questions intro to lit.docx

Oedipus the kingCharacter: Oedipus TeiresiasIocaste Laius Priest Creon OedipusPriestCreonTiresiasJocastaMessengerShepherdSecond MessengerMain idea: Oedipus, a man who becomes the king of Thebes while in the process unwittingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would murder his father Laius and marry his mother Iocasta. The play is an example of a classic tragedy, noticeably containing an emphasis on how Oedipuss own faults contribute to the tragic heros downfall, as opposed to having fate be the sole cause. Sight and blindness[edit]Literal and metaphorical references to eyesight appear throughout Oedipus the King. Clear vision serves as a metaphor for insight and knowledge, but the clear-eyed Oedipus is blind to the truth about his origins and inadvertent crimes. The prophet Tiresias, on the other hand, although literally blind, sees the truth and relays what is revealed to him. Only after Oedipus has physically blinded himself does he gain a limited prophetic ability, as seen in Oedipus at Colonus. It is deliberately ironic that the seer can see better than Oedipus, despite being blind. In one line (Oedipus the king, 469), Tiresias says:So, you mock my blindness? Let me tell you this. You [Oedipus] with your precious eyes, youre blind to the corruption of your life ... (Robert Fagles 1984)Fate, free will, or tragic flaw[edit]At the beginning of the play Oedipus is portrayed as the hero, who delivered Thebes from the terror of the Sphinx.you are the first of men both in the experiences of life and in dealing with unseen-powersexclaims the old priest in the first scene when another cathastrophe, the plague, strikes the city. Yes, how come the great king of the first scene became the blind outcast wanderer when the curtain falls? Is it his fate, his free will or his tragic flaw that causes his downfall?Fate is a theme that often occurs in Greek writing, tragedies in particular. The idea that attempting to avoid an oracle is the very thing which brings it about is a commo