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Analysis of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 27, 2020 • ( 0 )

The place of the Oedipus Tyrannus in literature is something like that of the Mona Lisa in art. Everyone knows the story, the first detective story of Western literature; everyone who has read or seen it is drawn into its enigmas and moral dilemmas. It presents a kind of nightmare vision of a world suddenly turned upside down: a decent man discovers that he has unknowingly killed his father, married his mother, and sired children by her. It is a story that, as Aristotle says in the Poetics , makes one shudder with horror and feel pity just on hearing it. In Sophocles’ hands, however, this ancient tale becomes a profound meditation on the questions of guilt and responsibility, the order (or disorder) of our world, and the nature of man. The play stands with the Book of Job, Hamlet, and King Lear as one of Western literature’s most searching examinations of the problem of suffering.

—Charles Segal, Oedipus Tyrannus: Tragic Heroism and the Limits of Knowledge

No other drama has exerted a longer or stronger hold on the imagination than Sophocles’ Oedipus the King (also known as Oedipus Tyrannus or Oedipus Rex ). Tragic drama that is centered on the dilemma of a single central character largely begins with Sophocles and is exemplified by his Oedipus, arguably the most influential play ever written. The most famous of all Greek dramas, Sophocles’ play, supported by Aristotle in the Poetics, set the standard by which tragedy has been measured for nearly two-and-a-half millennia. For Aristotle, Sophocles’ play featured the ideal tragic hero in Oedipus, a man of “great repute and good fortune,” whose fall, coming from his horrifying discovery that he has killed his father and married his mother, is masterfully arranged to elicit tragedy’s proper cathartic mixture of pity and terror. The play’s relentless exploration of human nature, destiny, and suffering turns an ancient tale of a man’s shocking history into one of the core human myths. Oedipus thereby joins a select group of fictional characters, including Odysseus, Faust, Don Juan, and Don Quixote, that have entered our collective consciousness as paradigms of humanity and the human condition. As classical scholar Bernard Knox has argued, “Sophocles’ Oedipus is not only the greatest creation of a major poet and the classic representative figure of his age: he is also one of a long series of tragic protagonists who stand as symbols of human aspiration and despair before the characteristic dilemma of Western civilization—the problem of man’s true stature, his proper place in the universe.”

For nearly 2,500 years Sophocles’ play has claimed consideration as drama’s most perfect and most profound achievement. Julius Caesar wrote an adaptation; Nero allegedly acted the part of the blind Oedipus. First staged in a European theater in 1585, Oedipus has been continually performed ever since and reworked by such dramatists as Pierre Corneille, John Dryden, Voltaire, William Butler Yeats, André Gide, and Jean Cocteau. The French neoclassical tragedian Jean Racine asserted that Oedipus was the ideal tragedy, while D. H. Lawrence regarded it as “the finest drama of all time.” Sigmund Freud discovered in the play the key to understanding man’s deepest and most repressed sexual and aggressive impulses, and the so-called Oedipus complex became one of the founding myths of psychoanalysis. Oedipus has served as a crucial mirror by which each subsequent era has been able to see its own reflection and its understanding of the mystery of human existence.

If Aeschylus is most often seen as the great originator of ancient Greek tragedy and Euripides is viewed as the great outsider and iconoclast, it is Sophocles who occupies the central position as classical tragedy’s technical master and the age’s representative figure over a lifetime that coincided with the rise and fall of Athens’s greatness as a political and cultural power in the fifth century b.c. Sophocles was born in 496 near Athens in Colonus, the legendary final resting place of the exiled Oedipus. At the age of 16, Sophocles, an accomplished dancer and lyre player, was selected to lead the celebration of the victory over the Persians at the battle of Salamis, the event that ushered in Athens’s golden age. He died in 406, two years before Athens’s fall to Sparta, which ended nearly a century of Athenian supremacy and cultural achievement. Very much at the center of Athenian public life, Sophocles served as a treasurer of state and a diplomat and was twice elected as a general. A lay priest in the cult of a local deity, Sophocles also founded a literary association and was an intimate of such prominent men of letters as Ion of Chios, Herodotus, and Archelaus. Urbane, garrulous, and witty, Sophocles was remembered fondly by his contemporaries as possessing all the admired qualities of balance and tranquillity. Nicknamed “the Bee” for his “honeyed” style of fl owing eloquence—the highest compliment the Greeks could bestow on a poet or speaker—Sophocles was regarded as the tragic Homer.

