Knowledge In Oedipus The King

Oedipus thought he had certainty about his family and family history, but his certainty led him to the truth in which he could not bear with. There is a plague occurring in Thebes where people are dying and they find out that Laius, the king of Thebes, has died. Oedipus soon takes over and tells Teiresias that he will avenge Laius’ killer or put them in exile. Teiresias responds with, “Alas how dreadful to have wisdom where it profits not the wise” (Sophocles 120). Teiresias is a blind seer hinting to Oedipus and the audience, telling Oedipus that he does not need to find the killer because he

In the play of Oedipus the King, the author demonstrates tone and diction by representing elements and rhetorical strategies that enhance the audience's imagination. Each of the characters from this play have concerns towards the knowledge they know. The first characters which are Oedipus and the priest seem to be at peace with each other.

For Oedipus, his kingdom felt unworthy because he exclaims, “Expel me quickly, purge me far from Thebes” (Sophocles 76). He wanted to leave Thebes for he was the cause of all the suffering. Ultimately Oedipus was ashamed at what he had done to his beloved kingdom. He was the reason Laius and Jocasta died. Due to his ignorance, Oedipus blinds himself because “all that’s sweet has parted from [his] vision” (Sophocles 73).

Prior to the story, Oedipus was a hero to the people of Thebes because of his heroic efforts protecting against the Sphinx. As Oedipus rules as king for a few years after this incident, a curse plagues Thebes, and the leaders of the people come to their King to help with this tragic event. After learning this horrific news from the people, Oedipus sets out to seek a way to lift this ungrateful plague that is on his people. The king then sets his brother, Creon to receive the word from God at the shrine of Apollo on how to lift this curse that was brought onto his people. Later the word was that the curse would be lifted when the murderer of the late king Laius was unveiled and dealt with in the right way.

Oedipus as a king has hubris or excessive pride and sees himself as having superiority over all others. “I thought it wrong, my children, to hear the truth from others, messengers. Here I am myself—you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus” (Lines 1-6). This sets up the view that exactly from the beginning of the story, Oedipus is worshipped as this highly renowned king. This sets up the dramatic irony that even though Oedipus is praised, the people reciting the story are the ones who along with Oedipus will discover the truth about his life.

Briefly following, Oedipus goes on to explain his perspective of Thebes saying, ‘"for what the light of the day has spared that darkness of night destroys”’ (Sophocles 198). Oedipus knows that the darkness that the city encounters and figures that he could help save it. After defeating the Sphinx and 15 years as being the King, Oedipus faces his first conflict; what man is responsible for the death of Laius? The immense pressure that the King of Thebes faces daily, Oedipus is frantic and reluctant to figure out the murderous man.

This blindness towards doom is made even more ironic by the fact that he was made king by his knowledge and insight. Oedipus was known as the person who solved the famous riddle of the Sphinx, a monster which terrorized the citizens. As the play proceed, we can see how much of a contrast between the two groups of character there is, even the messengers knows stuff that the king doesn’t. Sentences like “My son, it is clear that you don’t know what you are doing” (Sophocles 55) salutes to the ignorance of the supposedly “wise” king. Using words like “son”, Sophocles gives an sign that even the messenger It illustrates the flaws that exist in Oedipus, amplifies it by comparing him to other who are supposedly

And then I killed them all. (Lines 934-947) Commentary: In these lines it is revealed that Oedipus killed Laius on his way to Thebes. This is a matter of free will, as Oedipus couldn’t control his emotions when crossing to Thebes. Oedipus would have not killed his father if he didn’t let his anger overcome the best of him. Also it was a matter of free will, that Oedipus was traveling to Thebes as it was his decision to do so

Oedipus came home one day to find her lifeless, so he then took the pins out of her dress to gouge out his own eyes. He afflicted the pain that he believed that he had deserved amongst himself. He wanted the world and the people of Thebes to know who he really was; the murderer of their king. In the end, there was nothing left in Thebes for Oedipus, nor for his children, so they left the city. His children will never be able to live the wonderful lives that he had envisioned for them.

Oedipus is at his prime during the beginning of the play because he absent in the knowledge of his past. As the plot progresses, Oedipus becomes driven by curiosity and increasingly agitated as more information regarding his mysterious past is uncovered. Consequently, Oedipus’ realizes that he alone is the source for the defilement in Thebes and cannot emotionally handle the consequences in a productive manner. It is proven that knowledge has the ability to remove the sense of blissful ignorance and replace the void with mental

His lack of knowledge generates a moral ambiguity with respect to his actions. If ignorance serves as a moral excuse, Oedipus may be free of blame. However, ignorance towards his life only renders him morally blameless in regards to his incestuous act, not Laius’ murder. Despite his fate, it is Oedipus’ hubris which causes him to murder the men at the place where three roads meet. Oedipus confesses, stating “it was the driver that trust me aside and him

Brilliantly conceived and written, Oedipus Rex is a drama of self-discovery. Achieved by amazing compression and force by limiting the dramatic action to the day on which Oedipus learns the truth of his birth and his destiny is quite the thriller. The fact that the audience knows the dark secret that Oedipus unwittingly slew his true father and married his mother does nothing to destroy the suspense. Oedipus’s search for the truth has all the tautness of a detective tale, and yet because audiences already know the truth they are aware of all the ironies in which Oedipus is enmeshed. That knowledge enables them to fear the final revelation at the same time that they pity the man whose past is gradually and relentlessly uncovered to him.

First, he was blind to the truth about his own life. Oedipus had no idea that his real parents were Laius and Jocasta, he was so blind that he got mad at anyone that would even suggest an idea such as that. As the story went on though, Oedipus could no longer run from the truth; he was forced to open his eyes to the reality and truth of his life. Oedipus killed his father and married his mother; he is the brother to his own kids and the son of his own mother. Oedipus was the one that was causing all of the downfall and bad times in Thebes.

Oedipus the King is one of the most ironic plays ever written. Sophocles, the author, is a famous philosopher of the ancient times The Play is about Oedipus, the king of Thebes, who kills his father and marries his mother. An oracle warned Laius, the king of Thebes prior to Oedipus, that his son would murder him. Accordingly, when his wife, Jocasta, had a son, he exposed the baby by first pinning his ankles together. The infant, who was adopted by King Polybus of Corinth and his wife was then brought up as their very own.

After Oedipus discovers that his wife is his mother, and that he had killed his father, he decides he no longer deserves to see, without thinking, he takes the brooches from Jocasta’s robe, and plunges them into the sockets of his eyes. Oedipus says, “No longer see the things that I have done… the things that I have suffered” (Sophocles, ii.385). The chorus responds, “You have chosen a painful path. It were better to be no more than live in darkness” (Sophocles, ii.460).