Oedipus the King Essay -- Classics Oedipus King Essays

Oedipus the KingOedipus the King is the unadulterated example of a tragedy. It contains acomplete combination of all the features of a tragedy. Aristotle inhis Poetics1 defines Oedipus as being a definite example of theform and heading of tragedy. In tragedies the Greeks dramatizedclimactic events in the lives of heroes, and Oedipus story is noexception. By utilise many different literary devices it brings moraldilemmas of action and motive to the general stage. The action is setout over the timeframe of one day, which will accord to the prophetTiresias will bring Oedipus birth and destruction.King Oedipus is the central protagonist and inside his character liesa tragic dent. He is unintentionally the architect of his stimulatedown occur. The strengths that once booster cable him to solve the riddle behindthe sphinx later lead him to his own spill. In the words of thepriest you helped us stand, only to fall once more. Oedipushamartia is his anger. It lies at the root of the plot. It was furythat lead him to belt down Laius. He was about to thrust Oedipus off theroad one night, so Oedipus paid him back with interest by murderinghim. Another flaw is a persistent desire to discover the truth. Hismindless stubbornness motivates him to seek the truth about Laiuskiller and who his father is. This front leads to the turn of eventsthat take place throughout the play.Despite constant defensive measure of his fate he cannot deny the work of thegods. Tiresias delivers him a prophecy of this fate. Oedipus part are far beyond his own control. No matter what heattempts to do or alter every path leads the same way. He findshimself always terrified Apollos oracle might come true. Howeverhe is pertinacious to seek out the Kings murderer to punish him. Thissearch interlinks with the search for his father. Jocasta to a fault triesto deny destiny believing that nothing human can penetrate thefuture. She claims to think that Its all chance, chance rules ourlives. Ho wever fate inevitably takes over. Through the performance ofanagorsis Oedipus discovers he is in fact the very criminal he seeks.along with this he realises further truth in the prophecy, that he ismarried to his mother. Jocasta to a fault comes to realise the same truth.By the end of the play his final downfall along with hers isinevitable.Tragic iro... ...loins that spawned my wretchedlife. What regret can crown this grief? Its mine alone, my destiny - Iam OedipusThese two statements show the peripeteia of Oedipus life. Once a herobasked in glory, he has now succumbed to his destiny. In turn he islowered to a truly pathetic state.His neutered state serves to highlight the reversal of fortune heundergoes. His tragic flaw leads him to acknowledging his fate.Oedipus downfall comes as he tries to escape fate but cannot. The earreach knows this as does the chorus and we can only watch.Oedipus the King contains nothing exterior of the definition its justpure Tragedy at the very co re. It also confirms to Aristotles theoryof Tragedy. It obeys all the rulesand the elements of Tragedy mentioned throughout. These featuresentwine together to create the final work of Tragedy. From all ofthis it is unquestionable that the word tragedy is a usefullyprecise description of Sophocles play Oedipus the King.---------------------------------------------------------------------1 W.B. Worthen, The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama, 3rd Edition (USA, Harcourt College Publishers, 2000), p 72.