Preview

Examples Of Justice In Oedipus The King

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
344 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Examples Of Justice In Oedipus The King
In the story, "Oedipus the King", there are different examples of justice, but the one that I pointed out could be creating justice for the murder of Oedipus' father. Ever since Oedipus had possessed his power, his actions from traveling from his hometown to Thebes, have since then remained as so we name it, justified. When held on account of being "found guilty", from his power, the murder of his father has become a crime. Subsequently, after Oedipus heard the tragic news about his father, he was devastated; he did not know how to react. Eventually, after suffering the tragedy of his father’s death, he then realizes that his wife, Jocasta, is actually his own mother, which he had intentionally had lost as well. Many people from the town had

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Oedipus Selfish Quotes

    • 1428 Words
    • 6 Pages

    At the beginning of the play Oedipus proclaims justice for the death of Laius. Oedipus claims that he will avenge Laius’ death with the bloodshed of his killer. Being willing to fight for what is right for your people, or in this case your wife, is a more than heroic quality. Not only is he willing to fight for just but he is adamant about it. Throughout the entire play he is in search of the Laius’ killer. A hero overcomes the obstacles and brings victory out of defeat by strength of might and wisdom. Yet most of the Greek heroes had an Achilles’ heel that doomed them. Oedipus is no different. He runs away to protect those he loves, only to find he destroys those he loves as well as himself. He kills his own father with strength of might and ignores the wise warnings of Tiresias. When did he begin to realize that he was sitting on the throne of his own father, whom he had murdered? Oedipus fits the profile of a tragic hero because though he spent the whole play fighting for justice and searching for the answer he is longing for, searching for the cold killer of Laius and promising vengeance by spilling the blood of the murderer. He crumbles and becomes the fool when he finds out that his blood is the answer. In the end his people win their battle over the chaos, but he loses the fight inside himself. Oedipus realizes the metaphorical blindness that has been hindering him throughout the play and decides that the only way to make it right is to physically blind himself with Jocasta’s…

    • 1428 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading the Odyssey,I think Odysseus returned to kill suitors back our own country is very correct. Odysseus in waves and the struggle of monsters, also use opportunely ingenuity, bravely overcome countless disasters. Difficulties, he will not be intimidated by any wealth, or even love the temptation to shake him.Encouraged him to overcome difficulties is he to tribal group and the affection to his wife, so I think hero Odysseus is a justice.When Odysseus on exotic, Ithaca and neighbouring powerful deceives his wife weak young.Programs to his wife, Mr Nie roper (Penelope), forced the she remarried, Mr Nie roper tried various methods to delay.…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After learning about the prophecy, Oedipus ran away from his foster parents [believing they are his real parents] so he wouldn’t fulfil the prophecy by killing his father and marrying his mother (42). He tried to avoid the dreadful prophecy, and once he escaped from Corinth, he believed the he went against the prophecy. In his pride, Oedipus instead of escaping the prophecy, got intertwined in it even further. He then began to learn that Thebes housed his real parents. Slowly, he realized that the man he killed was his father (64). Not only hat, his wife was none other than his birth mother.…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus Rex is full of people searching for justice. Throughout the play Oedipus acts upon what he believes is justice.…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Oedipus the King” is a drama that portrays misfortune that dwells among mankind. The tragic sequence of events first starts with the birth of Oedipus. His biological parents are stricken with grief when they discover a secret that causes them to banish their son from the city of Thebes. Little did they know that, despite their actions, fate would still play out which would, in turn, cause the society of Thebes to be stricken by the plague. Although many people suffered from the unfortunate destiny of Oedipus, perhaps the person that suffered the most was Oedipus himself. Oedipus endured an unforgiving reality check after being blindsided by the current state of his life.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus The King is most likely one of the greatest tragedies ever recorded. This play tells the story of the great downfall of a once honored king who by the end of the story, becomes a great curse. This is mainly due to his great sense of pride. It was believed by the Greeks that people with this immense pride thought that they were above the gods. Aristotle believed that the protagonist of every tragedy must have some type of tragic flaw that will eventually lead to his demise. To Oedipus ,of Oedipus The King, pride is his tragic flaw that leads to his downfall. Some examples of his pride taking over him were: when he correctly answered the Sphinx’s riddle, when he abandoned his adoptive parents in Corinth, and when he killed Laius in the crossroads.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Adade-Yeboah, Ahenkora, and Amankwah (2012), “Tragedy is of action and not character as Aristotle puts it” (p. 10). Therefore, Oedipus’ tragedy deals with his ignorance and not his character. Oedipus is ignorant in the fact that he does not realize he is committing patricide or incest (Adade-Yeboah et al., 2012, p. 11). Oedipus grows up knowing two opposite people that he thought were his parents, which leads to him killing his biological father and marrying his biological mother. Oedipus then goes on to search for his biological father’s killer and soon realizes that it was he himself who committed the atrocious acts toward his family. He came to this realization after it was revealed to him by an oracle. Originally, Oedipus believes that the man he originally kills is only just a shepherd, when in return it is his biological father. According to Greenburg (2012), “Oedipus has been told, and has come to believe, that at the end of his life and in death he will have the power to protect the city that has taken him and buried him” (p. 52). Oedipus maintains the belief that things will always be the way he knew them to be and he would be in charge of the city he knew and loved. He maintains this belief until an oracle reveals his misfortune. At first, Oedipus and his wife (biological mother) refuse to believe that what they were told is true. According to…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus Ethical Dilemmas