In marked contrast to his secure and stable public role and private life, Sophocles’ plays orchestrate a disturbing challenge to assurance and certainty by pitting vulnerable and fallible humanity against the inexorable forces of nature and destiny. Sophocles began his career as a playwright in 468 b.c. with a first-prize victory over Aeschylus in the Great, or City, Dionysia, the annual Athenian drama competition. Over the next 60 years he produced more than 120 plays (only seven have survived intact), winning first prize at the Dionysia 24 times and never earning less than second place, making him unquestionably the most successful and popular playwright of his time. It is Sophocles who introduced the third speaking actor to classical drama, creating the more complex dramatic situations and deepened psychological penetration through interpersonal relationships and dialogue. “Sophocles turned tragedy inward upon the principal actors,” classicist Richard Lattimore has observed, “and drama becomes drama of character.” Favoring dramatic action over narration, Sophocles brought offstage action onto the stage, emphasized dialogue rather than lengthy, undramatic monologues, and purportedly introduced painted scenery. Also of note, Sophocles replaced the connected trilogies of Aeschylus with self-contained plays on different subjects at the same contest, establishing the norm that has continued in Western drama with its emphasis on the intensity and unity of dramatic action. At their core, Sophocles’ tragedies are essentially moral and religious dramas pitting the tragic hero against unalterable fate as defined by universal laws, particular circumstances, and individual temperament. By testing his characters so severely, Sophocles orchestrated adversity into revelations that continue to evoke an audience’s capacity for wonder and compassion.

The story of Oedipus was part of a Theban cycle of legends that was second only to the stories surrounding the Trojan War as a popular subject for Greek literary treatment. Thirteen different Greek dramatists, including Aeschylus and Euripides, are known to have written plays on the subject of Oedipus and his progeny. Sophocles’ great innovation was to turn Oedipus’s horrifying circumstances into a drama of self-discovery that probes the mystery of selfhood and human destiny.

The play opens with Oedipus secure and respected as the capable ruler of Thebes having solved the riddle of the Sphinx and gained the throne and Thebes’s widowed queen, Jocasta, as his reward. Plague now besets the city, and Oedipus comes to Thebes’s rescue once again when, after learning from the oracle of Apollo that the plague is a punishment for the murder of his predecessor, Laius, he swears to discover and bring the murderer to justice. The play, therefore, begins as a detective story, with the key question “Who killed Laius?” as the initial mystery. Oedipus initiates the first in a seemingly inexhaustible series of dramatic ironies as the detective who turns out to be his own quarry. Oedipus’s judgment of banishment for Laius’s murderer seals his own fate. Pledged to restore Thebes to health, Oedipus is in fact the source of its affliction. Oedipus’s success in discovering Laius’s murderer will be his own undoing, and the seemingly percipient, riddle-solving Oedipus will only see the truth about himself when he is blind. To underscore this point, the blind seer Teiresias is summoned. He is reluctant to tell what he knows, but Oedipus is adamant: “No man, no place, nothing will escape my gaze. / I will not stop until I know it all.” Finally goaded by Oedipus to reveal that Oedipus himself is “the killer you’re searching for” and the plague that afflicts Thebes, Teiresias introduces the play’s second mystery, “Who is Oedipus?”

You have eyes to see with, But you do not see yourself, you do not see The horror shadowing every step of your life, . . . Who are your father and mother? Can you tell me?

Oedipus rejects Teiresias’s horrifying answer to this question—that Oedipus has killed his own father and has become a “sower of seed where your father has sowed”—as part of a conspiracy with Jocasta’s brother Creon against his rule. In his treatment of Teiresias and his subsequent condemning of Creon to death, Oedipus exposes his pride, wrath, and rush to judgment, character flaws that alloy his evident strengths of relentless determination to learn the truth and fortitude in bearing the consequences. Jocasta comes to her brother’s defense, while arguing that not all oracles can be believed. By relating the circumstances of Laius’s death, Jocasta attempts to demonstrate that Oedipus could not be the murderer while ironically providing Oedipus with the details that help to prove the case of his culpability. In what is a marvel of ironic plot construction, each step forward in answering the questions surrounding the murder and Oedipus’s parentage takes Oedipus a step back in time toward full disclosure and self-discovery.

