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Aristotle has written that “poetry is a higher form than history.” He qualifies that history is the story of a particular event that happens at a particular time to a particular person or group, while literature is the story of what is universal in the human experience.
What timeless human experiences or behaviors do you find in your reading of Oedipus the King?
Please address comments to others by name so we can all follow along.
96 thoughts on “Week 6 Discussion”
A human experience I can relate to is the blindness being taken away from oedipus or the truth being told really. In the text you can hear the shock in oedipus’s voice in the text when he found out he didn’t kill his father .He feels like his life was a lie but is relieved that he doesn’t have to live with the guilt of killing his father. Jocasta tries to distract Oedipus from the truth so he can continue living a “blind” life. A sense of blindness being taken away from him which is symbolism in the text of the truth being revealed to him or “everything coming to light”. This something that stood out to me because in that moment it was like a weight lifted off of his shoulders and make him see life differently but when the truth wasn’t on his side it was a hard pill to swallow. I can relate to this because most of the time something that we love or put are trust in isn’t always convenient to you so we avoid hearing the truth, in the same way Oedipus ran away from his fate and it still ended up happening anyway. I think it’s important to put everything into perspective since the beginning of the story which is him running away from his fate , but it still catches up to him. Therefore, this is a human experience or behavior within the text.
Kiara, thank you for starting us off this week! I think what you say is very true about the human approach to truth. Oedipus is metaphorically blind to the truth in the play. He doggedly seeks the truth, disregarding the warnings of Teiresias and Jocasta too. I find her approach to be quite observable in people too—the avoidance of ugly truth. When truth begins to dawn on her, she tries to push it away, to blind herself to it. She also seeks to rationalize the dawning truth and to deny its reality. I find it painful to watch the emergence of truth in this play and see how humans deal with it. Who wouldn’t want to be blind to the particular truth at the center of this drama?
Hi Kiara, I agree with you, is definitely a human experience trying to remain blind to some of our reality. For some people is most comfortable to live the fantasy of a lie, because is hard to deal with the true. After all the people that had die for the Covid-19 pandemic, I’m wondering who are the individuals in a blindness stage like Oedipus; the ones determine to follow the health department guidelines or the ones who prefer to avoid them?
What timeless human experiences or behaviors do you find in your reading of Oedipus the King?
The first thing that came to mind when I read this assignment question was the word, “self-preservation”
Throughout this story I see examples of self-preservation.
The first example I noticed was in the first scene, where the priest and the suppliant children have assembled to speak to Oedipus, seeking a way to save their country from their plagues. (55) “So, let us never speak about your reign, as of a time when first our feet were set secure on high, but later fell to ruin. Raise up our city, save it and raise it up.” In these early chapters the priest, the children, wearing their suppliant crowns where asking for the favor of the gods, and even the chorus where seeking from the Gods and Oedipus a way to save there country and their people from the horrible plague that was upon them. This is and example of self-preservation of the land and its its inhabitants.
Another thing I observed was in line 135 when Oedipus asks, ” was it at home, or the country that death came upon him, or in another country traveling?” I think Oedipus already had suspected what the answer to this question would be. I believe this was a very early indication of him already knowing a hint of the truth but still being in denial which kicks in his self-preservation, hence the back and forth arguments between him and Teiresias which has come at Oedipus’ request with the truth and outcome of his future.
Oedipus says in 167, “Then hear, I’ll not be proved a murderer.” Oedipus is here again in self-preservation
mode. He is stating here, that no matter what proofs come forth at that time, he would not be proved the murderer.
In the midst of all this, even the Herdsman kicks into self preservation mode because it is only under the threat of losing his life that he reveals the truth to Oedipus.
In the end, Jocasta was the one who can be the best example here of one who’s s self preservation lead to her demise. The oracle predicts that her child with Laius would grow up to to kill his father Laius and marry her. What a horrible prophesy! …But Jacosta …knowing the prophesy of old in self-preservation does everything to keep her husband and son from the truth, regardless of how heinous. In the end, her self-preservation was no longer viable as everything was exposed and was replaced by self destruction, when she realizes there is no hiding from the truth and takes her own life.
Janine, I very much like how you tie the idea of self-preservation into the various ways the characters deal with emerging truths. I think you’re right that the whole city has shifting attitudes towards truth. They are confused and conflicted, and as you note, concerned with self-preservation and release from the plague. I too find Jocasta’s denial to be very true to human nature. We come up with all kinds of reasons why ugly things must not be true, and as you say, it often has to do with a desire to avoid pain and preserve our sense of safety.
What timeless human experiences or behaviors do you find in your reading of Oedipus the King? During the reading they are many human behaviors and experiences in which many can relate to, but I found that one of the most humanist behaviors in the story happens during line 416 all the way through line 435. At the beginning of this lines, TEIRESIAS, confesses the truth to king Oedipus, that he was the one who killed that men. The king at hearing this, acts in a human behavior which is denial, denied the truth of what was just told to him. I have known and seen a lot of times in which humans comes in a “state of denial”, in which they do not accept the truth regardless of what is told or shown to them. Oedipus denied it and refuse to believe in anything else that comes out of TEIRESIAS mouth. Another human behavior is when Oedipus comes angry at the truth and at TEIRESIAS, even at the point of insulting him and wishing dead to him. This is also a human behavior as humans have the tendency of hating or getting angry at thing they don’t understand or have control over.
Jon, this is so well expressed. We see the very familiar human behavior of denial when it comes to ugly truths. I’m also very struck by what you write about how truths can evoke anger in people. No matter what evidence is presented, they want to cling to their own vision of reality. Anyone who challenges this reality is met with insults and rage. Without intending to offend any possible Trump supporters who may be in this group, I would point to the public anger at the recent election results. No evidence supports the idea that the election was fraudulent or stolen, and many disappointed people have responded—and continue to respond—with anger and even physical rage. We often hear about anger as one of the phases in a diagnosis of a terminal illness. The terrible, irrevocable news is also met with denial at first, a response we see in the the characters in this play, as well.
Jon, I agree with your examples of human behaviors in Oedipus the King. After Oedipus’s interaction with Teiresias you can tell by his actions that he was deeply shaken by what Teiresias said. Overwhelmed by fear and anger, he lashes out at the people around him especially Creon. I think that is such a human behavior because whenever we feel overwhelmed by our emotions we might take it out on others or let it consume us. And Oedipus let it consume him till the point he lost his eyes and his sanity.
Jon, your timeless behavior is a very good analysis. When Oedipus hear what Teiresias had to say about who killed Laius he was in denial and refuse to accept what he was told. As you stated, this is a common behavior of humans, we refuse to accept when we are told the truth or even when see it as clear as day. We humans just as Oedipus becomes angry with the person when they reveal the truth to us. Instead of us taking a step back and saying to ourselves maybe this is so, we quickly have harsh words to say to that person. Accepting the truth is something very hard for humans to do and I think because of our selfish make-up we bring forth anger as a form of defense.
