The story of Oedipus begins with Laius, King of Thebes, who learns from the oracle that his son will kill him and marry his wife Jocasta. ... Continuing on his way he then passes a riddling sphinx and guesses the answer, lifting a curse on Thebes, allowing Oedipus to become King, win the hand of Jocasta, Queen of Thebes and have 4 children: Eteocles, Polynice, Antigone, and Ismene. ... The change from ignorance known as the recognition, "agnorisis," according to Aristotle occurs when Oedipus discovers he was the baby that was the child of Laius, whose wife, Jocasta, ordered to have Oedipus...

• Word Count: 696
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Oedipus, the protagonist of the play, is the birth son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. ... Oedipus turns to Jocasta the Queen and his wife, who is his mother and Creon's sister, to set things straight. ... Jocasta tries to persuade him to drop his desire and pursuit of the truth, but he still goes ahead to seek for the truth: Jocasta: Do not concern yourself about this matter; listen to me and learn that human beings have no part in the craft of prophecy. ... At that climax, Jocasta realizes the dreadful truth. ... Yet, it is also stated several times that Oedipus is destined t...

• Word Count: 1933
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Most generally it was that it was prophesied that Laios and Jocasta, king and queen of Thebes, would give birth to a child who would grow up to murder his father and marry his mother. ... Then, when he arrived at Thebes, he met the Sphinx, a monster who guarded the gates of the city and correctly answered its riddle and was rewarded with the title of king of Thebes and was given the hand of the re-cently widowed queen, Jocasta. ... In his despair, he blinds himself, and Jocasta hangs herself. ...

• Word Count: 545
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

After speaking with the messenger from Corinth who was an actual witness to his being given away by Jocasta, he still must hear it from the mouth of the shepherd who found him as a baby. Despite Jocasta having already pieced together the tragic events which had occurred Oedipus sticks to his ideas to the very end, his pride guiding his path. ...

• Word Count: 859
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Fate, defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it is "the development of events outside a person's control, regarded as predetermined by a supernatural power." Although partly true, it is not entirely accurate in Sophocles' Oedipus the King. In the story, Oedipus is shown, on multiple occasions, a...

• Word Count: 690
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

No matter how Jocasta comforts him with her logical reasoning that Oedipus can never be involved in this crime, Oedipus still insists on searching for proofs and emphasizes the urgency of revealing the truth-"I want that shepherd summoned here. ... No matter how the witness cries out desperately, "Please, in god's name, no more questions" (1463), Oedipus keeps interrogating who the murder is until the bloody spear of truth eventually makes Jocasta commit suicide and agonizes Oedipus to blind himself. ... Before the servant tells the powerful and awful evidence that Oedipus ...

• Word Count: 1352
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In the play "Oedipus the King" Sophocles depicts Oedipus' inevitable downfall, which represents man's struggle between free will and fate. In an attempt to use the audience's knowledge to his advantage, Sophocles opens the play seventeen years after Oedipus murders his father, Laius and marries his ...

• Word Count: 631
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

What do you see as the social function of literature? Your discussion should address ideas presented in this course (and other sources as you prefer) and the essay should include attention to at least two set texts. The social function of literature takes on many forms. Literatures main functi...

• Word Count: 1933
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate