A Deep Dive into Sophocles' Oedipus Rex: Themes and Characters

This essay provides an analysis of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, examining the tragic elements of the play and the character of Oedipus. The essay explores the themes of fate versus free will, highlighting how the characters' actions are influenced by both divine prophecy and their own choices. It discuss...Read More

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Oedipus Rex
Oedipus Rex was developed in the 5th Century by renowned Greek dramatist Sophocles.
During the time of developing Oedipus Rex two of the most important drama has been
developed by the dramatist namely Antigone and Oedipus at Colinus. This three literary work
has been stated by many scholars as to the most developed fictional work that can be related in
the present. The story of the mythological work reflects that Oedipus, the king of Thebes has
killed his father and then later married his mother. In this tragic drama, fate has been reflected by
the dramatist in most of the scenes. At the ending scene, the drama portrays the tragedic death of
Oedipus wife who is actually his mother and that the king reigns until his last breath (Akhter et
al. 9-15).
Sophocles has developed the character of Oedipus in such a way that is more relevant to
the present behavior of human. Oedipus if to be looked at initially then he is the ruler who has
sympathy and compassion towards the people of Thebes who have been suffering from the
epidemic of plague. This characteristic of Oedipus is found to be entirely different from the point
where he used to kill his father to get the throne. This development of character with a change in
behavior which revealed at the end of the play is really a shocking one. These have been
developed beautifully by Sophocles to set the irony of the drama (Bernard, Andreas 19-37).

This drama justifies the contradiction between fate with that of free willingness. In this
entire drama, it has been developed by the dramatist that until and unless the Almighty takes any
action no people will be able to do the things by their own will. In this drama if to be looked at
then from the killing of Oedipu's father to marry his mother is all preplanned and that Almighty
has developed this. Prophecy is found to be the primary motif of the play that sustenance the
main theme of the free willingness with that of the will that is developed and created by the
Almighty. Most of the predictions if to be looked at the drama then it is found to be
predetermined and that the determination is from the Almighty (Bernstein, Richard 130-139).
Taking excessive pride in work is found to be the major reason for a downfall is another
theme that has been found in the drama. Oedipus has been found to take most of the pride and
that in the end, Odeipus has to fall in a tragedical way. Oedipus has been found to be getting
blind with the pride and that he starts to ignore all of the things that need to be looked at that
stage. Sophocles develops the theme in such a way where blindness of pride made to consider
that free willingness is bigger than the willingness of the prophet. Ignorance is defined as a
manner where a character does not have a sense of acknowledging truth (Bowden, Sean 212-
228).
Catharsis has been developed by Sophocles in this tradegic drama where at the end
audience will be in confound whether to feel pity for Oedipus or fear the aggression that as a
ruler he has. In most of the quotations by renowned scholars, it has been cited that at the initial
stage of the dram there is a feeling of pity that has been shown by Oedipus for the people who
are affected by plague. The development of the dram has revealed that Oedipus has a dual
character that reveals after many years and that the way he killed his father is really a feeling of
aggression (Davies, Jody Messler 265-283).

All through the drama it has been found that there are many characteristic developments
of Oedipus that have been sketched by the dramatist. In most of the cases it is really tough to find
the character development that the king of Thebes is going to have as there is a constant change
of character found in every single phase. The fate which has been highlighted in the drama has
been found not to be acknowledged by either Laius and Oedipus as both of them took pride in
their glory. Faith has been seen to develop the entire theme of the story as both Laius, Oedipus,
and Jacosta found to have a tragedic end (Elgin, Catherine 221-241).
This play has been the perfect example of determining that all the things are
predetermined and that the voice of the prophet needs to be heard. In the present day if this play
has been set with the political scenario then it can be found that the feud with culture is not
determined by a person or a political leader. This happening is predetermined and that this
message needs to be heard while it is been delivered. This drama also stresses the fact that
ignorance by taking pride will surely make a fall and that in the middle east countries it has been
found that most of the leaders have to face a tragedic death after reigning for many years
(Iațeșen, Loredana Viorica 108-114).
Taking the characteristics of Oedipus then it really goes with the characteristics of
modern-day society. With the passage of time and the way a person behaves in front and in the
back of others is really tough to analyze as no one brings in front the real characteristics as it is.
Oedipus has been found to portray dual characteristics and that in the end it has been found that
due tio his own reasons he killed his father and marry his mother. (Roy, Devjani, and Richard
Zeckhauser 79-92).
In a Large note, Oedipus is one of the developed dramas that will help in developing
more sociological drama with mythical character in the days to come. Through this drama

Sophocles shows the characteristics that change in a man and the way a man needs to
acknowledge messages provided for the betterment by Almighty.

Works cited
Akhter, Javed, Khair Muhammad, and Naila Naz. "Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex: A Deconstructive
Study." Advances in Language and Literary Studies 6.5 (2015): 9-15.
Bernard, Andreas. "The Total Archive. On the Function of Non-Knowledge in Digital Cultures."
(2018): 19-37.
Bernstein, Richard J. "Ricœur's Freud." Études Ricoeuriennes/Ricoeur Studies 4.1 (2013): 130-
139.
Bowden, Sean. "Tragedy and agency in Hegel and Deleuze." At the edges of thought: Deleuze
and post-Kantian philosophy(2015): 212-228.
Davies, Jody Messler. "From Oedipus complex to Oedipal complexity: Reconfiguring (pardon
the expression) the negative Oedipus complex and the disowned erotics of disowned
sexualities." Psychoanalytic Dialogues 25.3 (2015): 265-283.
Elgin, Catherine Z. "Fiction as thought experiment." Perspectives on Science 22.2 (2014): 221-
241.
Iațeșen, Loredana Viorica. "New Forms of Syncretism in the Operas of the First Half of the 20th
Century. the Intertwining Genres." Review of Artistic Education 07+ 08 (2014): 108-114.
Roy, Devjani, and Richard Zeckhauser. "The anatomy of ignorance: Diagnoses from
literature." Routledge international handbook of ignorance studies. 2015. 79-92.