Meanss To Tragic Ends Essay, Research Paper

Meanss To Tragic Ends

Does adult male truly have free will, or does free will lie within a system of restrictions

that bit by bit compose a web of circumstantial destiny that finally can non be torn apart?

The events in both Oedipus The King and Antigone polemically suggests that adult male

finally chooses his ain workss and endures fate and the duties for them.

These events brought by destiny are unmistakably aggravated by certain features

within the characters. Oedipus, from Oedipus The King, Antigone, and Creon, both from

Antigone possess such flawed features that lead to their tragic terminals.

Oedipus possesses a battalion of features, some of them common to other

characters, but pride is exceptionally prevailing. This feature, which borders with

arrant haughtiness, appears to be one of the dominant defects that causes Oedipus & # 8217 ; tragic

ruin. This is obviously established in the beginning of the drama in which he states & # 8220 ; I

Oedipus whom all work forces call the great. & # 8221 ; ( p11.8 ) . This is strengthened by the Priest & # 8217 ; s

answers of & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; Oedipus, Greatest in all work forces & # 8217 ; s eyes, & # 8221 ; ( p12.40 ) and & # 8220 ; Noblest of work forces & # 8221 ;

( p12.46 ) .

However, pride is non the lone feature which contributes to Oedipus & # 8217 ; tragic

terminal. There exists his pique, which is ab initio presented in the statement between

Teiresias and himself. After Teiresias speaks the truth as factual, Oedipus replies & # 8220 ; Make

you imagine you can ever speak like this, and live to express joy at it hereafter? & # 8221 ; ( p26.367 )

and so shortly after calls Teiresias a & # 8220 ; sap & # 8221 ; ( p29.433 ) . His pique is besides exposed when

he threatens to ostracize or kill Creon after Creon & # 8217 ; s attempted logical thinking.

Another lending factor is his intuition for others, this is apparent where he

inquiries Teiresias & # 8220 ; Was this your ain design or Creon & # 8217 ; s? & # 8221 ; ( p.27.377 ) . He is falsely

apologizing that Teiresias is in secret plotting, in alliance with Creon, to subvert him.

Furthermore, Oedipus has an grim chase for the truth, which is demonstrated

when he eventually believes that he is the liquidator and that Polybus was non his male parent.

However, he continues with his hunt with an extended inquiring of both his married woman

Jocasta and the courier.

Furthermore, Oedipus exhibits self-loathing and a despair towards the terminal of

the drama. After the facts have been voiced, he urgently attempts to apologize the

grounds and provinces,

& # 8220 ; You said that he spoke of main road robbers who killed Laius.

Now if he uses the same figure, it was non I who killed him.

One adult male can non be the same as many. But if he speaks of a

adult male going entirely, so clearly the load of the guilt slopes

towards me. & # 8221 ; ( p47.842 ) .

At the terminal of the drama, after all has been revealed, Oedipus expresses self-loathing as he

whines & # 8220 ; Now I am irreverent and kid of dross, father in the same seed that created

my wretched ego. If there is any sick worse than ailment, that is the batch of Oedipus. & # 8221 ; ( p69.1360 ) .

Although non every bit powerful as her male parent Oedipus, Antigone besides holds a detrimental

sense of pride. This is presented in the address between Creon and herself, & # 8220 ; How can

such as I, that live among such problems, non happen a net income in decease? & # 8221 ; ( p178.507 ) .

An extra contributing component to Antigone & # 8217 ; s tragic terminal is her credence and

welcoming of decease, which is apparent when

she states, “Life was your pick, and decease

was mine. & # 8221 ; ( p183.610 ) . Creon affirms this by declaring & # 8220 ; In that topographic point she shall name on

Hades, God of decease, in her prayers. & # 8221 ; ( p192.844 ) .

Furthermore, Antigone appears to expose righteousness when she states & # 8220 ; But if

Creon and his people are the offenders let their agony be no worse than the unfairness

they are meting out to me. & # 8221 ; ( p196.984 ) .

Not unlike Oedipus one time was, Creon was besides a proud swayer. In a confrontation

with Antigone he states, & # 8220 ; When I am alive no adult female shall rule. & # 8221 ; ( p181.579 ) , which

suggests that his pride is inexorable and unforgiving, more so than Oedipus. Creon besides

exhibits obstinacy along with his pride, this is apparent when he states & # 8220 ; My enemy is

still my enemy, even in death. & # 8221 ; ( p181.575 ) . His pride becomes even stronger when

others attempt to withstand his will. His statement with his boy Haemon demonstrates this

where he states, & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; allow it be from a adult male ; we must non allow people state that a adult female round

us. & # 8221 ; ( p187.733 ) and when he asks & # 8220 ; Should the metropolis state me how I am to govern them? & # 8221 ;

( p189.794 ) .

The blemished features held by both Oedipus and Antigone that lead to their

tragic terminals are ironically contradictory. The likely foremost characteristic defects of

Oedipus is his inability to see the state of affairs he has placed himself in, and that he

deliberately ignores the intimations and prophesies that everyone else knows. Antigone & # 8217 ; s

practicably taking characteristic defect is her outlook of commiseration for the deplorable state of affairs

she was born into. In resistance with Oedipus, whereas he does non desire or anticipate commiseration

from those around him partly because he does non recognize his black state of affairs.

The blemished features of male parent and girl are similar to the sides of a coin.

On one side, Oedipus is caught in the centre of a black state of affairs ignorant to the universe

around him. However, on the other side of the coin, Antigone is to the full cognizant of the

impure state of affairs she was born into. Unlike her male parent, Antigone wants people to cognize

about her distressing place so they can demo sympathy for her. The strengths of her

male parent Oedipus, have become her failings, and the strengths of his girl Antigone,

are Oedipus & # 8217 ; failings.

Creon & # 8217 ; s flawed characteristic is doubtless his pride. A sense of pride as strong

as a king of beasts, yet every bit fragile as a little bird, added with his obstinacy and pique, created a

adult male every bit immovable as a mountain. This flawed characteristic prevented him from minding

to the advice of others, chiefly his boy, and lead to the devastation of all that he held

near.

Ultimately, Oedipus is guilty in the terminal, non for killing his male parent and get marrieding his

female parent, instead it is his effort to raise himself above others, ignoring the facts and

wisdom brought to him. Antigone, a adult female of aristocracy and idealism, is guilty of the

immature masochistic desire to martyr herself. Creon & # 8217 ; s guilt, possibly the most chosen, is

his inability to acknowledge that person other than himself can be right. These

features are fated by adult male, non by destiny itself, and created a web of circumstantial

destiny. The events brought on by these characters could hold been avoided if the

features were non portion of their individualities. Therefore, it is the features within the

character that determines their destiny, non destine which determines their character.