Stand up kind of Guy

                                                      Oedipus is a leader he is powerful he is a stand up kind of guy he is emotional but he is also blind. In Oedipus Rex, the character Oedipus shows good qualities during his troubled times. Even when he was accused of killing the king, who ironically was also his dad, He still insisted on finding out the truth about the unfortunate death.  “I say that you slew the man whose slayer you seek” (Sophocles line 376). When Oedipus is accused by Tiresias of committing the murder of the king, he is still blind to the fact that he is indeed the slayer that he seeks. While going back and forth with Creon about his accusations Oedipus realizes that there is indeed a chance that this tale that Creon has told can be truthful.  “Hearing you just now, my lady, how my soul wanders, how my mind shakes me! (Sophocles l.749).  After realizing from a conversation with his wife Jocasta that there is indeed a chance that he can very well be the killer of the king, Oedipus shows that he is no coward because he still seek to find out the truth. I commend Oedipus for wanting to find out the truth, he could of easily just denied all accusations, but he did not showing that he is a standup guy.

Oedipus Rex

     "Reason lives in the mind, wisdom dwells in the heart." In Sopocles' ancient play Oedipus Rex; the intelligent yet misinformed main character Oedipus builds shadows from logic and confidently believes them to be rays of wisdom. With no knowledge of his true past or the identity of his real parents, Oedipus runs far from a prophecy in which it is told that he would slay his own father and wed his own mother. Though his intentions were to brake the prophecy, he comes to a complete surprise when a powerful prophet accuses Oedipus that the pollution of the city he is now king of, is in peril because of him.  Oedipus argues with the wise prophet confidently, without realizing that his reason is turning his tongue black, and ultimately leading to his blindness.
     From the beginning of the play, we can see Oedipus is a rational individual who seeks intelligence. His ability to figure out the riddle the Sphinx used to haunt the town is the first example of his sharp mind. Also certain thoughts he shares, such as "...but know that I have been weeping much and wandering many roads of the mind." (Sophocles 72) Oedipus is a man who takes pride in his intelligence, this is the Hubris that begins tainting the connection between his mind and heart. Perhaps Oedipus finds no use in wisdom, or maybe his position as a leader and king, makes rational thinking necessary. His ignorance coupled with his ego clog his ears and eyes to the reality that is playing out his unanswered questions, right in front of him without realizing. Oedipus thinks himself as a wise man, because he knows not the experience and patience that wisdom is made of, but only listens to the analytical ramble inside his head.
     The prophet Tiresias is the symbol of wisdom. An old man, physically blind yet spiritually translating the futures of many unlucky individuals. His notoriety amongst several other plays and also the talk of other characters makes it obvious that Tiresias is a man called upon time and time again. "I know that my lord Tiresias most always sees the same as my lord Apollo; from him one investigating this might learn the wisest things."( Sophocles 293) Even the Chorus speaks well of him, yet Oedipus decides to challenge his prophecy. We can see the clash between rationality and wisdom as Oedipus bellows with anger, and Tiresias speaks truth calmly, while trying to explain his misfortune. Even though Oedipus is in a pedestal and crowned, his ignorance swallows him completely at the end.

Oedipus's tragedy because of believes prophecy or not?

Is oracle real? Is the reason of Oedipus's tragedy coming true because he believes prophecy or disbelieves it? There are pivotal 3 oracles. The first is when Oedipus was birth. Oedipus’s genuine parents trust the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Then the Apollo oracle told him that he would murder his father and marry his mother when he grew up raised by adopter who are King and Queen of Isthmus. The third oracle comes out involving that there is plague in Thebe. As the King of Thebe, Oedipus sends Creon to Apollo’s home at Pytho. Apollo says which Thebe will be healed only until the killer of Laius King found.

The whole play are connected by these three oracles. With developing of these oracles, Oedipus are closer and closer to his destiny.  

Is that an irony? On the one hand, when he trusts what Apollo says, he is leaded to direction of the answer. “Phoebus clearly ordered us, my lord, to drive out the pollution being fostered in this very land, not to nurture it unhealed.” (Sophocles lines 102-04). He believes it, and promises to find out who is the killer. This belief becomes the beginning of his unknown secrete exposed. On another hand, he tries to prove that he is a perfect King and defenses his fate from prophecies. Oedipus says, “But I deem myself the child of Chance, who gives good things, and I will not be dishonored. She is my mother, and brothers, the Months, have seen me both small and great. Being born what I am, I could never be another so I should seek out my descent.” (Sophocles lines 1102-07). He ignores Jocasta’s advise but goes forward of it. However, things are getting deeper and clearer. He is like betting his destiny for against the prophecy.