As Oedipus is made to shift from self-righteous authority to doubt, a messenger from Corinth arrives with news that Oedipus’s supposed father, Poly-bus, is dead. This intelligence seems again to disprove the oracle that Oedipus is fated to kill his father. Oedipus, however, still is reluctant to return home for fear that he could still marry his mother. To relieve Oedipus’s anxiety, the messenger reveals that he himself brought Oedipus as an infant to Polybus. Like Jocasta whose evidence in support of Oedipus’s innocence turns into confirmation of his guilt, the messenger provides intelligence that will connect Oedipus to both Laius and Jocasta as their son and as his father’s killer. The messenger’s intelligence produces the crucial recognition for Jocasta, who urges Oedipus to cease any further inquiry. Oedipus, however, persists, summoning the herdsman who gave the infant to the messenger and was coincidentally the sole survivor of the attack on Laius. The herdsman’s eventual confirmation of both the facts of Oedipus’s birth and Laius’s murder produces the play’s staggering climax. Aristotle would cite Sophocles’ simultaneous con-junction of Oedipus’s recognition of his identity and guilt with his reversal of fortune—condemned by his own words to banishment and exile as Laius’s murderer—as the ideal artful arrangement of a drama’s plot to produce the desired cathartic pity and terror.

The play concludes with an emphasis on what Oedipus will now do after he knows the truth. No tragic hero has fallen further or faster than in the real time of Sophocles’ drama in which the time elapsed in the play coincides with the performance time. Oedipus is stripped of every illusion of his authority, control, righteousness, and past wisdom and is forced to contend with a shame that is impossible to expiate—patricide and incestual relations with his mother—in a world lacking either justice or alleviation from suffering. Oedipus’s heroic grandeur, however, grows in his diminishment. Fundamentally a victim of circumstances, innocent of intentional sin whose fate was preordained before his birth, Oedipus refuses the consolation of blamelessness that victimization confers, accepting in full his guilt and self-imposed sentence as an outcast, criminal, and sinner. He blinds himself to confirm the moral shame that his actions, unwittingly or not, have provoked. It is Oedipus’s capacity to endure the revelation of his sin, his nature, and his fate that dominates the play’s conclusion. Oedipus’s greatest strengths—his determination to know the truth and to accept what he learns—sets him apart as one of the most pitiable and admired of tragic heroes. “The closing note of the tragedy,” Knox argues, “is a renewed insistence on the heroic nature of Oedipus; the play ends as it began, with the greatness of the hero. But it is a different kind of greatness. It is now based on knowledge, not, as before on ignorance.” The now-blinded Oedipus has been forced to see and experience the impermanence of good fortune, the reality of unimaginable moral shame, and a cosmic order that is either perverse in its calculated cruelty or chaotically random in its designs, in either case defeating any human need for justice and mercy.

The Chorus summarizes the harsh lesson of heroic defeat that the play so majestically dramatizes:

Look and learn all citizens of Thebes. This is Oedipus. He, who read the famous riddle, and we hailed chief of men, All envied his power, glory, and good fortune. Now upon his head the sea of disaster crashes down. Mortality is man’s burden. Keep your eyes fixed on your last day. Call no man happy until he reaches it, and finds rest from suffering.

Few plays have dealt so unflinchingly with existential truths or have as bravely defined human heroism in the capacity to see, suffer, and endure.

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Oedipus Rex

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At the start of the play, the city of Thebes is suffering terribly. Citizens are dying from plague, crops fail, women are dying in childbirth and their babies are stillborn. A group of priests comes to the royal palace to ask for help from Oedipus , their king who once saved them from the tyranny of the terrible Sphinx. Oedipus has already sent his brother-in-law, Creon , to the oracle of the god Apollo to find out what can be done. (A little background: before Oedipus arrived in Thebes, the previous king, Laius, was murdered under mysterious circumstances and the murderer was never found. When Oedipus arrived in Thebes and saved the city, he was made king and married the widowed queen, Jocasta , sister of Creon.) Now Creon returns with the oracle's news: for the plague to be lifted from the city, the murderer of Laius must be discovered and punished. The oracle claims that the murderer is still living in Thebes.

