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English 125
Final Essay
Introduction
The play of King Oedipus was written by Sophocles who won second prize in Athens
annual drama festival, in the city Dionysia in the 5 th century. In the city of Thebes, the tragedy
contains one of the most famous riddles ever devised and is an epic story of murder, incest and
terrible unintended consequences. Greek theater was very different from what we call theater
today. It was the part of a religious festival. To attend a performance of one of these plays was an
act of worship, not entertainment or intellectual pastime. But it is difficult for us to even begin to
understand this aspect of the Greek theater, because the religion in question was very different
from modern religions. The god celebrated by the performances of these plays was Dionysus, a
deity who lived in the wild and was known for his subversive revelry.
Aristotles definiton of tragedy and the play King Oedipus
A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also as having
magnitude complete in itself, in language with pleasurable accessories. Each kind brought in
separately, the parts of the work in a dramatic, not in a narrative form, with incidents arousing
pita and fear, where with to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. According to me, there is
a particular arrangement of actions, events and situations in a narrative. The authors artistic
pattern made from the parts of the narrative, including the exposition, complications and climax
is very good. Even the language used is good and it does not have laughter or humor in it.

Oedipus as Tragic Hero

According to Aristotle, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is a king whose life falls apart
when he finds out his life story, for his unfortunate sequence of events. As a child, Oedipus was
given a prophecy that he was to grow up marrying his mother and slaying his father. Jocasta and
Laius try to impede the prophecy by killing Oedipus, but in the end, fate was the ultimate victor.
According to Aristotle, Oedipus is an ideal example of a tragic hero for causing his own
downfall, having fallen from his estate, and having an undeserved punishment. He makes an
error due to human fallibility and ends up suffering as a consequence. Free will and fallibility
have caused Oedipus to wander down the path where he will fulfill his prophecy. As a result, his
downfall results from acts for which he is himself is responsible.
Hubris or Destiny
Fate is defined as, a power beyond human control that is believed to determine course of
events, a person's destiny. Fate is referred to a lot in the play King Oedipus. Every tragic hero has
some fatal weakness, some moral Achilles heel, that brings him to a bad end. In some classical
tragedies, his transgression is a weakness the Greeks called as Hubris- extreme pride, leading to
over confidence. In the play Oedipus the hubris or pride destroyed Oedipus and his family. The
hubris set up the situational irony in the play.
anagnorisis and catastrophe

Peripetia,
The peripeteia

of the play is the Messenger's reversal of intention; in seeking to help Oedipus by telling him that
Polybus and Merope were not his real parents, he instead creates the opposite effect, providing
the crucial piece of information that will reveal that Oedipus has indeed killed his father and
married his mother. As Aristotle recommends, this is directly connected to the anagnorisis, for
the Messenger and he puts the pieces together of the whole story of Oedipus, enabling him to

recognize his true identity, to gain the essential knowledge he has lacked. The peripeteia and
anagnorisis directly cause Oedipus catastrophe, or change of fortune from good to bad, and lead
to the emotional scenes of suffering with Creon and his children. In a sense, each of Oedipus
actions can be considered a reversal of intention, and each gives him a little more knowledge of
the dreadful truth that will lead to his downfall.

Jocasta and Tiresias

Oedipuss wife and mother, and

Creons sister. Jocasta appears only in the final scenes of the play King Oedipus. In her first
words, she attempts to make peace between Oedipus and Creon, pleading with Oedipus not to
banish Creon. She is comforting to her husband and calmly tries to urge him to reject Tiresiass
terrifying prophecies as false. Jocasta solves the riddle of Oedipuss identity before Oedipus
does, and she expresses her love for her son and husband in her desire to protect him from this
knowledge. Tiresias, the blind soothsayer of Thebes, appears in both Oedipus the King and
Antigone. In Oedipus the King, Tiresias tells Oedipus that he is the murderer he hunts and
Oedipus does not believe him. In Antigone, Tiresias tells Creon that Creon himself is bringing
disaster upon Thebes, and Creon does not believe him. Yet, both Oedipus and Creon claim to
trust Tiresias deeply. The literal blindness of the soothsayer points to the metaphorical blindness
of those who refuse to believe the truth about them when they hear it spoken.
Sigmund Freud and the
concept of oedipal complex play King Oedipus

The Oedipal complex

is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud to explain the maturation of the infant through
identification with the father and desire for the mother. It is based on the Greek myth of Oedipus
who kills his father Laius and marries his mother Jocasta. According to me oedipal complex does
not exist. I certainly do not see how it could apply to Oedipus at all. He did not forget or suppress

the memory of killing his father because he had not killed his father. He killed a group of
strangers on the road that made him angry. One of those strangers happened to be his birth father.
Oedipus would have had to have killed the King of Corinth, his adopted father, for Freud's theory
to apply. Oedipus obviously loved the parents that had raised him or he never would have been
so appalled at the prophecy that he left his home to ensure it did not come to pass. Freud's theory
would not have applied to his marriage to Jocasta either. He married a complete stranger, not the
woman who raised him. Again Freud's theory would only have worked if he had married the
mother who had raised him. How does one become jealous of people they have never met? King
Laius and Queen Jocasta were the real villains in this story. Had they kept their infant son and
raised him, the dire prediction would most likely not have come true.
Modern day relevance of this play
I think the play king Oedipus does apply in these
modern days. For young generation getting into a relationship and breaking it within couple of
days is very common. Adoptions are getting very common nowdays. For instance, Girls in high
school get into short term relationships and become pregnant. Some of these girls are from a
culture where adoptions are not accepted , so they decide to raise the child without telling the
guy about it. May be they do not like to share the child. Then after few years the girl and the guy
gets married and their offsprings meet and get into a relationship and want to get married
without knowing that they are sibblings.
Could this tragedy be avoided?
Yes, I think this tragedy could have been avoided, if king
Laios and Jocasta wouldnt have tried to kill their son. Instead would have kept him with them.
King Oedipus ran away from Corinth so that the prophecy does not become true about him

killing his father and getting married to his mother. In order to avoid this prophecy he ran. King
Laios and Jocasta should have figured out some other way to get rid of the prophecy or should
have left everything on destiny and keep the son King Oedipus with them.
Conclusion
My friend in high school used to like her own brother. She used to
come in school and always talk about his muscular body and smart features. At times It came
into my mind that why does she talk so much about her own brother. They were siblings, but for
my friend she wanted him to be his boy friend. She could not see him with any other girl. She
confessed in front of me about her liking for her own brother. On the other side the guy was
aware for her sister liking her. He also used to like her sister as his girlfriend. They finally ended
up dating each other. When their mom came to know about them they killed her, so that nobody
comes to know about their love. But eventually the truth was revealed by the police.