Oedipus Rex Tragic Essay, Research Paper
Oedipus has a & # 8220 ; tragic defect & # 8221 ; that leads to his death, and attempts to impute one to him to him look forced. In his pursuit to bring out the truth and rid Thebes of the pestilence, he exhibits all the heroic qualities that made him the Jesus of Thebes during the Sphinx & # 8217 ; s reign of panic. Oedipus as a victim of a destiny he could non command. He had tremendous control over the events of his & # 8220 ; destiny & # 8221 ; through the legion determinations he makes. He chooses to believe the prophet and go forth Corinth. ( The drama is in fact a remark on the function of prophets and faith in the clime of the rational revolution traveling on in fifth century Athens. ) He chooses to kill Laius. He chooses to get married Jocasta. He chooses to forcefully and really publically presume the mission of detecting the individuality of Laius & # 8217 ; slayer. He proceeds on this mission and chooses to disregard the warnings of Creon, Jocasta, the courier, the shepherd, of anyone that attempts to stand between him and the truth. And he chooses to blind himself ( this is in fact a witting act on his portion to take something on his ain, an act that Apollo can non be held responsible for. ) If Oedipus was so a powerless pawn of destiny, the drama would be more than depressing, it would probably be meaningless.
General secret plan of Greek calamities is that a individual ( the hero ) of usual great influence goes through a sudden reversal of good luck to misfortune and that is a consequence of some tragic defect, normally pride. Now in Oedipus the King, to state that Oedipus & # 8217 ; s ruin was due to his defects would about belie the whole thought of destiny itself. True that he was proud, to kill another adult male ( Lauis ) over a traffic block, to contemn Tiresias, and to impeach Creon of enviousness, but was that truly the cause of his calamity? if destiny already has it that he will kill his male parent and wed his female parent, would it still ma
tter if he had any defects or non? are the flaws portion of his destiny? this drama is, I believe, one of the most cheerless of tragedies—it Tells us that we have perfectly no control over our fate, that we are ruled by destiny. Even though Oedipus tried to get away his deplorable destiny when he foremost heard the from the prophet he still played through theprophesy.
If the drama seems, in portion, to be stating that we cannotr avoid our fate, it leaves unanswered the inquiry of whether we deserve that fate or non. Surely Oedipus does non take intentionally to kill his male parent and get married his female parent, even though unwittingly everything he doesleads to this terminal. Then why does he merit to endure for his actions? There are two replies. First, the defect in Oedipus & # 8217 ; character ( pride and obstinacy ) in take a firm standing on detecting who he is and the choler he shows in the procedure bring about the concluding black disclosure. In this manner the defects, or failings, in his character get the better of his good points and destruct him.
Second: The message of the drama may, possibly be in that there are some facets of being beyond our apprehension, aspects that operate by rules outside our scope of experience. If this is so, Sophocles seems to be depicting the concluding weakness of humanity in the face of forces that we can non command and warning against excessively great a belief in autonomy.
May in this instance the drama seems to be directing through a cosmopolitan message and that is non to fiddle with preset fate that the & # 8216 ; Gods & # 8217 ; set us. However in Oedipus & # 8217 ; instance it is his Arrogance! ! That gets him into the muss. It a inquiry at the clip the drama was written and it seems to be questioned now and that is at that place some sort of godly power or is our lives strictly ruled by our egos? Do we command ours & # 8217 ; fate.
Bibliography
Oedipus Rex Play
