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Oedipus Rex Research Paper

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Humans have existed for a very long time. The idea of gods watching over us has existed almost as long as we have. It is a comfort we created for ourselves, when we felt like we needed a father or a mother watching over us, or an explanation of the mysterious occurrences around us. Even though most cultures have a god that watches over them, humans have never been able to decide on one for everyone. A culture’s god fits the wants and needs of the people. Because of that, every god is different, especially when it comes to their demeanor. The first recorded gods, worshipped by the Sumerian people, were destructive and angry because their lives were difficult and chaotic. This differed from the Egyptian gods, who tended to be friendlier and there to help the Egyptians, who loved the land and lived a well organized life. Greek gods were very different than these early gods. They acted much more like humans. In my opinion, they were almost indifferent to human affairs besides as a mean of entertainment. They were stuck in their own private world, and they checked on humans sometimes …show more content…
For example, in the beginning, we see Oedipus as a kind, fair ruler. This is shown in lines 67-90, when Oedipus talks about how he was very worried about the state of Thebes and its people. By the middle of the play, we start to see some of Oedipus’ more hot-headed, hubristic qualities. It’s the same way with the character of the gods. It seems as if they are offering help in the beginning when Creon gets advice from Apollo, but as we delve deeper into the story and get more attached to Oedipus, we start to rethink the ethics of the gods. Sophocles really makes you feel for Oedipus, so we start to think about the unfairness of the situation that everyone was put into. Not only was Oedipus affected, everyone close to him and both the cities he would have ruled were affected as well, in negative

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