... and uncle, to the prophet Delphi to gain insight on how to end the plague. Unknown to Oedipus, his biological father Laius received the prophecy that his son would kill him and marry his wife, from the same oracle. In witness of the Chorus, Creon returns and at the King's bidding delivers his message ... of the truth more than what the truth might reveal (Johnston). From the exchange with the blind prophet, the story begins to weave an image of Oedipus's blindness. A different man in the King's place might not have been spurred to anger when accused of being a murderer. Instead, that per...

• Word Count: 2005
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... of the play Oedipus Rex, the protagonist Oedipus is rational, mature, admired and independent of others. "Oedipus, famous among all men," he himself quotes. He has the power to curse the unknown criminal and therefore he is nearly divine. He is sure of his strength and foresight, seen through ... oracle, for fear that he will one day kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus' biological parents, King Laius and Queen Jocasta, sent their son away to be killed. After the estranged shepherd did not fulfill his duty, he proceeded to tell King Laius and wife that he had murdered the young ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... , king, this man, this murderer-he is here. In name he is a stranger among citizens but soon he will be shown to be a citizen true native Theban, and he'll have no joy of the discovery: blindness for sight and beggary for riches his exchange, he shall go journeying to a foreign country tapping his way befor him with a stick. He shall be ... proved father and brother both to his own children in his house: to her that gave him birth, a son and husband both: a fellow sower in his father ... it told him that it was fate that he should die a victim at the hands of his own son."œ (41). This ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... Oedipus is quick-tempered, lacking patience and behaving hastily, at times. He engages at the crossroads in a hot-tempered dispute with Laius. Both father and son anger quickly and resort to violence (Howard 8). Oedipus kills the traveler, without knowing that his temper has doomed his father to death (Howard 5). He later ... 2). Oedipus has been driven in life by his curiosity about his own birth (Howard 2). He was brought up in Corinths and was the adopted son of King Polybus and Queen Merope. When a stranger told him he was adopted, Oedipus consulted the Oracle at Pytho. It was here th...

• Word Count: 1668
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• Grade Level: High School

... soothsayer warns the King that the gods disagree with his decision to defile the body of Oedipus's son. Offended by Creon's pride and by his refusal to bury Polynices, the gods threaten to take the life of Creon's son. Tiresias' prophetic warning is met with anger and rejection, and he is sent away. Nonetheless ... of this person will cure the city. The play unfolds as a murder mystery as Oedipus sets out to find the killer of Laius. Sight and blindness is a motif throughout the plays, and plays a crucial role in the dramatic irony of Oedipus the King. Tiresisas the blind prophet is summ...

• Word Count: 964
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• Grade Level: High School

... (Scene I35-37) But Antigone defies the order. She is caught and sentenced by Creon to be buried alive, even though she is betrothed to his son Haemon. After the blind prophet Tiresias announces that the gods are on Antigone's side, Creon changes his mind; however, it is too late. After he ... his own house" (Segal). Creon's next decision is to undo the wrong that he has caused by ordering Antigone's release from the prison-tomb. "Creon's blindness, pride, and folly suddenly collapse, and he determines to save what can yet be saved" (Lesky). Creon must let go of his pride in order to ......

• Word Count: 1884
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... affects the characterization and the actions of Creon as a result of his conflicts of whether to put his own niece to death, the death of his son, Haemon, and the death of his wife, Eurydices. What ought to be Creon's most conflicting decision throughout the play, is whether he should put Antigone ... , unfriended, without marriage-song, I am led forth in my sorrow on this journey that can be delayed no more."" (Oates/ O'Neill, 218) Within these two quotes, Antigone expresses the essence of the bridal imagery in the play towards her uncle. She speaks of how she can never be wed, and as a ...

• Word Count: 2070
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... proving that all he is doing is getting rid of all of his relatives so he has no competition. Antigone's actions cause a lot of people's eyes to be opened and blindness to be taken away. Antigone's actions proves that woman are not servants or dumb. She does this by proving that she was right in burying her brother when King Creon ... to change it but she is already dead. She turns King Creon's life around and opened his eyes at what was left. After she died King Creon's son and wife killed themselves first his son because of Antigone and the his wife because she had no sons left. Antig...

