Oedipus Rex

Oedipus's act of blinding himself symbolically represents his ignorant decision to dismiss Teiresias's intimate knowledge of his past, by purposefully overlooking his message and the signs which...

The moral of Oedipus Rex is that it is useless to try to escape the power of fate. Oedipus's attempt to bypass the prophecy which states he will kill his father and sleep with his mother ironically...

The tragic downfall of Oedipus in Sophocles's Oedipus Rex is Oedipus's belief, based on his overwhelming pride (what the ancient Greeks called hubris),that by exercising his own free will, he can...

Pride, also called hubris, is the cause of Oedipus's downfall. On a human level, it is pride that causes Oedipus to unknowingly kill his father, Laius, on the road to Thebes. His sense of pride—his...

At the end of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus blinds himself, and he asks for his daughters, Antigone and Ismene, to be brought to him. It's interesting that he doesn't ask for his sons, Eteocles and...

Like many great kings, Oedipus has many good qualities. First, he learns of the prophecy that he is to grow up and kill his father and marry his mother. Not knowing that he is adopted, Oedipus...

There is also significance in the final scene of Oedipus the King that extends beyond the boundaries of this one play. It was part of a trilogy, and like any good serial, needed to set up the...

Most texts, if they utilize irony, will use one or two types. Oedipus Rex, therefore, is unique because it implements all three types of irony in fundamental ways. The primary irony in the play...

One could argue that King Oedipus is a victim of fate in Sophocle's classic play and that there was no way he could avoid his destiny. As a child, King Laius and Jocasta consulted an oracle, who...

In Oedipus Rex, there are different kinds of sight and blindness present throughout the cast. Tiresias is literally blind, yet he is the only character who "sees" the truth. He knows who Oedipus is...

If there’s one overriding idea in Oedipus Rex it’s that on no account do you ever mess with the gods. As with countless other Greek tragedies, Oedipus Rex shows us that the will of the gods cannot...

Oedipus the King opens with a priest describing the terrible plague that has come upon Thebes and begging Oedipus for help. Oedipus replies that he is more eager than anyone to find out the cause...

The plot structure of Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles and first performed around 429 BCE, is fundamentally linked to the essential elements of tragedy and the tragic hero's journey through the...

If anyone gets the blame here, I think it should be the gods who determined Oedipus fate to begin with. Though Oedipus may deserve some blame for rashly killing the man who blocked his way on the...

One type of sight that Oedipus steadfastly refuses to employ throughout Sophocles's Oedipus Rex is introspection. Oedipus refuses to look inside himself for answers to the questions affecting...

In determining the themes of Sophocles's Oedipus Rex, it's important to understand the distinction between a theme and a motif. A theme is a dominant central idea, message, or moral that the...

Jocasta is a conflicted character who appears doomed from the start. This doom begins in a prophecy; that is, that Laius will die by his son's (Oedipus) hands and sleep with his mother, Jocasta. As...

On the surface, the problem afflicting Thebes is a plague. But, when Oedipus sends Creon to discover the source of the plague, he learns it springs from a moral problem: the murderer of Laius, the...

This is what Aristotle meant in Poetics regarding katharsis, the purgation of pity and fear: Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in...

Oedipus is a strong ruler who earns the kingship of Thebes after he solves the riddle of the Sphinx who plagued the city, causing the Sphinx to commit suicide. This showed Oedipus' intelligence and...

Oedipus Rex reminds us of the blindness and arrogance of the powerful. This message is still relevant today. Oedipus is a king who has at his disposal the ability to find out what is causing a...

Catharsis refers to the cleansing feeling that one experiences by witnessing a tragedy, particularly one that is performed, and going through the emotional phases of that tragedy without having to...

The chorus in Greek plays served several purposes. This group of around twelve men in masks sometimes played small roles, sang and danced, and served as a group of citizens. In the case of the...

In this Athenian tragedy by Sophocles, Oedipus chooses to blind himself after it is revealed that he has, as foretold by a prophecy, killed his father and slept with his mother. Oedipus cannot bare...

Everything that happens to Oedipus in Sophocles's Oedipus Rex happens as a result of the will of the gods. The changes in Oedipus's life, from his birth to his tragic downfall and exile, are the...

