Preview

Oedipus Mother

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
176 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Oedipus Mother
In Oedipus we see a man whose past crushes him. He was given a prophecy by an oracle that he would kill his father and marry his mother. When he fled he killed his birth father not knowing. When he beat the sphinx he got his birth mother as a reward (an issue for another paper) and did indeed “defile my mother's bed”. He would have had a happy life if only he stopped asking about the past. Not only that but if any of the characters had not purposefully forgot they would have found that Jocasta was Oedipus’s mother. She knew the prophecy and didn't think it odd that her husband had the same one upon him. Latter when Oedipus forced the truth out of the messenger who found him as a child he learns his mother's name Jocasta. There is still wrong

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    english 066

    • 1231 Words
    • 5 Pages

    On the road to Thebes Oedipus defended himself, oblivious that he killed his real father. His lonely wandering led him to Thebes which was besieged by the sphinx. “He was a homeless, friendless man to whom life meant little and he determined to seek the sphinx out and try to solve the riddle.” (Hamilton 269) By solving her riddle, Oedipus became king and married Jocasta ignorant of the fact she was his mother.…

    • 1231 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play Antigone supports Creon’s claims that the rule of the king must be obeyed even if it is wrong in order to avoid anarchy and chaos. It is tragic that so many lives had to be lost. It is hard to be a king and maintain the rule of law. King Creon is a strong king that demands to be obeyed no matter what the cost. Tragically he lost so many that he cared for. First his brother dies, then his two nephews fight over the throne and end up killing each other. Eteocles was the king however his brother Polyneices fought to take his place. To no avail they both die. Eteocles was giving a proper burial for a king where Polyneices was just left to rot on the battlefield.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus Complex Analysis

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages

    First, when Oedipus was young, he consulted the oracle of Delphi. He was informed that he was fated to “be the murdered of the father that begot me” and “lie in his mother's bed.” (Sophocles 923-925) In his efforts, he was “rudely accosted on the road from Delphi to Thebes by the herald of a man in a carriage.” (“The Real”, paragraph 5) Oedipus fled Corinth to escape his prophecy, and “the infamies told in that dreadful oracle” (Sophocles 930) In other words, Oedipus tried to protect his parents, not sleep with his mother and kill his father purposely. Oedipus felt very guilty for his actions, and said, “may I be gone out of men’s sight before I see the deadly taint of this disaster come upon me.” (Sophocles 963-965) The facts that Freud purposefully ignored is that Oedipus Rex began with parental aggression and abandonment, not incest between Oedipus and Jocasta. Also, Oedipus tried to protect his parents and “avoid the very fate Freud attributed to him” (“The Real”, paragraph 7)…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 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
  • 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
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus the King

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When Oedipus is completely blind to the truth, he is safe from fulfilling his terrible destiny. It is when he begins to see the truth that he starts to approach his fate. "...a drunken man maundering in his cups / Cries out that I am not my father's son! / ...the suspicion / Remained always aching in my mind," Here, on page 42, Oedipus, in a very minor way, starts to see the truth. By becoming slightly aware of the truth, Oedipus's situation only got worse as his knowledge only escalated with every curious inquiry. Because of what the drunkard said, Oedipus learned about the oracle ("[Oedipus] should lie with [his] own mother... / ...and that he should be his father's murderer" (42) ) and fled for safety from what he thought was his fate. However, he was doing the exact opposite; while fleeing from Corinth, he met his real father, King Laїos, and killed him. He then made his way to Thebes where he married his real mother, Iocaste.…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Oedipus Tragic Hero

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, contains a very prominent tragic hero: Oedipus. A tragic hero, by Aristotle's definition of one, must possess six traits. One of them is that the tragic hero must be of noble stature. Another trait of a tragic hero is a tragic flaw. A third trait defined by Aristotle is that a tragic hero must have a period of recognition of his crimes. Oedipus strongly displays each of the three aforementioned, necessary traits; and he is, then, an obvious tragic hero.…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus the King