Oedipus curses the unknown murderer and swears he will find and punish him. He orders the people of Thebes, under punishment of exile, to give any information they have about the death of Laius. Oedipus sends for Tiresias , the blind prophet, to help with the investigation. Tiresias comes, but refuses to tell Oedipus what he has seen in his prophetic visions. Oedipus accuses Tiresias of playing a part in Laius's death. Tiresias grows angry and says that Oedipus is the cause of the plague—he is the murderer of Laius. As the argument escalates, Oedipus accuses Tiresias of plotting with Creon to overthrow him, while Tiresias hints at other terrible things that Oedipus has done.

Convinced that Creon is plotting to overthrow him, Oedipus declares his intention to banish or execute his brother-in-law. Jocasta and the chorus believe Creon is innocent and beg Oedipus to let Creon go. He relents, reluctantly, still convinced of Creon's guilt. Jocasta tells Oedipus not to put any stock in what prophets and seers say. As an example, she tells him the prophecy she once received—that Laius, her first husband, would be killed by their own son. And yet, Laius was killed by strangers, and her own infant son was left to die in the mountains. But her description of where Laius was killed—a triple-crossroad —worries Oedipus. It's the same place where Oedipus once fought with several people and killed them, one of whom fit the description of Laius. He asks that the surviving eyewitness to Laius's murder be brought to him. He tells Jocasta that oracles have played a big part in his life as well—he received a prophecy that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother, which is why he left Corinth, the city he was raised in, and never returned.

An old messenger arrives from Corinth with the news that Oedipus's father, King Polybus, has died of old age. This encourages Oedipus. It seems his prophecy might not come true, but he remains worried because his mother is still alive. The messenger tells him not to worry—the king and queen of Corinth were not his real parents. The messenger himself brought Oedipus as a baby to the royal family as a gift after a shepherd found the boy in the mountains and gave him to the messenger. The shepherd was the same man Oedipus has already sent for—the eyewitness to Laius's murder. Jocasta begs Oedipus to abandon his search for his origins, but Oedipus insists he must know the story of his birth. Jocasta cries out in agony and leaves the stage. The shepherd arrives but doesn't want to tell what he knows. Only under threat of death does he reveal that he disobeyed the order to kill the infant son of Laius and Jocasta, and instead gave that baby to the messenger. That baby was Oedipus, who in fact killed his father Laius and married his mother. Oedipus realizes that he has fulfilled his awful prophecy. Queen Jocasta kills herself and Oedipus, in a fit of grief, gouges out his own eyes. Blind and grief-stricken, Oedipus bemoans his fate. Creon, after consulting an oracle, grants Oedipus's request and banishes him from Thebes.

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Oedipus Rex

Introduction.

Oedipus Rex is a famous tragedy written by Sophocles. It is also known by its Greek name “Oedipus Tyrannus” or “Oedipus the king”. It was first performed in 429 BC. Sophocles is now placed among the great ancient Greek Tragedians. He wrote three famous tragedies that include Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone that describe the sufferings of a king and his children after him.

Definition of a tragedy

Oedipus rex summary.

The play starts outside the palace of King Oedipus. The city of Thebes is shown suffering a plague because of which people are terrified. The fields become barren and people start suffering from different diseases. The people of Thebes gather along with a priest and other elders to request Oedipus, the king of Thebes, to help them and save them from this plague.  They come to the king to ask for help because he saved them once from the sphinx too. The sphinx was a monster with the woman’s head, lioness’ body, eagle’s wings and serpent’s tale.

Oedipus appreciates the chorus for their prayers. Oedipus then addresses to all the people and forbids them to give shelter to the murderer of king Laius. He also announces that if the murderer is present in the crowd, he can come forward and admit his crime. However, he promises not to kill the person if he comes forward to surrender and he only suggests banishment for him. The chorus suggests Oedipus to call Teiresias, the blind prophet, to resolve this matter. Oedipus tells them that he has already sent someone to call him.

Jocasta and Oedipus feel relief on this news. Jocasta becomes happy and tells Oedipus that this is another proof that proves the prophecies wrong. Oedipus believes her but he tells her that he is still worried about the other prophecy that he will marry his mother. The messenger tells Oedipus that now he doesn’t need to stay away from his home, Corinth. He tells him that he can come back any time without any fear because his mother, Merope, is not his real mother and Polybus was not his real father either.

