Synthesis of Oedipus

Synthesis Paragraphs 

My view of Oedipus throughout the play has been like a roller-coaster. During the beginning of the play, I liked him as a king because he seemed like he would be a great king saving Thebes from danger with his bravery and loyalty, “Now you have me to fight for you”. However, Oedipus’ long journey of finding the truth about his life and dreadful actions alter my feelings. Some of the situations that he made wrong decisions on are cursing himself, arguing with Tiresias, blaming Creon for the murder and most importantly is ignorance signifies the whole thing. His ignorance is one of the main characteristic traits that I don’t like about him. Although his ignorance and his pride is one of his flaws as a king and a leader, the audience will eventually realize that he didn’t acknowledge how dreadful the truth is. I felt really empathetic when he mentioned how his last wish is to hug his kids before he exiles himself and to see his mother and wife commits suicide after she found out the truth. Oedipus development was a long roller-coaster that constantly changed my emotions along Oedipus journey.

Some important understandings I have gained about leadership is that in order to be a great leader you should not be ignorant nor have too much pride. Ignorance and pride may lead to a decrease in faith from your peers and too much pride will just lead you to embarrassment and guilt, “You must see that- I was so wrong, so wrong”. When Oedipus showed too much pride it caused his blindness and his lost of his whole life; his tragedy. Oedipus pride and ignorance leads to his dreadful truth. If Oedipus was a true and loyal king, he would need leadership skills like listening to the city, hearing what they want, with full respect for them, should not be selfish and should focus on healing the people or at least give aid. These qualities are essential for a king because this will help the leader to be a great king and to be a king that everyone will respect.

Reference:

Sophocles. Oedipus the King. The Three Theban Plays. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin   

           Classics, 1984. Print.

Relationships between Daughter and King

             Please... my king.

Grant it, with all your noble heart.

If I could hold [my daughter], just once, I’d think

I had them with me, like the early days

when I could see their eyes. (1608-1612).

Analysis: 

Oedipus seems really kind and caring at this point because he has nothing left except for his being. He lost all his power, all his power is given to Creon his uncle or brother in law. Oedipus seems to know that Creon will be a great king because he has a kind heart and he understands what Oedipus has gone through. He also loves his city. Oedipus still cares about his family especially his daughters; Antigone and Ismene. It’s absurd how he uses the word “think” when he mentions his daughters, because he doesn’t know whether or not if his daughters or sisters believe that he is a great father and king and if his daughters support him os even like him. 

Reader Response:

Oedipus’ guilt and sorrow just makes him think about his daughters, how he misses seeing them and how he feels guilty because he knows that this will later on pass down to his children especially his daughters. This specific moment when he begs to see and hold his daughters and the moment where he actually holds his daughters and takes them away afterwards, make me feel sorry for Oedipus because he is now experiencing loss of everything including the faith people have in him as well as the faith he has in himself due to all his sinful acts and curses he has. I am going to present a collage that shows the children running and hugging the now blind Oedipus. The collage theme portrays forgiveness, love, sorrow, and guilt. It shows that Oedipus loves and cares for his children because he wants the best for his children and he does that by exiling himself away from the rest of his family and Thebes. Oedipus’ daughters are hugging Oedipus answering his questions about if his daughters’ are with him however, do they still have faith in him? 

The Catharsis of Oedipus

                                the agony! Iam agony-

where am I going? where on Earth?

where does all this agony hurl me? 

where’s my voice?-

winging, swept away on a dark tide-

My destiny, my dark power, what a leap you made! (1443-1448).

Analysis: 

Oedipus tone has a sense of hopelessness and curiosity because he asks where and why he is this suffering happening to him. When the text says “the dark power” they mean that Oedipus is experiencing his downfall which is like his hell for him, his royalty was just overall his darkness for him, his family, and the city. His destiny was darkness all along since the day he was born. Also the repetition of the word, “agony” means extreme physical or mental suffering, and this is leading to the end of his power and his destiny and his life.  He asks the chorus what are the next steps after he gouges his eyes out. He is still confused to what he should do next he already feels horrible and angry about all of this. During the discovery, all of his emotions are jumping everywhere from one place to another. 

Reader Response: 

At this point I feel the same way as Oedipus, specifically wondering what his next steps after he gouged his eyes out with his mother’s brooch. Oedipus feels guilty in a way that all he really wants to do is run away from the mess or even more dreadful to kill himself to escape from this reality. I feel really sympathetic for the blind Oedipus because he’s really confused on what to do next. He doesn’t know how to really control his emotions so he panicked when he found out when his mother died as well as the whole truth. In my opinion, I think another alternative for an ending is the idea of not giving up on hope. If Oedipus was strong enough psychologically he would be able to look back and fix his mistakes. However, it would be difficult for him to change and fix everything in a small period of time. I think all Oedipus feels is shame because he feels like he made Thebes disappointed and now the most hateful person in the city. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in his shoes right now. In this audio I will portray on how I think Oedipus tone is like, his reactions. 