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In The Oedipus Cycle, all the characters are constantly faced with situations that challenge their judgement and morality. While they all encounter similar ethical questions, the characters in The Oedipus Cycle all resolve their dilemmas in different ways. From the logic-minded nature of Antigoné to the overconfident nature of Oedipus, the way each and every character of The Oedipus Cycle deals with major moral dilemmas is an insight into not only their unique personalities, but also their status in society. The Oedipus Cycle, in short, is a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between power and morality.…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Truth In Oedipus The King

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Oedipus believes that he is married to a woman he has no relation to, and that the parents he left behind are in fact his own. Teiresias, no longer willing to allow Oedipus to be blind says, " he shall be proved father and brother both to his own children in his own house; to her that gave him birth, a son and husband both; a fellow sower in his father's bed with the same father he murdered" (535- 539). Oedipus himself was ignorant to the fact that he married his mother and then is by blood the father and brother to his children. Regardless to the fact that, Oedipus is unaware of such circumstances they are still the true. In fact ignorance can not inhibit truth from being true. There is only so long Oedipus could be blind to the facts in front of him before he is truly able to see. After Teiresias' words Oedipus begins to question his wife, Jocasta, about her previous husband's murder. All she says leads him to fear that in fact he killed him. Jocasta mentions a shepherd who was still alive that witnessed the murder, so Oedipus decides that in order to figure out if he was the murder he would question the Shepard. In refrence to questioning the shepherd, Oedipus says to Jocasta, "I'll tell you; if I find that his story is the same as yours, I at least will be clear of this guilt" (974-975). Oedipus has guilt inside himself because he is aware that he killed the king. His…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Achilles In The Odyssey

    • 1488 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Once Oedipus is a grown man he kills his father, Laius, without knowledge of his father’s identity. Then he marries the king’s wife, Jocasta, which is his mother. Hence the term the Oedipus Complex arises. Once his mother comes to the conclusion that Oedipus is her son, she then kills their children and herself. Oedipus sees that his mother and lover has killed herself, he gauges out his eyes so that he doesn’t have to see his sins, and to remind him of the wrongs he had done.…

    • 1488 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A. King is caring, investigator he is determined, as a husband and father he is loving, and as an arch-criminal he is reluctant to give up power…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When all else fails and his throne is taken out of his hands, his last hope is his children, specifically his daughters, - Antigone and Ismene. As Oedipus is dragged out of view, he exclaims,”No, don’t take them away from me,” (107). Even though Oedipus has nothing left, he still holds a place of love for his children in his heart, showing that he is not all arrogant as he seems. Furthermore, he is shown in complete sadness, being at the side of the deceased Jocasta. After barging into the room where Jocasta lay, he sees her and gives a “deep dreadful cry of sorrow and loosened the rope round her neck” (93). Believing that everything is his fault, he stabs himself in the eyes with sorrow. On the other hand, during the time Oedipus is unaware of the truth, he pledges to his people that he will most certainly catch the murderer who brought upon the demise of Laius. He acknowledges that under any circumstance the murderer will be caught, even if he/she resides in his own household. However, if with his own knowledge, the murderer stays in the house of Oedipus; “in that case he, himself, be subject to all the curses that he called down on the people” (15), This shows his determination to catch the murderer as cursing oneself is a courageous feat in that one must have complete confidence that they are doing the right thing. This act of bravery, once again, shows the genuine emotion of need to…

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Reversal of the situation can be found throughout Oedipus Rex. In the play, Oedipus was portrayed to be the savior of the his village, because he solved the riddle that would free the village from the plaque. The “reversal of the situation” was shown when oedipus wanted to find out who killed the previous king of Thebes. Oedipus curses the killer, and says he should be punished or even exiled from the village for committing this type of crime. As Oedipus goes on a hunt to find the killer of the previous king he realized that he was looking for himself. So the person that Oedipus spoke bad about ended up to be him. When Oedipus finds out that he was the one that killed the previous king he took his eyes out and knew that he should exile himself.…

    • 206 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Oedipus Tragic Hero

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Oedipus says: "Lost! Ah lost! At least it's blazing clear. Light of my days, go dark. I want to gaze no more. My birth all sprung revealed from those it never should, myself entwined with those I never could. And I the killer of those I never would" (67). It is at this point that Oedipus realizes everything: he is the adopted son of King Polybus; he is the true son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta; he killed his father, Laius; he married his mother, Jocasta; and Tiresias' prophesy was right in that he was the man he was looking for. When everything becomes so clear to Oedipus, he feels nothing but remorse. He must punish himself, and does so by gouging out his eyes with Jocasta's brooches. His monologue, brought about by his anagnorsis, foreshadows his self-inflicted…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Due to the fact, knowing who his real parents are would make him aware of not killing his father and marrying his mother. As the only reason Oedipus ran from his supposed parents, was to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. Suggesting he would do the same if his supposed parents were his real ones. However, on the other hand the prophecy may have been fulfilled, as in the play fate is stronger than free will. Considering, Oedipus fulfilled the the first part of the prophecy while trying to run away from the prophecy. Indicating, any choice Jocasta made to keep the child will result in the same fate, as the choice Oedipus made to flee the prophecy.…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays