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He refuses to listen to his wife and brazenly tells her, "I will not listen; the truth must be made known" (II.iii.146). Iocaste morphs from being Oedipus' wife to his enemy because she is speaking words he does not want to hear. He tells her:
The Queen, like a woman, is perhaps ashamed
To think of my low origin. But I
Am a child of luck; I cannot be dishonored . . .
How could I wish that I were someone else?
How could I not be glad to know my birth? (II.iii.159-60, 164-5)
Oedipus' bad choice begins with arrogance and ends with isolation.
Like Oedipus, Willy makes poor choices. He is blind like Oedipus because he does not see things as they actually are. He lives in a fantasy world and tells himself and his family lies in order to stay within that world. Telling and believing lies about himself is easier than admitting there is a problem and doing something about it. After years of no success at his job, he believes he can "knock Howard for a loop" (Miller II.1070-1) and "get an advance, and I'll come home with a New York job" (II.1071). Oedipus is successful enough to allow himself to fall victim to his arrogance and selfish way of thinking. Willy, however, is living in a dream world as a means of surviving in the rat race. He does not have what it takes to pass muster but he does not know what else...
Willy and Oedipus only make things more difficult for themselves. Willy does not admit to making any mistakes so he does not have to amend them. Even when it comes to asking Charley for money, Willy is refusing to change his life. He would rather ask for a loan than work for Charley. Willy is standing in his own way throughout most of the play and, unlike Oedipus, he does not realize his mistake.
Oedipus and Death of a Salesman represent the basic frailties of man in two vastly different societies. What we realize with these two men is how mankind does not actually change much over time. We see how society changes with the advent of technology and moral codes but the human race operates with the same motives regardless of clocks or calendars. Oedipus and Willy are two men that need the truth: one desperately wants it while the other is running from it. Both men are blinded because of what they want. They demonstrate how little we change -- even when we think we have evolved to the point of near perfection.
Work Cited
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. An Introduction to Literature. Barnett, Sylvan, ed. Boston:
Little, Brown and Company. 1984. pp. 1030-1114. Print.
Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. An Introduction to Literature. Barnett, Sylvan, ed. Boston: Little,
Brown and Company. 1984. pp.721-64. Print.
Work Cited
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. An Introduction to Literature. Barnett, Sylvan, ed. Boston:
Little, Brown and Company. 1984. pp. 1030-1114. Print.
Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. An Introduction to Literature. Barnett, Sylvan, ed. Boston: Little,
Brown and Company. 1984. pp.721-64. Print.
Death of a Salesman: Tragedy in Prose Tragedy, can easily lure us into talking nonsense." Eric Bentley In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, we are introduced to Willy Loman, who believes wholeheartedly in what he considers the promise of the American Dream -- that a "well liked" and "personally attractive" man in business will unquestionably acquire the material comforts offered by modern American life. Willy's obsession with the superficial qualities of attractiveness
This is because they are not learning from the lessons of the past and they do not see things for what they really are. When this takes place, there is a possibility that they are open to more problems through failing to understand and address critical issues. Oedipus is used to show this sense of arrogance and contempt for the truth. (Sophocles) ("The Oedipus Plays") Evidence of this can be
Oedipus the King At the beginning of Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Oedipus clearly sees it as his purpose in life to be the best leader he can. In his mind, this meant to be as close to his people as possible, especially when the play opens and the land being in trouble. This is clear in what he says to those who come to him with the problem of their
As a result, he flees from Corinth, where Polybus and Merope, are in order for the prophecy not to be fulfilled. The statement "truth has made me strong" is partially false, because while the main character believed that his life was exactly as he made it, it was actually shaped by his fate. A chain of events had lead to the forming of Oedipus as a strong and wise man.
Both literally and figuratively of noble character, Oedipus is the epitome of tragedy, moving from hubris to his downfall to ultimately tragic hero. In a mental sense, Oedipus realizes his flaw and finds this completely unacceptable. He punishes himself by means of self-mutilation and his removal from kingship. Antigone also suffers from a sense of hubris. She is completely self-sufficient. She fails to rely on others, or indeed to submit
And had Oedipus remained with the parents who raised him, the prophecy would also have been unlikely to come about. On the other hand, one might also argue that Sophocles appears to indicate that, no matter what decisions were made, free will would never have been part of it. Indeed, destiny and prophecy are so overwhelmingly strong that whatever decisions were made would have led to the final and inevitable