Whatever Oedipus believes the prophecy or not, he is destined to be made fun by his fate. Even though he struggles and wants to confirm he isn’t that unlucky in the end, it only brings him to downfall more quickly. In the end, Oedipus kindly has noticed his prophecy has come true, but he denies as a blind. 

 At first glance, Oedipus seems  the victim of an unfortunate series of events. He was cursed and doomed without a chance. He flees his perceived homeland of Corinth, because it seems like the rational thing to do as he has just gotten word of the prophesy that he will murder his father and kill his mother. Furthermore, we don't see him trying to examine his inner experience as he journeys to find the root of evil in the land of Thebes. In his quest, he looks to hard facts for his answers, and gets lost in his pursuit of the truth. Rather than looking inward, he becomes preoccupied with suspicion and blame. As he looks to the blind Tiresius for answers, he does not heed his warning to halt in his questioning, and becomes rather defensive when he doesn't get what he wants: "You would not explain what you understand, but rather intend to betray us and destroy the city." (345)


For some reason blog is not allowing me to reply to you so my comment is here:  (Dr Van)



Andrew--it seems as though you want to focus on the way Oedipus looks at facts and gets lost in suspicion and blame instead of looking within.  You need to break down the play into specific examples of this (Tiresias, Creon, Jocasta, Messenger etc) and analyze his reasoning and failure in each instance--then you need to decide how you want to conclude--does he get better in the end at confronting truth?

Blog #1

                Oedipus is a character that brave, intelligent, responsible, and confidence. Oedipus solved the riddle that Sphinx asked and became the king of Thebes because he is brave and intelligent. He loves his people and wants to remove the pollution for the city because he is responsible. He believes he can find out the killer of Laius because he is confidence. However, these are also his weaknesses that lead him to his destiny and his end. The strongest qualities of a person also can hurt, mislead, and blind him.

                Your strongest qualities help you get want you want, but it avoids you from good advices as well. When Oedipus is close to his real birth, Jocasta advises him to give up. “Oedipus: It is impossible that when I have found such signs, I will not discover my birth. Jocasta: No, by the gods! If indeed you care for your own life, do not go after this! (Sophocles 1080)” Oedipus is a person that will find the answer that he needs and wants to know, and this is one of his strongest qualities. He does not give up until he achieves his goals, and the strength makes him a good king. Nevertheless, this spirit make him ignore Jocasta’s advise that stop discover his birth and lead him to perish. Jocasta wishes Oedipus could stop discover his birth because she knows the answer. She also knows that when Oedipus finds his birth, it will destroy himself and it will not end well. Although Jocasta gives Oedipus a good advice, he trusts himself because finding the answers helped him to be successful and this is his strength. When people rely on their strengths too much and do not listen to other advice, tragedy will happen.

Kaiqiang--here is my comment--for some reason blog wouldn't let me post--you have a good focus on Oedipus's strengths and I am thinking you are going to show how these same qualities lead him to his fate.  You need to get some help from the Writing Center regarding word forms especially--adjectives versus nouns.  You discover your origins, not your birth--that's just an idiom.

Kaiqiang Fan

Janet Nolan

In the play of Oedipus Rex Oedipus character always seems to be at constant battle with itself. Oedipus strengths also seem to be the same thing that weakens him. For Oedipus, facts and details are the very things that make him a good leader. But this is also his biggest down fall, he so obsessed  with finding the logic of things that he doesn’t listen to the warning and pleas of others  to make him stop in his quest. I believe that Oedipus biggest strength is logic and pride but it is also his biggest weakness. As Oedipus comes closer and closer to the truth his strength mislead him and his weakness blind him from the very truth. Unfortunately for Oedipus "in life suffering is inevitable, but wisdom can be gained through it" (Pointers).But is this particular wisdom something that you would truly want to know.