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Of all the tragedies that Greek playwright Sophocles created in his illustrious career, the one that stands out as his masterpiece, and quite possibly one of the greatest of all the Greek tragedies is Oedipus the King. The tragedy focuses on the life and downfall of the unfortunate King Oedipus, who was condemned by the oracle at an early age to murder his father and marry his mother. Despite the oracle’s grim prediction, Oedipus was responsible for his own downfall due to his overly proud and impetuous attitude, and his own intellect and diligence.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus the King

    • 5727 Words
    • 23 Pages

    Scene: In front of Oedipus' palace in Thebes. To the right is an altar where a…

    • 5727 Words
    • 23 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race," as quoted by William E. Gladstone, supports my thought that selfishness is what causes most of our problems in the modern world. Currently, we are living in an era that is filled with much gluttony and selfishness. However, selfishness is a trait that all of us possess, but the amount of selfishness that we have can determine the type of person we are. For instance, parents should always put their children's needs before their own. Selfish parents would rather buy materialistic items for themselves than anything useful for their children. In Sophocles's "Oedipus Rex," the protagonist is literally blinded by his own arrogance. This attitude begins before he even travels to Thebes, and that is apparent due to the circumstances of his father's death. Oedipus seals his own fate with his egotistical attitude and he cannot change his destiny after everything is set into motion. During his journey on the road to enlightenment, Oedipus's selfishness causes him to transcend from being completely ignorant of his fate to holding on to the last shreds of denial to having an overwhelming sense of realization.…

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The only thing missing from the prophecy was that Oedipus was to marry his mother. Although Jocasta, Oedipus's wife, was old enough to be his mother Oedipus was sure that he knew who his mother was. Soon enough the reader comes to realizes that Oedipus was in fact adopted, and the woman who raised him not his biological mother. Jocasta realizes that once the truth is revealed about Oedipus's biological mother, their lives would be ruined forever. Jocasta begs Oedipus to stop searching for the truth, but his hubris pride is too strong.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Oedipus the King

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Oedipus the King by Sophocles is about Oedipus, a man doomed by his fate. Like most tragedies, “Oedipus the King” contains a tragic hero, a heroic figure unable to escape his/her own doom. This tragic hero usually has a hamartia or a tragic flaw which causes his/hers’ downfall. The tragic flaw that Sophocles gives Oedipus is hubris (exaggerated pride or self-confidence), which is what caused Oedipus to walk right into the fate he sought to escape.…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Oedipus

    • 835 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. After Oedipus blinds himself I think that he does show his previous pride. I was surprised when he blinded himself after seeing his wife/mother dead as she committed suicide. When he came out in front of the public he displayed his pride as confidently as he had when he could see. He wanted the public to know about what he has done, i.e. killing his father and marrying his mother, and he demands to receive the punishment that any normal citizen would receive. He shows his self-confidence after his blinding because even when he is blind he shouts, “’open the doors, someone: show me to all the people of Thebes…’” (Knox 94), which shows that even though he is physically impaired, he has enough confidence that he can leave his home and reveal his face. Usually when a person has more power, such as Oedipus did as King, they expect to be treated differently, but Oedipus expected to be treated like a citizen would be treated for his crimes. From my personal opinion, I think that Oedipus seems completely defeated by the blinding. On page 95 Oedipus says, “Darkness, dark cloud all around me, enclosing me, unspeakable darkness…”. Darkness has a known connotation for depression and sadness. This sentence is very negative and he uses dark words that express his sadness and guilt. Depression is normally linked with darkness and clouds, compared to sun as happy, and when he used “darkness” and “dark cloud” it is evident that Oedipus is crushed to find that what the prophets had said was true. While Oedipus has the same level of confidence, I believe, from the context, that he is distraught over the recent events.…

    • 835 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus The King

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the book Oedipus The King, there was a curse that stated that Oedipus was to kill his father, Laius, and marry his mother, Jocasta. So when Oedipus' parents find out that Jocasta is pregnant they have the baby and give it to a man to take to the top of a mountain. But instead of the man taking the baby, Oedipus, to the mountain top he gave him to a family and the family then raised Oedipus. When Oedipus was older he was traveling to the town of Thebes when he ran across some people that demanded that Oedipus get off the road and let them get pass. Being himself Oedipus got mad and killed them all, what he did not know was that that was his father and when he got to Thebes he would marry his mother, the queen,…

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good 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