Jon, I totally agree with your statement because Oedipus is so in denial that he tries to accuse the prophet of being a liar and that Creon has put him up to it, however Tiresias did not back down to tell him the truth. Oedipus will not agree to what Creon has to say either even though Creon is right. Oedipus refuses to accept Creon’s truth to the point where Creon brands Oedipus as insane. This circles back to what the professor points out about Trump supporters, which is that they know that the election was not stolen but refuse to acknowledge the reality
Jon, I agree with your analysis of Oedipus. It is very common to get angry and frustrated when someone is accusing you of something you have no relation to or something you wanted to hide well and did not want anyone to find out because if it was reveal they would view you differently if they discovered it. In the case of Oedipus he felt accused of something he believed not to be true in his eyes. He also felt disrespected because he was a man of status and power and he felt attacked and that put him in the position of feeling like the smallest person in the room although he was king. This resulted to Oedipus feeling inferior in which resulted on him saying threating comments to stop Teiresias.
Hi Jon, I agree with you. Oedipus keep asking teiresia to tell the truth but when he was asking for truth, he was asking for a Teiresia to tell a lie , a truth that he wish to hear. But when Teiresia said the truth that he didn’t want to hear, he get angry at Teiresia and go into denial. He even go as far as insulting and threatening to cover up and change the truth coming from Teiresia.
Jon
I too used the human behavior denial. It seems as though throughout the whole reading, denial has been the response Opedius had when more evidence and information was presented not in his favor. In my opinion, I think that even when he slit his eyes at the end it truly showed his arrogance and inability to take ownership of what he has done to the fullest extent. Although he admits he killed his father, laid with his mothers, and bore children within the same whom he came from, he still could not see the prophecy in its physical form.
Jon your interpretation of the human behaviors shown in this play are very nicely expressed.i totally agree with you on how oedipus was in denial after teiriesias bears the ugly truth that it was in fact oedipus himself that killed the former king, that he was the plague destroying the village. Oedipus does in fact get angry when beared with these news and turns against Creon and teiriesias thinking they’re just plotting against him, but the news were from the gods directly therefore showing how much denial oedipus was in.
After reading Oedipus the King, I felt sympathy for Oedipus. The unraveling of his mental state due to his fear and curiosity felt human and was something I could relate to, of course not to that extent. At the beginning of the play, Oedipus is shown to be compassionate, rational, and intelligent but as the play progresses that image begins to crumble. After his interaction with Teiresias, you can see his anger morph into fear and paranoia. His reaction to the prophecy was understandable even though he was taking out his anger on Creon. You can tell he was deeply shaken from the interaction and it made him spiral. Digging his grave as he tried to seek the truth even when people warned him not to and it cost him his eyes and sanity. I think part of what makes this story tragic is how real his emotions and actions feel, you can tell towards the end you can tell his emotions were the driver of his actions. Which is something a lot of people can relate to, sometimes you can get caught up in the moment and make a decision you think is right.
Serafina I agree with you, Oedipus did felt fear and curiosity, which in a normal human experience those two always tend to go hand to hand with each other. “Oedipus is shown to be compassionate, rational, and intelligent…but begins to crumble… see his anger morph into fear and paranoia.” That’s a perfect way so see his transition between his two personalities, what he shows and what its really is, smart people sometimes are smart because of their insecure brain predicting thing before they happen, making them behave in a “rational” way towards shocking things. Of course, that ability in the case of Oedipus only got him so far, his behavior toward the truth shows that he didn’t predicted something like that to occur, changing quickly to confident and smart to fear and insecure, defending and protecting himself of the truth, as best as he can.
Hi Serafina, I too felt sympathy for Oedipus. I think the story showed us a bit of his heart in relation to his people, land and family. I have read quite a few reviews that showcase his pride as the reason for his downfall as King, but I don’t think that having pride in your position as a leader is a bad thing. As a matter of fact, I think it is the pride of the office they hold that keeps most people of power in line, and makes them seek counsel to check themselves. (unless there are other underlying issues such as greed, narcissism and other mental disorders.) I agree with you in that the feelings he was having are very human and relatable. It is indeed very sad to see how the king unraveled.
Serafina I agree with your sympathetic feelings for Oedipus. This man is consume with all this information and he reacts as an normal person would. He was filled with anger and this cause him to accused Creon of something he had no evidence of. Most of the time we say things out of anger and impulse behavior cost us many good relationships as it did with Oedipus and Creon. Yes, his emotions had full control over him and his resulted in him doing and saying things which no one in his position of authority should say.
Hi Serafina, reading Oedipus the King also caused me a feeling of sympathy for the main character, Oedipus. I agree that “The unraveling of his mental state due to his fear and curiosity felt human.” Oedipus can easily be seen as a real person because he exhibits all normal human emotions such as fear, anger and depression. Also, Oedipus experienced a very sudden twist of fate. I think these aspects of emotion help the reader to accept the character as a real person and to invest in what is happening to him.
Hello Serafina, I totally agree with your statement of “his anger morph into fear and paranoia.” Oedipus was in denial of the accusations of him being the one responsible for the death of his father, was something that he could not stand to be true. But later in the story he remember the oracle said that he was to kill his father and marry his mother, I believe that that was the point of realization of Oedipus that his fate had shifted in favor and he later finds out that everything is true thus he blinds himself in a act of fear and paranoia to face the truth and to face those who were affected by his actions.
In my opinion, one human experience I found in Oedipus the King is the realization that we
cannot escape our fate because it is an unstoppable force. From the beginning, we can see that
Oedipus is a man of strong action, as demonstrated by the way he ceaselessly pursues the truth
even as it becomes clear the truth may incriminate him. When the prophecy told him about his
fate, he spends all his life trying to avoid what is hidden from him. And consequently, he
becomes the cause of his own destruction. Throughout the reading, the way Oedipus feels happy
in one moment and sad the next allows us to feel pity and sympathy for him because he is
burdened with a horrendous curse that is not his fault. Thus, I think he becomes the victim rather
than the victor of fate. And the end of Oedipus is the phenomena we see in everyday life, which
is a tragedy that revolved around a heroic person who falls from greatness.
Hi Fato, I agree with your statement indicating that people have a fate that they cannot escape. The difference between us and him is that he was warned of his through the prophecy and instead of embracing it, which is completely understandable why he didn’t want to, he chose to run from it and in doing so he ran right into his fate. However circumstances aside i think he turned himself into a victim when he didn’t have to, he could’ve stayed and turned the situation around but he chose to do the same thing he did with the prophecy which is run from it.
Fatu, for me, this lack of control, which is part of the human condition, is the most tragic element in the play. I acknowledge that Oedipus has flaws—after all, he’s a human being—but his fate does not seem to be his fault. In fact, he goes to great lengths to escape his fate and spare others who are part of it. What would we think of someone who did not try to avert such a monstrous prophecy?
I can understand why you would say this since it happens in many other novels and plays. However, I personally do not believe that fate or destiny qualifies as a human experience because of how there is no fate or destiny, but in reality, we are only defined by the choices we make.
Marvin, please, please address comments to others by name so we can all follow along. Thanks!
Hey Fatu! Very decent analysis! Yet, as you have mentioned that the King tries to avoid what is hidden from him, a little bit elaboration would have made it more debatable. For instance, what was hidden from him and why had he been running away from it all his life? Overall, decent analysis!
Hi Fatu, I totally agree with your opinion ” we cannot escape our fate because it is an unstoppable force”. As you said Oedipus spends his whole life trying to avoid the prophecy and yes after he found out the truth he can be seen as a victim of fate. In my opinion Oedipus can be a good king but because of all these things like the prophecy and all the lies they fed him made him go off board, in other words its hard to think straight when someone tells you your fate and no matter how hard you tried nothing changed it.
I agree with you Fatu, about how our human behavior is being shown in this story when Oedipus is causing his own self to be destroyed because of his fate they he knows that he would not escape from, and this always has a tragic ending to anyone. In the end, it’s no one’s fault choosing their own fate, that they could deal with it and not run from it. That makes others feel sympathy for them for what they are doing throughout their lives.
The timeless human experiences that I found in your reading of Oedipus the King are the experience of abandonment and misunderstandings. One example of these in Oedipus the King is when Oedipus is abandoned by his parents as an infant because of their fear of the prophecy, which as a result, became the very reason why the prophecy was fulfilled. This fear of their own child that the king and queen feel can relate to timeless human experiences because of how there are many parents who would sometimes feel the same fear of their child’s future. However, the difference is not only that real parents would never have their newborn child die alone, but that they would also be afraid for their child, instead of their child because of how parents of this time would want their child’s future bright instead of dark like Oedipus.
Marvin, I loved the fact that you pointed out Oedipus’ childhood and how it molded him. I believe that this is why he was such an angry man. Possibly because he didn’t have his parents he became a passionate and quick tempered man. If Oedipus’ parents never abandoned him, could he still have become a great king? Would he still have married his mother? What if it wasn’t him that killed his father? It’s many ways this story could’ve turned had his parents never left him out to dry because of his fate or destiny. Fear is also timeless human experience and it blocks us and mentally locks us up from making decisions that could change our lives for the positive.
ENG 201 Sec. 0527
Marvin, your perspectives are very interesting. Rather than accept fate as every character did in the play, you went a different route. You thought of the possibility where people do not have a fixed destiny and are bound to the consequences or their choices. It seems strange that beings of free will have fixed destinies. What if the prophecy was never mentioned? Would then the outcome of events change? Thinking back if any of those characters made a different decision they would have changed the outlook of that destiny or perhaps like the movie “Final Destination”, the circumstance would change but the result the same. Either way it brings to light the frailty of the human mind how easily one can succumb to manipulation, or the true dark nature of people willing to sacrifice an infant for their own benefit. Even more so would a reader feel sadness knowing that Oedipus was then the vehicle of the peoples transgressions. Aristotle himself stated, “ Be a free thinker and don’t accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in”. Perhaps rather than blindly believe the prophecy, King Laius and Jocasta should have thought of the possible consequences that can arise from such a prophecy. If we were to understand the behaviors of the gods, one would notice there wasn’t a majesty or benevolence, but immortal beings having very human qualities. One thing humanity can relate to is that people are undeniably flawed and erroneous, as may perhaps be the case when King Laius Left his child for dead due to a prophecy.
The timeless human experience or behaviors I found when reading of Oedipus the King was in lines ( 578-592). In these lines the Antistrophe was saying that the Gods are wise but when it comes to man there is no distinct between who is right. These lines shows that Oedipus refuses to believe what the prophet TEIRESIAS said to him even though he knows that TEIRESIAS is much wiser than him and is probable right. We as humans rarely accept when we are wrong and refuses to admit that maybe the other person knows what he/ she is saying, we think we are always right. Despite what others might think about Oedipus , Antistrophe refuses to agree with the others because the king he know is a noble person who saved the city from the Sphinx. We as humans tend to judge people base on how we perceive that person or by an act committed by that person. We don’t stop to think that maybe the person did something that we do not know about because they kept that part of their life from us but someone else probably knows about the secrete. We only know that person from our eyes but sometimes we need to see that person through others eyes as well because as they say love is ”blind” and also people change.
Hey Treshel great comment I totally agree with you after reading those lines I can totally see the human behaviors of being in denial when we are wrong. Which is also very similar with your next point on looking at other people from different perspectives. In my opinion it is all based around that naturally humans are going to be stubborn when it comes to their beliefs and it often is very hard to sway people when they have their minds set.
Hi Treshel, I also agree with you. We do not know who is right. But we humans cannot immediately realize or admit that if our thoughts and opinions are wrong, we are not immediately aware of them. Besides, when people have different opinions and ideas from others, they think their ideas are correct. And people cannot trust what others have said that they are different from themselves and unacceptable. Moreover, the more bad the other person says to people, people refuse to believe.
Hi Treshel. I completely agree with your statement, “We as humans rarely accept when we are wrong and refuse to admit that maybe the other person knows what he/ she is saying, we think we are always right.” It is definitely true and we are all guilty at some point in our lives for doing it. I also love your perspective on how you viewed Oedipus, by not judging him for his actions but instead being open the fact that maybe he is indeed a good person, which in my opinion I think he is. People are so quick to judge someone that sometimes we overlook the good deeds that they have done.
Hey Treshel! I Agree that we humans for sure can be stubborn.it’s only natural that Sophocles would incorporate one of our biggest follies into Oedipus. We all have our moments when we refuse to accept a fact from someone who may obviously be correct due to our own stubbornness .
A timeless human experience that was taken away from Oedipus was the grief, disbelief and humility Oedipus felt when he found out he was the murderer of his father. In the beginning of this story we see a ruler who is ruthless, unforgiving, angered and belligerent when he thinks someone else murdered Laius. There was also a state of denial and we can see how he transitioned from one feeling to a next once the shoe he had desperately wanted to place onto another person fits him. This experience reminds me of the phrase “Don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house”. Oedipus was ignorant and very insulting. He wanted this person who murdered Laius to be condemned and treated with death when in turn it was his anger that made him kill his father to begin with. His ignorance before he was king was the same ignorance that caused his downfall as a king. This is a timeless human experience because a lot of us point fingers at other people when we ourselves can be guilty of the same things. It’s always easy to look at another person in condemnation than it is to look at ourselves and this is a valuable life lesson. Humility and perspective is reality.
Hi Regina,
I like your comments and I love quotes too. Another quote most people have heard, regardless of being religious or not is the biblical verse from the book of John that says, “let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” It amazed me how Oedipus was so intent on punishing Lauis’ murderer (before he found out is was himself) because he himself was a murderer who had gotten away with killing more than one man and never (until that point of the story) had he been convicted or experienced a consequence for it. I like that you said “humility and perspective is reality,” It is a true statement that unfortunately a lot of people don’t realize until they themselves experience a tragedy..
I absolutely agree Regina, from what Oedipus changing feeling were, to the whole concept of pointing fingers at others. It is absolutely human for people to find someone or something to blame for their misfortunes. It is really hard for many people to let go of this seemingly natural tendency, and reflect on how they are the reason for the incident. Even though I am very aware of this, every so often I fall under this mistake, or if not wanting to blame a individual, I may blame the world for my misfortune (a step up to blaming others, but still regressing backwards). If it weren’t for some of the people around me who call me out in moments like this, it could go unnoticed and just be a positive feedback loop of denial.
