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Jul 26, 2007

Kelly rated it:

Blah blah, the definitive tragedy. Blah blah, Greek tradition of theatre. Blah blah, amazing, psychological... blah blah, read it a thousand times in high school/college.

.. oh, just read the damn thing.

24 comments like (14 people liked it)

Sep 17, 2011

Kaion rated it:

What's interesting about fate, and what's different from our world and Oedipus's, is that "fate" doesn't really exist in our world. No real oracles go around telling you you're going to sleep with your mother. Instead, it's a philosophical device. On one side you've got "free will" (traditional very Western, very American even with the idea of the individual going forward), and on the other side you've got your fatalists (see my mom and her Vietnamese cosmology [is that the w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

James rated it:

And I thought Hamlet had an odd family. Oedipus' tragic case is that of curiosity killed the cat, or is it of inescapable fate, or something else that my feeble mind can't discover. Sophocles, so many centuries after the theaters in Athens became silent, still begs reading and interpretation, because he was a writer of great power, who here crafted a story of such power that Freud, being both purposely controversial and self-serving, named it one of the three greatest literary works of all time. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 19, 2007

علی rated it:

Tragedy is end of the big famous fight between the free human being and gods, where gods(fate)
always win. Odipus is a big winner who loose to gods.

اودیپوس شاه، مشهورترین تراژدی سوفوکلس، در باره ی ستیز اودیپوس با تقدیر خویش است. اودیپوس هر چه از سرنوشت خود بیشتر می گریزد، در آن گرفتارتر می شود.
سه گانه ی سوفوکلس (ادیپوس شاه، ادیپوس در کولونوس، انتیگونه) را ابتدا محمد سعیدی به فارسی برگرداند که در اواسط دهه ی سی شمسی توسط بنگاه ترجمه و نشر کتاب چاپ و منتشر شد. همین سه گانه More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

David rated it:

As a student in a Greek high school I was more or less forced to read this, translate it from the ancient Greek text for my exams to "prove" I deserved to go to the next educational level (where we did Homer), do assignments on it, listen to my professors as they spoke of its "meaning" and ask myself why Sophocles wrote it to begin with. And I HATED the damn thing. I hated Oedipus just as much as I hated Sophocles.

However, when I left high school, I realized that More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 16, 2008

Carmen rated it:

I don't know, how can one give Sophocles a rating? Although it is a classic and one of the pillars of the Western literary canon, I took off a star because it was too sad! I know that makes me a sap but poor King Oedipus, my goodness! Was he too proud? Too confident of his accomplishments? Or maybe that he had the gall to believe that one could escape his fate? And why that fate? Aristotle was certainly correct in referring to Sophocles as having mastered Tragedy. And the Chorus: "Oh, gene More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2009

Jason rated it:

In response to Ms. Boyd Zenner of Charlottesville's underwhelming ratings of the father of western tragedy, I now mount a Sophoclean juggernaut of five-star bequeathments.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Oct 13, 2007

Mont'ster rated it:

You *think* you know the story but unless you've read it, you don't know the whole story. We read this in a high school lit class right around the time that I was "discovering" Greek and Roman mythology for the first time. This is no formulaic Thursday night TV drama. This is NOT "we have a mugging and a body" - this is a REAL mystery and you have to remember that the Greeks pretty much invented plot twists and the story can keep your attention *despite the fact* that you' More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 23, 2009

Nicholas added it

"http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1217764.html[return][return]It's really good. This is a play dating from about 430 BC, and we all know the story in advance, so I wondered how fresh it could possibly seem, but I really enjoyed reading it and would love to see it on stage. [return][return]The interest is the interplay between the three main characters, Oedipus himself, Jocasta and her brother Cleon, as the story is unfolded to them by a succession of walk-ons (Tiresias, the messenger, the shep More...

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Mar 09, 2009

Michael rated it:

Hay, por lo menos, un par de puntos que me gustaron del libro:
El primero, es la edicion (coleccion "Cara Cruz" de editorial Norma): la mitad del libro tiene la obra en si, la otra un par de ensayos sobre la obra. En esta ultima, un par de conexiones se activaron en mi cerebro al leer sobre los trimetros yambicos y acordarme que Bolano los menciona en alguna parte de Los Detectives Salvajes.

