In relation to Greek tragedy the question of just how central is violence in tragedy is interesting considering that no blood was spilled on stage in Greek tragedy. ... For this reason, I want to analyse why violence is not at the center of a tragedy by using Sophocles Oedipus the King as an example, and how "the most extreme forms of tragic violence are presented as off-stage events, out of sight but very much within the emotional reach of the audience. ... For example I find the tragedy in Oedipus the King coming from his lack of sight for the truth and the pain that he went through with his...

• Word Count: 1654
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

What Oedipus could teach us is how magnetic the pull is to repeat what we desperately wish to escape. Oedipus, the protagonist of the play, is the birth son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. ... She, as widowed wife to King Laius, recalls the story of the visit from an oracle to Laius that told him how his own son would be the one to cause his death, and how in the fear of this fate, Laius bound his three-day-old son's ankles and disposed of him on an uninhabited mountain. ... The messenger relates how he received the baby from another shepherd, who was a servant of the house of...

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

Sophocles' Oedipus the King teaches readers something quite different, however. ... The shepherd in turn gave baby Oedipus to the King and Queen of Corinth. ... In becoming King, Oedipus marries the Queen of Thebes, who was recently widowed. ... Oedipus bravely declares to find and destroy the former King's murder. ... The truth and the tragedy it brings continues. ...

• Word Count: 1783
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

In Oedipus the King, Iocasta says that Laius was slain at a place where three roads meet. ... In Oedipus the king, the crossroads is part of the distant past, dimly remembered, and Oedipus was not aware at the time that he was making a fateful decision (Murray 59). ... At the end of this tragic story, when Oedipus gouges out his eyes, the events in Oedipus the King show an underlying relationship of man's free will existing within the cosmic order of fate that the Greeks believed guided the universe. ... From the beginning of this tragedy, Oedipus took many actions leading to his own down...

• Word Count: 1264
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is a classic tragic hero.According to Aristotle's definition, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is a king whose life falls apart when he finds out his life story. ... All of the above characteristics make Oedipus a tragic hero according to Aristotle's ideas about tragedy, and a narcissist. ... The birth of Oedipus presets his destiny to result in tragedy even though he is of noble birth. ... If he hadn't been so judgmental or narcissistic, as Miller would characterize a personality like Oedipus, he would never have killed...

• Word Count: 1309
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Some of Sophocles' greatest plays were the Greek tragedies of The Oedipus Cycle, a trio of stories about how a man named Oedipus's cunning led him to become the king of Thebes, but an unrelenting search for the truth about his birth coupled with an irascible nature ultimately guided him to his demise. ... Oedipus knew that is was his duty as king to be the one who avenged the murder of King Laios and cleanse the city of Thebes of its retched plague. ... When Tiresias finally broke his silence and told Oedipus that he was the murder of Laios, Oedipus became enraged and showed how eas...

• Word Count: 1488
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is a classic tragic hero.According to Aristotle's definition, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is a king whose life falls apart when he finds out his life story. ... All of the above characteristics make Oedipus a tragic hero according to Aristotle's ideas about tragedy, and a narcissist. ... The birth of Oedipus presets his destiny to result in tragedy even though he is of noble birth. ... If he hadn't been so judgmental or narcissistic, as Miller would characterize a personality like Oedipus, he would never have killed...

• Word Count: 1311
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

As in any great tragedy, the story of Oedipus is rife with heartbreaking irony. In "Oedipus the King," Sophocles provides the reader with an interesting contrast between the truth as defined by the gods and their oracles and the truth as defined by Oedipus himself. ... The attempt to protect Oedipus from himself having failed, Tiresias finally gives in to the threats on his life and reveals the identity of the king's murderer to Oedipus. ... Blinded to all but his need to know the truth for certain, no matter how horrible, Oedipus admits, "I'm desperately afraid" (727). ...

• Word Count: 1443
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

As Thebes's King, Oedipus has to solve this plague. ... Oedipus was the only child of Laios and Iocaste, king and queen of Thebes. ... The city, which was recently missing a king, made Oedipus the king since he saved them from the plague. ... Oedipus said that he had sent Creon, his wife's brother to find out how to solve the problem. ... The oracle at Delphi says that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother but never tells Oedipus how to end this tragedy. ...

• Word Count: 1308
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Oedipus Rex follows the clear nature of a tragedy, in that it encompasses the common conventions of a Greek Tragedy, with ones life being controlled by fate and the gods. ... Oedipus is seen as a tragic hero in the play, a principal character, in a position of social importance being the King of Thebes. ... He is blind to the truth, irrelevant of how hard he seeks it. ... Using irony allows Sophocles to tantalize the audience into wanting to see how the events occurring mentally affect Oedipus regardless of whether they are already aware of the story. ... The tragedy of Oedipus Rex is convey...

• Word Count: 1270
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

As Thebes's King, Oedipus has to solve this plague. ... Oedipus was the only child of Laios and Iocaste, king and queen of Thebes. ... The city, which was recently missing a king, made Oedipus the king since he saved them from the plague. ... Oedipus said that he had sent Creon, his wife's brother to find out how to solve the problem. ... The oracle at Delphi says that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother but never tells Oedipus how to end this tragedy. ...

• Word Count: 1308
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

As Thebes's King, Oedipus has to solve this plague. ... Oedipus was the only child of Laios and Iocaste, king and queen of Thebes. ... The city, which was recently missing a king, made Oedipus the king since he saved them from the plague. ... Oedipus said that he had sent Creon, his wife's brother to find out how to solve the problem. ... The oracle at Delphi says that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother but never tells Oedipus how to end this tragedy. ...

• Word Count: 1308
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

You were controlled by your owners and they decided how you would spend your day. ... They wouldn't have been punished because of what they were born into, very similar to the tragic story of Oedipus the King. ... At the end of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus, who is the King of Thebes, is forever banished from his kingdom. ... As mentioned before, Jocasta killed herself because of the tragedy that was unfolded. ... But how could a kingdom full of people who honored Oedipus still respect him after he committed both murder and incest? ...

• Word Count: 1469
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The Greek tragedy of Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles, owes much of its impact to the audience's previous knowledge of the characters and their fate. ... In line 141, Oedipus tells Kreon, "Whoever killed King Laios might "who knows? ... Later when discovering the story of his birth, Oedipus asks, "How could I not be glad to know my birth?... It is also ironic that Oedipus be "enthroned in the place of the dead king,"" as in line 713, by saving the city and coincidentally, by inheritance. ... For example, how the creation of the atomic bomb led to a global arms race. ...

• Word Count: 1490
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Being one of the most respected men of his day, Sophocles uniquely combined Greek mythology with tragedy into the two of his most known plays: Antigone and Oedipus Rex. At the beginning of Oedipus the King, Oedipus is highly confident, and with good reason. ... At this point in the play, Oedipus still cannot conclude who the murderer of King Laius is, even though the riddle is obvious. ... No matter how straightforward Tiresias's riddles were, Oedipus's pride wouldn't let him solve them. ... Both men worry about how their social status will be affected by the actions of th...

• Word Count: 1256
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

A Look at Two Characters of Greek Tragedy and Their Reactions to Adversity Throughout many Greek tragedies, plays, and poems there are many characters that are faced with adversity when tragedy occurs. ... In looking at only two characters in Greek writings; Oedipus from Oedipus the King written by Sophocles and Medea from Medea written by Euripides, we can see two different reactions to adversity in tragedy. ... How they individually handle the events is their greatest difference. ... He was given to the king and queen of Corinth where he was raised to adulth...

• Word Count: 2458
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Greek tragedy flourished in the 5th century BC. ... The Persians, presented in 472 BC, is a historical tragedy about the Battle of Salam as, the scene being laid in Persia at the court of the mother of King Xerxes I. ... The seven extant plays are Antigone, Oedipus Tyrannus or Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King), Electra, Ajax, Trachiniae (Maidens of Trachis), Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus (produced posthumously in 401 BC). ... Oedipus Tyrannus and Electra date from 430 to 415 BC. ... All seven extant tragedies are considered outstanding for their powerful, intricate plots and dramatic sty...

• Word Count: 2321
• Approx Pages: 9

Sigmund Freud suggests that Oedipus the King is known as a tragedy of destiny. ... The lesson which the deeply moved spectator should learn from the tragedy is submission to the divine will and realization of his own impotence. (102) Oedipus's fall is a result of fate because of the events that occur when Oedipus is an infant, a young man, and the king of Thebes. ... While Oedipus is an infant, the last incident that shows how uncontrollable fate can be is the servant's decision not to kill Oedipus. ... Oedipus's next action also demonstrates how humans cannot control fat...

• Word Count: 1505
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

., wrote Antigone and Oedipus the King. ... Although Antigone was written before Oedipus the King, the generations involved in Oedipus the King precede the ones in Antigone. In Oedipus the King, Creon is a lesser character who plays the brother of Jocosta and is the brother-in-law to Oedipus. ... Creon's character is essential to Oedipus the King in that it shows how the apparent loyalty of Creon to Apollo and to his sister and brother-in-law lead us to believe that Creon is one worthy of approval and admiration whereas nothing is as it seems. ... Creon is not able to recognize other f...

• Word Count: 1517
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The first major theme is fate, on how the play comes about and the turn of events that come about throughout it. ... This just shows how terrible fate has treated the family of Oedipus. ... Creon acknowledges his great mistake in being prideful and realizes how his pride caused suffering. ... This is one of the reasons why the play Antigone has referred to as one of the most influential Greek tragedies written. This is truly a tragedy, and this never would've have happened if only King Creon hadn't made up the law that nobody could bury Polyneices because he was a traitor. ...

• Word Count: 2111
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In the play Antigone the playwright Sophocles presents Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero in the character King Creon. ... The State is the King!." ... Ironically enough, in Sophocle's play "Oedipus Rex" Creon is accused by Oedipus of succumbing to bribery with Teiresias, showing that Creon's hubris is blinding him from the advice of others. ... Though the audience notices how villainous Creon is to his Antigone his only villainous aspect is making rash decisions and not listening to others because of his stubbornness. In conclusion, part of reading Greek dramas, tragedie...

• Word Count: 1315
• Approx Pages: 5

Hamlet Prince of Denmark, a Shakespearean tragedy, tells the story of a young man, by the name of Hamlet, who gained the knowledge of a terrible incident that his kingdom had suffered. ... In Oedipus of Colonus, Sophocles illustrates these qualities that Antigone possesses. ... Without a female role model to show her how a woman is supposed to act, there is no one to raise her as a woman. ... Therefore, most of the narrator's comments are related to how the characters move on stage, and how the stage itself looks like; "They start to walk about the stage. ... This quote, when read again a...

• Word Count: 2132
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

It indicates how Owen's life and voice was used through God. ... When Oedipus was the prince of Corinth he attended a banquet and heard that he was not the son of the king and queen. ... (Pg 26) Even though both do not want to believe that Oedipus murdered his father, as Jocasta goes on to tell how Oedipus" father was murdered, Oedipus realizes that it was he who was responsible for ending his father's life. ... In the opening of "Oedipus Rex," as king of his land, Oedipus accepts the challenge of saving the people of his country from a plague. ... Sophocles does a good job of c...

• Word Count: 1938
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

In Oedipus the King, Othello, Tartuffe, The Father and even the absence of women in Waiting for Godot all have an impact in the story and on the audience. ... The play Tartuffe is quite opposite of Othello and Oedipus the King. Tartuffe is a comedy and the other two plays are tragedies, so the characters in this play have a different motivation throughout the story line. ... She is the opposite of the subservient females in Othello and Oedipus the King; however she is still victim of her own gender due to the fact that her husband would not trust her word without having to be physically dem...

• Word Count: 1787
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography

Dilly, Dally, Fatal Finale William Shakespeare's dramatic tragedy Hamlet is truly a work of art. ... He wants the murder of the King to be perfect. ... As Edward Wagenknecht puts it, "this is the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind." ... He took my father grossly, full of bread, With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May; And how his audit stands who knows save heaven. ... Some critics attribute Hamlets inability to act to an Oedipus complex. ...

• Word Count: 1772
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School