Oedipus Rex

Jun 27, 2012 Hend rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: plays, sophocles, greek-literature

Oedipus of Sophocles is a great work of art written by a great poet,this play symbolizes for the human misery and despair...
the torments of the human soul,the innocence and guilt,Wisdom Out of Suffering and Fate that determines many things no matter how we struggle to change it....
Oedipus hears about his dreadful fate from the Delphic oracle and flees from Corinth. But instead of fleeing from his fate he runs into it...

Oedipus a passionate heart,who ask questions and take risks,has all the quali...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Bruce rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

We all know the story that this play tells; it has been part of the cultural heritage that most of us have known for as long as we can remember, and many of us have read it any number of times. Each reading brings new insights, new questions, and rather than tell the story once again, I prefer to dwell on the thoughts and questions that this reading brought to my mind.

Wherein lies the Evil in this play? In the prophecy and, apparently, the determinism of the gods that Oedipus will kill his fathe...more We all know the story that this play tells; it has been part of the cultural heritage that most of us have known for as long as we can remember, and many of us have read it any number of times. Each reading brings new insights, new questions, and rather than tell the story once again, I prefer to dwell on the thoughts and questions that this reading brought to my mind.

Wherein lies the Evil in this play? In the prophecy and, apparently, the determinism of the gods that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother? In Oedipus’ doing so despite his attempt to avoid this fate and his ignorance that he has but done what Fate decreed? How can he be held responsible for this? In his attempt to outwit Fate, in his attempt to be an independent moral agent, an attempt that may be interpreted as hubristic? Why does he blind himself? Out of guilt? Out of a refusal to look upon his wife and children, the result of his life’s tragic trajectory? Is it an irrational impulse that has no meaning? The play is all about seeing, about revealing the hidden, and blinding is its antithesis. Perhaps Oedipus’ blinding of himself is a symbol of the blindness he labored under in the past, creating a sort of blindness-brief seeing-blindness sequence; maybe seeing is too much to bear. It is interesting to note how hearing supplants seeing as the play progresses. And why does Jocasta kill herself, since she can hardly be blamed for what has occurred? Simply because she has offended an incest taboo, albeit unknowingly? Or is this the final blow for her, the culmination of grief that began when her infant son was taken from her to be exposed and killed many years before? There are many puzzles in this play beyond the obvious puzzle that history hides and that is eventually revealed. This is the story of the overcoming of illusion, of developing clear sight. Is seeing clearly always painful? Is seeing oneself for who one is what we try hard to avoid (Oedipus’ power of denial, of an almost willful blindness to the signs and messages coming to him, is stark)? Is it necessary for healing, however? Do we remain somehow polluted and constrained without the sight that comes through knowledge, or is knowledge itself a source of suffering? Is this the reason why we try so hard to distract ourselves, to avoid the hard job of seeing ourselves without illusions? How interesting, though, that Oedipus is able to become a free moral agent, governed by free will and not by necessity, only when he achieves dis-illusionment.

The gods foretell events, implying determinism, and then hold Thebes responsible for not banishing Oedipus. Why do they hold Oedipus responsible and punishable for something they decreed and that he did unintentionally, indeed for something he tried desperately to avoid? There is an element of Fate or Evil in this play that is beyond rationality, beyond understanding.

The Chorus is all important; its speeches should not be rushed through in order to “get to the action.” It is the conservative voice of the past, of collective wisdom. From the very beginning of the play, the Chorus has premonitions of disaster.

How is each of us fated? What part does chance, fate, or determinism play in our lives? To what extent do we take responsibility for our actions, for the pattern of our lives? For what are we responsible and for what are we not? How does intention change our responsibility for our actions? In what ways are we blind to what we do, to what we have done, to how these have changed or influenced our lives and the lives of others? To what extent do we live in perpetual ignorance of the effects of our lives and actions? And once we know ourselves, can we live with what we once were, where we once were, or is all irrevocably changed? At what price do we gain knowledge of ourselves, of reality? Oedipus gains such knowledge only through living his life in reverse, moving from his present into his past.

It is easy to see how texts like this have survived to speak to readers and the watchers of drama through millennia. The themes are universal, the questions perennial, the mysteries haunting even as they are unfathomable.
(less)

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Sep 17, 2011 Kaion rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: drama

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 word? Whatever, I’m g...more 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 word? Whatever, I’m going to use it], in which the people who are around you are literally born to be so because of the debt you owe each other in the present, owed in the past, and/or will use in the future). I'm not really a fan of philosophy, and as far as I'm concerned the goodness of each approach is only to be judged by how useful they are to a specific person in a specific situation (and place and time).