After receiving the news from Creon that the plague will continue to ravage Thebes until the murderer of Laius is driven from the city, Oedipus petitions the blind prophet Tiresias to identify the...

The oracle tells Oedipus that he will murder his father and marry his mother. A horrified Oedipus decides to leave home for good so that this prophecy could not come true. What the oracle did not...

Sophocles most definitely characterizes Oedipus as arrogant in Oedipus Rex; in fact, arrogance is Oedipus's fatal tragic character flaw. We can especially see Oedipus's arrogance portrayed in his...

In lines 25–27, the Priest of Zeus uses metaphors to compare Thebes, the city, to a ship and death to the ocean that threatens her. He says, " For our city, as you yourself can see, / is badly...

The answer already given is excellent, but I will take this in another direction: Oedipus Rex has a special place in our society particularly because it has given us, via Sigmund Freud, the term...

The shepherd did the one thing that enabled the dire prophecy of the Delphic oracle to eventually come true. When Oedipus was born, the oracle had predicted that he would grow up to kill his...

According to Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon, the noun peripeteia refers to a turn in the opposite direction, a "reversal", a "sudden change", or, among other definitions, a "sudden...

Oedipus Rex is set in the ancient Greek city-state of Thebes. Or, to be more precise, it's set in front of the Theban royal palace. Ancient Greek playwrights were sticklers for the three unities of...

The last lines are a lesson and a warning about fate, spoken by the chorus. In modern American terms, they might be paraphrased as "It isn't over til it's over," a sentiment that says a football...

King Oedipus displays his pride by believing that he can triumph over his fate and establish his own destiny despite the gods' ultimate design. Oedipus is unaware of his background and does not...

This is a great question. Oedipus is the leader of Thebes in the beginning of the play. He is great in the eyes of people, and he is deeply insightful. We know this because he was able to solve the...

The final speech of the Chorus looks back to reinforce one of the lessons of the play -- that the future is beyond human knowledge:Ye men of Thebes, behold this Œdipus, .... And, lo! in what...

Like the chorus in many Greek tragedies, the chorus in Oedipus Rex represents the voice of the greater society. The elders of the chorus are considered to represent men of Thebes who honor and...

The Choragos is the leader of the chorus, and he is also the member of the chorus who participates in the drama of the play as a member of the cast. In his role, he interacts with people in the...

There are many morals one could derive from Oedipus Rex in order to describe its purpose, but the most important one is related to its didactic function of teaching the audience the dangers of...

A strong thesis is both specific and arguable. For instance, saying that Oedipus Rex is about fate is too vague. It's also not really arguable, as nobody is likely to assert that the play is not...

At the start of the play, Thebes is suffering from a devastating plague, and the Priest of Apollo asks King Oedipus of Thebes to help put an end to it. King Oedipus responds by saying that he...

A foil is a character who contrasts the protagonist to highlight the main character's qualities and traits. In Sophocles's classic play Oedipus the King, Creon serves as Oedipus's foil. Creon is...

The problem in Oedipus Rex is the king's refusal to accept the truth which Teiresias brings him: Oedipus himself is the cause of the plague because he is the murderer of the previous king of...

By my understanding, "drama" here refers to the action that propels the plot forward and keeps the story moving in a logical and exciting sequence of events that ensures we stay on the edge of our...

Oedipus's good qualities include his desire for justice and his will to save the people of Thebes from the plague that is devastating them. He is a strong and responsible leader who wants to...

It is revealed to the reader during a conversation between Oedipus and Jocasta that Oedipus went to the Oracle of Delphi because of a rumor that he heard at a feast. One of the people attending the...

Laius and Jocasta are told that their son Oedipus will grow up to murder his father and marry his mother. Hoping to prevent such horrible things from occurring, they give the baby to a shepherd,...

Simply put, the Thebans have other things on their minds, most notably the Sphinx. This terrifying monster has put a curse on the city and she's warned the citizens of Thebes from inquiring into...

Excessive pride is another important idea in the play. At the beginning of the play, Oedipus greets the priest asking for his help by noting that of course, he can help solve the problem of the...