Preview

Does Oedipus Accept His Fate

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
387 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Does Oedipus Accept His Fate
Acceptance or Doom: An Analysis of Sophocles "Oedipus Rex"

In the story "Oedipus Rex," by Sophocles, the author suggests that one's fate cannot be altered, but if an individual's pride and arrogance make the individual try to change his/her fate, the person becomes hubristic and at the end the person realizes fate cannot be changed and the person's fate happens the way it was supposed to happen. If people belief in fate and at some point in people's life an individual discovers what his/her fate is, the person should just accept their fate and not try to change destiny.

Oedipus's ability to solve problems is shown when the sphinx was in Thebes and
Oedipus, "the simple man," solved the sphinx's riddle. When Oedipus describes
…show more content…
Oedipus was proud of being intelligent and that he solved the sphinx's riddle because "no birds helped" him; birds were known for helping the gods' oracles to see the future or an individual's fate. His pride of solving the sphinx's riddle makes him feel superior to other human beings, which makes him arrogant. Oedipus demonstrates his arrogance in the moment he says that the sphinx's "magic," that being its riddle, demanded a
"real exorcist" -- which he really is not, truly he is just a fool who tried to outsmart the gods -- the "exorcist" being Oedipus because he beats the sphinx.
When Oedipus solves the riddle, he does not only become arrogant, but also hubristic because he feels superior to the gods since only he was able to save
Thebes from the sphinx. Oedipus's heroic excess leads him to be exiled from

Thebes to a place where "no human voice can ever greet him;" that is to a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    is to some how something was meant to happen before it happened or of the…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    well. He "was a striking evidence of a man's faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To what extent do you think Oedipus deserved what happened to him, and does he deserve our sympathy?…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus Flaws Essay

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages

    and led to his status as a static character. A static character is a character who does…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A tragic hero is defined as “a [great] man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake” (“Aristotle”, n.d.). Therefore, a tragic hero has some sort of tragedy that surrounds their life. A tragic hero also makes dramas more interesting and makes readers think. Dramas sometimes either exemplify or refute Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. Oedipus by Sophocles exemplifies Aristotle’s definition in four different aspects. The first aspect involves both Oedipus’ ignorance and knowledge of his life situations, the second involves his hamartia, the third involves the actual plot itself, and the fourth involves the characterization of…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fate In Oedipus The King

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The concept of fate is a controversial theme in literature, but the dilemma faced by Vulcan and Cryos shows that human destiny is inevitable and should be embraced instead. Inevitable is often defined as an unavoidable situation, one that is associated with impending doom. One such example is found in the tale of Oedipus Rex, the tragic hero of Thebes who is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus learns that in attempting to run away from the prophecy, he fulfills it instead. After blinding himself in shame, Oedipus bemoans to his friends that “my measure of ills fills my measure of woe; Author was none, but I” (Sophocles 47). Oedipus laments the fact that he was the one who authored his fate as he tried to run away from it.…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Sophocles uses a mixture of both visual and emotional imagery to create the morally questioning, Greek tragedy ‘Oedipus Tyrannos'. He presents the audience with an intense drama, which addresses the reality and importance of the gods that the Greeks fervently believed in. The play also forces the audience to ask themselves if there is such a concept as fate.…

    • 1618 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Throughout the play of Oedipus the King, Oedipus and other members of the play makes some decisions that ultimately decide Oedipus’s fate. Some of Oedipus’s decisions are a result from an oracle, but his personal decisions ultimately lead to his fall to death. His decisions of running away from his home kingdom, pushing the oracle to speak more, and searching for the shepherd that knew where Oedipus came from leads to Oedipus’s fate.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Fate and Oedipus

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Since the beginning, fate has been the building blocks for human’s lives. Whenever fate has been set in motion, it CANNOT be escaped. In Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King there are several major playing factors in the role of fate. Every action whether intentional or accidental, plays right into the hands of fate. It is absolutely unavoidable. No matter what is done to try to change one’s fate, once it is set in motion there is simply no changing it.…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    too much and at the same time too little of his true lot in life. Knowledge was…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    King Oedipus

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages

    What conditions in Thebes does the Priest describe (25-30)? How do the suppliants view Oedipus (31-34;40;46)? The Priest refers to Oedipus's saving of Thebes from the Sphinx (35-38), a monster with human female head and breasts and a lion's body with wings. The "tax" (36) which the Thebans paid the Sphinx was in the form of young men killed by the monster when they were unable to answer the riddle:2 "What has one voice and four feet, two feet and three feet?" The answer which only Oedipus was able to provide was "man" (crawling on all fours as a baby, walking unaided on two feet throughout most of his life and finally walking with the aid of a cane in old age). What request does the Priest make of Oedipus (41-42;51)?…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    him out to be a god-like being that has divine powers bestowed upon him. The…

    • 2195 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Oedipus the King, fate and free will play a huge role throughout the storyline. Only one however brought Oedipus to his death and downfall. Both points can be argued greatly! The ancient Greeks acknowledged fate as a reality outside an individual that developed and determined their life. It is that mankind does have control over his or her individual life. I assume that fate does indeed lead to Oedipus’s downfall.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus learned that sometimes is necessary to listen to what others have to say. Also he had to learn the truth that he neglected for so long. Whenever someone tried to tell him the truth he denied the evidence and arguments that were presented to him. An example, Oedipus was mad at Tiresias because he said to him you are the murdered that you seek (721).…

    • 1024 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “An ignorant person is the blind instrument of their own deconstruction.” (Bolivar) In the story “Oedipus the King,” Oedipus, not knowingly, tried to change his fate. A person’s fate is there to stick with them, it is inevitable and is not something to be tampered with. He did not know as much about himself as he thought he did and in the end, his stubbornness leads to a very tragic downfall.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics