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Oedipus Rex Outline
Introduction Paragraph:
Hook:
The story of Oedipus has surpassed the original play in that even people who have never seen or read Oedipus Rex know the basic elements of the story.
Connection:
Tragic irony is what leads to the events that occur in the story of Oedipus Rex.
Sophocles's Oedipus Rex is about a young man who is so blinded by ambitions and desires that he winds up killing his father, marrying his mother and become both brother and father to his children.
By sending his son out into the world, Oedipus's father begins the series of events that leads to the bitter conclusion of the story, but this is only the first in a series of ironic moments which leads to tragedy.
Body Paragraph
The first example of irony occurs when the prophet Creon comes to tell Oedipus...
pus that the tragedies befalling the people of Thebes are because the killer of the former king has not been revealed or punished.
Support: "This blood brings on the storm which blasts our state" (119).
Detail: The irony is that it is Oedipus's bloodline which is holding the secrets of Laius murder.
Commentary: Creon says that a storm is coming which will bring about destruction, and the revelation of who killed Laius and the fact that Laius is Oedipus's father lead to the destruction of the family unit.
Commentary: By revealing the killer and helping Phoebes, Oedipus ends his own happiness.
Support: "What is sought / is found, but what is overlooked escapes" (129-30).
Detail: The Gods are angry because Laius's killer has not been caught and they are bringing the storm.
Commentary: Oedipus vows to find…
Oedipus Rex Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" is the most famous of his tragedies in which Greek dramatic irony reaches an apex (Sophocles1 pp). Aristotle was a great admirer of Sophocles, and considered Oedipus Rex to be the perfect example of tragedy (Outline pp). According to Aristotle, tragedy is an imitation of action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude, in which language is embellished with each kind of artistic ornament
Thus, his thirst for knowledge prompts the tragedy to a certain degree. His wife and mother at the same time attempts to dissuade him from the further pursuit of truth, hinting in a very interesting phrase that such 'fantasies' as the wedlock to one's mother is a constant appearance in dreams and should simply be ignored: "This wedlock with thy mother fear not thou. / How oft it chances
It is this lead character's outrage that drives the plot, rather than any journey of self-discovery or some fateful intervention. This is seen when Antigone declares her defiance of the king: "I will bury him myself. / and if death comes, so be it. / There'll be glory in it. / ... The gods will be proud of me." Rather than placing the importance of the gods first, Antigone
His nephew turned against his own country and he got what he deserved. but, in king Creon's view, death is not enough. He believes in setting an example and uses the occasion as an opportunity to make a point and warn all those who dared to defy their country of the fate that was expecting them, too. In this case, King Creon is wrong, because he will eventually pay
His physical loss of sight is penance for the lack of insight he had at the start of the play. He has exchanged physical sight for mental insight into the truth. 4. Rhetorically, Oedipus uses the diction of a king at the beginning of a play. He plays the role of one in power, and of a person in full control of and with confidence in himself. When his people
Q: There is a good deal in the play about seeing and blindness. What purpose does this serve? How is Oedipus contrasted with Teiresias? How does Oedipus at the beginning of the play contrast with the Oedipus at the end? Why is his blinding himself dramatically appropriate? A: The physical conditions of sight and blindness in the play serve symbolic functions, particularly as these conditions manifest themselves in Oedipus himself. Oedipus