Character analysis in Oedipus

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:English

Document 1

The climax of the conflict in the play is experienced when Oedipus realizes that he is the one prophesied to be both the father of his daughters and their brother. This is because the woman he is married to happens to be his mother who was a wife to the former king. The mother cast him away because of the fear that he will conform to the prophesied prophecy. Her wish was never granted because she comes to find out later on that she has married his son. As such, Oedipus reacts out of shame and guilt by removing his eyes and informs his people to banish him. This is because; he has saved the Thebes from the Sphinx curse. He proudly proclaims his name, “here I am myself- you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus” (Finglass, pg7).

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However, a tragedy emerges that changes the name to become part of a curse that was prophesied by the prophet. Oedipus himself is disappointed by these new discoveries as others such as the Leader of the Chorus is terrified and cries in disbelief: “you, you are that man?” (Sophocles, 238). His confidence continues to the end of his kingship. Among the techniques he uses to acquire information from people include threats and torture which also portray him as a bad leader. For instance, he threatens to banish Tiresias and Creon if they don’t give him the name of the person supposed to be the murderer. Finally, the tragedies that befall him can be perceived from two grounds. From one perspective, the tragedies that confront him are of his own making and from another point of view they are not.

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