Oedipus Rex and King Lear are, as their titles announce, both about kings. These two plays are similar in theme and in the questions they pose to the audience. The kings in each play both fall from the pinnacle of power to become the most loathed of all classes in society; Oedipus discovers that he is a murderer and committer of incest, and Lear becomes a mad beggar. Misjudgments occur in both plays, and the same questions about the gods, fate, and free will are posed. In spite of these similarities
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Assignment 1 Extract 4 (Sophocles, Oedipus the King) In Greek Tragedy the medium, as in all forms of poetry is language, to convey a story through an imitation of an action, or as Aristotle defines in S.H. Butcher’s translation of Poetics “Tragedy is a mimesis of a praxis.” (Jones, 2000). This translates to an imitation/ representation of an action. Oedipus the King is structured into five episodes with a prologue to begin, each scene is introduced by the
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The story of Oedipus the King, is about his destiny and choices he makes along the way. Oedipus from the beginning was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. The God’s had already set this life for the king, but they never expected him to make the decisions he made to fulfill his destiny. When the play begins, the citizens of Thebes are begging their king, Oedipus, to take away the plague that threatens to destroy the city. Oedipus sent his brother-in-law, Kreon, to talk to the oracle
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“Symbolism in Oedipus the King” Literature is composed of various tactics in order to make the reading more interesting and compelling to the audience. One of my favorite literary elements or devices is the use of symbolism. According to Merriam - Webster, symbolism is “the use of symbols to express or represent ideas or qualities in literature” (Webster). This definition might seem elementary to most. However, symbolism can be used to bring out deeper meanings in a text or express the intangible
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The Cost of “Free” Will in Oedipus Rex (the King) Perhaps the Greek playwright Sophocles never had the concept of “free will” in mind when writing Oedipus Rex, but the play does allow for that interesting paradox we know today as free will. The paradox is: if Oedipus is told by the gods' oracles that he will kill his father and marry his mother, does he have any power to avoid this fate? That's a basic free will question. If Oedipus manages to avoid killing his father and marrying
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In Oedipus Tyranous, Sophocles, is having the audience ask a question as the play progresses; was Oedipus’s punishment fit for the crime that he has committed. Among the crime we as an audience ask are self why does Oedipus insist in finding the murderer of Laius, is this a self fulfilling prophecy that he is trying to answer or in the back of his mind does he already know the answer of who killed Laius; during all of this does the free will of Oedipus stand out or is his free will diminished at
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Honors 9/30/13 Irony in Sight Throughout Sophacles’ play Oedipus Rex, he uses sight and blindness to demonstrate irony and the hubris of Oedipus. This is marked by Oedipus’ unwillingness or inability to understand that which is clear to the audience. His hubris (extreme pride) is his tragic flaw, truly blinding him from the truth. Oedipus eventually blinds himself, and it is then that he can finally “see”. From the very beginning, Oedipus was blinded by pride. Throughout the play, it is the one greatest
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For their injustices, Oedipus must be exiled from Thebes: Socrates must drink hemlock and die. Discuss the extent to which Oedipus’ and Socrates’ final moments are determined by past acts of autonomy. Socrates is a character who is seen as person who dies for his ideals. He sees himself as a public servant who has lived his life helping the people of the city with his practice of philosophy and by living his life within the boundaries of the laws and justices of society. Socrates sees this
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the three plays Agamemnon by Aeschylus, Oedipus the King by Sophocles and Hippolytus by Euripides, there are three prevalent themes. These are the role of the gods, the difference between good and evil and human responsibilities. All three of these tragedies reveal the importance of the role the gods play to mankind. The gods have control over mankind and sometimes use them as pawns to achieve their ambitions; the gods also ensure that each individual’s fate is secured. The tragedies also reveal to
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destroy that fate and create their own. Both Minority Report, directed by Steven Spielberg, and Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, demonstrate human determination to create their own path. Humans crave the opportunity to shape their own destiny. When given a frightful or potentially life-altering destiny, humans decide not to simply accept it, but fight it. Humans are born with a fighting attitude. If given a destiny that is frightful, they will make every attempt to abolish that fate or at least
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