• Word Count: 668
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• Grade Level: High School

... The King, many characters are distracted by the physical world, which causes them to be blinded by the most obvious of truths. In Oedipus The King, Sophocles uses blindness as a motif. Oedipus, the main character, could not see the truth. Teiresias, the blind seer, "saw" it plainly. Jocasta, Oedipus" wife and mother, ... to truth of Oedipus" identity. In addition, Laius, Oedipus father, was blind to think that he could cheat destiny with simply mortal actions. The blindness in Oedipus The King is an effective contrasting technique used by Sophocles to influence the actions of many of the ...

• Word Count: 869
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... responsibility, is also a seat of wealth and splendor; it was good to be king. The truth that bound Oedipus' feet at birth also binds him to a life of darkness, of blindness, and self-torture through the end of his days. The truth in Oedipus' life seems to be a bind in parallel to the way his feet were bound as an infant ... child came from the house of of Laius."" Oedipus acknowledges now "I'm at the edge of hearing horrors, yes, but I must hear!- More specifically, the shepherd speaks the devastating truth: "His son, they said it was "his son! But the one inside, your wife, she'd tell...

• Word Count: 1783
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• Grade Level: High School

... She tries to talk Antigone out of burying Polynices. She also agrees to die with Antigone when she was captured. Haemon Haemon is Creon's youngest son and is also engaged to Antigone. When he found out Antigone's sentence, he tries to change his father's mind. He realized that his father ... She is heartbroken over the death of Haemon. She runs off and stabs herself. Messenger and Messenger 2 Messenger tells Eurydice about the suicide that her son has committed. He is proud of the way Creon is handling business. Messenger 2 tells Creon of the suicide that Eurydice has committed. He does...

• Word Count: 1938
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• Grade Level: High School

... : The Human Experience ; Edited by Richard Abcacian, Marvin Klotz with Peter Richardson, St. Martins Press Inc. NY. 1998, one of the themes is blindness. Not just fisical but emotional and even intelectual in some ways. The issue of blindness in the story could be interpreted in different ways, depending on the situations that present themselfs during the development of the plot. For ... only needs to chose for ones self and believ. But even if life is already planed one must try their hardest to handle whatever comes their way. For Teresias physical blindness could have been fate but h...

• Word Count: 329
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• Grade Level: High School

... adamant in the edict against Polyneices being buried. Creon considered Polyneices a traitor- who broke his exile to come back with fire and sword against his native city whose one idea was to spill the blood of his blood and sell his own people into slavery (p. 197) "This is my command, ... proclaims his role as ruler " And the City proposes to teach me how to rule?-(p 220) Only after Creon had a rift (p.20) that alienated his son, Haimon, and the prophet, Teiresias, he acknowledged that the decision to have Antigone killed and not to bury her brother, Polyneices, was wrong. It seemed t...

• Word Count: 929
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... "crimes " that they committed. Jocasta played the role of both the mother and wife of Oedipus. Many believe that Jocasta was aware during the whole play that Oedipus was her son while some think it was still common thought that she was oblivious. Throughout the play, Oedipus tells Jocasta many events about his past, pieces that could be put together to ... this point Jocasta knows and is desperate to make sure that Oedipus doesn't find out. She knows what Oedipus did to the King, she knows that Oedipus is her first son, she knows that she married the boy with the pinned up ankles that s...

• Word Count: 1469
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... and that the amount of power he held meant nothing as then it becomes too late for him to recognize his wrongs before he is told that Antigone and his son lay dead. Likewise Oedipus could not fight his fate as he continued to make choices that did not work right for him .His ignorance of his actions did not require ... in the lives I cut down with these hands !( Oedipus the king, page 232,lines 1306-1310). His need for truth kept pushing him to continue his search. The idea of blindness is commonly used in both plays, it depicts that how one can deny or purposefully become unaware to th...

• Word Count: 443
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... nature of the situation and himself. He desperately wants to know, to see, but he cannot. At this point, it is obvious that Oedipus's action must be to overcome his "blindness". Ironically, into the play is introduced a prophet, Teiresias. He is physically blind but is a clairvoyant. He does not wish to tell Oedipus the true nature of the situation and attempts ... is his father that he killed and Iocaste is his mother that he is laying with. However, Iocaste informs him that she too received a prophecy many years ago that her son would kill Laios so she quickly had him removed upon his...