I say that there is no fate in our world, but that's not really true. What separates fate from free will is foresight, and there's plenty of that in our world. A cancer patient (like my aunt) being told she has six months to live. One step lower on the surety scale, my remaining aunts and my mother living under the knowledge that they're likely (what, like 50/50 chances) to get this dubious inheritance from their father (oh hey! Antigone, didn’t see you there). Or even to the much lower level of common sense, like stock markets: what goes up so precipitously, without merit, is likely to come down just as precipitously.

What’s interesting about Oedipus, is at first glance the prophecies within are so abhorrent, who wouldn’t react in horror to the idea of killing one’s father and sleeping with one’s mother? But at second glance, is it not common sense, is it not true for all families that one day the son will surpass the father, one day the father will fall and the son will take the father’s place? Is it not true men will judge their relationships with women against that first relationship with their moms?

The prophecy given to Oedipus and to his birth parents is a sensationalist version of the common sense truth for all families (even to those where the son cannot so literally inherit a father’s throne). And the real-world response to that un-sensational real-world dilemma is: “Hey, one day I’m going to die, and I’m going to try and leave the world(kingdom) in the hands of a good human being” (& “I’m going to teach my son to treat the women he loves with respect” & “I’m going to be good to my father while he’s alive and a really good person when he’s gone”).

You might say I’m unfair in comparing Oedipus to an unchangeable fate (cancer, though for most people, I don’t think killing one’s baby is really an option on the table… but we’ll get back to that). No, my aunt couldn’t change her rapidly-growing tumor, but she could change the way she went out. She took hold of her finances for the first time in her life, she aired her grievances towards her husband (and the frightful in-laws) and her children instead of stewing in them, she tied up her inheritance to provide for her youngest through college, she got the death she wanted (at home and with Buddhist rites), all so she could live her remaining months in peace, and die in peace, instead of continuing to live (practically a lifetime) in sorrow. Is it fair she died so young? Is life fair?

My mom doesn’t know if she’s going to get cancer in 4 years, but she’s you know, de-stressing her life, selling the house, doing things she wants to do, and going in for all her medical tests. No, it’s no magic trick to see one’s future, it’s magic to decide what to do about it. It’s easy to get desperate and anxious to change one’s fate, hey, how else do you think those snake doctors make a living… It’s not always easy to see the difference between trying to ‘master your fate’ and trying to make the best of it/just being proactive/smart.

I say sensationalist, but that’s not really true—you needn’t look far—when there’s a real shortage of women in the world (China and India are the real places of impact, though considering how much of the world population is from those two countries, it is effectively, a world impact) due to selective-gender abortion and female child abandonment (told you I’d get back to it). The ‘making the best world’ response (from parents, and from governments/society) is to educate girls, give them the same chances as boys, give them a world where women can be as useful to their families as men. The ‘master your fate’ response has created increased demand for sex-trafficking (and increased forced marriages and honor killings). Of course people want to escape “fate”, it is so human (and what makes the play so human)—of course, whether you call if “life” or “gods” or “fate”, it isn’t fair, but how much of it is really “fate” and how much is it our (humans) own choices?

And if we think the answer is to try ignorance, how can we try ignorance (no foresight)—people spend their whole lives trying to know, trying to make the world make sense (and we make gods and science to try and make sense of it for us) and it really is for the best psychics are really charlatans, because we got plenty of foresight on our own thanks, we just don’t know what to do with it (can’t ignore it either, see global warming). As the alcoholics/Christians say: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,/Courage to change the things I can,/And wisdom to know the difference.”

Basically what I’m saying is Sophocles is pretty genius, and Freud as usual gets it half-right, half-wrong.(less)

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Sep 01, 2011 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: plays, poetry

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

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Apr 19, 2007 علی rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: tragedies, great-ones

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 به زبانی بسیار زیبا توسط...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Kate Jacobson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, read-in-2012

I, of course, read this for school. While I may be a nerd that enjoys reading, I do draw the line at picking up Oedipus Rex at the library for a light Sunday afternoon read.
That said, I'm fairly certain I was the only person in my English class who didn't hate the play with the passion of a thousand burning suns - in fact, I quite enjoyed it. Each reading brings to mind new questions about the play, the characters, and humanity in general. It truly is a thought provoking play - you could get a...more

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Mar 20, 2010 David Gallagher rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 people - not only in Greece, bu...more

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Sep 16, 2008 Carmen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: plays, education

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, generation...more

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Aug 13, 2010 مهدي rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-newspaper, 2010-project-50

كنت البارحة قد شاهدت فلم
Clash of The Titans
الفيلم يحكي عن أسطورة يونانية قديمة جميلة بتصوير مذهل وحوارات عذبة أدبية
كان الفيلم جميل فعلاً
وحين بدأت بقراءة حكاية أويديبوس ( اوديب )لم أجد صعوبية في تخيل الشخصيات مع
أنها مسرحية ودارت أحداثها أيضاً قبل الميلاد باربعة قرون تقريباً
لذلك يصعب تقريباً تخيل الأحداث والشخصيات لتكون قارئ جيد عليك أن تغوص بعمق بين أكنف الرواية وعقل الكاتب
كانت الأحداث حتى النصف ( حين توقفت ) ممتعو وبعض الحوارات فيها حكمة وأدب وثقافة جميلة جداً وتضيف إلى ذاكرتك الكثير من الأحداث...more

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Feb 06, 2009 Jason Coleman rated it 5 of 5 stars

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.

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Oct 13, 2007 Mont'ster rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

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've "already heard it"....more

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Dec 23, 2009 Nicholas Whyte added it · review of another edition

"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 shepherd,...more

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Mar 09, 2009 Michael rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 primera vez en alguna clase de si...more

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May 18, 2013 Aminah Rasheed rated it 5 of 5 stars

As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods.
They kill us for their sport.
(King Lear by Shakespeare)

Oedipus Rex is a tragic tale of twists and turns that explains ever so clearly the hopelessness one feels at the hands of fate. The prophecy must be fulfilled, regardless of the individual's moral question or the happiness generally concerned. what has been ordained has to be accomplished and individual may cry tears through the seven kingdoms but will not suffice to alleviate the shame, insult and...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Alan Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

To the ancient Greeks, the word "Tragedy" didn't just mean something with a sad ending. To them, the word referred to a play with a certain defined structure and theme - about a happy person who, because of a single tragic flaw, becomes the victim of the gods. The format was invented for a specific purpose called "catharsis" - the idea was that you went to the theater, watched the play, and gained an emotional release that made your own petty issues fade into insignificance.

"Oedipus Rex" is perh...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Becca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-z-challenge, classics, ebooks, university

Klassiker der Weltliteratur, der über Jahrhunderte immer wieder neu aufgelegt und neu ausgestaltet wurde. Das Thema des Ödipus wurde von vielen historischen und modernen Denkern wieder aufgegriffen und weiterentwickelt, bespielsweise von Sigmund Freud. Um zu erfahren, wie sich die Geschichte entwickelt hat, habe ich mir zunächst das Original vorgenommen.
Mir liegt die Übersetzung von Hölderlin vor, was den Text zu seiner im Original schon altertümlichen Sprache auch von der Formulierung sehr inte...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Yana Masri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Among all the plays I ever read, this one is the best. I enjoyed it the most because it takes u back to the old times, the legendary Greek era. One of the most characterizing features of it is that one of the chorus. I still remember how ,together with the teacher, we sang the lines of the chorus. Maybe that is what the modern plays lack. As if the chorus recreates the Greek life among the audience encompassing all the Greek flavors of clothes, traditions, gods, etc.
What i personally enjoyed too...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Jorge Gómez rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: teatro, v-ane, griego

Personalmente, admiro a esta obra, tal vez no sea una de mis favoritas, pero luego de 2500 años transcurridos desde que fue escrita sigue pareciendo una obra que no está desadaptada al tiempo, cuyos recursos literarios no son obsoletos ni aburridos, no es lenta, inocente, ni peca de los vicios de los años transcurridos, eso ya de por si es un gran merito.

Por otro lado, muchos conocíamos la historia antes de leerla, pero, la forma en que esta historia es develada, pero sobretodo, la impresionante...more

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Jan 08, 2013 FREEBIRD rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of Greek mythology, plays or messed up tales

Recommended to FREEBIRD by: Life

Shelves: ancient-classics, books-should-be-read-aloud, play, philosophy, family-problems, kindle-reads

Free will does not exist.

