Essays on Oedipus

In Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex, first performed sometime in the 430s B. C. E, the scene opens in front of the palace of Oedipus, King of Thebes. As Oedipus enters, he finds many children and priests praying to the gods. Oedipus questions the oldest of the priests as to why they are praying. The priest…

Suzuki, a renowned expert on Zen Buddhism, called attention to thetopic of free will in one of his lectures by stating that it was the battle of”God versus Man, Man versus God, God versus Nature, Nature versus God, Manversus Nature, Nature versus Man1.” These six battles constitute an ultimatelygreater battle: the battle of free will…

            Though there has been much debate over who is actually the protagonist in Sophocles’ tragic play Oedipus Rex, the general consensus among scholars is that Oedipus himself stars as the protagonist in this play as a part of his role as the tragic hero.  “Rather than configuring Oedipus as an archetypal paradigm of the…

In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is a classic tragic hero. According to Aristotle’s definition, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is a king whose life falls apart when he finds out his life story. There are a number of characteristics described by Aristotle that identify a tragic hero. For example, a…

What you don’t know won’t hurt you. This widely popular piece of advice directly applies to Oedipus. Unfortunately for Oedipus, he is incapable of following such advice. The story begins with the murder of Laius already in the past. As Oedipus learns of Laius’s death, he pursues knowledge of the tragedy and tries to expose…

In the third passage, from Oedipus the King, Sophocles reveals the importance of self-knowledge to rid of the illusions that fate can be escaped. Tiresias provides insight and truth to an ignorant and proud Oedipus. Oedipus holds the misconception that his worldly knowledge and power over Thebes provides him with enough insight to realize that…

In literature, tragedy is usually expressed as an extremely cataclysmic event that causes the protagonist to fall into despair. According to Arthur Miller in his academic essay, “Tragedy and the Common Man”, tragedy is a factor in life that can happen to everyone from the common man to kings and queens. Miller’s representation of tragedy…

“A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it. ” (Jean de la Fontaine), a sobering reminder of the extent to which Oedipus and his parents, Jocasta and Laius from the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles fight a predetermined course plotted for them by the gods and written by…

Sophocles was a Greek playwright who lived during the 5th century b.c. The Oedipus Cycle is one of his most famous works; the trilogy of plays traces the ill-fated life of a noble blooded man and his descendants. Oedipus at Colonus is the second play of the set. Oedipus at Colonus is set many years…

At first glance, Oedipus and Creon are two very different people. But as time progresses their personalities and even their fates grow more and more similar. In Sophocles’s play “Oedipus the King”, Oedipus and Creon are two completely opposite people. Oedipus is brash and thoughtless, whilst Creon is wise and prudent. In “Oedipus the King”,…