Regina, I like your use of the famous old adage at not throwing stones if you live in a glass house. What i will say about Oedipus is that once the truth is revealed, he takes the same punishment he has decreed for others.
While I was reading the Oedipus the King the timeless human behavior I noticed was in lines 993-997
May destiny ever find me
pious in word and deed
prescribed by the laws that live on high: laws begotten in the clear air of heaven,
whose only father is Olympus
In these lines I noticed that a very common human behavior is searching for a higher power that can give them guidance. Additionally because the Chorus acts as the voice for the people of theban they represent the average person which is very relatable to people.
Furthermore the act of looking for guidance from a higher power is always around me and in my life for example in religion when people pray they are seeking guidance or just in general it doesn’t have to be through prayer people just ask or talk with some sort of higher power it doesn’t have to be god it can be anything it depends on the beliefs of the person.
In this case the chorus is praying to Olympus for help finding their way through life, trying to really understand how they can get out of this confusion.
Hi Neil, I agree that finding a higher power to give guidance is a timeless human behavior in “Oedipus The King”. There are several times of where someone depended on something else to reveal the truth to them. It does relate to people with religion. The chorus in the text are like regular people believing in a god to give them faith and help them through life. When it came to whether or not it was hard to believe if the prophecies were true, the chorus was stuck between believing Oedipus and Teiresias since they both represent a higher power. It was difficult for the chorus to choose who to follow after more.
Hey Neil, I agree that they’re searching for a higher power to guide them. Although the town had 1 ruler which was Oedipus, some how the king still need someone else to guide him. It’s funny to think about how he used higher powers just to bring him back to himself. Also, I never thought of the chorus as the voice of the towns people, I more so thought of them as the narrators of the events that happening, like the people who speak at basketball and football games. But that’s a really good way of saying who they are in part to the story !
The standout feeling of being utterly lost of ones true self was most significant to me. Oedipus first begins by being blind to the idea that he truly has little idea of his origin and wicked deeds, this is seen by his anger towards Teiresias, as well as shifting blame toward Creon; this is similar to the way that many people dont realize how lost they are until much later, it seems blindsiding when you begin to notice, and you may think its a one time thing and even may blame the world or some higher entity but not yourself. However at some point, many people (me included) begin to feel fear that despite never feeling truly lost about the direction of your life up to that point, it can hit all at once. For instance some people fresh out of college may be lost in where they want to go with the next 5 years of their lives, should they go to school? which school, for how long, and for what? should they just get a job instead? what job?. All these questions, and some people may feel overwhelmed by questions they dont have the answer too, and yet need to figure out quickly as time is closing in on them. This is similar to how Oedipus shows signs of fear, especially as evident suggesting the prophecies may be true, until the end point where he is overwhelmed by the revelation that he bashes his eyes with a golden brooch of his deceased mom/wife. Obviously his story takes a next level of intensity/severity than most real life applications, however in the end him finding it out helped bring closure (not mentioned, but inferred based on prophecy) to the blight and suffering in Thebes; just as finding this out leads people to finally be able to reconcile with their issues, and work on solving these problems in the way the see best fit (however in this case blissful ignorance seemed the best thing that Oedipus had as the truth was too hard to handle making it a tragedy).
In the play Oedipus the King there were many timeless behaviors that I identified. The one that stuck with me most was Oedipus choosing to blind and violate himself instead of facing the truth and dealing with it. Oedipus came to a huge realization that the prophecy he was told is true, he killed his father, and married and reproduced with his own mother. In addition to that he found everything out all at once, he was going through a wave of emotions and instead of stepping back and assessing the situation he chose to blind himself and leave Thebes. He was under the impression that when you’re blind your knowledge widens. He is under the impression that being blind allows him to see more. This is similar to things we still do today when presented with an overflow of emotions we act harshly and most of the time instead of dealing with it we run away from it.
Nefertaria, I agree with your point of view. Oedipus had done the one thing he was avoiding to do in the story and that was to avoid bringing harm to his loves ones or family, there was no hope for him after he committed the tragedies was avoiding, he decided to blind himself because he could not faced his destiny, he though that if he couldn’t see he could of at least be free of the shame and the expressions of others when they realized they were right all along and Oedipus was just putting them aside and in the denial of his actions. He also did don’t wanted to face his children because there was no solution to the damage he had done to his and their lives.
A timeless human behavior that is present in the reading of “Oedipus the King” is not being able to handle the truth or being in denial. Throughout the text, there are many things being revealed about the truth involving murder and Oedipus’ life. There are a few characters that prove this. One example is when Oedipus talks to Teiresias about the prophecy. In lines 535-540, Teiresias explains that Oedipus is a sibling to his own children, the son to his own wife and killing his own father. Oedipus immediately doesn’t believe what is being told him when in reality Teiresias was telling the truth. He assumes that Creon sent Teiresias to him and they’re working together to overthrow him. Another example is when the truth of Oedipus’ life comes to light. After it is revealed that Oedipus did actually murder his father and incest occurred, Jocasta comitted suicide. In lines 1420-1435, the second messenger explains that Jocasta was dead “…by her own hand. The worst of what was done you cannot know. You did not see the sight.” and that portrays Jocasta not being able to live with herself knowing that the truth was out. Jocasta has been trying to keep Oedipus from finding out the truth in lines 1214-1225. In other cases she would deny that it was the truth and tell Oedipus that the prophecy is not always true.
Many people in life now may react the same way when it comes to the truth and honesty. They can’t handle it in ways that make them take extreme measures because of it. Most of the time, people deny the truth because they don’t want to believe it or don’t want to be reminded of it. This happens throughout “Oedipus The King”.
While reading Oedipus the King, the readers can notice that Oedipus is mostly in denial with his arrogant and conceited personality. And this is because of how he might have been treated or praised by the people from Thebes. Oedipus constantly denies being accountable for his father’s death. Most importantly, we, the reader must not neglect the fact that Oedipus is also a human being and he will have personality traits that are defective. In my point of view, the power that he carries was the main fuel to his pride. Isn’t it human nature to become a little narcissistic if you have the power to do anything? Just like Oedipus, many of us are in denial of our mistakes. Perhaps, it is the fear of not being a good human being or perhaps you are just too consciously blinded by the fact that deceiving yourself is a weakness. We humans tend to fall apart because we do not contemplate our cognitive distortions and instead act impulsive or get angry at things that we think shouldn’t be out of our control.
Hey Prasika, I disagree that Oedipus had a conceited or arrogant personality. I think he just really didn’t want to accept that the prophecy he had spent his life running from was beginning to catch up with him anyways. What you probably saw as arrogance, I saw as a deep fear for what I think he always knew would be inevitable. I love your analysis from that point of view though and I think your last line was a perfect worded description of our humanity. I definitely agree that to be human is to carry a certain level of arrogance that we are in control.
Antonia, also, don’t all kings have some degree of arrogance? Would people even respect a king who was not full of pride and self-confidence?
Prasika I agree with what you have said about Oedipus displaying denial and arrogance. Oedipus was in denial about being the one who was responsible for his fathers death because he did not want his people to change they way they viewed him. Oedipus was use to being treated with love by his people he felt that once his people found out that he was responsible for his fathers death he would never be treated with that love again.
After reading Oedipus the King, I thought I did not need to know all the truth. Oedipus knows himself because of his adventurous spirit to the unknown, closes his eyes, and leaves the country. This part shows that “knowledge” has “this is a word that can be translated as both medicine and poison.” Oedipus suffers himself from the “knowledge” he seeks to save the country from the plague. It must have been “knowledge” to save people, but it becomes a curse. There is the word “All overs are ill.” No matter how good it is, what are excessive means harmful. It is significant to get knowledge and information, but I don’t think I need to know more than necessary. Knowing all the truth, Oedipus closes his door, closing his eyes to prevent Poison from entering himself. He is suffering from knowing too much about the truth. I thought that this composition would not change even in modern daily life. I believe that many people consider “I wish I had not known” because they were at the mercy of unnecessary information that they got from their interest.
The timeless human experiences or behaviors that I found while reading Oedipus the King is that throughout the script I could really tell that Oedipus was very arrogant and could not handle the truth. In many ways he acted like he did not see the wrong he was doing. In which this happens all the time in real life not only in stories. When there is a lot piling up on us and we don’t see clearly what we are doing we tend to deny everything. Also, Oftentimes we see our destiny as something that works for us but most times it isn’t anything we could fathom even committing to. Most people can relate to this idea of our destiny going against our ideals and we push against that destiny just as Oedipus did. Readers might be able to relate to Oedipus due to the fact that no one ever is aware of the consequences of their actions until it is too late. His revelation follows the internal conflict of Man vs Self, where his attempts to prevent himself from performing a terrible deed end up being the reason for his prediction from the Oracle coming true.
Nicole Contreras
ENG 201 1209[50409]
Nicole, I totally agree that people are rarely aware of their consequences of their actions. More times than not I think people are smart enough to understand the consequences, but also fall victim to the same. They believe they can outsmart the consequences, or they can somehow avoid them. People rarely want to accept that most of the time we have a choice we can make, but will we use rational reason to make these choices.
ENG 201 Sec. 0527
In “Oedipus Rex”, there are several examples of timeless behaviours and human experiences. One of the most paramount moments was at the anagnorisis, when Oedipus arrived at the point of the truth. When he discovers that he murdered his father and married his mother. He was both father and brother to his children and Jocasta was both mother and wife of Oedipus. This leads to a horrific turn of events where Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus gouges his eyes removing his sight of his wrongdoings. Approaching the anagnorisis we see an experience that all humanity can relate to, the curiosity of knowledge whether it brings fortune or destruction. In lines 1215 through 1228 where Jocasta exits. We see an important dialogue between her and Oedipus. Jocasta is pleading against the pursuit of this knowledge which leads ultimately to this miserable truth. Oedipus, proud and regal with a strong sense of responsibility to his people, feels it necessary to reveal the truth of this matter and therefore confirming his inevitable demise. One may relate this to a couple of common knowledge quotes such as, “ignorance is bliss”, or “curiosity killed the cat”. In this circumstance, it can be no more accurate than the events that have transpired. Perhaps had Oedipus not pursued this endeavor he would never come to this conclusion and would then be living a lie and his people remained plagued. True to a tragedy however, the protagonist cannot relieve himself of this inescapable fate. Oedipus’s character strengths fortified him to his noble cause for the truth and his character flaws led to the succession of his crimes. As the character Teiresias pointed out during their argument in lines 387 through 541, where he initially did not dare speak of the prophecy for fear of the king’s wrath. It may be the curse of humanity to have the incessant nature to unveil all mysteries no matter the cost, unknowing of the outcome. The realization of this truth brings fear to the audience as they themselves understand their mortality and weakness of their nature when the outcome of their destiny is fixed.
The timeless human experience or behavior I find when reading Oedipus the King is that Oedipus is blind to the truth. The ignorance of the truth is shown in the story when Oedipus and Jocasta try to get rid of the possibility of prophecy. When it becomes obvious that the prophecy has come true, they refuse to accept it and try to find excuses for their denial. At the moment when Teiresias discusses the prophecy with Oedipus, Oedipus tries to declare that the prophet is a liar and that Creon set him up, but Teiresias stands firm and speaks the truth. Oedipus ignored the truth because he did not want to see the expression of pity, disgust, or contempt on the faces of people who now know the terrible truth. For Oedipus, a great source of shame is that he killed his father and married his mother, even though it was by accident. He literally can’t look other people in the eye now that the truth is finally revealed. I think many people find it difficult to see what they don’t want to see. Or, conversely, people tend to see what they want to see. When people know a terrible truth, they don’t believe it and use any excuse or little evidence to call it a lie because it doesn’t do them any good.
Altynai. I agree with you when you said Oepidus is blind to the truth. He does not want to face reality and see what he did wrong. Examples where he did wrong in which you acknowledge were “For Oedipus, a great source of shame is that he killed his father and married his mother, even though it was by accident.” A point that you said that stuck to me was “He literally can’t look other people in the eye now that the truth is finally revealed.” This is very true and not only does it relate to Oedipus the King but also in real life, whenever we get caught in a lie or we know that people find out the truth we can’t face them.
Hi Altynai. I agree with you that Oedipus was blind to the truth. He does everything he can to deny it, and when Teiresias tells the truth, Oedipus actually denies the truth and directly slander Teiresias, because he doesn’t want to be disliked, and he doesn’t want to believe that he killed his father and married his mother, even if it’s the truth. It has to do with the reality that people are more likely to admit things that are good for them than things that are bad for them.
We see many human behaviors that we might relate to ourselves in Oedipus the King. One we see strongly is denial we see how oedipus grows angry when the ugly truth is revealed, when Creon returns from the gods he is bears news that he doesn’t believe oedipus would be able to handle therefore having the blind prophet bear the unpleasant news to the king. Another visual human behavior we see is anger oedipus is angered terribly when the prophet bears the news that he was actually the one that killed the former king and grows even angrier when he finds out that Creon was the one that sent the prophet. One more behavior i noticed was blindness oedipus was completely blind to the fact that he was responsible for his city remaining in shambles and refuses to hear the words of creon, the prophet and the people.oedipus refuses to see his actions are the ones that have brought this plague on his people that he claims to love so much.
A timeless human experience that is shown in ” Oedipus the King” is Oedipus chose to not deal with the truth but be in denial about it. In the beginning of the text Oedipus feels as if he is a aggressive and violent leader, but when the warnings from Teiresias and Jocasta started coming out he felt they were lying. When he found out all of the evil things he did about killing his father and married his own mother, he decided to flee away from Thebes. He chose to flee because all of these events came to him at once and his emotions were all over the place. Similar to present day, we as humans also decide to run away when we get an overflow of emotions coming at us about stuff we don’t want to hear. We do this because we need to be by ourselves and anyone can make you angry even the ones you love. When Oedipus learns the truth that Teiresias was the one to kill the man and not him, he was angry. Oedipus did not understand the whole scenario and started wishing death upon Teiresias. As humans we also start to make hate comments even when we are not understanding the full story.
In the “Oedipus the King” I found some different types of timeless human experiences or behaviors. For instance:
-Denial and anger in lines 390-396 “OEDIPUS: Indeed I am so angry I shall not hold back a jot of what I think. For I would have you know I think you were complotter of the deed and doer of the deed save in so far as for the actual killing. Had you had eyes I would have said alone you murdered him”. In real life a clear example is whenever a victim accuses somebody for inappropriate behaviors, there is always denial and anger in that situation, no matter what it is the accusation outcome.
-Guilt and Fear in lines 1207-1210 “JOCASTA: I beg you—do not hunt this out—I beg you, if you have any care for your own life. What I am suffering is enough”. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, people were able to see a lot of videos on social media reporting devastating news about this disease, and in some of those videos there was a sense of guilt and fear from those who tried to warn us about the deadly virus.
In the beginning of the reading of Oedipus the king, Creon tells Jocasta about Oedipus’s behavior of thinking he has the right to do terrible mistakes. Later on Creon comments to Oedipus saying “you’re dangerous when you are out of temper”(781). This reveals how out of control Oedipus can get that he becomes a dangerous person. After this scene, Oedipus confesses to Jocasta about who is blaming him for the death of Laius was Creon. This shows me that Creon is straight up judgmental, quick to blame without any actual proof. Oedipus past experiences with his family caused him to have so much fear that it still effects him as he is older. In which it results him to feel a sense of lost and not knowing and accepting his true identity. Throughout the story, Oedipus sounds in shock when he finds out out he didn’t murder his father. It’s more of a relief to him he no longer felt guilty. His behavior shifts ,Oedipus is relieved and feels like a whole weight is off his shoulder. This is very significant to me because with any kind of experience whether it be bad or good it still plays a huge role as we grow up.
Jasmin, you make good observations about Oedipus here, but can you tie this information to the week’s question a bit more clearly?
In the reading of “Oedipus the King”, one of the timeless behaviors I found was jumping to conclusions. When Oedipus under the stress of being told his fate, wanting to save himself, and wanting to save his citizens made some baseless accusations against Creon. If he would have taken the time to think about all the information he had received at that point, he could have made better decisions regarding his fate. Here he exhibited a behavior that I think we’ve all fallen victim to at one time or another. Another human experience I found very relatable was King Laius’ and Oedipus’ road rage that would eventually lead to the King’s death. I feel like while the entire play was relatable, this was one of the more modernly relatable scenes and one that I wouldn’t have expected in a play from before the birth of Christ. Lastly, the scene I felt was the most timeless display of human behavior was the herdsman’s compassion towards baby Oedipus. Even though he was given command to leave the baby to die and was considered one of the King’s most loyal or trusted servants, even he couldn’t carry out a deed like that without having some sort pity on the baby.
Antonia I agree with what you have said about people jumping to conclusions being a timeless behavior. Oedipus jumps to the conclusion that Teiresias is a villain because she refuses to tell him about what she knows about the faith of his people instead of realizing that she is not telling him because she is scared for them. Even in todays society people jump to conclusions about people or events everyday.
In Oedipus the king there are many human behaviors that are timeless and everyone has experience before but two human behavior that were clear in the passage were Anger and regret. In line 416-417 “Not twice you shall say calumnies like this and stay unpunished”. Oedipus shows anger and he address his anger in a threating way to make the Tiresias stop his accusation’s. Oedipus one again shows’ anger and threating behavior when he is insulted by Teresia and called a “calamity” in lines 427-428. Another human behavior Oedipus showed was feeling regretful towards his unacceptable actions he committed towards his biological family in Thebes in lines 1502-1506, “madness and stabbing pain and memory of evil I have done”. The actions of Oedipus did not only made him feel regret for his own action but also the path and experiences that his children need to follow because of his unfortunate tragedy.
What timeless human experiences or behaviors do you find in your reading of Oedipus the King? One of the timeless human experiences that I find in this reading is fear. Fear is such a common behavior that characters display through out this story.Oedipus fears for his people, his people fear for the faith that is coming upon them, and Teiresias fears because of what she knows but can not speak on.People have always and will always experience fear. Lines 373-375 Oedipus says “you would provoke a stone! Tell us you villain, tell us do not stand there quietly” Oedipus does not say this to try and scare Teiresias he says this out of fear, this is the effect that fear has on people and that why I chose fear as the human experience that I found while reading this story.
What timeless human experiences or behaviors do I find in my reading of Oedipus the King? The mental state he was in as he continued on to find out the truth of his fathers death and the whereabouts of his mother. In constant fear of the oracle that was set in stone for him. He feels anxious, anger, curiosity all together, and him searching for the truth is damaging himself as he progresses. It’s almost relatable because his future was fixed, set in stone. Whatever he was predicted to do was bound to happen and anything done to stop it from happening will actialllt cause it to happen. Oedipus could’ve walked away and lived a life in denial and without knowing the truth as those around him advised but his curiosity kept him moving forward.
Hey Manuel, what your saying hits heavy. It’s honestly crazy how although knowing that what he learn was not going to be pleasant he wanted to keep pushing and discover the truth of it all. That is something most of us would in fact do, try our absolute best to find out and not live the rest of our lives in the dark. I feel like no one in that position would learn that there is a mystery to their upbringing and not even attempt to find out the truth in the whole.
A timeless experience found in Oedipus the King definitely has to be his shame and disgust with his fate and its happening. His desire to stop being blinded from the truth is yet another timeless human experience. When Oedipus finds out that there is a mystery as to who his father is and his upbringing, no one can stop him from attempting to uncover that mystery, even if he knows it could lead to unfortunate and unwanted revelations. After learning the truth, his feelings and how Oedipus deals with learning the such truth stands out to me. The disgust he has with himself is probably a feeling most of us would have if we were in that position. He also has pity on his children as well as wishes he died way back when. Honestly though my biggest question is if his mother knew everything the whole time and if not at what point did she realize.
Timeless behavior i took from oedipus is people tend to act righteous and look for the truth blindly but they are only looking for the truth they want. If the truth doesn’t benefit them, they will reject it and keep looking for another truth as far as fabricating evidence to support the truth they wish. I also notice that anger from Oedipus is a timeless behavior of one’s self defense to get angry when in fear of something, where Oedipus hear the truth that he didn’t want to hear from Teiresia, He become angry out of fear for he himself accepting the truth. He simply mask himself blind by raising the anger and therefore his sense to listening and seeing the truth lessen. There fore he can’t hear anyone but himself. Sorrow is also another Timeless behavior i took from Oedipus when he finally accept the truth, he is filled with sorrow and want to seclude himself to where no humans are. He ask Creon to take him to where there are no human’s voice which show he is sorry only when he accept the truth.
In the reading Oedipus the King, there is a level of denial that seems to be a reoccurring behavior throughout the interactions with Oedipus. In the beginning, when Oedipus was first accused of being the murder of the former king Laius and his immediate response was to deny and threaten the accuser. It would seem reasonable that he would have been the murderer because of the simple circumstance that he took control of his land and married his wife. Then Oedipus created conspiracy theories against Creon where he was planning on taking over Thebes in the destruction of Oedipus. When the prophet himself came face to face with Oedipus, Oedipus was very intrigued at the wisdom he was going provide at first; then he too also accused Oedipus of being the murder and Oedipus proceeded to discredit his knowledge and diminish him. Finally, when Jocasta explained the way in which former King Laius was killed, it resembled a splitting image of a night in where Oedipus murdered an individual on the same road the king was killed. Even in this, Oedipus took the fact that Jocasta specifically said “robbers” meaning there had to be more than one that night, and used this as his benefit of the doubt to subtract himself from the situation.
Hi Megan. I agree with you in that Oedipus was in denial. I think you pointed out something very insightful, that he even used the fact that Jocasta referred to “robbers” instead of “robber” to avoid having to accept the fact that he killed his father. It’s pretty telling that even faced with all the evidence, he would still split hairs over whether or not a second hand source gave him correct information.
What timeless human experience/behavior do you find in your reading of Oedipus the king? After reading the story, there is a lot of our behavior and experience in our life these days, that we agree with. In the story I felt pity towards Oedipus, because of the way that I saw in his heart that he felt towards the people, this is the human behavior that happens to everyone throughout life. he was deeply shaken from the interaction that made him spiral. By Digging his grave as he tries to seek the truth even when other people have warned him not to and that cost him his eyes. My opinion about this story shows how people are acting by them being in a situation that lets them make a decision that they think is right, the king Oedipus shares the same emotions of anger, fear, and depression as a universal human experience.
In the greek tragedy “Oedipus the King” written by Sophocles, there is a vast quantity of “timeless human experiences” that get portrayed throughout the tragedy but one that stands out the most is the king’s futile attempts to escape his fate. Some people tend to believe that their lives have already been laid out for them by a greater force at birth. Their lives begin at point a, and end at point B a singular laid-out pre-determined path. For some though, they believe that they’re the shaper of their own fates and actively defy the notion that our destinies and fates are already predetermined. The same would apply to our Tragic hero Oedipus who in an act of defiance towards fate actively sought to create his own destiny while unknowingly following that exact same fate he wished to defy.
In ” Oedipus the King”, the timeless human experience or behavior I find is arrogance. In the face of Teiresias’s silence, Oedipus directly slandered the other party, and after Teiresias retaliated, he accused the other party of slander, and then subjectively defamed Creon. Suspicious of Creon and Teiresias, he did not think about the words of the messenger and the shepherd. From the time when Oedipus trusted a drunkard and went to Delphi, to the time when he learned his identity by means of arrogant bullying, his actions were his fate. In the testimony of Creon and Jocasta, Laius was killed by a band of robbers, not by a single man, which is inconsistent with the state of Oedipus at the time, and Oedipus emphasizes this difference in his conversation with Jocasta, and then he forgets about it. Although later people explanations have been given for the motives of the shepherds, for Oedipus it was something that should not be ignored.All of these actions show his arrogance, sometimes suspicious and sometimes credulous, and his actions themselves are full of contradictions. It is hard not to see a monarch who can only do his business by slander and threats as someone who is arrogance.
Hongbin i overlooked the fact that arrogance is a big part of Oedipus the king. i agree with what you said and that example you gave about how he felt suspicious of Creon and Teiresias, he did not think about the words of the messenger and the shepherd. From the time when Oedipus trusted a drunkard and went to Delphi. that part is when the arrogance started to appear and over all as the story plays the arrogance continues to show.
As I continue to read about Oedipus the King if find him to possess a lot of pride. He believes himself to be a good leader and ruler. He highly values himself for defeating the phix and being a concerned ruler to his people. When the people of Themes come to him asking his to take action, Oedipus doesn’t hesitate. He was already a step ahead and sent out creon to decipher the issue of the plague.
Ivanoba, is this a comment to someone else, or is this your main post? Please be sure to address comments to others by name and be sure all posts meet the length requirements.
while reading opedius the king, I felt like there was a lot of back and forth and something that bothered me is him not wanting to believe the truth of things it also reminded me of one of my siblings how they never believe anything that comes out of my mouth because they lie a lot & think I am the same as them. Also, a behavior I noticed right away of Opedius was him refusing to believe Teiresias which wasn’t crazy to me at all because everyone sure does have their trust issues when they have went through something or are currently going through it… I think that behavior stood out to me the most because I know what it feels like to be in that same position.
Oedipus*******
Oedipus is driven by the same things humans today are driven by. Fear. I think fear is a motivating factor in our lives as well as the life of Oedipus. He is controlled by his fear. Oedipus leaves what he believes to be his home, his biological parents, after listening to an oracle. He only leaves because he is driven by the fear of killing his parents. I would probably do the same thing myself. So many events today are caused by humans acting out of fear. Fear of acceptance, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of the unknown. I can think of many people today, myself included that have done things in hopes to quell the fear. I think a part of growing as a person is learning to overcome fears. Unfortunately, Oedipus does not overcome, literally blinds himself in the process and becomes a victim of his own fears and irrationality.
Oedipus’s struggle against fate represents the universal human struggle of dealing with problems completely outside of our control. Throughout the play we see Oedipus’s various responses to the fate he’s destined to live. When he first learns that he’s destined to kill his father and marry his mother, he does what anyone would do – get as far away from the problem as possible. When Teiresias tells him he’s the murderer, he goes into denial and starts rationalizing why that couldn’t be true, in order to refrain from challenging his world view. Oedipus expresses fear in his conversation with Jocasta when he starts considering that he might be the murderer, but it is only until the herdsman confirms that he is the child of Jocasta and Laius that he fully accepts his situation. After this he’s able to deal with the consequences of his actions, by exiling himself the same way he promised to exile the murderer at the beginning of the play. Oedipus actions in many ways reflect how we all deal with things outside of our control. We try to run away from our problems, we try to rationalize and deny them, we become angry or fearful when we realize that we can’t do anything to change them, and ultimately we are forced to deal with them.
A human experience that I found in my reading of Oedipus the King is the feeling and actions of being in denial and acceptance. Through out the story, they’re trying to figure out who murdered the king before him and Oedipus is putting the blame on everyone else but himself. He even turned on Creon, the one person that he sent to go and find out why the towns people were so sick because he was in such disbelief that it could’ve been him. He just kept running from the prophecy and as the story started to unravel at a point, he started to become more defensive, every new clue that was told as he started to remember filled him with so much anger, he even tried to accuse Creon of being filled with envy and wanting his thrown until Creon reminded him that he lives the same way he does, the only difference is that he doesn’t have a reputation to protect. At this point, I feel like Oedipus snapped out of it and when he realized he couldn’t get himself out of it, he took his fate as it came. Many people around him knew it before he did, even Jocasta didn’t want to believe it and said sometimes prophecies don’t come true which goes against their gods and basically everything their people believed in. Denial is a heavy subject and if you keep running away from the truth, there’s going to be a day that it comes and bites you to where you have to accept it.
