Friday, October 7, 2011

Oedipus


Oedipus is a heroic character in my life. Oedipus is a character blind by his own prophecy, his own mistakes. Oedipus was destroyed by the Gods. Oedipus was forced into a terrible fate for him and the rest of his family. Oedipus was to kill his father and bear children with his mother. Oedipus would never willingly do any of these disgusting things. Oedipus left home to avoid his fate and on his way to the city of Thebes, he kills his father. He does not realize that he killed his father or that he was the king of Thebes. He reaches Thebes, solves a riddle and becomes king. In this honor he marries Jocasta, the queen. He does not realize she is his mother. Over the years they have many kids. A plague hits the city with death. Oedipus goes to the blind prophet for help. The only way to cure the city is to find the killer of the former king Laius. Oedipus is eager to find the killer as if Laius was his own father. Through the blind prophet Oedipus gets the prophet to say that Oedipus killed the king. Oedipus believes he is telling lies, but as more and more truth is revealed, Oedipus grows mad. Jocasta commits suicide and Oedipus cannot bear to see his fate come alive so he gouges out his eyes, now blind to everything three dimensional. Oedipus leaves Thebes in exile, forced to live a life of pain.

My inspiration comes from Greek mythology, Oedipus. I chose Oedipus because just like him, I have had some unfortunate encounters with fate, only mine are not as bad. I admire Oedipus because he did whatever he could to help the city of Thebes even though he destroyed his own life in the process.


4 comments:

  1. I got the chance to enjoy some mythology in high school and many mythological stories talk about death and about sacrifice. This story in particular is very fun. About coming to senses with yourself, and really bearing the true problems in your life. Interesting...

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  2. Greek mythology is very interesting, and I have read this story many times in high school and college. When I first read it I was very disturbed by the story, but after reading it in my Theater 100 class last fall, I began to understand how powerful his story actually is.

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  3. I remember reading the this story in high school. Then and now still I think Oedipus shows how a person can overcome personal struggles in order to become a better person.

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  4. It is a weird story but you can learn a lot from what it has to teach.

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