Thursday, January 10, 2013

Oedipus The King 3

            The section we read today in class mainly focused on Oedipus' identity. We learn more about Oedipus' tragic flaw and how he is arrogant, ignorant and very stubborn. He refuses to believe Tiresias' and Creon's argument that Oedipus killed Lauis, who happened to be his own father, and married his own mother. He isn't patient enough to really evaluate the situation and think about the possibilities. Instead, he continues to be arrogant and attacks Creon and Tiresias' claims against him. Additionally, we learn that Oedipus was adopted. On line 496, Tiresias says, "Absurd, am I! To you, not to your parents: the ones who bore you found me sane enough." To which Oedipus replies, "Parents-who? Wait... who is my father?" This hints at the fact that Oedipus was not only adopted, but he was unaware that he has two sets of parents. He remains oblivious to the fact that perhaps his birth parents don't recognize him (or, how he ended up marrying his mother.) I predict that Tiresias gave Oedipus' parents a prophecy telling them what would happen to the future, or their son marrying his mother and killing his father, making Oedipus' birth parents give him up for adoption.
          Also, at the end of today's reading, Creon, Oedipus' uncle/brother-in-law, turns out to be a foil for Oedipus. Both Creon and Oedipus have royal duties to fulfill. However, they handle their jobs very differently. Oedipus is extremely irrational, while Creon is more understanding and reasonable. The two of these characters have similar background, with very different outcomes.

No comments:

Post a Comment