Finally, Oedipus’ men come with a shepherd. Seeing the terrible condition of Jocasta, the chorus also starts thinking that something bad is going to happen so they also start begging Oedipus to leave the mystery unsolved but Oedipus doesn’t listen to them either. The shepherd looks terrified and doesn’t want to answer the king’s question. Oedipus forces him to tell the truth. He tells Oedipus it is true that he gave a baby boy to another shepherd. He admits that the baby was king Laius’ son whom Jocasta and Laius left to die on a hillside because they were terrified of an oracle’s prophecy.

Creon also enters the palace after hearing the whole story. He consoles Oedipus and asks him to come inside so that no one can see him. Oedipus also begs Creon to let him leave the city but he suggests meeting Apollo first. Oedipus refuses to meet anyone. Oedipus says that the only punishment for the sinner is banishment.  He requests Creon to bring his daughters to him as he wants to meet them before leaving. He also asks Creon to take care of them. 

Themes in Oedipus Rex

It is the main theme of this play and fate plays an important role in the whole play.  When king Laius and queen Jocasta hear the prophecy that their son will kill his father and marry his mother, they leave their son to die but the child doesn’t die and is taken to Corinth. When Oedipus grows up, he also comes to know about this prophecy so he leaves that place but he doesn’t know that his fate is taking him towards his real parents. No matter how hard he tries to escape his fate, he does the same as was written. The role of fate remains prominent in the play and in the end, Oedipus finds that he is only a puppet in the hands of gods and prophets.

Individual will/action

Pity and fear, plague and health, self-discovery and memories of the past, search for truth.

Oedipus promises people to find out the truth and punish the culprit so he starts his search. Many people request him to stop his search but he doesn’t listen to them. Teiresias begs him not to ask him about the truth because it will only bring pain to everyone. He forces him to speak. Later when things start to become clear, Jocasta also requests Oedipus to stop finding the truth but he doesn’t listen to her either. Then he finds out the bitter truth and ends up punishing himself. 

Guilt and Shame

Blind faith, oedipus rex characters analysis.

Creon remains a loyal friend to Oedipus. He even forgives him when he accuses him of treason and gives the order to execute him.  He claims that he never thought of turning against Oedipus. In every decision about the city of Thebes, he shares an equal part as Oedipus and Jocasta. At the end of the play, when Oedipus requests him to let him leave the city, he tells him that they should go to the oracle first but Oedipus doesn’t agree. Creon brings the daughters of Oedipus to meet their father for the last time according to his will and he also promises Oedipus to take care of them after him. Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes after king Oedipus. 

Teiresias then leaves the palace saying his last riddle. He tells that the murderer is in front of them, he is the killer of his father and the husband of his mother, he is the brother of his own children and the son of his own wife, a man who came seeing but will leave this world in blindness. His prophecy proves to be true at the end of the novel when the truth gets revealed in front of everyone and Oedipus blinds himself. 

A chorus is a group of singers that includes the elder citizens of Thebes. As the play starts, they come to Oedipus along with a priest to request the king to save their city from the plague. They become satisfied as the king assures them that he will save them from the trouble. The chorus plays an important role in the play. They sing choral odes after every scene that helps to connect different scenes of the play. Moreover, their choral odes add to the beauty of the play and entertain the readers. 

The chorus also prays to different gods to save their city from the plague. They forbid the king to take any strict decision against Creon and stop him from executing Creon. When the truth starts revealing, they also try to stop the king to stop his search for truth because they also start feeling that something wrong is going to happen. In the end, they lament on the king’s fate and the play ends when the Chorus says, “Count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last”.

Antigone and Ismene

The messenger from corinth.

Oedipus gets shocked on hearing this news and asks him who told him about this. He tells Oedipus that years ago someone from Thebes gave him a child as a gift and he presented it to the king and queen of Corinth as they had no children of their own. Oedipus further asks him about the person who gave him the child. He tells Oedipus that he was one of Laius’ servants. He also helped Oedipus in recognizing the servant. 

The Herdsman

The herdsman is the person who gave the child of king Laius and queen Jocasta to the messenger of Corinth on their orders. He is also the witness of king Laius’ death. Initially, he lied to everyone that king Laius was murdered by some robbers but later when king Oedipus calls him in his palace and forces him to speak the truth, he tells that he witnessed the killer of King Laius and he is Oedipus. 