At least, according to Sophocles it doesn't. Take Oedipus Rex as a perfect example, he hears an oracle predicting his future, a future so horrible that he cannot bear the thought of it. So he packs his bags and leaves his father and mother for fear of killing one and sleeping with the other. However, his fate follows him and he ends up doing exactly as predicted.

The real kicker here is that it's almost as if the gods are playing a joke on Oedipus. First they tell his bi...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Thalia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of Tragedies

Recommended to Thalia by: Ap English

Shelves: i-own, classics

If you don’t already know the plot of Oedipus Rex, don’t shudder at the description! It sounds kind of crazy and weird, and honestly it is, but Sophocles really has done an amazing job with this. Despite everything about this play that isn’t realistic in our society, it’s presented in such a way that you can actually feel bad for the characters and hurt with them. It’s really short, and takes place in a one day time frame. Oedipus is a likeable guy–and considering there’s an Oedipus complex, wh...more

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Dec 19, 2012 jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oedipus, King of Thebes and husband of Jocasta, has sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle of Apollo to find how to bring relief to the city. The children, animals and crops are dying and nothing has helped. Oedipus is willing to do anything.
Creon returns and relays that the prophet said that the city must punish the man who killed its former king, Laius, as the murder was never solved and the murderer hides himself among them.

My book is translated by Bernard Knox and he hit the right bal...more

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Nov 30, 2012 Felicia Nelson rated it 4 of 5 stars

King Oedipus of Thebes is our dear main character. He’s strong, he’s caring, he’s wise, he’s brave, he’s... married to his mother?! Our story begins with the good King, who had been appointed by the people of Thebes when he saved them from a horrid riddle-telling sphinx. He’d correctly answered the sphinx's riddle “What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?” with the answer “man”. The creature then killed itself and Oedipus became the hero of T...more King Oedipus of Thebes is our dear main character. He’s strong, he’s caring, he’s wise, he’s brave, he’s... married to his mother?! Our story begins with the good King, who had been appointed by the people of Thebes when he saved them from a horrid riddle-telling sphinx. He’d correctly answered the sphinx's riddle “What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?” with the answer “man”. The creature then killed itself and Oedipus became the hero of Thebes and was appointed as king by the people. He married the previous queen, and begins to rule over what he hopes will be a prosperous kingdom. Things sound pretty good for Oedipus when you look at the backstory, but if things stayed that way then Oedipus Rex wouldn’t have been much of a story.

When Thebes is plagued by what can only be a curse then things begin to become pretty shaken up for Oedipus. He meets with the people of the city and asks what he can do to help when he finds out that the previous king has been murdered and his death has gone unavenged. The murderer resides in Oedipus’ kingdom and must be punished through either exile or execution before the gods will lift their curse on Thebes. Oedipus swears to find the murderer and punish him accordingly for the good of his beloved kingdom. With no hints as to who the murderer could be he calls upon the help of a blind seer. Now here’s where things get interesting. The seer comes and reluctantly tells Oedipus that he is the murderer! Not only is he the murderer but the previous king was, in fact, Oedipus’ very own father! He’s also married to the previous queen, his own mother! (And the ghost of King Hamlet, from the play Hamlet, thought Denmark was a couch for incest?) This sounds familiar to Oedipus, for it had been predicted years ago that his fate was to murder his father and sleep with his mother. In trying to find the true murderer Oedipus uncovers a story he never thought possible, the true story of his own past.

Oedipus Rex is your typical english class book assignment material. If you’re looking for plot twists then this might not be the book for you, most of the plot is spelled out in the first few pages. Thankfully, Oedipus Rex isn’t the type of book to drag on forever to establish a little bit of plot. It is as they say, a little goes a long way. The book heavily enforces the ideas of fate that were believed back then and how it is impossible to escape what you are fated to do. Oedipus Rex is the type of book that you’re not likely to come across now because of the idea of incest that gives the book part of its plot. Most modern writers aren’t willing to write about things such as incest (with the exception of George R.R. Martin). It may be fairly short (at least in my opinion it was) but it’s not a bad book to read. Plus, since it’s a “school-type” book, shorter is better right? If you’re looking for something that is certainly unique and quick to read, then definitely pick up Oedipus Rex.(less)

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Nov 29, 2012 Justin Biggs rated it 4 of 5 stars