Here is the link to the audio. Right click the link and click "go to address"   

file:///Users/Annisaa/Desktop/Oedipus%20Voice-2.m4a

Anger May Cause Harmful Actions

                             ...and the old man himself 

were about to thrust me off the road-brute force-

and the one shouldering me aside, the driver,

I strike him in anger!...

I paid him back with interest!...

I killed them all-every mother’s son! (888-898).

Analysis:

Oedipus told this story with strong anger and emotion towards the people who told Oedipus that he is adopted and the parents he was with are not his real parents. Strong words and phrases like “thrust”, “strike”, “killed” and “all-every mother’s son” are all words that expresses anger, also these strong words tells the reader that he still feels the same anger as he felt when he was in the situation. Along with his anger, he feels a sense of pride when he says “I killed them all”. Within this quote the word use of the word “I” is strong diction because he is the one that killed them all due to his strong anger towards them. This fatal flaw of having pride for his dreadful actions lead to fulfilling the prophecy as well as finding out the truth. There is a lot of imagery in this scene because the strong diction can create an image on what his emotions and actions were. 

Reader Response:

Oedipus’ strong feelings about his parents make me dislike and fear him because when he’s angry he let’s out his anger on other people. His actions and the tone disgust me as well. Also if he told this story to not only Jocasta but the whole city of Thebes, the whole city would never rely on him to take care of his kingdom. Everyone in the city will fear him because they are afraid that he will make careless decisions when his mood changes or when he’s angry. I wouldn’t want Oedipus to be my king. The mask that I made for Oedipus after he finds out his parents aren’t his biological parents portrays a face of anger and disgust. After hearing the horrid news, his face immediately turns from sorrow to anger. The anger causes him to release it by killing all the people he sees on the road. I think Oedipus went too far, killing all the people, swinging his sword, killing “every mother’s son” (898). Also the tone conveyed through his words when he’s telling the story again seems really disturbing. It makes me feel like Oedipus has strong anger issues that he can’t control because later on in the play his feelings are illustrated during the process of finding the truth.

Reference:

Sophocles. Oedipus the King. The Three Theban Plays. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin   

           Classics, 1984. Print.

Oedipus Turning Point

                              Aren’t you the fool, 
you and your high adventure. Lacking numbers,
powerful friends, out for the big game of empire- 
you need riches, armies to bring that quarry down! (603-606).

Analysis:

Oedipus speaks to Creon in a very rude way, he speaks with a rude, selfish, and insecure tone. His grateful pride of the riches, the fame, and the royalty is causing his rude tone. Oedipus seems so sure of himself, he feels like his life will be perfect because he has all the fame and royalty. It’s absurd how he mentions “powerful friends” it makes me concern who exactly are his friends are, because it doesn’t seem like he has friends or even share his power and royalty with anyone except for his family, maybe.  Or is his powerful friends, is his army? There is some strong diction within this quote, some that I found that stood out are, "high", "lacking", "powerful", "need riches". These words and phrases expresses the idea of social hierarchy how you need high power and riches to become high in power and lacking anything or anyone are people in the social hierarchy who are at the bottom such as the poor or lower class men. This is important to notice because his theme of comparing social statuses and bragging about them just seem rude.

Reader Response:

This major change of Oedipus attitude, actions, and goals make me dislike him now because what I imagined an ideal leader is protecting his country from harm which is for the whole country and not just himself. His rude actions to Creon just makes it even worse apart from his not acknowledging his murderous actions, killing his own father, and the fight with Tiresias making a fool out of himself in front of the whole city including the audience. The lack of great qualities of a leader will make the city and the people around him dislike him because he starts to care less about the main problem and focuses on his individual problems instead. Oedipus is also not setting a good example to the future leaders of Thebes and is just creating more problems and disasters in the future for Thebes and himself. I created a venn diagram that will acknowledge the similarities and differences between good leadership and Oedipus current leadership traits or abilities. 

    Oedipus Leadership                Both Oedipus and Ideal                    Ideal Leadership 

                Traits                                Leadership Traits                                  Traits

______________________|____________________________|______________________________

  -Solve Riddles                   |         -Courage                                |           - Teamwork 

  -Talking back to people     |         -Care about your peers           |          - Role Model

  - Blaming someone for      |                                                        |          - Responsibility

    your problems                  |                                                        |          - Making the right and careful

  - Off track                          |                                                        |            decisions

  - Uneccessary                    |                                                        |          -Avoiding disaster 

                                            |                                                        |          - Quick thinking