The Second Messenger

Oedipus rex literary analysis.

“Oedipus Rex” is a classical work in which Sophocles has skillfully shown a straightforward interpretation of a Greek myth. Throughout the play, the use of dramatic irony makes this play a great success and masterpiece. The play discusses how fate plays its part in the life of the characters. The main character tries hard to escape his fate but in his effort to run away from it, he actually comes nearer to what gods have decided for him and ends up doing what already was prophecized.

Title of the play

Setting of the play, ending of the play.

He leaves the city as he himself announced banishment as a punishment for the criminal. Now he wins the hearts of people again and becomes the real hero at the end. Creon treats him gently forgetting about what he did to him and takes the charge of Thebes afterwards.

Writing style

Plot analysis, initial situation  , conflict   , complication.

Oedipus starts realizing that he has some link with the murder of Laius. The more he learns about the truth, the more he shows interest to solve this mystery. As he comes close to the truth, he hurts no one but himself in the entire process.

The three unities in Oedipus Rex

Unity of action, unity of place.

“Oedipus Rex” also follows the unity of action as the whole play occurs at a single place. The play is restricted to a single location that is in front of the king’s palace in the city of Thebes.

Unity of Time

Three act plot analysis.

Oedipus knows that the city is cursed so he sends Creon to an oracle to find out the solution. Creon tells that the only solution to lift the plague is to find the murderer of King Laius and punish him. Oedipus promises people to find the culprit and save them from trouble.

Oedipus investigates Jocasta, Teiresias, the messenger and the shepherd to know about King Laius’ murderer. Slowly he starts solving the mystery.

Analysis of the Literary Devices used in Oedipus Rex

Dramatic irony.

One example of the dramatic irony is that throughout the play Oedipus struggles to find the murderer of King Laius but in reality, he himself murdered his father and then he searches for the murderer here and there. The irony here is that he searches for himself. 

The scars on Oedipus’ feet

When Oedipus was three days old, an oracle told his father, King Laius, that the child will kill his father in the future and then he will marry his mother.  King Laius bound his feet by a pin due to which they got swollen and later some scars were left on them. The scars on his feet are symbolic. They symbolize that Oedipus was marked for all the sufferings right from the time of his birth. These scars are also ironic. Although the name of Oedipus clearly points towards his feet, still he fails to discover his true identity. 

The Crossroads

Oedipus killed a stranger at a place where three roads met. Unknowingly he killed his father. Sophocles made the point of murder unique. Oedipus’ fate followed him. The three roads actually symbolize the choices that a person has while making any decision. In the play, the three roads symbolize the choice or the path that Oedipus could have taken instead of killing a man just because of his short temperament. The three roads also symbolize the present, past and future. It is said that the Greek Goddess of the crossroads had 3 heads. One head could see the past, one the present and one the future.  

Eyes, Vision and Blindness

More from sophocles.

Oedipus Rex: Tragic Hero

This essay will delve into the character of Oedipus in Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” and his standing as a tragic hero. It will explore how Oedipus embodies the characteristics of a tragic hero, including his hamartia, peripeteia, and anagnorisis, and how these contribute to the play’s tragic narrative. Moreover, at PapersOwl, there are additional free essay samples connected to Hero.

How it works

Oedipus displays the Aristotelian elements of a tragic hero when his hamartia causes him to suffer a peripeteia in which he loses all that he holds dear, his catharsis offers some relief from the pain of his downfall, and ultimately this tragedy creates a legacy that suggests fate is an uncontrollable force that cannot be altered.

Oedipus Rex suffers great tragic flaw throughout the play. From the beginning Oedipus will never be able to escape his fate. A prophecy is told by the oracle that he will kill his father and mary his mother.

“”Loxias once told me that I must sleep with my own mother and shed paternal blood with my hands…I have kept Corinth far from me(Sophocles 1011-15). To avoid this fate, he decides to run away from his home town Corinth, hoping to avoid the prophecy. Not long after Oedipus discovers that his dad is not actually his birth father. “”Is nothing to[Oedipus] by birth(1033). Because his father in not actually his father, he will never be able to escape his fate. As the prophecy states, he did unknowingly mary his mother. Trying to find his father’s murder, he does not notice all of the truth right in front of him. The prophet Tiresias even explains to Oedipus early in the play that he “”does not see the scope of evil(435). Oedipus is blind to his on truth. Ultimately Oedipus suffers a tragic flaw by trying to avoid a prophecy and suffers the terrible reversal of fortune.