There were many timeless human behaviors in Oedipus the king. towards the end when Oedipus found out the queen killed herself was when was when we really see human behavior. Being in denial and blind is what was really shown from him and we see it throughout the whole thing. Denial was a really big behavior in the play and it was also shown when he was talking about his prophecy. How he was fated to kill his father and marry his father and because he was in denial he went to Jocasta to almost hid him from the truth. As he heard the messenger saying how they aren’t is real parents and just building up a bigger delusion is when I realized the denial is being repeated. He tried so hard to be precautious about it and it still ended up becoming true. That is the timeless human behavior I see in Oedipus the king.
In the story we learn that Oedipus was living by the false belief that he killed his father. This bought him extreme guilt . Feeling guilty is a natural human feeling. Nobody would ever do something intentionally to feel guilty. Oedipus had this same experience. He felt bad for his actions, but the reality is that he didn’t kill his father and when he finds out the truth it was a huge relief for him. We can all relate how he has been through a lot of accusations and it caused him grief. In our life when our innocence is questioned it causes us to feel a lot of stress and tension, but when our innocence is proved it brings us relief and peace. This exactly how Oedipus felt in the story.
The timeless human experience and behavior I find in Oedipus the king are an irresistible destiny. In the story, Laius tried his best to prevent the prophecy he was told, he gave his son Oedipus to a servant and asked him to take the child to Mt. Cithaeron and leave him to die. However, the servant did not obey the instructions to kill the child. Later Oedipus grew up in Corinth and killed Laius. This story tells us that fate is irresistible. The characters in the story are all taking different actions in order to escape fate. Although they think they are free from fate, the power of fate cannot even be challenged by God. Therefore, inevitably, all the predictions were fulfilled without exception, and Oedipus realized his tragic fate through his actions.
An experience with which I identify myself within the text is with the story of Creon, who, although he had no relationship with the royal house and the life of the kings, had to assume the power of Thebes on more than one occasion, mentioning some of them he had , to rule after the death of King Laius, after Oedipus was blind and the death of his children and even after this deal with and try to appease the actions that the children of Oedipus, Polyneices and Eteocles wanted to take to rule Thebes that by succession belonged to them. I identify with this part of the story because many times in certain moments of our life, whether family, work or student, we must assume responsibilities that do not correspond directly to us but which is our duty as people. This can bring certain problems and conflicts to our personal life, win enemies or fights that we did not want to have but that due to those actions taken are part of us at that moment. For this reason I identify with Creon and liken him to a human experience
A human experience I find in my reading of Oedipus the King is time and relief. The experience of progressing through time from past to present with no ability to go back from the current moment. In the play Oedipus found out he was not the one who murdered his father and that drives him back since all this time that was what he believed. Oedipus was living a false life and knowing he did not have to carry that blame of what had happened only causes him to think back on things. Oedipus finding out the truth only relieved him of a burden he wasn’t supposed to carry. Another human experience i find in my reading is no choice, Oedipus has been a victim all along and the prophecy is proof of that. Every since Oedipus was born the prophecy stated he would kill his father and marry his mother and no matter how hard he tried to change it or prevent it, the prophecy was fulfilled.
Juan, it Michael and I am replying to say I one hundred percent agree with you.I think you really hit the nail on the head by saying that it is based on time and relief.This is a wonderful point to make as it addressed how the time and relief can help with the progressing from past to future.You also said that another one is no choice.There is a huge example of how no choice is used in the reading and that it that of not living by the choices made by yourself.
The timeless human experience I found in the reading of “Oedipus The King” is the truth being revealed to him about his fathers death.he believed that he killed his father.This lead to a delusional belief and in many senses he was confused and was blinded in his way of life.What I mean by this is that he was not living in honesty and his associates where the reason as they were hiding the truth from him.This is a timeless human experience because it is not something you can picture happening in everyday life but it is symbolic.The way that this is very symbolic is that people in everyday life can sometimes go through a blinded life.Meaning that they don’t live there life based based on theirs ideas thoughts and through there own eyes b it what others have set up for them.Sometimes people will chose to live a blind life so they can block out the negative aspects of life but you must live life to the fullest by truly experiencing the negative and positive moments.
In the play Jocasta receives a prediction that her son will kill his father and marry his mother and as a result she gives her son (Oedipus) away at birth in order to prevent the prediction from occurring. However, because
the villager/shepherd gave Oedipus away to a childless couple, the fate of Oedipus already begins to unfold. Firstly he receives the same prediction that his mother received and that sends him in search of his real parents and along the road he kills a villager which turns out to be his father thus completing part of the prophecy. Next, he defeats the Sphinx and wins Jocasta’s hand in marriage leading to the second part of the prophecy. Beyond that, it deals with the Adlerian* fear of not being in control of our own lives, of being manipulated by forces larger than we can understand. And, finally, the timeless human experience it deals with is a more mundane fear we all have: that in acting for all the right reasons, we may do precisely the wrong thing or perform actions that may cause a ripple effect in our lives affecting us adversely.
What timeless human experiences or behaviors do you find in your reading of Oedipus the King?
The most human experience in this tale is the experience of a fall from grace. Oedipus is thrust into his position as king of Thebes after solving the riddle of the sphinx and saving the city. He is given a queen to marry and his pride shoots to the stars. Oedipus stands a top a mountain and looks down knowing he cannot fall and this is the rise of his ignorance. Oedipus is not with fault in this sense though. He has done great tasks and seems to treat the people of Thebes well. His arrogance leads to his fall and as many people in life have done; thought themselves without fault. People throughout history have been too high on their own horse to see their fall approaching, Oedipus is told that he has killed the past king and denies it because he believes himself to pure to have done so. This is the beginning his fall from grace. Like the last emperor of Rome he refuses to see this and only inquires deeper when he sees the end in sight. Upon further revelations brought on by the messenger Oedipus’ fall only becomes more fierce. He went from the king of Thebes and its savior to the incestuous murderer of their king. Oedipus’ experience is that of many rulers and people in general throughout history. He had been place atop the highest pedestal only for it to crumble beneath him.
What timeless human experiences or behaviors do you find in your reading of Oedipus the King?
A behavior or human experience I would say is timeless that I find in the reading of Oedipus the King that stood out to me is “blindness”. This reminds me of myself and my sons dad. A lot of people even his family told me not to mess with him and to just leave him alone. Of course, I did not listen mostly because he showed me something different and I loved him. But once things hit the fan and he was not there like he said he was going to be, at that moment he revealed his true colors to me. I did not want to believe, and I tried to make excuses for him. So, like the King, I was blind to the truth. I did not even want to hear or even think about it. Even though I did not fall hard like the King, a part of me is ruined and I am having a hard time getting through certain things. Aside from me, blindness is something everyone goes through weather it is with a person, job, addictiveness, etc. Eventually, we see things for what they are and some of us learn and move forward, others don’t, and it winds up ruining their lives.