The timeless and human experiences I have found while reading Oedipus the king is surprising. The first one I noticed was fate and free will. The play explores the idea of fate versus free will, a timeless human experience that still resonates with people today. Oedipus is fated to kill his father and marry his mother, but he still has the free will to make choices that ultimately lead to his downfall. Another experience I read was searching for truth. Oedipus is on a quest to uncover the truth about his past and the murder of King Laius. This search for truth is a timeless human experience that is often depicted in literature and is still relevant today. Last one I felt was guilt and shame. Oedipus experiences intense feelings of guilt and shame when he realizes the truth about his past. These emotions are timeless and relatable to many people.
Daily Archives: March 12, 2023
Some tireless hum an experience i get from reading Oedipus the King are pride and fate. Oedipus is a very powerful leader and throughout the story you start to see that he wants to outrun his fate in hopes of it not happening. Soon we start to see that the pride becomes his downfall He tries to stop his destiny but ends up meeting the requirements unknowingly. Pride is a really big behavior that I see all during the whole story as because of that it make Oedipus susceptible to his own fate add along with that his pride try to use his power to control everything ended up in disaster for him.
In Oedipus the King, the human experience I saw was facing reality. In the play, Oedipus was given a prophecy on how his life would turn out and he did everything to escape his fate. This relates to the human need for control over the outcomes of their lives. There are certain things that happen in our lives that are meant to happen, but humans are blinded by the fantasy of having perfect, mistake free lives. Eventually, Oedipus’s prophecy came true while he was searching for his identity and role in the murder of King Laius. This highlights Oedipus facing who he really is for example, in the ending of the play, Creon told Oedipus, “Do not seek to be master in everything/ for the things you mastered did not follow you/throughout your life” (Sophocles, 1722). This shows that Oedipus faces his reality and surrender to the reality that he was not meant to be a king. This is applicable to humans now because we often change who we are to escape who we were and who we can be. In the play, it demonstrates that, we cannot run from ourselves.
The story about Oedipus the King shows the importance of knowledge and truth. Throughout the story a powerful king Oedipus uses his power to try to change his destiny and fate and even run away from it. Oedipus try’s to use his power to control his own destiny and his country’s destiny as the king, Oedipus later learns that somethings are still out of his control. No matter what Oedipus did to try to control his life his fate and destiny kept coming back. Oedipus pride for himself as a king and for his people becomes his downfall when he is forced to look into his own past. The reading shows that Oedipus had to go after the truth even if it hurt him the reading also highlights the importance of gaining truth and knowledge even if it hurts the person seeking it. The reading shows the power of fate and destiny and also the consequences of suffering and trying to avoid the truth.
In reading “Oedipus the King”, I found multiple times of timeless human experiences and behaviors. One example shown in the play was the truth. While reading, “Oedipus” had a strong urge to find out what happened to the former king. He was tired of everyone around him advising him not to look into what happened. But as us humans, we always are willing to try to find out what really happened. Especially when you are the person in a high state of demand like he is, he should be able to know what happened. This was very difficult for Oedipus as our experiences may cause it to be difficult to get past things once said in our lives but never had the full truth. But eventually he found out about it and longs for it. Sometimes the truth isn’t always the best to be said and listening to others could help out in the long run.
During my time reading the play “Oedipus The King”, they portray timeless human experiences and behaviors across the reading. One of the experiences/ behaviors that was mentioned was the truth. As us humans are, we are always willing to find out more and know the real truth behind certain things in our life. We sometimes sit and question ourselves thinking, am I the reason for this to happen or what am I missing from getting my answer. In the reading, Oedipus shows this by him wanting to find out about the truth of his life. He takes time and time over again sitting and thinking about it. But as he kept getting closer to knowing what he wanted, he started to push himself away to try and not listen to it anymore. The Reason for this is, not all humans are ready for the truth. The truth could hurt a lot of people so it best to go with the flow. As a result Oedipus found out what he wanted to find and lost everything because of it.