Oedipus the powerful king has everything he could ever want, but his life is turned around into a reversal of fortune. Oedipus’s real father Laius is told a prophecy that he will be killed by his own son and his son will sleep with his wife. Laius acknowledges the prophecy and sends his son away. A few years later Oedipus hears the prophecy to. Eventually the prophecy came true not knowing that he killed his birth father. Oedipus promise to find his father’s killer. A messenger tells him that his father has died and they need him as a king. The messenger also told him that he was adapted. At that moment he realized that the prophecy had come true! Oedipus’s life had been perfect he was a powerful king and a hero. After the prophecy his life was changed forever. His mom and wife both committed suicide. He could not bare all the suffering so he gouged his eyes out.He lifted them and struck the sockets of his own eyes(45).

He is cast out of the kingdom and has to live alone. Oedipus’s father screwed up his own son’s life trying to avoid the prophecy which ended up coming true. Oedipus suffers so much from all the mess in his life he can not take it anymore.

Oedipus felt Catharsis before his suffering began. When he heard that his father was murdered he was determined to find the killer. As he set out to find his father, the messenger encountered him. The messenger told him that he was adopted. At this moment he knew that his life was over. Oedipus’s suffering had begun. A little while later Oedipus could bare how much suffering that had come before him. He blind to the truth and he is blind to see what his right in front of him.He gouged out his eyes and said, “”the truth is strong, but not your truth You have not truth. You’re blind. Blind in your eyes. Blind in your ears. Blind in your mind.(Sophocles 40). After Oedipus gouged out his eyes, he felt relief because he did not have to witness all of the suffering in his life. He is guilty and embarrassed, because it was not worth all the work to find out the truth of the death of his wife and all the pain his family had to go through. There is so much suffering in his life that he used his own very hands to gouge out his own eyes. This is an example of catharsis because Oedipus feels relief from all the suffering that he had to face. By ripping his eyes out of his sockets not only is it relief of the suffering, it is also relief from the terrible curse that he was born with.

Sadly Oedipus’s life was a huge mess. He had such an amazing life everything he could have wanted, but from the beginning he was cursed. A powerful king to a tragic hero. His hamartia causes him to suffer a peripeteia and loses everything. His terrible fate cannot be stopped and will never be able to see himself again.

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Critical Analysis of Oedipus Rex

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Introduction

The life of sophocles, greek theater at the time of sophocles, oedipus rex adaptations, oedipus rex perception, oedipus rex tone.

Sophocles lived during a time when the Greek society excelled in theatre and drama. Art was a main attraction in the Greek society as was politics. The advancement of art in the Greek cities cannot be compared to any in the other civilizations that existed at the time. Sophocles lived in the same period with other playwrights such as Euripides and Aristophanes.

Sophocles wrote over 200 plays, but of these only about five are still existent. Apart from Oedipus, other famous plays attributed to Sophocles artistic genius are Antigone and Elektra. Most of Sophocles’ plays emphasize the tragedies of life and the pain inherent in the dynamics of human existence (MacCollom 231).

However; Sophocles did not live long enough to see the decline of Greek literature to which he had greatly contributed. Years after his death, the Greek city states were embroiled in conflicts that ultimately led to their fall and the decline of the arts (Leefmans 12).

Greek theater at the time of Sophocles was markedly different from today. It was a religious occasion, a dramatic departure from today’s performances which are pastimes and occasions for entertainment. To attend the theatre was a way of worshipping and revering the Greek gods who were highly revered in the Greek society. Dionysius was the Greek deity who took centre stage during these theatre festivals.

This particular deity was said to live in the bush. The theater festivals were punctuated by much celebration and other excesses. Theater also celebrated culture. Theaters would be filled to maximum capacity and the plays were performed during the spring period. The plays were marked by their beautiful language, punctuated by songs and dances that awed the audiences with their impressive and dazzling displays (Knox 88).

Another convention t this time was the competitive nature of the performances. A panel of judges would decide winning plays from an array of playwrights who presented their works before the audience.

The presentation of the plays followed a particular pattern. A total of twelve plays would be presented for adjudication with three playwrights presenting four plays each. Three of the plays would be tragedies and one would either be a comedy or a satirical piece. Men were the main actors in these plays and they performed against a temporary backdrop.

