AP English Literature s1

Amy Acosta

AP English Literature

August 11h, 2011

Oedipus Rex

1. The oracles had prophesied that Oedipus would kill his father and beget children by

his mother. Is Oedipus therefore made to do these things? Is the play premised on the

notion that Oedipus is bound to free-the puppet of fate or the creator of his own fate?

Or some of each?

 Oedipus was not made to do these things, but his fate proved him wrong and

these things did happen in an unusual way. It seems that Oedipus was the creator of

his own fate. Oedipus parents were told that he would kill his father and have children

with his mother. With that said, Oedipus was left on a mountainside to die. The

Shepard that braced Oedipus ankles together felt bad, so he gave them to The King

and Queen of Corinth. Later in his life, traveling from Delphi, Oedipus came in

contact with a man at a 3 way road. The man told Oedipus to get off the road. A fight

occurred and Oedipus killed the man. What he didn’t know was that that man was the

King of Thebes, his father. After solving a riddle from a sphinx, Oedipus was named

King of Thebes, married the Queen, also his mother, and had four children with her.

“Oh never to have come here, With my father’s blood upon me! Never to have been

the man they call his mother’s husband! Oh accusrt! Oh child of evil, to have entered

that wretched bed-” (Sophocles 1256).

Oedipus believes that he is free from the puppet of fate, but the reality of it all was

not so far behind him. “…Oedipus damned in his birth, in his marriage damned, Damned in the blood he shed with his own hand.” (Sophocles 1250) It was never specified in what type of situation Oedipus would kill his father and marry hi mother. When his adoptive father

King Polybus died, Oedipus believed he was free. Either way, Oedipus was damned with this destiny.

7. Why does Oedipus blind himself? Is this an act of weakness or of strength? Why does he ask Kreon to drive him from Thebes? Does he feel that his fate has been just or unjust? Is his suffering, in fact, deserved? Partially deserved? Undeserved?

 Oedipus blinded himself when he found his mother hung. She hung herself in the very room where she committed incest with her son. Taking the brooches off her dress, he pokes his eyes and blinds himself. “…The faces of those whom I should never have seen, to long been blind to those for whom I was searching! From this hour, go I darkness!” (Sophocles 1253). I find that this is an act of both strength and weakness. Oedipus came up with a lot of strength to be able to blind himself. This was some kind of a punishment to on himself for the sins he has committed. This can also be a sign of weakness for he is not strong enough to handle the truth. He cannot bear to see his mother dead, nor bare the fact to look at his children and Kreon. In a way he his hiding himself from the truth-which is why he wants Kreon to drive him away from Thebes. “No more, no more shall you look on the misery about me, the horrors of my own doing!…” (Sophocles 1253). He is ashamed of what he has done, he does not want to look bad neither in the eyes of his children. I find Oedipus suffering very undeserved. Oedipus never did anything to have this called upon him.

He didn’t mean to kill his father or sleep with his mother, he was merely born into this unjust date.

9. In what sense may Oedipus be regarded as a better man, though a less fortunate one, at the end of the play than at the beginning? What has he gained from experience?

Oedipus may be regarded as a better man when he realized and accepted the crimes he committed. His incest and murder where severe crimes, I would sympathize with him and see him as less fortunate. “Do not counsel me anymore…I don’t know how

I could bear the sight of my father, when I came to the house of Death, or my mother: for

I have sinned against them both” (Sophocles 1256). Although I find that Oedipus should not be punished for what he did, he still owns up to and accepts what happened. I find that from this experience, Oedipus learned that it is key to own up to what you did and you can’t necessarily escape your fate. “No mortal eyes but looked on him with envy, Yet in the end ruins swept over him,” (Sophocles 1260). . I don’t agree with what Oedipus did to himself (blinding himself) but it is an action that shows the readers that he should be regarded as a better man. When he asked Kreon to take him away from Thebes, I find that to be another action of responsibility. Previously, Oedipus had blamed Kreon for the death of Laios. Oedipus gives Kreon the right to take him away as a sorry to Kreon for the disbelief in him. Oedipus was an honest man, with a horrible fate left upon him

13. What purpose does the chorus serve in the play? Whom does it speak for?

Comment on the function of each of the four odes.

 I think the chorus serves as help to the reader in a few ways. First off, it is used

to help separate a scene from another, as there is no curtain while reading a play. I have also realized that the chorus gives a type of prayer/ode pertaining to what happened in that past scene. For example, before ODE 2, Oedipus is being told that he is the one that Killed King Laios. In ODE 2 ANTISTROPHE 2, the chorus says,

“…The deeds and the strange prophecies must make a pattern yet to be understood.

Zeus, if indeed you are lord of all, Throned in light over night and day, mirror this in your endless mind…” (Sophocles 1243). This ode by the chorus reflects on the confusion Oedipus goes through at the moment trying to figure out all of what it being told to him. The first ode serves to talk about the murder of Laios and how the

Gods Zeus and Apollo know who the murderer is, but will not reveal their identity.

“Proof of strife between Thebes’ royal house, Labdako’s line, and the son of Polybos;

And never until now has any man brought word of Laios dark death staining Oedipus the King” (Sophocles 1231). I have already stated that Ode 2 speaks of the confusion and Oedipus pondering thought about him being Laios murderer. In Ode 3, the chorus talks about Oedipus and him being the royal child on the mountain he was found upon. Ode 4 simply talks about Oedipus and his damned fate.