... tragedies make mistakes based on their behaviors or decisions, often suffering the consequences. The punishments can be either physical or mental, or both. The purpose of the punishments, ultimately, is to cause the protagonists to feel guilt or remorse. For instance, the King of Oedipus from the famous tragedy plays "Oedipus Rex,"" retold by John Bennett and Moira Kerr, and the King of Creon from the plays "Antigone ", are ... of his relatives and severe physical punishments, but his action of avoiding the tragedy and abandoning his power in order to search for the "mental peace " befo...

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... the story and eventually, it reached the part where he met a sphinx in which he passed the riddle. Because of this, he became so full of himself and became an imperious person. While on his way to Thebes, he met an old man, with his slaves around him. He met them in the crossroads. There, as said in the story, he was harassed and a brawl in the road ... happened, making him kill the man, which appeared to be King Laius, his biological father and ... himself. King Laius was with his servants and a cart. A very simple thing to do, if he was asked to move away or as said harassed, he can ...

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... being true. Some may argue that the gods affected his decision to leave, but he could have ignored the prophecy and went on with his life. Along the way, he manages to arrive at "this country where, so you say, King Laius was killed" (Sophocles, ScII, 280). He goes by a place where the three highways intersected and was "Forced off the road by his lord's command" (Sophocles ... , ScII, 285) by the groom leading the chariot and horses. Already furious and ... annoyed enough but the oracle given to him, he struck the ... ...

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... the turn out of the events, and although they are more behind the scenes then other characters, gods are always present in the mind of the reader. After reading the play, there is a feeling of madness towards the gods, because of all the things they have put upon the King and his people. Although this play is a tragedy one can't help but blame everything on the ... gods. According to Greek believes, a man was free to choose his own steps in life and was ultimately held responsible for his own actions. Therefore one can't blame everything on gods, although they did choose that road for Oe...

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... used love and their physical beauty to end the fighting. In many ways both these elements seem to be the same contributing factor of the war. It was, the love for the land the opposing state possessed and the hatred for the men of the opposing states that initially fueled the war. On the other hand, it was also the love for their wives, and the Hate associated with not being able to have ... sex with their wives, that attributed to the men signing the treaty and ending the war. Therefore love ... Corinth so as to avoid coming face to face with his dreadful fate. Secondly he displayed h...

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... arrives at Devonshire, a preparation which largely helps him. Similarly, Oedipus's swiftness also gives his investigation a good start. He anticipates the subject and has already sent Kreon to Delphi for oracles. After Kreon came back from Delphi with Apollo's words, Oedipus starts to ... shove him off to make the way for the king. Both Laios's and his driver's aggressive behavior stimulate Oedipus's defense in a sudden which causes Laois's death and agitates Oedipus to kill the band with only one survivor left. Had Oedipus not hastened to travel on the road but waited until Laios passed...

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... of both protagonists to come about. Neither character trusted the right people. Oedipus should have trusted what he was told as a teenager from the oracle- that he was going to kill his father and marry his mother. Therefore, he should not have killed a travelling man on a road after he just heard this, and he should have not married a significantly older woman. He did, however ... , because he believed he was the real son of the parents who had adopted him (trusting that ... they would tell him the truth), and because, though he believed the oracle enough to run away, he didn't trust i...

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... actions. Oeidpus" fate was known by his birth parents and that's how this tragedy began. When Oeidpus was a grown man he tried to change what the Gods had in store for him but little did he know his own actions were bringing him towards his fate. After Oeidpus had married Iocaste, not knowing ... she was his birth mother and solving the riddle of the Sphinx this began to change. More questions arose about the death of Laios and of who was his band of murders. At this time Oeidpus was unaware of who he had ... he committed a sin by his own actions and would not be forgiven by any means. ...

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... demanding goals which were needed to maintain the 'Greatness of Athens.' It was this striving for perfection, however, that played a part in the failure of Athens. As the Athenians' greatness advanced further and further on the road toward that perfection they were trying to reach, they hit two large stones of corruption. When the cruel blow of the plague and then the death of Pericles occurred, Athenians were not ... equipped for the battle. That striving for perfection was not enough to sustain ... ...

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... of Polybus and Merope he will never harm them. Oedipus is being driven by fear when he flees from Corinth and encounters Laius at the three crossroads. Laius's carriage attempts to drive him off the road and an argument ensues leading Oedipus to kill all three travelers, including Laius. King Oedipus again exhibits fear when he forcefully accuses Teresias, an all-knowing seer ... possible only when he is not distracted by the things of this world. The play Oedipus Rex is a tragedy of fate; it's tragic effect depends on the conflict between the all-powerful will of the gods and the vain ...

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... to suffer because he believed he deserved it.-------------- Finally, there was one part of Oedipus the King that I didn't like and can blame on Sophocles. That was the part where the chorus seems to go on and on about the gods and how Apollo and Zeus should save them. They chanted on about how they would never go to Delphi or another temple if Oedipus" story wouldn't come ... him he"d kill his dad and marry his mom. Upon hearing this, he surely wasn't going home in the hope of preventing this from happening. So on his way he ran into an old man and his servants who tried to run him off ...

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... 's first name, obviously, derives from Oedipus, the hero of Sophocles' famous play. According to the legend, Oedipus' parents found out that he was fated to kill his father and marry his mother. Therefore, they arranged for the child's death. However, he was rescued and grew to adulthood in another kingdom. As an adult, Oedipus meets a strange man on the road and kills him, never knowing that ... he is actually his father. When he reaches the next kingdom, he learns that the king has mysteriously died, and Oedipus himself becomes king, marrying ... the former king's wife, who of course ...

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... the curse he cast on anyone who is the murderer also applies to him. Nevertheless, just as with his pride, Oedipus had an excess amount of will. Oedipus" strong will was also a weakness, which came in the form of violence and the murder of Laios. Oedipus " strong will would not allow him to be pushed off the road as he explains, "The groom leading the horses forced me off the road ... at his lord's command; but as this charioteer lurched over towards me I struck him in a rage" (993). This incident ended in the murder of Laios at the hands of Oedipus, which ... was the oracle's prophecy...

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... he probably would not have ran away from Corinth. It makes me wonder if Oedipus had only known that one detail maybe he could have avoided the curse because he never would have been on the same road as the king he killed that was also his father and he would also never have been in Thebes. Maybe if Oedipus did not leave Corinth in ... such a hurry he could have discussed it with his Polybus and Dorian. Oedipus could have studied his options more as done in the Robert Frost poem. "And be ... front as it did in the story. Instead of calling on eye witnesses and oracles he would have been...

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... a coward to what is foretold to him. The truth of the whole situation became the end of Oedipus. Sophocles shows irony in this play. The irony is how the truth eventually stabs him in the back. He leaves his "mom" and "dad" thinking that they are his biological parents when they are not, runs into his real father on the road, and kills him without knowing that he is ... his real father. Oedipus is rewarded for saving Thebes with the hand of the former kings" wife. It is ironic how the situation bites him in the back. The ... play also shows the characterization of Oedipus. Oedipus beca...

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... to live. These people chose to do what they wanted; "fate" was uninvolved. Secondly, Oedipus acted too carelessly while on his way to Thebes in hopes of escaping the people in Corinth who he believed were his parents. To start, while passing a crossroads, he was confronted and ordered off the road by a man traveling in a chariot. Instead of complying, Oedipus fought with and killed ... the man and his guards. The man was his real father, the King of Thebes. What Oedipus could have done was calmly move ... out of the way and avoid killing anyone, especially since he had just been warned...

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... -209) Before Oedipus had become king of Thebes, he had murdered a man, who turned out to be his father, in the fork of a road that leads to 3 different cities. Oedipus had accidentally proved the first half of the prophecy to be true, and would complete the second half by attaining Laios" position- wife and all. Joseph P. Wilson is quoted, "Iokaste's suicide is a probable indication that ... Oedipus in agony after he's realized that he has fallen victim to the Oedipal Complex. It is quoted, "Iokaste bared children of her children" ("The Hero And The City, Pg. 34) This quote demonstrates ...