Assessment of Oedipus' Character- Mara V. Garcia

After having read Oedipus, my initial impression about his character is that he is arrogant, or Hubris, and also a bit oblivious. He misses pivotal signs about his situation despite the fact that it is being said, practically, outright to him. “If indeed you care for your own life, do not go after this!” (Sophocles 350) He seems to be dense in some ways, though other behaviors are in stark contrast to the idea of him being dense, i.e., the solving of the Sphinx.

Indispensable to his character is the incessant need to find the truth, which I personally could not understand, since all indications pointed to the truth not being favorable. However, it was only after understanding the connection between responsibility and character that was essential to the Greeks, did this search of his begin to make sense to me. That is something I admire in his character. His need to hear the truth, even though, on some levels he is aware that the truth can potentially destroy him. “Let it all burst out if it must!” (Sophocles 355) Almost as if the most bitter of truths is better than living in a sweet denial. Which in and of itself is the polar opposite of his constant denials to everything Tiresias says to him, earlier in the play.

Oedipus is intelligent and clever. However, there is an absence of wisdom, and insight for himself. He can see so clearly the situation of others, while he is blind to his own. Oedipus can also be intolerable when he is not given the information he desires. He has a sharp tongue, which seems almost genius, since it causes those withholding things from him to snap and tell him what he wants to hear. As was the case for Tiresias: “I say to you: Abide by that decree you made earlier, and from this day address neither these men here now me, since you are he unholy polluter of this land.” (Sophocles 133) Yet, this illustrates further his lack of wisdom. He is not receptive. A wiser man would have started connecting things by that point in the play, which is the very thing that can make him seem dense, in spite of his other virtues.

Blog 1

The usage of imagery in Oedipus Rex is of great interest to fully identify the irony of the play.  Throughout the play Oedipus was continuously acting upon impulse rather then recollecting knowledge effectively to gain wisdom.   An example of this first occurred when Oedipus fled his previous destination without fully being awakened of the truth about his past.  He processed to rule Thebes after filling the prophecies claims of killing his father and marrying his mother.  At this point in time the city became polluted and to cure the city from this tragedy, they must put a face to the man who committed murder and punish him for the deed.  Oedipus attempted to maintain his heroic figure by making the unknown, known.  A blind man Tiresias revealed that Oedipus was the cause of the pollution.  Oedipus spoke hostilely and stated the statement was false.  As the play advances, the truths are slowly exposed with evidence to prove it.  The darkness of the truth was coming to light.  Although Oedipus was acting blindly to seek for truth, he slowly gained wisdom by identify and breaking down the major components that he overlooked, as perceived as false.  He ultimately reached full wisdom when he was able to interconnect the event that took place that lead to this tragedy.  Therefore, knowing wisdom in full hindsight.  Wisdom in this context is acknowledging things without doubt.

Diana--here is my comment:  Diania--Connection between imagery and irony--great angle.  Just define the magery you are going to talk about in sentence two instead of waiting five sentences for us to figure out you are going to talk about darkness and light!  And try to connect each of your main points directly to this imagery and continue to emphasize irony!

blog 1 Oedipus

Do we really know who we are? Who we are meant to be? Its safe to say that majority of people believe that we can change our fate. That our destiny is determined by the choices we make not already laid out for us. In the play Oedipus, Oedipus thinks that he has escaped his fate of killing his father and marrying his mother. Little does he know, he did exactly what the prophecy said he would. Oedipus starts off in the play as the mighty king who will save that city from their plague, however in the end he finds out that he is the plague and ironically, he becomes a better person. King Oedipus wants to cure the city from the sickness and everyone sees him as the savior. Being excessively self-confident and arrogant blinds Oedipus from figuring out that he is the plague. At the end of the play he becomes a beggar begging to be sent away from the city he once ruled. Even though in the end he becomes blind, he finally sees the truth. No longer is he arrogant and full of pride. Which is ironic because he sees the light in darkness. Also, he ridiculed Tiresias for being blind. The irony of this play makes one wonder, who are we really? Oedipus didn’t have bad intentions. If anything, he wanted to be a better person and escape his destiny. Are we really in control of our life or did the gods already plan it out for us? The sad part is I wonder is there was anything Oedipus could've done  to prevent this tragedy from happening.


Anna--I admire the questions you raise at beginning especially--who are we, what are we meant to be...but I think you partly answer them when you say that our destiny is determined by the choices we make...at the end you ask if the gods have already planned it for us--if our choices determine our destiny then our fate lies within us, no?  Just pointing out a sort of paradox in your post.

dr van