Critique Oedipus Rex
Yair Lopez
Prof. Madara
2/27/2012
Section 07
Critique of Oedipus Rex Is Oedipus Rex one of the most important pieces of literature of all time? This Athenian tragedy was written by Sophocles and was first performed in 449 BC. This piece is about a king named Oedipus who in the course of the story finds out that he killed his father and married his mother. I enjoyed a lot of parts of this story especially when he made the decision you leave Corinth because he was told about the prophecy and when he was worried about the Thebe’s citizens and wanted to do anything possible to end their suffering; however I was not too excited about the ending of the story. The Story began with Oedipus being surrounded by Thebes’s citizens who were suffering because of a plague that was invading their territory. In order for the plague to be gone an oracle said that the murderer of Laius must be driven out. In a long quest to find Laius’s murderer Tiresias, a blind prophet, reveals to Oedipus that he is the one that killed Laius, who is his father, and married Jocasta, his mother. When they finally found out that the prophecy was right, Jocasta killed herself and Oedipus took his eyes off. This would summarize most important parts of this classic piece. One of the things I liked in this story is the decision of Oedipus of leaving his hometown Corinth because he thought that that way he was going to protect the ones he thought who were his parents (942-957). I personally admired this character’s decision because it is not easy to leave your hometown with the people you love for their own safety. If I was in Oedipus’s predicament I really wouldn’t knew what to do. He proved that he is the kind of person that does whatever it takes for the safety of their love ones and a person with the mentality should be praised. This is one of the events I liked the most in this masterpiece. Another event that I enjoyed was when he cared about his citizens and wanted the plague to be over
Prof. Madara
2/27/2012
Section 07
Critique of Oedipus Rex Is Oedipus Rex one of the most important pieces of literature of all time? This Athenian tragedy was written by Sophocles and was first performed in 449 BC. This piece is about a king named Oedipus who in the course of the story finds out that he killed his father and married his mother. I enjoyed a lot of parts of this story especially when he made the decision you leave Corinth because he was told about the prophecy and when he was worried about the Thebe’s citizens and wanted to do anything possible to end their suffering; however I was not too excited about the ending of the story. The Story began with Oedipus being surrounded by Thebes’s citizens who were suffering because of a plague that was invading their territory. In order for the plague to be gone an oracle said that the murderer of Laius must be driven out. In a long quest to find Laius’s murderer Tiresias, a blind prophet, reveals to Oedipus that he is the one that killed Laius, who is his father, and married Jocasta, his mother. When they finally found out that the prophecy was right, Jocasta killed herself and Oedipus took his eyes off. This would summarize most important parts of this classic piece. One of the things I liked in this story is the decision of Oedipus of leaving his hometown Corinth because he thought that that way he was going to protect the ones he thought who were his parents (942-957). I personally admired this character’s decision because it is not easy to leave your hometown with the people you love for their own safety. If I was in Oedipus’s predicament I really wouldn’t knew what to do. He proved that he is the kind of person that does whatever it takes for the safety of their love ones and a person with the mentality should be praised. This is one of the events I liked the most in this masterpiece. Another event that I enjoyed was when he cared about his citizens and wanted the plague to be over
Cited: Page Oedipus Rex. Vol. 1. Ed. Peter Simon. Second ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 1956. 570-613. Print.