Oedipus Rex, in general was a great play to read. The book takes place in the year 429 B.C. in the country of Thebes. This country is ruled by King Oedipus, who serves as the main character and tragic hero of this story. To start off, the story begins with a gathering in palace with the people of Thebes wishing to speak to the king. The people explain to Oedipus that there is a plague that is cast over the population of Thebes. Oedipus has been warned of this prior to this occassion, and had se...more Oedipus Rex, in general was a great play to read. The book takes place in the year 429 B.C. in the country of Thebes. This country is ruled by King Oedipus, who serves as the main character and tragic hero of this story. To start off, the story begins with a gathering in palace with the people of Thebes wishing to speak to the king. The people explain to Oedipus that there is a plague that is cast over the population of Thebes. Oedipus has been warned of this prior to this occassion, and had sent Prince Creon to venture to Delphi, to speak with the Greek god, Apollo, at his place of revelation. While there, Creon learns how to cure Thebes of this plague. He soon returns to the palace, and tells the kingdom, to cure the plague the murderer of King Laios must be killed or exiled. Following this, King Oedipus starts investigating immediately and sets up policies to make sure the culprit is found. Things start to get interesting though, when an oracle comes to the King and Oedipus is told that he is the murderer. However, Oedipus doesn't believe it for a second and is enraged at such an accusation. This leads to Oedipus frantically investigating every clue he can find until the true culprit is found.If you want to find out more, you have to read this captivating tale!

I loved the plot to this play and I would fully suggest to anyone to read this. However, there are a few minor things I did not like about it. Mainly, I wished that the story would have been longer, because it seemed like a short story transformed into a play. So, it seemed like the storyline was very rushed, which takes away from the overall effect of the story. On the bright side, I did like the language used in the play. It was written to where it was easy to comprehend, while also keeping the language of the time period in the dialogue.

Overall, I gave this play four stars. The one thing that kept it from being five stars was how short it was. I really wish it would have been longer, so then the storyline could have been more spread out. Despite that shortcoming, I really enjoyed reading this play and I would strongly suggest anybody to read this short play.(less)

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Nov 29, 2012 Brett Glass rated it 3 of 5 stars

Non-Spoiler Reveiw.
The story of Oedipus Rex is a story of a man who rises to fame by saving Thebes from a terriable creature. Oedipus then becomes king and all is well, but a plague is tearing the city apart as his past that he hides slowly consumes him and destorys his life. He goes insane as his crimes are revealed to his people and he then turns on his best friend as the source of the terrors on him and the city. After slipping more into insanity he finally accepts his past and what he did, w...more Non-Spoiler Reveiw.
The story of Oedipus Rex is a story of a man who rises to fame by saving Thebes from a terriable creature. Oedipus then becomes king and all is well, but a plague is tearing the city apart as his past that he hides slowly consumes him and destorys his life. He goes insane as his crimes are revealed to his people and he then turns on his best friend as the source of the terrors on him and the city. After slipping more into insanity he finally accepts his past and what he did, which rips him apart causing him to rip his eyes out so that he cant see the evil he created. He then steps down as king and lives his life as a hermit.

A decent story that does not need to much background information as it explains it all at the start of the story. Very quick read, but very predictable on what was going to happen. It was a interesting and because of the storys age a orginal tale, but it has no real development in story or charaters because of its short reading time. Ive never had a problem with short stories and this one is no different, but I think it could be better if it was written like a actucal book.

Spoiler Reveiw.
Oedipus is troubled why the gods have sent a plauge onto his city so he sends for the Oricale of Delphi which gives no clear explanation. So he sends for a blind mystic that tells him that the gods have turned against him for the murder of another king. He also goes on to tell him that the murder killed his own father unknowingly and then married his own mother. The Hermit is then bannished for insulting the king. He then goes mad as he draws the heat from him to anyone in his path including his best friend who is almost exucted for the crime. Then after a interview with the only survivor, he then remembers his crimes and after the realization that he killed his father he was mortified, but when he realizes he married his own mother he is disgusted with the world and jumps off the deep end mentally. He then see's his wife/mothers suicide who refused to be killed by the murderous Oedipus. He then rips his eyes out so that he cant see the world he is so disgusted by the evil he had done. He then apologizes for the false accusations to his friend and then leaves to live his life in isolation.(less)

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Nov 03, 2012 Danielle rated it 1 of 5 stars

Since I read this play my senior year, I have tried to think of a reason why this play is considered a masterpiece. The only reason I can come up with is that it's well-written poetry in play form. It's very readable; it doesn't take much imagination to picture everything the characters say. And given the fact that the most interesting bits of this story (read: all the action) is told rather than shown, that's definitely a good thing.

