahead of him that he was meant to take.
There was murder in the play. King Oedipus killed King Laius for running him off the road. Queen Jocasta committed suicide when she found out that the man she married (King Oedipus) was her son, the son whom she tried to kill. Oedipus’ tragic flaw is that he is arrogant. I say this because of what he had said and done in the play.
Literature Review: Oedipus the King and the Good-Morrow “Oedipus the King,” was a tragic drama. Oedipus killed his own father, married his own mother and he did not even realized it. He was very angry when Tiresias told him that he was the murder of the pervious king. It made me think about what I would have done if I was in that situation. I think it is only natural for us as human to become defensive when the blame is put on us.
Oedipus Analysis In the play of Oedipus, Sophocles creates characters that are struck by tragedy that had been brought upon them by fate. Because of the fate set up for Oedipus by the gods, he ended up killing his father and marrying his mother, not knowing that his father was his father or the king, and not aware that he was marrying his mother by marrying the queen. Upon learning that he has in fact lived out the prophecy set by the gods, Oedipus blinds himself and Iocaste kills herself. The difference between the reactions of Iocaste and Oedipus tells a lot about their characters, and emphasizes their differences. Oedipus’s choice to not kill himself, but to blind himself and be exiled shows both his nobility and pride, and this choice affects the reader’s response to Oedipus in that it brings more pity to the character.