Oedipus Rex has undergone a number of adaptations. The adaptations are in keeping with an emerging trend where modern playwrights are turning to ancient plays and merging them with the reality of the present circumstances. One of these adaptations was the 1967 film by Pier Paolo Pasolini which has its second part reflecting the Greek myth.

Although Pasolini’s play begins with scenes from the Italian fascist era the playwright goes ahead to use the characters in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex to create a relationship with his own life story. He relates the episodes in Oedipus Rex in a dramatic twist that fits beautifully in the story of his birth. In a way, the adaptation is autobiographical and it draws its strength from the design and picturesque landscape of the setting.

The adaptation is set in Morocco with the film maker employing beautiful scenery in the Moroccan landscape to bring to life his adaptation. He himself acts the role of the High priest of Thebes. There are many other adaptations of Oedipus Rex, but an outstanding element among most of them is the way they have emphasized on the aspects of sex and psychology evident in the Sophocles’ original work.

For example, in some of the adaptations, Jocasta has been portrayed as an intelligent, independent sexually liberated figure. In the film, Darker Face of the Earth , Jocasta’s figure comes to life in this perspective (Leefmans 134).

In writing the play, the author had various intents that he hoped to fulfill. Sophocles hoped to fill the gap that existed in Greek literature, and more so on the myths and legends that defined the Theben society. Although some of the writers of the time such as Aeschylus had explored these aspects of Theben society, their writings were not comprehensive.

Aeschylus for example did not exhaustively explore the finer details of the horror of the curse visited on Oedipus. The author was also enthralled by dynamism of the themes that his story permitted. For example on the issue of one’s responsibility after committing transgressions and people’s knowledge of their own history and lineage (MacCollom, 56).

The work was produced during the author’s time in 425 BCE. Considering the popularity of plays in the Greek society, the reception of Oedipus Rex was overwhelming. It is also important to note that the author was known for his competiveness and this resulted in the urge to emulate other Greek writers whose plays had received wide acclaim and positive receptions from the Greek audiences.

The popularity of the play has not changed overtime, considering the relevance of most of the themes to the modern world. The theme of ‘hubris’ which refers to human pride is a phenomenon which is applicable to all societies. Oedipus for example had the wrong perception that he had the cure for the afflictions of Thebes.

This pride is what we see in the world today. A case in point is in the world financial crisis where experts believe that they have the panaceas for the financial crisis but fail to realize that they too form part of the wider crisis. The author wanted to pint out the imperfections that reside in every human being.

The tone of the play is set by the fact that the myth of Oedipus was evident even before it was presented by Sophocles. The audience anticipated the tragic events that would come at the end of the play even at the beginning.

This awareness greatly affects the tone f the play. The drive by Oedipus to solve the afflictions of Thebes therefore has an ironic touch to it as the audience already knows that his actions are in vain. The play is devoid of a narrator. The chorus which forms the commentary of the play shows great understanding and expresses sympathy for the fate of the play’s characters. The commentary is also anticipatory of the upcoming events of the play.

The senses of foreboding in the face of tragedy are important factors in setting the tone of the play. The mood of the play is set at the beginning with an opening that reflects the tragedy that has befallen the people. They are in a situation of grief following the death of the king. The play opens with a sense of mourning and grief following the death of the king.

Knox, Bernard M.W. “The Oedipus Legend” Readings On Sophocles 56.2 (2008).

Leefmans, Bert M.-P. Modern Tragedy: Five Adaptations of Oresteia and Oedipus the King . , 1974. Print.

MacCollom, William G. Tragedy . New York: Macmillan, 1957. Print.

Sophocles and E H. Plumptre. Oedipus Rex: (oedipus the King) . Stilwell, KS: Digireads.com Publishing, 2005. Print.

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IvyPanda . (2018) 'Critical Analysis of Oedipus Rex'. 7 June.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Critical Analysis of Oedipus Rex." June 7, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/critical-analysis-of-oedipus-rex/.

1. IvyPanda . "Critical Analysis of Oedipus Rex." June 7, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/critical-analysis-of-oedipus-rex/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Critical Analysis of Oedipus Rex." June 7, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/critical-analysis-of-oedipus-rex/.