El segundo es poner un poco mas de contexto a Edipo, del que escuche por prime More...

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Jan 14, 2012

Lauren rated it:

I first read this a few years ago in high school (cliche), where I proceeded with a few others to make a giant poster hand mirror framed with a noose to represent Jocasta.

Yeah, we thought it was witty too. & Of course, it was a school project. & Obviosly, we got an A. Blah blah blah.

But really, upon re-reading this for class, this is just a good ol' piece of classic literature. In all honestly, I have probably alluded to (Spoiler, I suppose. I just assume everyone ha More...

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Nov 07, 2011

Vanessa rated it:

Grim story. It started pretty tediously, actually, feeling repetetive and pompous. As the story began to emerge as to why Thebes was cursed, and as Oedipus was drawn ever closer to the ugly truth through his investigations, I did become interested (even though I already knew the story outline).
I kept wondering what the final point was. As Sophoclese summarizes, it seems to be that it is foolish to envy those who appear to have great power, wealth, or worldly estate, because there is no te More...

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Oct 09, 2011

Beth rated it:

4.5 stars

"Count no man happy 'til he dies, free of pain at last."

Oedipus the King is sad but brutal, a very dark but moving tale that we think we all know -- but actually reading it, especially the raw emotion that is encapsulated in those last few pages, is crushing. This is the true definition of Greek tragedy, so any criticism I could heap on it seems very twenty-first century and almost inapplicable. However, I did take a star off because it measures my pers More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 04, 2011

Audrey rated it:

I was just frustrated with how transparent everything was and thus how dumb Oedipus ended up looking for not figuring it all out.

He was told by TWO clairvoyants, TWO, that he would end up married to his mom and killing his dad. And when the blind man tells him this for the second time, he is SO OUTRAGED, but that's *after* he was told the *exact same thing* by an oracle in Pytho! Also, he was told that his parents in Corinth weren't his ("changeling") and just let that go and More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 06, 2011

Cheryl rated it:

I'd say "spoiler alert" but it seems ridiculous . . .

I've taught this play for years, and I think this year I finally decided what makes this play great. My students never feel sympathy for Macbeth, but they do for Oedipus, and that always used to bother me. They whine in their teenage attitudinal voices, "But he didn't know that was his father." I always respond, "So it's ok to KILL PEOPLE if they're not your father?!"

In identifying with O More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 09, 2011

Jason rated it:

Oedipus Rex was a really unique book especially because of the dramatic irony. This unique literary technique echoed through the whole book in more ways then one. Since it was a greek tragedy; we the audience/reader knew the end in just the beginning of the book. Its unique just for the fact not many authors popularize on the premise of a man destined to kill his father and marry his mother. At first I thought it was disturbing and a little twisted for a human being to do such thing. But the dr More...

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Mar 01, 2011

Karl rated it:

First, let me clear something up. Oedipus is one of the classics of Western Literature as a tragedy, not as a murder mystery, a genre that wouldn't yet be invented for more than a thousand years. The questions Oedipus asks us are not questions of motive and guilt. Oedipus is not a detective. We know who did it, the audience would've known who did it, almost everyone in the play who Oedipus questions knows what's up. It's not really a mystery to anyone besides Oedipus and the chorus. There's only More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 20, 2011

Kierra rated it:

The book I read is called Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. This book takes place in ancient Thebes. The main characters in this book are King Oedipus, Jocasta (Oedipus's wife) Creon (Jocasta's brother) and Tiresias (the blind seeker). When Oedipus was born he was gaven away. This couple picked him up off the street and kept him. One night Oedipus went to a gathering with his adopted mother and father. This young man was talking and told him that the people he was with weren't his real parents. When he More...