I know this was written by an ancient Greek, for ancient Gree...more Since I read this play my senior year, I have tried to think of a reason why this play is considered a masterpiece. The only reason I can come up with is that it's well-written poetry in play form. It's very readable; it doesn't take much imagination to picture everything the characters say. And given the fact that the most interesting bits of this story (read: all the action) is told rather than shown, that's definitely a good thing.

I know this was written by an ancient Greek, for ancient Greeks. I know their special effects were pretty limited back then. I don't know much about theater history, but I do know that it would have been pretty difficult to show Jocasta hanging from the rafters realistically with the sort of special effects they had back them. But honestly, the way that everything was told instead of shown started to wear on me after a while.

As I said before, the dialogue is well-written. Poetic, even. But there's only so much poetic dialogue can do for a plot as melodramatic as this one. I've seen more realistic material on soap operas.

Honestly, I don't know why this play is taught in schools. Is it because it's the first ancient play we've found that is built on incest? Was it the shock value that propelled it to fame? Or is it the constant smoke-and-mirrors about "the inevitability of fate" and "the monster lurking inside us all"? Please. If fate weren't inevitable, it wouldn't be called fate. And there are better, more realistic, ways to show Oedipus isn't such a good guy than to have him ACCIDENTALLY kill his dad and marry his mom. If he did that on purpose, I'd be able to see him as the monster Sophocles evidently wants me to see him as, but he did this all unwittingly. It was the gods, the gods, I tell you! They decided he would kill his dad and marry his mom, manipulated circumstances so he did, and then punished him and his entire kingdom for a crime he had no knowledge of!

What's the moral of this story, anyway? That the gods are jerks? That even if you do something terrible completely by accident (aided by a quick temper, I concede) you should go gouge your eyes out and flee the city? Is THAT what Sophocles wanted me to learn--that any heinous crime can be remedied with a little ritualistic bleeding and permanent blindness? That the best way to solve problems of your own making is to run away from them?

Jeez. It's a good thing Sophocles didn't write after-school specials. (Wait--never mind. If he had, no one would be forced to read them.) (less)

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Jul 21, 2012 Billierosie Billierosie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Incest. The final taboo. It is taboo, as far as I am able to ascertain, in every society on the planet. The exceptions to the rule appear to be royal dynasties, in particular the ancient Egyptian Kings and Queens.

We’ve heard of Freud’s theory about the Oedipus complex: it is the famous Greek tragedy that the theory is based on.

The writers of the Greek myths warn of what will happen if we break the taboo. If we embrace the depravity. Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides have all dramatised the stor...more

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Apr 08, 2012 David Sarkies rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anybody