• Word Count: 651
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• Grade Level: High School

... futile" are the words Iocasta said to Oedipus (Sophocles, 103). Although the events that led to Oedipus fulfilling the prophecy of being found "at once brother and father of children; son and husband of the woman who bore him; shedder of his fathers blood," (Sophocles, 88) Oedipus the decided and executed these actions. What a fate for Oedipus who ruled greatly for ... fates. As for justice, the gods are justice. Readers will notice that Oedipus was not wise to the fact that his actions helped bring the prophecy from Apollo true. This blindness helps turn the readers against the gods. H...

• Word Count: 1136
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• Grade Level: High School

... her husband Agamemnon's cruel decision to sacrifice their daughter Iphigenia holds no ground to the Greek audience and the other characters of the play. Her own son Orestes later kills her. To him, avenging his father's murder is all-important and the hideous crime of matricide is only secondary! So much so ... and the granddaughter of Helios, the Sun god. Jason, a Thessalian hero, was the rightful inheritor of the throne of Iolcus by virtue of being Aeson's son. His uncle Pelias, the usurper of his throne, bade him to procure the Golden Fleece from Colchis if he wanted to be named as his...

• Word Count: 3814
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• Grade Level: High School

... Sophocles" play "Oedipus Rex" you experience the classic illustration of a tragedy. Inside a book it is easier for one to notice the references to sight and blindness. However, it is hard to believe that sight and blindness really are metaphors at all. In the movie, the characters speak and they show the clear images of the comparison between light and darkness. It is ... ...

• Word Count: 573
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... Put in my hands unsought-if for this power Creon desires in secret to destroy me! (Rex.1.174-180). The contrast between the outward glory and inward blindness of Oedipus and the outward blindness and inward sight of the prophet is representative of the fact that in order to see all that is truly there one must ignore the world they see ... ...

• Word Count: 1091
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... is his lack of sympathy for others. This is shown in the way he handles the insulted corpse, and his punishment for Antigone. Although Polyneices fought against his native city, his corpse should have been honored for the sake of his family. Antigone, Polyneices" sister, was bothered by the thought of no reverence or prayers ... they like,"(48-49). This is an unnecessary and heartless way to address the situation to the public. Even though Antigone is Haemon's, Creon's son, future wife, he orders for the girl to be killed in response to her attempt to honor Polyneices" corpse. He should ...

• Word Count: 348
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• Grade Level: High School

... is one law though, that Creon proclaims goes against the divine law set forth by the gods. That law prohibits the burial of Antigone's brother because he acted against his native country. It is the gods" law that all soldiers have an appropriate and honorable burial. Although Creon's law contradicts the gods", he sticks to his beliefs and does not alter ... his laws. Because Creon has a strong will, however, does not mean that he does not show humiliation. Towards the end of the play, after learning that he will push his son and niece to their deaths, Creon recoils himself and steps bac...

• Word Count: 1426
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... can see the murderer. Tiresias foresees the tragedy that is to be revealed and although hesitant in bringing the truth forward, he eventually reveals that the murderer is a native Theban who is son and husband to his wife, as well as brother and father to his own children, and the murderer of his own father. Oedipus still has not put the pieces ... out about the lone servant that survived the attack in which Laius was killed. The servant is sent for at once. It comes to light that Oedipus was not the son of the king of Corinth but had been found with his ankles bound as an infant. The s...

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

... the riddle of the Sphinx that led to him becoming king. Ironically, it is these traits that cause Oedipus" downfall. Which eventually leads to Iokaste's suicide and Oedipus" self-inflicted blindness. Oedipus was without doubt a wise man, for he had solved the riddle of the Sphinx and saved Thebes. The priest verbalizes his and the citizens of Thebes" respect of Oedipus ... ...

• Word Count: 716
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... Oedipus at Colonus, he is elderly and without a city to call home. His two sons have betrayed him and his wife is long dead. However, Oedipus still seeks dignity. Oedipus" blindness, but ability to see the truth is ironic. Others have sight, but are corrupted and blinded by power and greed. VII. Vocab attatched VIII. Criticism Oedipus" courage and knowledge makes ... ...

• Word Count: 1061
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• Grade Level: High School