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Nov 06, 2010

Abraham rated it:

"That's why they call it a classic." I've read a handful of Ancient Greek plays before this but none of them really grabbed at me, like this one did. Who knows? I guess that trite little phrase up above sums it all, but there's something very allusive that makes this a classic and makes me love it so much. I will say that Oedipus reminds me so much of other tragic figures, from Shakespeare. Othello in particular. As I read the introduction to my edition, translated by Robert Fagles, in More...

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Nov 01, 2010

Silent rated it:

Don't bother reading this hogwash! This play is garbage! The whole plot is bleeding stupidity!

The prophesy said that Oedipus would kill his father; later to add that he would marry his mother! The characters so clueless that they can't put together the facts! His ankles, for goodness sakes, are a dead give away! Once his father died, and a new suitor became available for the throne and Jacosta's hand in marriage, it was so obvious Oedipus was her son! Why would she marry a man aroun More...

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Sep 22, 2010

Aaron rated it:

I didn’t really care for Oedipus Rex only from the standpoint that Greek Mythology does not strike my interest. I think the plot behind the story was alright, but for my own personal enjoyment… it didn’t strike my “fancy” so to speak. I think that it was good to learn about Greek Mythology and their entertainment because it is so much more different than it is today. Oedipus Rex to me, seemed like a larger-than-life soap opera. I can understand how the book could appeal to those who are: A.) In More...

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Sep 22, 2010

Carson rated it:

Complicated relationships between characters and an intriguing storyline keep the reader engaged in what the author has to say. Although the connections between the characters can be hard to keep track of, it allows the story to be complex, leaving out unnecessary information. Even though the story is written with dramatic irony, it is still entertaining to watch the characters uncover the truth themselves. From the beginning the audience is aware of the reality of the situation that the charact More...

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Sep 22, 2010

Brittany rated it:

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Jan 27, 2010

Brittany rated it:

How I Came To Read This Book: Grade 12 English. We compared Oedipus, Hamlet, and Death of a Salesman in a ‘tortured father’ series.

The Plot: A royal couple in ancient Thebes consults a prophet as to their childlessness – to which the prophecy is laid that if they have a son, he will kill his father and marry his mother. Thus when Oedipus eventually rolled out of his mom’s stomach, his father abandoned him to die. Instead however, Oedipus is adopted and raised by a shepherd. When rum More...

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Nov 13, 2009

Xenophon rated it:

I found three different online translations of Oedipus the King and read them in parallel to help assure I was getting most of the nuances. Hmmm. When I rate something extremely old like this, I ask myself, what would happen if a modern playwright wrote something similar? My best guess at the answer is that he wouldn't have any chance at all of getting it produced. It's rather dull, and what characterization it has lacks subtlety.

Of course, from another point of view, that judgme More...

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Jul 05, 2009

Carm rated it:

Ahhh, good old Oeddie. I would say that in 14 years of teaching I've read this play aloud hundreds of times. I've nearly got bits of it memorized. For some reason the unusual play format and the poetic choral odes freak students out so I find myself reading the parts. At one time, our tutor Tara and I contemplated filming ourselves enacting it in front of city hall because it seemed like the right architecture, but we just never got down to business. Instead I crafted a few paper doll popsicle s More...

1 comment like

Apr 26, 2009

Swankivy rated it:

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Nov 08, 2010

Julie rated it:

It's always nice to read the original and know you'll not only recognize, but also understand, modern references. Despite the play being a murder mystery everyone knows the end to, it is still worth a read. The value does not only exist in knowing the story, but experiencing the story for yourself.

I don't see Oedipus as someone who suffers from hubris. He holds himself in high esteem, yes, but it isn't exactly uncalled for. He has saved Thebes previously and continues to care immense More...

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Sep 22, 2010

Darrin rated it:

I found this book really intriguing because of the dramatic story line, it was different and although written hundreds of years ago it is beautifully arranged and it kept me hooked. I found it a good book because you knew the plot before you read it and you get to follow the progression of each character as they slowly realize the truth. In my opinion a good book gets the point across quickly and tells a good story while sparring no details and this book was 'short and to the point', it told a d More...

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Sep 16, 2010

Hana rated it:

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