The most predominant conflict in Oedipus Rex is character vs. fate. Oedipus was born to a cursed family and was therefore cursed himself. According to myth, King Laius was King Pelops’ charge.

The main idea of Oedipus the King by Sophocles is that one cannot defy the gods without suffering severe consequences. The play is about Oedipus, the king of Thebes, who inadvertently kills his father and ends up marrying his mother. Even when the terrible truth is revealed, he remains in denial.

Thiva

The inciting incident is when Oedipus sends Creon, his brother-in-law, to ask the oracle at Delphi for advice on the plague victimizing Thebes. This action sets the rest of the plot into motion, as the king soon learns the reason for the plague is a curse, because Laius’s murderer is still at large.

It generates the interest of the reader in the story and sets the story in motion. An example of an inciting incident would be Alice’s curiosity that lands her in trouble in the book ‘Alice In Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll.

The resolution of Oedipus Rex is that once Oedipus has been revealed as being the cursed person causing the plague in Thebes, he must leave.

Guilt and Shame. The play begins with a declaration from the oracle at Delphi: Thebes is suffering because the person guilty of the murder of King Laius has not been brought to justice. Oedipus sets himself the task of discovering the guilty party—so guilt, in the legal sense, is central to Oedipus Rex.

At what point of the story does Jocasta realize that Oedipus is her son who killed his father Laius? Ans. When Jocasta observes that Oedipus is too much troubled by the accusation of Teiresias as that he was leiller ofhis own father, she tries to alleviate his worries by saying that prophets are often wrong.

As in Antigone, the entrance of Tiresias signals a crucial turning point in the plot. But in Oedipus the King, Tiresias also serves an additional role—his blindness augments the dramatic irony that governs the play. Tiresias is blind but can see the truth; Oedipus has his sight but cannot.

Paradox of Blindness: A seeming contradiction; whatever sounds impossible yet is in fact possible. Teiresias, the blind prophet, is has powers of insight. Oedipus, who is physically able to see, is accused of being blind to the truth.

The metaphor of eyes, seeing and blindness by Sophocles is used extensively thoughout the text. When Teiresias tells Oedipus that he is the killer that he seeks, Oedipus tells him in line 503 “You have no truth, you’re blind.

At the opening of Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, Oedipus views himself as a “world-renowned king” and as zealous, ruthless, and obdurate in the pursuit of truth. Oedipus also believes that he has a greater depth of feeling than any of his people.

There, Laius fell in love with Pelops’ son, Chrysippus. He lured Chrysippus out of town and raped him, then fled back to Thebes as Pelops cursed him for his transgression. Horrified, he abandoned Corinth, and headed towards Thebes where he decided to try his luck as an exile.

Polynices, who had expelled his blind father from Thebes and left him to live as a beggar, has come to ask his father’s support in overthrowing his brother. Oedipus, enraged at his son’s request, stretches out his accusing arms and levies his dreadful curse, by which each son would die at the hands of the other.

What is the meaning of Oedipus’s statement at the end of scene 4? He does not want to face the light, or the truth. He does not want to be “out there” anymore. This is why he gouges his eyes out.

The calm and confident Tiresias also acts as a foil for Oedipus through his dramatic difference in character, which allows the reader to see Oedipus for who he really is and realize that it was he who brought about his own downfall.

As the play opens, Oedipus appears as a blind beggar, banished from Thebes. Meanwhile, Oedipus’ other daughter, Ismene, arrives from Thebes with the news that Creon and Eteocles, Oedipus’ son, want Oedipus to return to Thebes in order to secure his blessing and avoid a harsh fate foretold by the oracle.

The name Oedipus means “swollen feet”. In the past, it was believed that this was because when children were left out in the elements, their feet were pinned together so that they could not save themselves in any way.

Oedipus Rex is a typical classical tragedy because it has the element of tragic setting, atmosphere and mood, tragic character with tragic hamartia, tragic plot design moving to tragic disintegration, and therefore the tragic realization by the character and audience.

Oedipus Rex Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King” is a tragic play which discusses the tragic discovery of Oedipus that he has killed his father and married his mother. Sophocles used the riddle of the sphinx as a metaphor for the 3 phases of Oedipus’ life and to futher characterized him as a tragic man.

Ultimately Oedipus’ character is a fundamentally good, moral and brave person who suffers a terrible fate. However, he is not without his flaws. Aristotle argues that a tragic hero can’t be perfect. Instead, they should have a fatal flaw, or “hamartia,” which results in their tragic downfall.

Oedipus shows both traits of a hero and that of a villain. To the people of Thebes, he begins the play as a hero, although his underlying crimes and the decisions he made to do so cause him to behave like a villain. His characteristics and arrogance are factors that cause his downfall and the realization of his truth.

Many scholars point out that Oedipus’ greatest act of hubris is when he tries to deny his fate. The Oracle of Delphi told him long ago that he was destined to kill his father and sleep with his mother. Ironically, it was this action that led him to kill his real father Laius and to marry his mother Jocasta.

Explanation: In “The Tragedy of Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, the best example of a tragic flaw is Macbeth’s ambition to become king. The tragic flaw in the main character’s personality is one of the main characteristics of a tragedy. This tragic flaw will eventually provoke his downfall.

The present study investigates the tragic hero, defined in Aristotle’s Poetics as “an intermediate kind of personage, not pre-eminently virtuous and just” whose misfortune is attributed, not to vice or depravity, but an error of judgment. The hero is fittingly described as good in spite of an infirmity of character.

The ideal tragic hero, according to Aristotle, should be, in the first place, a man of eminence. The actions of an eminent man would be ‘serious, complete and of a certain magnitude’, as required by Aristotle. Further, the hero should not only be eminent but also basically a good man, though not absolutely virtuous.