Preview

Oedipus Rex: Setting Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
254 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Oedipus Rex: Setting Analysis
The topic of actual locations of the setting mentioned in ancient mythological stories has often sparked many controversies. This is often cause by the author’s vagueness in the description of the setting where the story took place and the city of Thebes mentioned in Oedipus Rex is no exception. Questions can be raise on the location of Thebes in which the story took place in. Due to the fact that there are actually two different real life locations of Thebes; one located in Greece and the other located in Egypt. Since the setting of the story expressed vaguely by the author we can only hypothesized it took place in Thebe’s Greece based on the evidence provided in the story. The analysis of Greek culture allows us to recognized ancient

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In Oedipus the King, lines 1477-1484 form the conclusion of the play. After Oedipus is banished from Thebes, the Chorus addresses the people with this passage, explaining Oedipus’ success and downfall. This passage also indicates to the reader how throughout the play, the people’s perspective of Oedipus shifts from respect to shame. In the beginning of the play, the people of Thebes regard Oedipus with respect and envy. On line 14, a priest calls Oedipus “my country’s lord and master”, a title that displays the priest’s respect of his king. As he was highly regarded, Oedipus was the subject of the people’s envy: on line 1749, the Chorus proclaims Oedipus was the “Envy of all in the city who saw his good fortune”. The people’s admiration for…

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The ability to see is a much more complex ability than just the physical attribute. Most individuals have the ability to see physically but are blind to the reality of certain circumstances. In the play, “Oedipus the King” by Plato, Oedipus, the tragic hero, is not a blind man but cannot see the reality in the outcome of trying to escape his given fate.…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus Rex Analisys

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In "Oedipus Rex", Sophocles portraits one of the most intriguing and fascinating traits of the human nature: the search for truth regarding who we are and the realization of the paths reserved by our future fate.…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus ascended the throne of Thebes; as to many years ago he had solved the riddle of the Sphinx, saved the city of Thebes and was welcomed as King. We see that this quality makes him an excellent ruler who anticipates his subjects’ needs. Taking up the responsibility of being a king by serving the citizens, Oedipus is adequate to the challenge, believing he can purge the land. Oedipus the King is a character that tempts fate, thinks he can change fate as a man who…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus Rex is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. It tells the story of a man named and Oedipus who runs away from Corinth becoming the King of Thebes unintentionally fulfilling a prophecy he was trying to avoid. When Oedipus is told that he has fulfilled the prophecy he was desperately trying to run away from he goes through stages of denial before finally accepting his fate but even then he hasn't fully accepted what he has done.Sophocles develops the theme that the truth is hard to accept.…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thebes is located in Central Greece where it has always played an important role in Greek mythology. The King and Queen of Thebes at the start of the play was Laius and Jocasta, but throughout the play, Oedipus came into power as King.…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Born with a prophecy claiming he would one day kill his father and marry his mother, King Oedipus is immediately set up for failure. However, this does by no means make him an incompetent ruler. Quite the opposite in fact. Oedipus proves to be a man renowned for his intellect which is exemplified when he solves the riddle of the sphinx, a supernatural mythological being who held the city of Thebes captive. Furthermore, his is a man of swift action and great insight. This is perhaps best represented with his response to the priest’s complaint, he responds adeptly, “But I have not been idle; one thing I have already done – The only thing that promised hope. My kinsman Creon… has been sent to the Pythian house of Apollo.” Oedipus is indeed one that is faithful and compassionate to his people, this is further exemplified as he orders Creon to…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the study of Greek plays, one tries to recreate for an experience, to recapture something of what is meant to those for whom it was written. We know more about the life of Sophocles than we know do about the lives of any other Greek playwright, but this still is not a lot. Sophocles’ work has been said to be the pinnacle of Greek tragedy. Oedipus the King is something like the literary Mona Lisa of ancient Greece. It presents a nightmare vision of a world turned upside down; a decent man, Oedipus, becomes the king of Thebes, whilst in the process unknowingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. As scholars, we are bound to relate this story through history, to ask what the writer really meant, how…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    * In one of the early Greek tragedies written by Sophocles in 470 BC, ‘Oedipus the King’ demonstrates the arrogance portrayed by human nature which he therefore turns away the obvious truth. This early Greek Myth shows the way in which Oedipus, the King of Thebes, is so arrogant in wanting the truth in regards to the mishaps that shroud his land and so persistent that he is ultimately leading himself into his own demise.…

    • 484 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

    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

    Oedipus Essay

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages

    "What walks on four legs at dawn, two legs at noon, and three legs at nightfall." This was the riddle posed by the Sphinx who at the time was destroying the city of Thebes. The riddle was solved by none other than Oedipus who was made king for ridding the city of the Sphinx. Ironically though, Oedipus in his life comes to embody the riddle of the Sphinx and its soulution. Firstly, the Sphinx is percieved as a curse on Thebes and Oedipus also becomes a curse by the end of the play. Secondly, Oedipus's physical health embodies the riddle. Thirdly, Oedipus's emotional state also resembles the riddle. Lastly, the events of Oedipus's life relate to the theme of identity in the play.…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus rex Notes

    • 1293 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The play takes place in the city of Thebes, where Oedipus is ruler, the surrounding area of Kithairon, and Oedipus’s supposed city of origin, Corinth. And of course the crossroads that were the scene of Laius’s end.…

    • 1293 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Oedipus Journal Analysis

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The play occurs several years after Oedipus had become king of Thebes—mythical city that shares some resemblance of Athens at the time Sophocles wrote the play. The plays’ set is Oedipus royal place and the timeline can be estimated around the year 429 B.C.E.…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays