Emotions In Oedipus Rex

Over the course of a lifetime, humans experience many different types of emotions. They come about by your thoughts. Happiness, excitement and joy are caused by an increase in serotonin levels, and by thoughts of what one considers to be pleasant. Anxiousness, depression and guilt are also emotions humans experience, but they are caused by a drop in serotonin levels. Rage and anger are also among some of the most common emotions that affect humans. It is a psychological feeling described as “an emotion characterized by antagonism toward someone or something you feel has deliberately done you wrong.” (“Anger and Aggression”). There are different types, but they are caused by a triggering situation and, they all have different causes and ways to calm oneself down. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus himself shows signs of, self-inflicted anger, volatile anger and chronic anger. Anger in itself is a simple emotion, one that is felt by everybody and can be caused by different emotions or situations. According to PsychGuide.com, there are 6 different types of anger. There is chronic anger; which develops overtime, passive anger; an anger that may not seem like anger and overwhelming anger; which is caused when one can’t cope with the situations around them, there is …show more content…
From the beginning of the book, Oedipus remembers the oracle of Delphi telling him that he would later on kill his father and marry his mother. He puts this out of his mind, until Teiresias recounts the story of his father’s death, and it seems oddly familiar to him. Overtime, the anger and guilt towards himself is pent up, and once Teiresias continues to nudge him into admitting it was him, Oedipus snaps. “Ah God! It was true, all the prophecies! Now, oh light, may I look at you for the last time, I Oedipus, Oedipus damned at his birth, in his marriage damned, damned in the blood he shed with his own hand” (Sophocles,