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... and decision making for themselves, and how those decisions affect them. In Oedipus the King, the free will of Oedipus is an important part of the play's structure, because his desire for knowledge of the truth drives him and greatly affects the decisions he makes throughout the story, like killing a stranger on the road, leaving Corinth, accepting the throne of Thebes, accepting Iocasta's hand in marriage and also continuing his ... search for the truth of his origin. These are all decisions made of his own free ... ...

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... love. He loves these people and does not wish to harm them. Oedipus, to this point, has done everything in his power to keep from making the prophecy come true. When Oedipus meets the man in the road on his journey away from his parents, he has no idea that it is his real father. As far as he knows, he has just left his ... father to keep from killing him. Now there is a man in the road causing a confrontation in which he loses and dies. I agree that even though Oedipus did commit the immoral act of ... murder, he was merely defending himself. He could not have possibly known that he c...

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... of his own fate because while running away from Corinth he came to a split road where he ran into a man in a carriage and men guarding around him. The man in the carriage whipped Oedipus and demanded him to get out of the road and this made Oedipus snap and he killed them all but one man who ran ... away. Little did Oedipus know he just killed his biological father, King Laius of Thebes. After this all took place, Oedipus carried on his way ... into Thebes where he ran into a sphinx who had the whole place captured and the ... Queen Jocasta of Thebes. He had free will because he is t...

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... justifiable. Oedipus describes the incident as thus: as he was "making [his] way toward this triple crossroad [he] began to see a herald, then a brace of colts drawing a wagon, and mounted on the bench . . . a man, just as [Jocasta] described [Laius], coming face-to-face, and the one in the lead and the old man himself [was] about to thrust [him] off the road-brute force - and the one shouldering [him ... ] aside, the driver, [he] struck [him] in anger - and the old man, watching [Oedipus] coming up along his wheels - he brings ... murder. Although one could argue that Laius' actions ar...

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... was adopted or not. The oracle told him that he would one day marry his mother and kill his father. In fear for his parents, Polybus and Merope, Oedipus decided not to go back to Corinth. So, instead Oedipus headed in the opposite direction toward Thebes. As Oedipus is on his journey, he ends up getting run off the road and driven to rage as ... he killed all the passengers and driver of the chariot. Oedipus not knowing what he did, has already killed his father Laius. Upon arriving at Thebes ... , Oedipus solves a riddle from the Sphinx who had been tormenting the town and causing chao...

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... but it does not work; in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet also tries to circumvent a tragedy, but he does this by not acting on the task assigned to him by the ghost of his father. Hamlet and Oedipus Rex are both similar, in that they are both examples of a classic tragedy. Although, they ... inability to recognize that he is in fact fulfilling his own destiny. Oedipus's downfall is also partially his own fault; he tries to undo the prophecies and unconsciously fulfills them. Oedipus explains how he had killed his father and his escort, "There were three highways Coming together at a...

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... them or allowed them to be born. Many of us take it for granted that we have been privileged to life. We live our lives in search of the wrong things. He stated he wanted To gain honor among men and deceitful riches? (1135). When in fact riches do not achieve happiness. We live our lives ... weak creatures and when we know that we have sinned, or done wrong, we then turn to forgiveness because we supposedly know the word of God. We, as humans do what we think will solve the problems of guilt or turmoil that we go through. Because that is how we are raised to believe. Our parents, like .....

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... on the road and kills him. He then finds a castle that is being terrorized by a sphinx and answers the riddle it asks. He then marries the Queen and rules over the kingdom. In the end, the city is threatened by a plague that the oracle said will cease when the city gets rid of the one who murdered the king, Oedipus announces that the ... murderer will be punished. However, while searching for the truth Oedipus discovers that he is the murderer and the son of his wife. In the ... up to be. Would Oedipus have really murdered his father and marry his mother if they had not asked the oracle...

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