Recommended to David by: David Hester

Shelves: tragedy

This play is so messed up that a part of me says that it has to be based on true events. It is sort of like one of the arguments that people use regarding the authenticity of the bible, that being that every character (with the exception of Jesus Christ) is so flawed that one cannot consider that the stories have been made up. In particular, in the bible we see the heroes of the Israelite nation, that being Abraham, Moses, and David, warts and all. However, let us consider the Grecian myths for...more This play is so messed up that a part of me says that it has to be based on true events. It is sort of like one of the arguments that people use regarding the authenticity of the bible, that being that every character (with the exception of Jesus Christ) is so flawed that one cannot consider that the stories have been made up. In particular, in the bible we see the heroes of the Israelite nation, that being Abraham, Moses, and David, warts and all. However, let us consider the Grecian myths for a change, and we suddenly discover similar things here.
The story of Oedipus is that his parents received a prophecy that their child would kill his father and marry his mother, Laius, Oedipus' dad and king of Thebes, pinned the child's legs together and left him to die on Mount Cithaeron. However, unbeknowst to him, a shepherd found the boy, took him into his care, and then sent him to the city of Corinth to be raised by the king and queen there. However, years later when Oedipus had come of age, during a feast a man got too drunk and blurted out that Oedipus' parents weren't his true parents. Despite their pleading, Oedipus left Corinth and travelled to Delphi to ask the oracle the truth. The Pythian Oracle, as usual, did not give him a straight answer, and simply repeated the prophecy to Oedipus. As such, he decided not to return to Corith, but to flee so as not to kill his parents.
However, on his way out of Delphi he is confronted by a rather arrogant man who demands that Oedipus move out of the way. Oedipus tells him to bugger off and a fight ensures resulting in Oedipus' victory. He then arrives at Thebes, that is being tormented by a sphinx who has a riddle that nobody knows the answer too, but Oedipus correctly guesses it, kills the sphinx, and when word is brought about Laius' death, Oedipus marries Jocastra, and lives happily ever after.
Actually they don't because without realising it the prophecy has been fulfilled. Further, a great crime has been committed, and since a father killer is living in Thebes, the entire city is struck with a plague. Oedipus, who has become king, and is the hero of the city, decides to investigate. However, his investigations quickly uncover a truth that is hidden from him, and upon learning of this truth, namely that he killed Laius, who turns out to be his father, and married his wife, Jocastra, who turns out to be his mother, the entire weight of the guilt falls upon him, Jocastra kills herself and Oedipus rips out his eyes and exiles himself from Thebes.
Well, I have just told you the plot of the play without actually saying anything about the themes in the play. Well, there are two reasons why I outlined the plot, one being that it is a very complicated plot, and secondly to demonstrate how messed up everything is. This is not a simply Hollywood plot where everything is resolved in the end and everybody goes away happy. In fact it does not seem that there was really anything that Oedipus could have done to get himself out of the mess that he found himself in. In fact it seems that the more he attempts to do the deeper the hole that he digs himself, but it is not as if he could avoid doing it. He flees because he doesn't want the prophecy to come true, but there is a lot that he does not know and a lot that he is not being told. His step parents are not telling him the truth, and in hiding the truth, are also making the prophecy come true. As for Laius, once again, everything that he does only serves to make the prophecy come true. While he attempts to kill his son, it fails, due to the compasionate nature of humanity. It is the shepherd's compassion that prevents him from leaving Oedipus alone on Cithaeron.
The essay question that I answered on this play involved the question of fate and freewill. However there really does not seem to be any freewill here. Every decision that Oedipus makes only brings the revelation closer to being revealed. As a good king he simply cannot ignore the plague, and as a good king, he cannot do anything but seek justice and cleanse the city, despite the fact that he is the root cause of the problem. Despite the curse that he calls on the perpetrator, he must suffer the punishment himself, despite the plees to the contrary. Oedipus is a just king, but despite his actions, it is only when the fog is cleared and the truth comes out that he discovers that he is the perpetrator. Hey, he didn't even realise that the guy that he encountered at the crossroads was the king of Thebes, and his father.
Aristotle in his Poetics writes that characters in a drama should have a fatal flaw, but nobody seemed to have told Sophocles that. Granted Ajax may have had a fatal flaw, but Ajax is not Shakespeare, and is dealing with an issue that has nothing to do with his character. The Ajax is dealing with PTSD (though not by that name) and Oedipus does not seem to have that fatal flaw. In reality, other than killing Laius at the crossroads (though some could argue that he did so in self-defense), Oedipus has done nothing wrong. In fact, if he had not investigated the cause of the plague, then he would have been negligent. No, it is not Oedipus that has done anything wrong, but rather his ancestors. Laius is cursed and I believe that going up the ancestoral chain further we come to a situation where an ancestor fed human flesh to another human, mostly as payback (I can't remember off hand who it was, it could have been Thyestes, but it could have been somebody else. One of Agamemnon's line is also guilty). In a sense then it is not the actions of Oedipus that brings about his suffeirng and downfall, but that of his father, and of his father's father. Poor Oedipus is only caught in the middle.
One might wonder what was so appealing about a story that everybody knew. Well, it is the same with us. When we look through the video store at all the movies available, we discover that the plots of each and every one of those movies is pretty much the same. It is not the question of the plot, but how we get to the ending, and how the movie ends. We pretty much know with around 90% of the movies available that the good guys win and the hero gets the girl. We know that so we don't watch the movie for that, but rather how the get there, and how the good guys win. This was the same for the Greeks, and it is fortunate that we have versions of the Electra from the three great playwrights. In this we can see how the actual event differs and how each of the playwrights treated the subject. No doubt with Oedipus, both Aeschylus and Euripides would have explored different themes, and painted Oedipus in a different light, so that despite knowing the outcome, we reach there by a different method.(less)

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Jan 14, 2012 Lauren Elyse rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, for-university

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 has read this at some p...more

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Nov 07, 2011 Vanessa rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 telling...more

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Oct 09, 2011 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reading-for-school, october-2011, 2011-reads, september-2011, classic

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 personal enjoyment -- the latter half...more

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