As you read Oedipus the King, be sure to make note of the various types of irony present in the play. Can you identify examples of all three (verbal, situational, dramatic)?
Also, be aware that Oedipus the King is a Greek Tragedy (hint, hint: genre alert); therefore, there are some key components that exist in the play that are present in all Greek Tragedies. One component is the idea that human beings are flawed, and Greek tragic protagonists always have a tragic flaw that leads to their ultimate downfall or destruction. Can you identify Oedipus' tragic flaw? How does it contribute to his downfall?
Do you have a flaw that acts as an obstacle to your own success or can you think of an example of another person in real life that has a tragic flaw? You can consider politicians, historical figures, celebrities, or people you know personally. If you write about someone you know personally, you must conceal their identity by giving them a false name.
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This is Alex Nelsen. After reading the story I saw the situational irony in the fact that Oedipus had run away from his childhood home in order to avoid killing his father and marrying his mother, but in doing so that is exactly what he did. I saw the verbal irony in his oath that he would do himself harm if he were the murderer, so certain that he was not. Also, I saw the dramatic irony when the narrator spoke about the chorus already assuming the news Oedipus would discover about his past would be positive after you knew it would not be, based on the reaction of Jocasta. As for the components of a tragedy...There was the prologue which set up the story, the parados--which was sung by the chorus several times throughout the story. There was also the episodes which gave the dialogue between the characters, that was where you could most understand what was going on. The stasimon could be found in the prayers of the priests, a background of the people's opinions of the events from the story. Finally there was the exodus, which wrapped everything up, saying how you couldn't run from fate or chance.
ReplyDeleteQuestion bloggers: What should he have called Jocasta--had she live? Mother or Wife? and What should he call his children? Brother, Sister? or Son, Daughter?
Oedipus' tragic flaw is hubris, or excessive pride. This is the case because Oedipus meets his unfortunate end after he sets about trying to thwart the gods. Oedipus' belief in his ability to outrun his destiny shows that he believes he is above the will of the gods and of fate itself. Because of this hubris, he is doomed by Apollo.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Alex Nelsen: I think he would have to give up on using pronouns and stick to names, meaning that he would never refer to Jocasta as anything other than Jocasta. Just a thought.
This is Carly Wilutis and...
ReplyDeleteI found Oedipus to have two major flaws that are often linked, arrogance and ignorance. The combination of the two explain his refusal to even try to understand how he came into the world and what man and woman were responsible for it, as well as why he denied the oracle explaining his fate.
Instead of trying to comprehend the true meaning of the message brought by Tiresias, he ignores it. Through this action, Oedipus puts himself on his unearned metaphorical pedestal, where he feels higher in rank than Apollo himself. Of course the pedestal crumbles as he loses his sense of self when all of the hidden truths of his life become evident, the truths he ignored.
Yo, Alex Nelsen: I think it'd be a first name basis deal from the point when the truth was revealed. It'd be too weird to start calling them "brother" and "sister" at the age they must be in the play.
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ReplyDeleteThe main source of irony in this play is dramatic irony, because from the start to the finish, the audience knows the truth about Oedipus, and he does not. The dramatic irony develops the play and leads it to the chaos towards the end and pathos the audience feels. Throughout the play, Oedipus believes the prophecies about him are false, yet the audience knows they are indeed true and it will only take time for Oedipus to realize that as well. The dramatic irony also adds suspense to the play. For example, when Oedipus announces that he will curse the murderer of Laius, the audience is in suspense how this will affect Oedipus when he finds out that he is really the murderer.
ReplyDeleteMy flaw is the fact that I can be really distracted by noises around me, whether it be the television on downstairs or my sister bouncing a basketball. These noises really annoy me, and this annoyance leaves me to have work undone.
In response to Alex N., I believe he should have called Jocasta his wife and his children son and daughter, because he knew them (almost) his whole life this way. It is still technical either way he chooses to call them, but I think it is more based on what they have been doing for years.
Like others have said, Oedipus has a few tragic flaws: hubris, ignorance, arrogance. He only hears what he wants to hear. He is more than willing to accept that Apollo needs Laius’s murder to be avenged, but refuses to acknowledge who Tiresias dubs the murderer. I think that attitude is what makes the play so popular, other than its great ironies. We all know someone who has, at one point or another, acted with the infallibility of Oedipus. I also particularly liked the irony in Oedipus’s blindness. Only after he is able to metaphorically open his eyes and see the truth does he rob himself of his own vision.
ReplyDeleteSo I have a question: Is ignorance really bliss? Even though most would argue that Oedipus was better off before everything unfolded, is there any consolation in the fact that he now knows the whole truth?
I think that Oedipus' tragic flaw was his arrogence. If he didn't believe he was all mighty and powerful, he may have had a different outcome. In the beginning, Oedipus was fairly rude to the chorus in believing he was as powerful as his God. He wanted people to pray to him. Unfortunatly for Oedipus, that is where he was wrong. If Oedipus would have accepted his destiny and the prophets, the townspeople may have been more forgiving and things would have been easier on Oedipus.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I have noticed with many teens is that they get a tad arrogent as well, especially with popularity. Alot of people think that they have it all- the body, the grades, the friends- but they are missing what really matters- the inside. Who are they? When someone is stripped from their friends, and their body, they really don't have anything left. People have to at least be forgiving enough towards others and their mistakes instead of comparing theirself. When they discover theirself, then they can build from it. This leads me to answer Julia's question. Since Oedipus now has nothing, he can only build from experience. Ignorance is not always bliss, and in this case I think ignorance is NOT bliss. Oedipus knows the truth. He can only build from it, since he is at the all time low.
I think that Oedipus' tragic flaws are his arrogance and ignorance, like others have said. He will not listen to what Tiresias says about who murdered Laius. When he is accused of being the murderer, Oedipus immediately suspects Creon of treachery instead of trying to comprehend what has happened. He denies what Tiresias says just as he tries to deny the oracle's prophecy of him killing his father and marrying his mother. Leaving his home to prohibit himself from fulfilling his destiny shows that Oedipus believes he is above the gods. The situational irony is that his journey, meant to outrun destiny, leads him to his real parents and the prophecy is fulfilled.
ReplyDeleteTo Julia: I believe that in this case, ignorance is not bliss. Yes, people may argue that he would have lived a better life thinking that he had thwarted the gods’ plans, but that is part of his problem already. He believes he is above the gods’ plans, making him very arrogant. I feel that now that he knows the truth, he can, like Jill said, build from it.
Alright so did anyone else wonder why they didn't make the connection about his destiny sooner? I feel like when Oedipus was talking about how a prophet told him "Hey you're going to marry your father and kill your mom," MAYBE Jocasta should have thought "Hmmm... that sounds familiar..." but what do I know? I suppose that would be dramatic irony since everyone else could make the connection, but it took them a REALLY long time. But yes, my favorite was the blindness irony (that my darling Julia so B.E.A.U-tifully pointed out). Tiresias was blind and yet the only one completely non-ignorant. Then Oedipus blinded himself as soon as HE was no longer ignorant. Beautiful irony. It's why I liked this read so well.
ReplyDeleteEveryone's pretty much touched on tragic flaw, and I can't think of anything to add, to Oedipus', but I would like to talk of real-life tragic flaws. In Siddhartha's blog I talk of "Chandler" whom I grew up with. I feel his tragic flaw is the inability to think of the consequences of his actions (partially or completely due to his ADD). This is very important because even though, yes, we should live in the moment, I feel without looking ahead we will all make quick-fixes to situations and end up in an even worse situation eventually. I, too, am guilty of this at times, and it may have just been the dominoe that lead to the loss of a friendship this summer.
Oedipus's tragic flaw is probably hubris (it really seems like almost every human flaw in greek tragedy is pride). Oedipus thought he was above his "destiny", he believed that he could escape the fate that the prophet had forseen for him. His need to be seen as the hero of this kingdom also lead his pride to stop at nothing to uncover the story of Liaus's death, which as we all know was the reason of his downfall. I feel like pride will always cause problems for those who have too much of it and no human, even one as heroic as Oedipus, can escape their own fate.
ReplyDeleteAlso, did Creon take Oedipus's daughters away from him or did Oedupus beg Creon to take care of them? I wasn't totally sure on that one.
ReplyDeleteOedipus is an interesting case among figures from Greek literature. Whereas most protagonists in Greek stories have a single, obvious flaw which leads to their downfall, Oedipus has two, which, interestingly, seems to grant him a worse fate than almost any other "hero." Most heroes suffer from hubris, excessive pride, and somehow get themselves killed in the end. Oedipus is at once blind to the signs of fate around him, and then, when they are made clear, too proud and arrogant to believe that they will truly affect him. Perhaps because he is more flawed than most main characters,his end is correspondingly worse: instead of dying, he is cast out of his city, is blinded, and must live knowing that he brought about his parents' deaths.
ReplyDeleteAlthough situations do not end up nearly as badly as that of Oedipus, the combined flaws of willful ignorance and excessive arrogance are fairly common in the modern world, particularly among politicians, celebrities, and others who spend the majority of their time in the public eye. One example of a politician with tragic flaws similar to those of Oedipus is Richard Nixon. Nixon's time as president ended because of the Watergate Scandal, which occurred because Nixon was too proud to think that he was bound by the law, and to blind to realize how the people of the United States would react if flouted it. Like Oedipus, the occurrence of these flaws in conjunction ultimately brought about his downfall.
Oedipus ran away from his home to avoid killing his father and marrying his mother, but he without knowing it, committed these crimes. This is the situational irony. I saw the dramatic irony when Oedipus continually asks Jocasta about the actual murder. When she says he was killed at a three-way crossroads, he becomes worried and says he thinks he killed Laius. He asks for the shepherd, hoping it wasn’t himself who killed Laius, but we the audience all know he did. The verbal irony was when Oedipus vowed to curse and drive out the murderer, when in fact it was he himself who did these awful crimes.
ReplyDeleteOedipus’ tragic flaw was the fact that he thought he could control the future. He was so oblivious to all the clues that were right there in front of him. But instead of looking at the details he sent for messenger and shepherds and prophets, and they had to spell it out for him before he finally believed he was the one at fault.
I find it interesting that Oedipus displays his tragic flaw, hubris as well as verbal irony in one quote, “But to compel the gods to act against their will- no man could do that”. Verbal irony is prevalent in the curse he places upon the murderer of the king, being ignorant of the fact that he himself is the murderer and accursed, perhaps also because of his tragic flaw that blinds him (literally)! Situational irony is present in the murder of his father, marriage to his mother and new position as King, because, ironically, all of these seemingly productive and self-beneficial events have brought about his downfall and predestined ruin that he was trying to avoid in the first place. Dramatic irony is present in the chorus as well as during the dialogue with Tiresias, the blind man who sees more clearly than the King (another striking example of irony).
ReplyDeleteAbout tragic flaws, better known as harmartias, I truly believe that everyone has a prevalent flaw that is the largest cause of their day to day problems and the source of their tiny downfalls. However, since not everyone’s life is tragic, are these then considered to be tragic flaws? Not every life ends with gauging one’s eyes out because you were a prideful youth who thought they could beat the gods, still murder their father, marry their mother and bring a curse worse than death upon themselves. But maybe my tragic flaw is blithely ignorant optimism.
There are many, many examples of irony in the story of Oedipus. For instance, it is situational irony that Oedipus is furious at Tiresias for not readily telling him the information, yet once he finds out the truth he seeks, he is so mad at Tiresias that he denies the truth he seeks. In a way, he is as furious about hearing the truth as he is about not knowing it. It is dramatically ironic that the audience knows about the truth from Tiresias while Oedipus feels that he is being plotted against, and doesn’t know what is happening. There is verbal irony in how Tiresias says “Aren’t you the best man alive at guessing riddles?” since he believes the exact opposite is true.
ReplyDeleteOedipus has a tragic flaw of extreme pride in himself, or hubris, the whole play. He feels that he, a mere mortal, can avoid his Moira, or fate. Such a thought leads to his downfall, making him flee towards his father while trying not to kill him. Movement alone wasn't capable of shedding him of his Moira and he blinds himself for shame of knowing the truth of his birth, marriage, and married life.
General Custer had an obvious tragic flaw of arrogance. He was to force American Indians out of the Black Hills, where there was gold. Under estimating the strength of the plains Indians, he split his troop into three groups to attack a large encampment near Little Bighorn River. Against a force of over two thousand headed by Chief Sitting Bull, there was no chance that the General and his men would survive, especially divided into small, flankable parties. The over confidence he had which lead to splitting the troop was his major downfall.
The verbal irony in Oedipus the King is when Oedipus says he will curse the murderer of King Laius, only to have the murderer be himself. The situational irony is that Oedipus runs away from his parents to avoid his prophecy becoming true and in doing so he does exactly what his prophecy stated. The dramatic irony is when in conversation Oedipus says he does not know where Laius was killed and we later find out tat Oedipus does know because he was the killer.
ReplyDeleteOedipus’ tragic flaw is his pride. By trying to defeat the Gods and prove his prophecy wrong by running from his parents he shows that he think he is better than the Gods. As we all know in the end he was still met by his fate and his prophecy came true.
Someone I know has the flaw of wanting to be independent and not receive help, even when they need it most. This isn’t necessarily always a bad thing but at some point in your life everyone needs a little bit of help. Whether is be with school, or sports, or a job, or friends or an emotional issue or whatever it may be. Everybody needs help at some point in their life. It is the support from family and friends that really help in life.
As a few people already said, the dramatic irony in the play comes with the reader knowing Oedipus' actions of killing his father and laying with his mother. The latter rather disgusts me, but i digress. This also works as situational irony, because for Oedipus, it is very unexpected that he himself is the murderer. Some verbal irony occurs when Oedipus proclaims that Laius' business with the murderer has become his own, because he needs to protect his own safety.
ReplyDeleteAs in many Greek stories, Oedipus' tragic flaw is hubris, or excessive pride. Even as a trusted prophet Tiresias tells him the truth, he will not believe. He thinks he is too good to have committed such atrocities. In my life, I have found a tragic flaw also. I have let people walk all over me, and given them exactly what they've wanted; no more. Courage to stand up for what i want, and to say what i want is something i have gained in the past few months.
The dramatic and situational irony go hand in hand, as the reader knows that Oedipus was sent away by his parents, and unknowingly killed his father and slept with his mother. When Oedipus figures this out, it turns into situational irony. The verbal irony comes when Oedipus proclaims that he will curse the murderer of King Laius, when he himself is unknowingly the killer.
ReplyDeleteOedipus has the common tragic flaw of hubris, or excessive pride in one's self. He believes that he can overcome fate, and his prophecy will not come true because of his power as king. His arrogance is blinding him (lol) and he would be the last person he expects to commit this act.
Some politicians share the tragic flaw of desire for women, which might get in the way of their work. Some examples are Bill Clinton, Rod Blagojevich, Mark Sanford, and Kwame Kilpatrick. I won't get into details on that subject. Another example is Richard Nixon during the Watergate Scandal. He protected his friends while overlooking his oath of office in the process. This eventually led to his dismissal of the office of Presidency, as he resigned.
Oedipus'tragic flaw is excessive pride. He boasts about how he saved Thebes from the Sphinx. He proudly tells the town that he is going to find the murderer and have him expelled from the town. Oedipus sends for the blind prophet Tiresias to tell him who the murderer was. When Tiresias says that Oedipus is the murderer Oedipus angrily yells at him. He brags about how he came to the Thebes knowing nothing about the riddle and easily solved it, but Tiresias didn't do a thing. He is too vain to even consider he is the murderer. Oedipus ignores this and the fact the he is supposed to marry his mother and kill his father. He tries to run away from his destiny and in the end when he discovers the truth, he gouges out his eyes and is exiled.
ReplyDeleteThere is a ton of irony throughout this play. Dramatic irony is present in the fact that the audience knows that Oedipus has in fact married his mother and killed his father. Situational irony occurs when Oedipus tries to escape his fate by running away from his hometown, but he actually runs to the town where his father and mother live. An example of verbal irony is when Oedipus says that he will curse the murderer and exile them even if it were himself when he had no idea that he was the murderer.
Katelyn Scott
Oedipus' tragic flaw was his arrogance. This flaw was shown at the beginning of the play when Creon told Oedipus that the murderer of King Laius must be banished. Oedipus gave in his support and displayed his conceit when he said, "I shall rid us of this pollution , not for the sake of a distant relative, but for my own sake. For whoever killed Laius might decide to raise his hand against me." (pg. 10) This quote shows Oedipus' vanity because it shows that he wanted to rid the city of the murderer not just to stop the famine and help the people, but to possibly stop a murderer trying to kill him. Oedipus' arrogance increased when he did not respect Tiresias' response to the prophecy. At first Tiresias would not tell Oedipus anything and Oedipus began accusing him of intending to betray Thebes. The conflict escalated when Tiresias told Oedipus that he was the murderer of Laius and Oedipus would not even consider it to be true. Oedipus was so arrogant at this point that he could not accept that he could had done something wrong. Oedipus' arrogance reached its highest point when he would not respect the gods any longer. A messenger came and told Oedipus that his father King Polybus in Corinth was dead and in response Oedipus told his wife (and mother) Jocasta that they did not have to listen to the gods and their prophecies anymore because the prophecy that Oedipus would kill his father did not come true. Oedipus was so conceited that he did not need to respect and honor the gods any longer, which were very highly regarded in the ancient Greek culture.
ReplyDeleteThe entire play is based on irony, including verbal, dramatic, and situational irony. An example of verbal irony is when Oedipus was arguing with Tiresias and said, "You have no power of truth. You are blind, your ears and mind as well as eyes."(pg. 25) This is ironic because Oedipus was blind in the sense that he did not realize the situation he was living in (married to his mother and the murderer of his father and the former king). Dramatic irony persists throughout the play because the audience knows that Oedipus killed his father and the former king of Thebes and was married to his mother. An example of situational irony was when Oedipus left Corinth to find out who his parents were, and began fulfilling the prophecy in doing so.
I saw situational irony when Tiresias could see more of Oedipus's situation than Oedipus could despite the fact that Tiresias is completely blind and Oedipus is not. Verbal irony comes in when Jocasta tells Oedipus that sometimes prophesies don’t come true because hers didn’t.( And we all know how that worked out for her)Dramatic irony seems to gradually sink in as the audience begins to piece together from the clues and prophesies that Oedipus had indeed killed his dad and married his mom.
ReplyDeleteI feel that one of Oedipus’s greatest flaws is not following the advice of people he trusts. If he would have followed the advice of his beloved wife/mom , Jocasta he would have have avoided the certain scandal and ruin that comes with incest by keeping it hidden , at least temporarily, so they wouldn’t have to deal with those consequences at the time . Another example of a person who didn’t take the good advice of those closest to them is Kourtney Kardashian. Her whole family pretty much despised her boyfriend, Scott, due to his hard partying and heavy alcohol use. Now Kourtney and her child with him have to avoid Scott for their safety while Scott’s doing therapy for alcohol abuse .( Bloggers do keep in mind I haven’t watched the show for a little while now so I might not be up to date and there could be a mistake or two.) If Kourtney would have at least watched for the warning signs that her family members told her about , Kourtney and her baby would not be in this situation right now .
As everyone said before, the biggest flaw is Oedipus' ignorance. There is so much irony in this book. The dramatic irony comes in when his parents tried killing him in fear of the prophecy coming true, yet Oedipus unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother. There is verbal irony when Oedipus learns that the only way to stop the plague is to kill the murderer of Laius and he promises to find him. only the readers know that he is promising to find himself. It is situational irony that in the end he makes himself blind. Even though he has been "blind" this whole time. Being blind contributed to Oedipus' downfall. He was oblivious and stupid for not realizing the clues in front of him.
ReplyDeleteOne modern person who has a tragic flaw is Elvis Presley. I think his flaw was too much fame. Once he was exposed to all the fortune and high life, he became involved in drugs. He had everything he wanted, but obviously that was not enough. August 16, 1977, he was found dead on the bathroom floor from drug overdose.
Hi it's Krista Kruszewski (:
ReplyDelete(My user name is my email and it's embarrassing!)
I'll start off by talking about Oedipus's tragic flaw. I agree with everyone that hubris and arrogance played a large part in his downfall. He believed that he was above the oracle that predicted his fate. He also thought that once Polybus has died of natural causes that he had overcome his fate and proved the Gods wrong.
I also feel that his persistence was another of Oedipus's tragic flaws. He kept looking for more and more answers even though all of the clues pointed to himself. I know that he may not have caught on as fast as Jocasta and the audience, but if he would have stepped back and thought it out he would have realized that he was just exposing himself. Jocasta tried to tell him to let it go and the shepherd and Tiresias were reluctant to give their information but Oedipus threatened them with torture. Due to his persistence, Oedipus pushed until he ratted his own self out.
This play is full of irony from start to finish. I personally think the best example of irony is situational irony between Tiresias and Oedipus. It has to be one of my favorite lines from the tragedy when Oedipus tells Tiresias, "You have no power or truth. You are blind, your ears and mind as well as eyes" (25). It is so ironic because Tiresias is able to see much more of Oedipus's life than he himself is able to see.
Also, dramatic irony deals more with the audiences connection to the story. They already know the fate of Oedipus and even if they didn't already know before hearing it, they could have put the facts together before Oedipus did.
Lastly, verbal irony comes into play when Oedipus curses the man who killed Laius as well as curses himself by saying, "And further, I pronounce a curse on myself if the murderer should, with my knowledge, share my house..."(15). It is ironic because it is not only someone who lives in his house, but the ruler himself.
While reading this Greek Tragedy, I also noticed that Oedipus follows the archetype that is usually seen in this genre. This archetype displays a hamartia that leads to their downfall. I agree with what most people have said about Oedipus' hamartia being hubris. The arrogance that he posseses becomes his tragic flaw because it causes his social demise. He presumes that he can escape his destiny and outwit the gods. However, he finds out the hard way that he can not cheat his way out of fate.
ReplyDeleteAn example of a historical figure who displayed a tragic flaw is Aaron Burr. His excessive pride is why he had hubris for a tragic flaw. He ran with Thomas Jefferson in the Presidential election (he originally ran for VP). However, when his party won the election, Burr tried to steal Jefferson's Presidency. He let his ego obstruct his common sense and his actions caused him to destroy many friendhips and make new enemies. This is one example of a person who let their tragic flaw eventually lead to their destruction.
I think Oedipus’s main tragic flaw is that he is very impulsive. When Tiresias does not want to tell him who the murderer of Laius is, Oedipus becomes enraged and expels him from Thebes. Tiresias could have been a big help to Oedipus, but Oedipus banished him without giving him a chance. He does the same sort of thing when he accuses Creon of plotting against him. He was also very impulsive to blind himself. If he would have thought calmly about the situation and decided to live his life seeing, it might have turned out better for him.
ReplyDeleteA flaw that I have is that I do not like to be wrong. I get embarrassed when I get an answer wrong in class or am bad at a certain sport. It can be an obstacle because I will not try new things for fear that I might not be good at, or I will not raise my hand in class. I miss out on some fun times and some good experiences because of it.
I think Oedipus's main tragic flaw is hubris. He refused to accept his prophecy because he believed he was above it. He felt because he was king, nothing bad could happen to him. Since Oedipus thinks he is above everything and everyone else he kept refusing what was right in front of him. He couldn't accept his fate which led to his downfall. What the oracle predicted was meant to happen and everything happens for a reason. Oedipus was meant to kill his father and marry his mother, it was his destiny. Because of Oedipus's refusal to accept his fate, he had to deal with it the hard way and all the consequences that came with his actions.
ReplyDeleteI feel Oedipus's biggest flaw was thinking he could escape his own fate. In trying to run away from murdering his father, he really ran into it (do I detect situational irony there?)
ReplyDeleteOedipus's story was well known to the ancient Greeks. Hearing his story in this tragic play was also made dramatic irony. Everyone knew Oedipus had been the killer all along, but they characters themselves had no idea.
I have a person in my life who has a tragic flaw, they pretend nothing happened when they get in fights with others. This is good at times, but she also likes to hold grudges about the fights that "don't" exsist, which is her downfall. If she talked things out and let go her life would have much less conflict.
In the novel I found there was situational irony in the fact that Oedipus was given away to prevent the prophecy from coming true. In reality, that decision left Oedipus to kill Laius, his father, without even knowing it was him. I also saw dramatic irony when Oedipus blamed Creon for Laius's murder. Oedipus was set on finding the killer and did not realize that it could potentially be himself. I found that for verbal irony Oedipus had sworn to himself and his people that he was not the killer, although many people blamed him. He swore an oath to do harm to himself if he truly were the killer, he was ignorant of himself and blinded by pride. This ignorance and pride that Oedipus carries leads to his downfall. It is because of his pride and self- assurance that he is not the murder that lead him to make an oath to do harm to himself if he were the killer. Even when the witnesses come through explaining in detail the killing, Oedipus seems to identify with the setting. However, he holds on to small details to hold on to his pride. For instance, when the messenger is explaining, he says that Laius was killed by "strangers," meaning plural, and Oedipus knows that he acted alone on the killing. He holds on to little details like that to keep his pride and hopes up.
ReplyDeleteI believe that my tragic flaw would be getting to involved. I always tend to try and over involve myself, whether it be in school groups, political issues or the always popular school fights. I always try to fix people and their problems. It can be very messy though if you get involved in a fight or someone else's business, sometimes people just need to handle things on their own.
In my opinion, Oedipus' tragic flaw is his inability to accept the truth. Throughout the play, the signs keep pointing to the truth that he was the one who killed Laius, and that he married his own mother, Jocasta. However, he is always in denial,and he doesn't believe anything until the facts are put right in front of him. (Jocasta has the same problem--she says the gods are never right anyhow, and the oracles are always false. In the end, however, she realizes the truth, and commits suicide.) Oedipus also has hubris, or excessive pride.
ReplyDeleteThere were many examples of verbal, situational, and dramatic irony in the play.
Verbal Irony-- Verbal irony happens in the story (in what I described earlier) when Jocasta tells Oedipus that the prophecies never come true. Obviously, her belief is proven wrong at the end of the story.
Situational Irony-- Situational Irony is present in the story in the fact that the bed Oedipus was conceived in was also the bed that his fate was sealed in.
Dramatic Irony-- Of course, the most obvious example of dramatic irony in the play was the fact that, the entire time the actors were making a big fuss about who killed Laius, etc, the reader (or watcher) already knows that Oedipus himself is the one to blame. We also already know that he is the son of Jocasta, his own wife.
My own tragic flaw is probably that I expect perfection out of myself. I put way too much on my plate, and I try to do everything I possibly can. I work on this by trying to keep balance in my life.
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ReplyDeleteThe verbal irony present in this Greek Tragedy is displayed almost immediately in the reading. Oedipus vows to punish the man who murdered Laius because of the plague they brought down upon the town. Obviously, this is ironic because the murderer is actually Oedipus himself. Situational and dramatic irony coincide in this case because Oedipus expects the murdered to be discovered causing the plague to release its grip on the city, but the audience is able to ascertain the fact that Oedipus himself took the life of King Laius.
ReplyDeleteHubris is a common tragic flaw bestowed upon the personalities of the characters in a Greek Tragedy. The word itself means to have an excess of pride and was often used to show that mortals should never consider themselves above or even near the level of the gods. Oedipus possessed this fateful quality, and like all tragic heroes, it led to his demise. The expression "blinded by pride" is applicable here in the sense that Oedipus was unable to see the situation for what it was because he was blinded by his pride. His inability to take in the situation and accept it for what it was in turn led to his downfall.
Professional athletes are a great example of people that have a characteristic flaw that serves as an obstacle to them. A lot of high profile athletes tend to think they are above the standards of "everyday citizens" and that they have a right to whatever indulgences they please. It goes without saying, but this is definitely not the case. Pete Rose was an outstanding baseball player, but his urge to gamble, which was against Major League Baseball rules, led to a shameful, premature exit from the game. Ben Roethlisberger is another example of an athlete who believes in their divine right to any and all luxuries. As of late, Big Ben has been accused of several sexual assault incidents and other character lapses.
I have to agree with Jocelyn, that the story was pretty unbelievable in that no one saw the connection between Oedipus killing a man and then becoming king while simultaneously the king had gone on a journey and was killed. Of course it was not so obvious for the characters because Oedipus only became king after defeating the Sphinx, but it seems to me that if Jocasta and Oedipus had EVER had a decent conversation in their lives then they would already be privy to the knowledge that we all had as the readers. But I suppose times were different back then; it seems that in almost every movie or show you see about ancient times there's constant deception, adultery, murder, the works. Obviously those are shows but I don't doubt that it was more common to have plenty of secrets from the people who were closest to you, especially if you were royalty. ....That was a lot of digressing.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, yes I agree with every person who has blogged so far and will blog that Oedipus's flaw was hubris, although I am not sure whether ignorance is what I would name his second flaw. It seems to me that ignorance has the connotation of being something that cannot be helped or is accidental (not on purpose rather). However, I think in this story you practically had to TRY to be ignorant to not realize the truth. I realize that this is a Greek Tragedy though, so it all ends up making sense in that there is always a moral to be realized, and the character is always punished for their wrong doings.
On another side note, I really enjoyed the scene between Haemon and Creon. It was exciting to read a story where the young, less experienced son is the voice of reason instead of the older, experienced father.
The dramatic irony in Oedipus the King is when the audience knows Oedipus has murdered his father and married his mother but Oedipus himself doesn't know he has fulfilled his fate. The situational irony is when Oedipus happens to meet his real father, Laius, while running away from his adopted parents (whom he thought to be his real parents) to avoid his destiny. Oedipus thought he had just killed a random stranger but it had been his father. The verbal irony is when Oedipus vows to curse the murderer of King Laius. Oedipus doesn't know that he is actually the murderer.
ReplyDeleteOedipus' tragic flaw is hubris, or excessive pride. Oedipus believes he can make his own destiny, he does not have to abide by the destiny the gods planned for him. By running from his destiny he actually fulfills his destiny. He murders his father and marries his mother but he is not aware of the crimes he has committed. Oedipus thinks he has triumphed over the gods. He believes his parents are safely in Corinth. Because of his pride, Oedipus fell hard from his pedestal and suffered from his destiny for the rest of his life.
I have two major flaws, I'm a perfectionist and a procrastinator. Unfortunately, these two flaws do not go well together. I wait to the last minute to complete my projects, but i need them to be perfect even though I don't have much time. I've been improving on being a procrastinator every year, however, I'm still a perfectionist.
Katelynn Corbett
Oedipus' tragic flaws are pride and over confidence in himself. These flaws contribute to his downfall because he was too confident in himself to fix all of the issues Thesbes was having. By trying to fix all the problems and solve unanswered questions by himself, the truth of his past began to unfold. Even though he truthfully did not want to find out the truth about his mother and father, the large amount of confidence and pride he had made him find the truth. Once he realized what happened he did not even want to live anymore.
ReplyDeleteOne flaw that I have is not really thinking before I talk. This is a major issue because I regret a lot of the things that come out of my mouth, but since they are already said I can not take them back.
Oedipus' tragic flaws in this play are his over confidence and pride. Oedipus from the beginning is over confident in a way others do not admire. His pride drives him to find out the truth of the previous kings murderer, which follows by his downfall. He is so confident in how intelligent he is that he has to figure the murder case out, but when he does, he realizes that he himself is the murderer. He was the reason for the plague in Thebes and he became so disgusted by himself that he stabbed his own eyes out but the memory of his wife/mother and children/siblings still remained.
ReplyDeleteOne tragic flaw, that will hopefully not result in a downfall, is that I sometimes can be to confident in what I say. My sister, rags on me all the time that I think I know everything. Personally, I find this flaw extremely annoying because no one wants to hangout with a know-it-all. To be honest, I am probably wrong most of the time, so I don’t know why I do it in the first place. The worst is when I meet someone who also thinks they know everything, I tend to clash heads with that person.
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ReplyDeleteOedipus tragic flaw seems to be common to greek tragedies as hubris or excessive pride, as everyone above me has said. Seeing this play from another point of view however I do not think I would have done much different if I was in Oedipus' shoes. There are a few things I disagree with that Oedipus does, such as attacking Creon and Tiresias so much. Creon was his friend and confidant and to accuse him of trying to sabotage him was out of his place. As for Oedipus' misfortunes considering his mother and father I doubt anyone could have done any different. He did as any person would do, he distanced himself from his suspected mother and father to prevent the prophecy from coming true. The accident of by chance of killing his father and marrying his mother were unable to be avoided. Overall I do not think Oedipus' misfortunes were his fault at all, Apollo had it in for him the whole time. There was no way this tragedy could not have taken place and I think Oedipus dealt with it somewhat the same way anyone would therefore I am not quite sure that it can be narrowed to one tragic flaw that caused his eventual fate.
ReplyDeleteAs for myself having a tragic flaw I think it would have to be impatience. I am all too caught up in the rush and time of things. Too many times I find myself jumping to conclusions waiting for things to elapse or someone to respond if it is not timely. I think I need to take life minute by minute and realize that the only way you get from beginning to finish is one step at a time.
There are many examples of the different types of irony in this play. First, there is situational irony in the fact that both Oedipus and Jocasta try to do things to stop the prophesies from happening. Jocasta gets rid of her son in hopes that he would not kill his father, but it happens despite her efforts. Oedipus flees Corinth to escape his fate of killing the only father he ever knew (Polybus), but he ends up killing a complete stranger who just so happens to be his biological father. On a different note, there is verbal irony when Jocasta comforts Oedipus after Tiresias' warning by saying that the prophesy about her son killing her husband had not come true. Lastly, there was dramatic irony throughout the play because after Tiresias originally warns Oedipus that he is the murderer and he is both father and brother to his children, the audience knows that Laius is Oedipus' father while Oedipus still does not.
ReplyDeleteAs far as tragic flaws, I think mine would be my inability to fully express all of my emotions. I usually hide my frustrations with others until I explode, which causes a huge mess. I wish I could be brave enough to tell it like it is all of the time so that I deal with the problem little by little, instead of the explosion of what is bottled up inside.
Oedipus’ tragic flaw could be considered his fear of fate. The entire play is dominated by his fear that the prophecies that he heard of his fate would come true. As she shies away from his life and spends it trying to avoid fate, he runs head on directly toward the horrible fate for his life. The tragic flaw of this fear contributes to his downfall because instead of enjoying his life, he shortens it and fills it with horror by searching for the prophecies so he could avoid them from coming true. My tragic flaw that acts as an obstacle toward my success would be my competitiveness. Mostly it acts as a good thing but when overused and pushed to its limits it can make certain situations more difficult.
ReplyDeleteOedipus is full of irony. The most ironic of all is the situational irony of Oedipus not wanting to fulfill the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother so he runs away from his family, but accidentally falling into his real family and doing everything he didn’t want to do. The verbal irony is how he says he curses the man who killed the King, yet it was himself. Dramatic irony is that the audience knew Oedipus’s fate the entire time and if it’s a prophecy it is going to come true. Oedipus’s tragic flaw is hubris. He was so sure that he was not the guy who did it but it all came back to bit him in the butt.
ReplyDeleteDramatic irony starts in the very beginning of the book, where the reader knows that Oedipus did in fact kill his own father and marry his mother. As for situational irony, Laius and Jocasta sent Oedipus away to be killed and believed that to be the end of the prophecy. Oedipus comes back and completes the prophecy anyway. Whoops. Verbal irony was used when Oedipus expelled himself without knowing it in the beginning of the tragedy when he banishes whoever brought the plague down on the people of Thebes.
ReplyDeleteAs for the tragic flaw, Oedipus is just way too smart. If he hadn’t been smart enough to solve the Sphinx’s riddle, he probably wouldn’t have discovered that his whole existence was marked by shame on both his part and the part of his parents.
This book is absolutely full of different ironies,and I must say my favorite has to be the dramatic irony of when Oedipus still cannot understand fully that he is in fact the killer, yet everyone else knows this. In agreement with Tess, there is definitely situational irony in that both Jocasta and Oedipus are trying to avoid the prophecy from coming true. Both of them do so much in an attempt to keep their fates from occurring, but by doing all these things, they only help to ultimately fulfill the prophecy. Verbal irony takes place when Oedipus vows to punish whoever killed Laius, when (surprise) he is indeed the murderer.
ReplyDeleteLike many of the previous posts, Oedipus' tragic flaws include arrogance, and of course hubris. With these qualities he is unable to accept the truth, and even goes to the extent of blinding himself, as well as putting himself in exile. He behaves irrationally, only making things worse than they really need to be.
Throughout the play, Oedipus acts before thinking anything through, without thinking of the consequences; this leads to his downfall. From the beginning, his action of killing Laius without thinking is the catalyst to following his fate. At the end of the play, he stabs his eyes out without thinking and this causes him to be blind. His rash actions all had consequences, which he failed to see or think about.
ReplyDeleteVerbal, situational, and dramatic irony are all a big part of this play. There is verbal irony when Oedipus focuses on who it could be without ever mentioning that it could be himself, even though that thought has crossed his mind, he’s just avoiding it. He says who it could be when in reality, he knows it could be himself. When Oedipus meets Laius at the crossroads because he is trying to get as far away as possible from his parents to avoid fate, when actually, the man he kills ends up being his father. The most prominent out of all the ironies would be dramatic irony because it is in the very beginning. The readers know that Oedipus has killed his father and married his mother, therefore fulfilling his fate.
A person that I know has the flaw of being egotistical. Based on the way he acts, everyone doesn’t want to be around him and no one likes a person who thinks that they are the best at everything and that you couldn’t compare. Plus, people that are hiring don't want you if you think you are better than everyone else, everyone likes someone who's somewhat humble.
As a side comment, many characters in tragic plays have similar flaws. I believe Oedipus and Macbeth are very similar in that they both acted rashly and that they are too proud.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's pretty obvious that Oedipus suffers from hubris. He constantly exclaims how great and intelligent he is. It is this attitude that blinds him from the reality of his ways (PUN SIGHTING)!!!! He is totally convinced that he can dodge his fate and outsmart the gods. As shown by other mythological tales, morals never win.
ReplyDeleteIrony is present throughout the whole play. There is dramatic irony because the audience knows Oedipus's true past and he does not have any idea. The suspense just builds and builds, which makes for a fantastic play. The situational irony is the fact that Oedipus does everything he can to prove the prophecy wrong, yet his fate catches up with him in the end. He still ends up marrying his mother and killing his father (both situations are ironic in themselves). Situational irony is also depicted when Oedipus accuses Creon of trying to steal the crown. That is not Creon's intention by bringing Tiresias to Thebes, yet he actually does become king in the end. Verbal irony is evenly sprinkled throughout the play, too. Oedipus says, "... I count myself the son of Good Chance, the giver of success..."(79). That is the farthest thing from the truth!
My flaw is that I don't really open up to people. I can come off as cold because of this. I guess it's kind of a defense mechanism. But the people I do open up to are really close to me, and I'm glad I have them in my life.
Kelsey Wisser
ReplyDeleteThe most obvious type of irony in this play is dramatic. The reader or audience knows all along that the prophecies are true, while Oedipus does not find out till the end.
I think that the tragic flaw that Oedipus expresses is that he is very naïve. While most people would put the prophecy told to Jocasta and the one told to Oedipus together, he does not. I do not think that he thinks he’s above the prophecy and too prideful necessarily, but more so that after everything that he had been through to overcome the prophecy, he didn’t think it could have come true.
There is situational irony in the fact that Tiresias is physically blind but can see the truth most clearly. The main dramatic irony comes from knowing that Oedipus has not escaped his fate all along. Verbal irony occurs when Tiresias asks Oedipus, “Aren’t you the best man alive at guessing riddles?” Oedipus was the man able to solve the Sphinx’s riddle yet he cannot solve the supposed riddles that Tiresias tells him.
ReplyDeleteOedipus’ tragic flaw is his belief that he can outsmart the higher powers of the gods. The harder Oedipus works to avoid his fate, the closer he comes to the truth about his identity. In the end, Oedipus cannot escape the inevitable and all prophecies prove to be true.
A similar tragic flaw can be found among young people. They often believe they are invincible and can outsmart death so they drive around wildly or perform dares. Young people do not dream of consequences but in the end, all people are human and subject to injury and/or death.
-Margaux Balagna
I would have to say that Oedipus' tragic flaw is that he is overconfident and is too proud. Throughout the whole story he never wants to believe that he could've done something wrong. Oedipus is always trying to figure out who else could have committed the murder. He is too focused on the fact that he saved Thebes once and seems to think of himself as on the same level as the gods. He says things like "I shall be the defender of Thebes, and Apollo's champion, too" (10). Oedipus sees himself as the city"s life line and thinks that they cannot make it without him. He boasts about his intelligence and accomplishments. For these reasons, he tries to deny the fact that he could be in the wrong. This leads to him getting banished from the city, and viewed as ruining Thebes.
ReplyDeleteMy main flaw that hinders my progress would be my impatience. I do not have a high tolerance level for slow moving people or assignments that take too long. This makes it hard for me to focus for long periods of time on the same thing. Therefore I ALWAYS procastinate and wait until the last minute to do things. My impatience has been something difficult that I have had to deal with.
I also think Oedipus’s tragic flaw was his excessive pride, or hubris. From the beginning it is easy to see that Oedipus thinks very highly of himself. When talking to the Chorus, he does not treat them with much respect because he knows he is superior to them, being the King and all. He brags about solving the riddle of the Sphinx and saving the town and its people. Once the prophet, Tiresias, comes to him and tells him about who murdered Laius, he does not believe him and calls Creon a traitor for it. He also has too much pride to admit the fact that the oracle may be right about his destiny so he continues to dig deeper to find out information. He thinks he is too great to have this destiny of killing his father and marrying his mother come true, so he tries to out-run it, but in the end this fails.
ReplyDeleteAn example of situational irony is when Oedipus left his home so he would not fulfill destiny. He expected that after he got away from his parents there would be no chance of killing his father or marrying his mother. In reality, he killed his real father (although he didn’t know this) while he was escaping and later married his real mother. This also has to do with the dramatic irony because everyone in the audience knows that he in fact did kill his father and marry his mother.
Oedipus has one major flaw, he is too proud, he believes that saving Thebes from the Sphinx and him becoming ruler exempts him form responsibility of his past crimes and murders and that the gods have on the whole forgiven him and are looking out for him, because of this he insults the prophet of Apollo, accuses his greatest friend of treason, and delves into Larius's murder without really considering the prophet's warning of great and untold misfortune ahead. and because of that he suffers and looses everything he earned in an instant.
ReplyDeletemy problem is that i procrastinate a lot more than i should, and i leave everything to the last minute instead of spreading the work out over time i leave it all for the end and i screw myself over by not pacing myself.
As many of my peers have also observed, Oedipus has several tragic flaws. One of his greatest flaws is hubris, or excessive pride and arrogance. This trait is apparent when he argues with Tiresias about the truth, which has not yet been exposed to Oedipus. Oedipus’ conceited character along with the different types of irony throughout the story keep the plot suspenseful.
ReplyDeleteIt’s true; we are not all perfect. Everyone has their flaws. Personally, my biggest flaw is my tendency to procrastinate. This is often an obstacle to my success. Although I ALWAYS get my work done on time, it often means losing sleep. I will admit, I am a bit of a perfectionist, and because of this, I will not turn in any work that is not of good quality. I often leave my work until the last minute, and as a result, sometimes I have to miss out on hanging out with friends or getting those extra three hours of sleep. Yes, it is the last day of summer and I am completing this blogging assignment! :)
The dramatic irony in this play is that the audience knows the truth about Oedipus while Oedipus has no idea. The situational irony is that through both parties desperate attempts to avoid the prophecies coming true, they have brought the outcome on themselves. The verbal irony is that it is Oedipus who puts the curse on the murderer of King Liaus, and the murderer ends up being him.
ReplyDeleteHis tragic flaw, as many have said, is excessive pride. He thinks that he can avoid the prophecies and avoid fate, but of course, he couldn’t.
Today, many famous or powerful people have the same tragic flaw as Oedipus. They get caught up in being a celebrity, in people always saying yes, in people telling them they love them and are big fans of them and look up to them. They begin to feel like they are invincible and then things happen like Tiger Wood’s getting caught with his affairs, Martha Stewart having to face jail time, or Kanye West grabbing the microphone from Taylor Swift. People get a false sense of excellency and invincibility, then suffer the inevitable downfall.
The Greek tragedy Oedipus is full of irony. An example of verbal irony is when Oedipus proclaims that he will curse the murderer of King Laius, but this is ironic because Oedipus is actually the murderer. Situational irony is found in the fact that Oedipus was sent away from his parents to prevent a prophecy, when in fact, it comes true in the end. He marries his mother and kills his father. The dramatic irony goes hand in hand with the situational irony because the audience realizes that Oedipus has killed Laius, while he still believes his prophecy has not been met yet.
ReplyDeleteAs just about everyone else has stated, I agree that Oedipus' tragic flaw is his excessive pride and arrogance. He believes such a thing could not happen to him and that he would not commit such an act. He did not want to believe he could have done this, even though all of the signs pointed to him. He did not accept his fate and that contributed to his downfall.
My own tragic flaw is that I tend to put too much pressure on myself and demand perfection. In a way this is good, but at the same time I need to learn to relax and learn from my mistakes. I also have difficulty saying how I truly feel about certain things, so my true opinion is not out in the open.
As Christina just stated along with my intelligent peers, I believe that Oedipus's tragic flaw is hubris. Oedipus believes that he is above doing something such as murdering the King. As many times as Tiresias informs Oedipus that he is in fact the killer he still doesn't believe. This is partially because he doesn't want to and the fact that he doesn't think that him the King of Thebes is capable of such a murder. The same goes as far as marrying his mother. He is so devistated when he is proved wrong that he gauges his eyes out.
ReplyDeleteI believe that one of my tragic flaws is worrying. I worry way too much. I worry about everything. This acts as a tragic flaw for me because I spend too much time worrying about the future, or tasks I need to complete before a deadline, that it makes it difficult to apply myself to action to avoid the problem. I need to learn to live in the moment instead. I need to remember that things have a way of working themselves out and to just relax.
There are many examples of irony in the tragic Greek play, Oedipus. An example of situational irony would be the difference between Tiresias the prophet, and Oedipus the King. Even though Tiresias is blind and cannot see, but he has the sight of the prophecy. Oedipus has his sight, but cannot see his own prophecy. An example of verbal irony would be when Oedipus proclaims that Laius' murderer will be banished from Thebes. This is ironic because it is Oedipus the King who has murdered Laius. The whole story is an example of dramatic irony because although Oedipus denies that his prophecy is true, the reader knows that it is indeed true.
ReplyDeleteThe dramatic irony ties into Oedipus' tragic flaw; his excessive pride. Oedipus does not want to believe that he could commit such acts that the oracle proclaims. He thinks that by trying to escape the accusations that he can avoid his fate. But in the end, he ends up fulfilling his prophecy because he killed Laius and married Jocasta.
My tragic flaw is one that i share with many AP English students; a tendency to procrastinate. In fact, I am doing it right now. I always seem to put off everything until the very last minute. And although I always seem get everything done in the end, it's a habit that I am hope to break sometime soon...maybe.
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ReplyDeleteOedipus has two main tragic flaws; ignorance and hubris. He was ignorant as to all the BLARING signs leading him to his fate. Maybe if he had opened his eyes, before he blinded himself *wink face*, he would have realized what was going on. Hubris is a tragic flaw often displayed in Greek tragedies. Oedipus definitely has it. He point blank says he can defy his fate, which is a definite no-no in mythology. His monstrous hubris is ultimately leads to his downfall.
ReplyDeleteAs far as my own tragic flaws go, I always put way too much on my plate. I have a hard time saying no to things, which is a large part of this problem. To top it off, I'm a perfectionist, so not only to I overload myself; I try to give everything my all. I over commit my time and end up stressing myself out. This year my goal is to avoid this.
Mary Wojtala
ReplyDeleteOedipus the King has tons of examples of all three types of irony. For example, Oedipus curses the murderer of Laius and says he will do whatever he can to drive him out of the city. This is verbal irony because, although he doesn’t know it, he is the murderer and would never put such a curse on himself. An example of dramatic irony lies in the quote, “I will never go to the city where my parents live.” We all know that his is in the city where his parents live, but he does not. We also know that he is the murderer of Laius, which he is completely unaware of until the end of the play. An example of situational irony would be the fact that Oedipus was running away from where he lived so a horrible prophecy would not come true. He would not even have been in said city if Jocasta had never ordered him dead in the first place! They were both so desperate to disprove the prophecies, when they should have just ran the natural course of things. Oedipus’ futile attempts of running away from a prophecy made the prophecy actually come true.
Oedipus’ tragic flaw is hubris, or excessive pride. If he were to just stop and think about himself as a factor in the murder of Laius he would have seen right away that he was obviously the killer. If Oedipus weren’t so blind towards the whole thing, he wouldn’t have been in such shock when he found out he was the true killer. Although he would still probably have blinded and exiled himself because he was damned the minute the prophecy was told.
One flaw that a lot of people has is the fact that they cannot blame themselves for anything, and that everything is always someone else’s fault. How can you truly succeed when you can’t even admit to mistakes that you have made? A part of life is learning from your own mistakes, so it is hard when you don’t believe you have ever made a mistake.
As all of my peers have pointed out before me, this tragic Greek play is overflowing with irony. The most simple irony, verbal irony, can be found in Oedipus' statement 'I will never go to the city where my parents live'. Little does he know, but he has been ruling the city of Thebes, and living there with his mother as her husband. The dramatic irony of all of this is that we, the readers, know this and have to wait as the drama unfolds and Oedipus discovers this for himself. The situational irony of the play also exposes Oedipus' tragic flaw. His pride leads him to believe that he is in total control of his life both past and present and because of this, he feels that he should take full responsibility for all of its consequences. In reality, much of his life, including his survival as an infant and committing murder in self-defense, was out of his control. Also, Oedipus' pride leads him to believe that his knack for solving riddles makes him great, but when he eventually solves the greatest riddle of his life, it destroys him.
ReplyDeleteAs evidenced by the time stamp of this post, my tragic flaw is procrastination. I thought that I would complete these posts right after I completed reading the books, but no, I left them to the last minute. I also tend to be a perfectionist so something a simple as a post tends to take me longer than I plan for. I hope that I have learned my lesson because procrastination creates stress!
Oedipus' tragic flaw is his excessive pride and ignorance. He does not believe that he would ever kill his father or marry his mother. He did not want to believe he could have done this, even though all of the signs pointed to him. His lack of accepting his fate led to his downfall.
ReplyDeleteI believe that a tragic flaw that I have is that i have a tendency to procrastinate. No matter how much time is given to me to complete a task, i always find my self doing it at the last minute. This sometimes can be a bad thing because I often cannot finish things to the best of my ability when i do them at the last second.
As many others have discussed, I found Oedipus’s tragic flaw to be hubris, or excessive pride. Because he is in such denial about his involvement in the murder of Laius, when the truth comes out, it causes him intense grief. This grief then causes him to go essentially insane and leads to him to blinding himself and being exiled from Thebes.
ReplyDeleteAs you can probably tell from the late hour of this blog post, my most tragic flaw is definitely procrastination. I tend to wait until the last minute to finish things and cram for tests. By now I thought I would have learned that that is not the way to do things, but I guess some habits are just hard to break.
As the story progresses, it is evident that Oedipus' tragic flaw is his hubris. This is represented through his vehement pursuit of Laius' murderer. He is so determined to seize the criminal that he fails to monitor the clues which trickle in. If he had not been too prideful to give up the hunt, he may have realized that he was the culprit in time to save himself. His determination clouded his judgment and pretty much just backfired.
ReplyDeleteThe entire play is composed of irony in different forms. Situational irony occurred when Oedipus ran from the prophecies in his home town. He wanted to avoid the predictions that he would kill his father and lay with his mother, but instead he ran straight into them. Dramatic irony jumps in at the start of the play. The reader knows almost right away that Oedipus is the murderer he himself seeks. Thanks to his hubris, however, Oedipus is oblivious to this fact until nearly the end of the story.
Oedipus' tragic flaw is his excessive pride, or hubris. He believes that he can run from his fate predicted by the gods. In trying to avoid his destiny of killing his father and marrying his mother, he ends up running away from his false parents and kills his real father on the road. Then, he travels to the city of Thebes and ends up marrying his mother there. Because of his excessive pride, he ends up running right into his destiny.
ReplyDeleteMy tragic flaw, along with all my fellow last minute posters is extreme procrastination. I always put off everything until the last minute and then have to rush to get everything done. I can never seem to learn my lesson and always procrastinate. I hope that eventually I will be able to break this bad habit.
Oedipus is a play that is chocked full or irony. The situational irony is present when Oedipus flees his home to make sure the words of the prophet do not come true, however he winds up fulfilling that prophecy early in the play. The verbal irony can be found when Oedipus swears that he would inflict great injury upon himself if he were the murderer, since he was so certain he was not. And by the end of the play he winds up stabbing his own eyes. The dramatic irony comes from the fact that we, the audience, know from the get go that by running from the oracles prediction he winds up fulfilling it, but Oedipus does not realize this until the very end of the play.
ReplyDeleteOedipus's tragic flaw, like in a lot of other Greek Tragedies, is definitely his hubris. Oedipus believes throughout the entire play that he is above the destiny outlined to him by the prophet, and that he could just run away from his fate. His pride also leads him to need to be seen as the hero of this kingdom and stop at nothing to uncover the story of Liaus' death, which is the reason of his downfall. Pride will always cause problems for those who have too much of it and no human can escape their own fate.
I must say, this play was my favorite req. reading because I love the Greek plays and this one was a fun reread.
ReplyDeleteOedipus didn't really have a tragic flaw in my opinion; he was doomed from his birth and even though he managed to win an entire kingdom over to his side by freeing them of the sphinx, he could not escape the prophecy.
As for irony, anything past about halfway through the story is irony because the reader already knows the crucial facts surrounding Oedipus' lineage and past deeds.
My tragic flaws are too numerous to count, but at least they don't kill my parents.
I'm pretty sure that everyone, everywhere has their own obstacle/flaw that weighs them down. For me, that flaw is my stubbornness. Often, I'll catch myself in an argument when I know that I am wrong, but will continue to argue anyways. Then, in many situations I will know the truth but will refuse to believe it because I'm so unyielding.
ReplyDeleteNow with our good friend Oedipus, his tragic flaw as said many times was hubris, but I also believe it was his curiosity. As Oedipus searched deeper and deeper for the truth, he only was digging himself farther down into a hole. His close friends and family warned him to not journey any farther into the mystery of the King's death, but Oedipus refused to listen and kept on searching for answers which only lead back to himself. Oedipus' inability to listen to his peers and accept the present and leave the past alone ultimately lead to his exile.
Can you identify examples of all three (verbal, situational, dramatic)?
ReplyDeleteVerbal: When the prophet tells Oedipus that he killed his father and slept with his mother.
Situational: As Creon was about to release Oedipus’s daughter she had already killed herself.
Dramatic: When Oedipus’s two sons kill each other, because Oedipus had prophesized it happening in the last play.
Can you identify Oedipus' tragic flaw? How does it contribute to his downfall?
Oedipus’s tragic flaw is he refuses to accept the truth. He keeps fighting against his fate and what the prophet tells him and him running from the truth causes the tragic events in his life to happen.
Do you have a flaw that acts as an obstacle to your own success?
My tragic flaw is I’m indecisive. I make a decision then I change my mind over and over, and then once I make a decision I second guess myself and play out what could have happened in my head.
As many have stated before, Oedipus' tragic flaw is of course hubris. Even with a trusted prophet telling him the truth about the murderer, Oedipus still does not realize that he is the murderer and that he has placed a curse upon himself because he is too prideful. He cannot see past himself and the glory he will receive by saving the people of Thebes. This also brings about dramatic irony. We, the readers, know that Oedipus is the murderer because of Tiresius' insight. However, Oedipus himself does not understand and remains ignorant of the truth about himself.
ReplyDeleteI think one of my many tragic flaws is that I'm really stubborn at times. I always want my way to be the right way even though oftentimes it's not. I'm trying to work on/fix this tragic flaw and hopefully one day soon I won't be so stubborn.
Oedipus' tragic flaw is his persistance. He ends up finding more clues about himself and his origin, and because he kept persisting for more people to come forth and for more information, he discovers that he has murdered his biological father and married his mother. Therefore, he brought his downfall.
ReplyDeleteOedipus had many flaws, but the one that i feel got him was his pride and the need to be a hero. Oedipus was a man who would react very quickly to things and wouldnt always "hear" the facts rather ignore the parts he didnt like. For example he recognizes that he needs to avenge Lauis but when he hears that he, Oedipus, is the murderer he wont listen.
ReplyDeleteI have many flaws . . . . thats all i have to say.
I hate repeating others but it's obvious, Oedipus's tragic flaw is his excessive pride. Oedipus is on an enormously large horse and he gets knocked right off of it. Oedipus was feeling high and mighty because he saved Thebes from the Sphinx and he cleverly thought he escaped a terrible prophecy by leaving his parents in Corinth(situational irony). He verbally voiced his haterd for the thing defiling thebes (verbal irony). His pride blinded him from the truth even when it was screaming at him in the face (dramatic irony). In the end he tragically crumbled as the genre "greek tragedy" entails.
ReplyDeleteI have a HUGE issue with jealousy. I try really hard to keep it in but it eats at me! So it sometimes gets me in trouble... and often gets me in bad moods.
Irony is a major component in Oedipus The King. Situational irony can be seen when Oedipus runs away from his home in order to try and prevent a prophecy that he will kill his father and sleep with his mother from coming true. However, after he runs away, he actually ends up killing his real father and sleeping with his mother in a distant land. He did not know that his childhood parent were not actually his real parents! If he would have just stayed, maybe it wouldn't have happened, but that is the point of fate. There is dramatic irony when you, the reader, know that Oedipus is actually the one who has killed his father, but he does not know it yet. One verbal irony is when Oedipus says that he will drive out the murderer of King Lauis, when in fact, it is himself.
ReplyDeleteOedipus has a few tragic flaws, including stubbornness, ignorance, and excessive pride. These all get in the way of him being a great king, and eventually they all lead to his downfall. At first, he won't accept that he is the one who has killed his father and is ignorant. However, he is stubborn and will refuse to let it go without knowing the truth, which leads to his tragic ending.
An example of situational irony in this book is when Laius gives Oedipus away because of his prophecy, only for Oedipus to leave his adoptive parents to avoid his prophecy, which then leads him to "reunite" with his real parents and indeed fulfill the prophecy.
ReplyDeleteVerbal irony occurs when Oedipus states, "that man, whoever he may be, I banish from this land..." (15). "That man" is Oedipus himself.
Dramatic irony is when we, the readers, discover that the prophecy is true before Oedipus realizes it himself.
Like many of the other bloggers have said, I feel that Oedipus' tragic flaw is his pride. He was so confident and proud that he could 'outsmart' the prophecy when in fact all he did was make it happen.
Seeing as it is 11:40 and I'm just now finishing my blogging, I think we can all tell my tragic flaw is my procrastination. Though I finish my work, sometimes this flaw has produced a less than sastisfactory outcome....
As I am in the situation of answering this beautifully stated question very early in the morning of the first day of school, I fear that I'm in a position of complete unoriginality. I will then proceed to speak my heart and soul but in doing so I will echo what all my previous classmates and scholars have oh so elegantly stated.
ReplyDeleteOedipus' tragic flaw is his arrogance and pride. He dismissed Tiresias' knowledgeable message and proceeds to vehemently attack his character. He does not accept the possibility of his prophecy being fulfilled. In his distinct prideful actions he tries to escape the prophecy, placing himself more important than the gods.
A flaw that I have that acts as an obstacle is my habitual act of not admitting error or incorrectness. I will go to great lengths in debate and discussions to defend my intellectual pride. I will fix this flaw. Then proceed to work on my many others. There are many.
So I realized I didn't really answer the whole quesiton at the top of the page and I figured I should probably finish it anyways...
ReplyDeleteI think my tragic flaw is jealousy. It's also a little bit of pride, but it's more like my ambition and want to be good at so many different things gets in my way sometimes and when I see someone else who has accomplished one of my dreams I get really jealous and take my own insecurities out on them. It's a horrible flaw and if my life was a Greek tragedy, it would probably be my tragic flaw.
As many of you have probably already noted, the play starts immediately with dramatic irony, for the reader is told prior to its beginning, of Laius' murder by his cursed son. I saw irony, not only, in Oedipus asking the city what had brought them to his feet pleading so desperately, knowing full well the plague was the source of their woes, but also in the fact that he was blind to his own major part in their pain and rising rate of fatality.
ReplyDeleteSure Oedipus has many flaws, such as the inevitable ignorance and quick-temper. I feel Oedipus' real tragic flaw was a burning curiosity. He cannot be pinned for the rage consuming him when Tiresias pointed the deadly finger, most everyone would have the same reaction. As he regained composure he remembered Tiresias tauntingly questioning who his parents were and felt the need to frantically search for answers, against his wife's begging and the anguished reluctance of those he interrogated.
He no longer displays ignorance as he genuinely wants validation. Though he may seem violent and intimidating, Oedipus is truly just dying within, his aching fears were not really remedied by the news of Polybus' death, he only feigns relief for a short period, and soon after the news is announced Oedipus is challenging the messenger.
Oedipus' curiosity is the flaw that leads to his validation, a validation neither he nor Jocasta could face, one that he could have avoided. No one wanted to show him for the incestuous murderer he was, but he felt the need to hear the repulsive truth, the words he forced from wary mouths. And as a man of his word, accepted the punishment he ordered and he banished himself.
The prophecy that King Laius would be killed by his son causes the King to freak out when his wife has a baby boy. He orders his wife to get rid of the baby. However, a shepard finds him and gives him to a family unable to bear a child. When Oedipus grows up he ends up killing the King, not knowing he was his real father. This situation is ironic because even though the King tries to prevent the prophecy from coming true is still happens. This leads us into dramatic irony. Throughout the whole story Oedipus believes that his prophecies are fake even though we know that they come true. This happens when Oedipus starts to have an idea that he may have killed the king but does not know for a fact, but we know that the king is his father and the prophecy has come true.
ReplyDeleteThe way I see it is that Oedipus is too proud of himself and sees himself as being close to perfect. This is his flaw because it causes the downfall of his throne. He can not comprehend being the one to kill the old king because such an action would be outrageous. So he wants to accuse others of this violent action. Also, he has grown up to believe that he has overcome the prophecy and proved it wrong when in actuality we know every part of that prophecy has come true. However when he comes to terms with the truth he takes himself off his little pedestal and looks at the situation reasonably. The fact that the city called for him to help build the city back up while it was falling apart aided to his self pride. I find this ironic though because he is called upon to fix the problem while he is the main source of the problem.
I like to be right. This is a major flaw because sometimes I tune out what others have to say since I do not agree with their ideas. However I have worked on this flaw and found that when I listen to the opposing ideas I learn many things and sometimes strengthen my own beliefs through them.
I believe that Oedipus' tragic flaw is that he doesn't think his actions through. He seems to be under the delusion, in the first play, that he doesn't make mistakes. He, however, makes the tragic mistake of not putting one and one together. He murdered his father, without knowing it. His father was the king, which he didn't know, but he killed a random man, who just so happened to be both. For this tragig flaw, of being reckless and careless, he ends up marrying his mother, without knowing. He also seems to be overly prideful, as his brother in law, and uncle, wants to kill him, yet he stands behind the Athenian army, and uses it for personal protection. His tragic flaw, then is his recklessness. In his recklessness, he ends up setting up a series of events that is so horrible that he must blind himself, becoming his downfall.
ReplyDeleteMy tragic flaw is my lack of self confidence, which I keep under control with an optimistic view. I generally don't think highly of myself, which sometimes sets me up to fail. Though this is a flaw, as I said, I have it under control, and can usually take on an optimistic mindset, and gain back some self confidence. Nonetheless, this has stopped me from experiencing alot of things, that I would've tried if I had more confidence. It has hindered me alot of times throughout my life, that is why I have taken up a change in attitude. I've deicided to make the best out of life, and tell myself that I can do whatever I put my mind to. This change in attitude has improved my life tenfold, and made me a much happier person.
Obviously, the flaw is his arrogance. He believes he can ignore and overcome a prophacy with his own will and might. This obviously fails.
ReplyDeleteSituational irony is found in the fact that even though Oedipus runs away from home to avoid the prophacy, it still comes true.
Dramatice irony is found in that obvious fact that he himself is the murderer and his oblivious, pompous nature keeps him from acknowledging that.
Verbal irony is found in the very beginning when he curses the killer, who is himself.
I feel my major flaw is procrastination, as you see here. It leads to late nights and sloppy work. It's something I must work on.
Greg here. I have to agree that Oedipus does suffer from hubris, as well as arrogance and ignorance. However, I feel that there is one big flaw that others have missed. Well they very well may have said this, but I don't feel like reading through 79 whole responses. Anyways, I believe Oedipus has a nasty temper, and this puts him in a few tough spots. We first see this temper in action when Oedipus accuses Creon and Tiresias of cospiring against him. Of course, a loud argument ensues between Oedipus and Creon. Yet this isn't the worst of it. Oedipus signs his own death warrent when he loses himself at the crossroads where he kills Laios. There wasn't any reason at all for Oedipus to kill him and his party. But he does it anyway because he has a voilent temper. He pays the price for this in the story.
ReplyDeleteA great example of dramatic irony in this story is when Oedipus begins to tell Jocasta his own story and how he fled home after he heard the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother, and how he killed a man fitting the description of Laios at the three-way crossroads, where Laios disappeared. The quick-witted reader seems to catch on that something is amiss, but Oedipus and Jocasta, out of denial or ignorance, do not.
Some good verbal irony occurs in the beginning of the play, as my other peers have noted, where Oedipus calls out Laios murderer and curses the man, where in fact Oedipus is the murderer.
As many others have said, Oedipus fleeing from Corinth to escape his prophecy only to run right into it is maybe this story's greatest example of situational irony.
I am in no way any different from anyone else in this world. Thus, it is very reasonable to conclude that I possess a personal flaw. This flaw is my own procrastination. And does this impeed my own success? I'd like to think so. I mean come on I'm blogging the day before the testing starts. What's with that? Anyways, I hope this is just something I'll grow out of.
I really liked what Carly had to say about Oedipus’s tragic flaw. I agree that the imperfection that hinders Oedipus’s success is his arrogance. He fails to promptly piece together the prophecies that reveal his true identity because he is too arrogant to consider himself to be flawed. He ignores the blatant accusations from Tiresias that he is fated to ruin. He is given countless chances to realize and comprehend the truth, but instead waits until it is unimaginably obvious that he is guilty of murder and incest. In shock upon finally learning his fate, he is destroyed by his downfall.
ReplyDeleteMy unfortunate tragic flaw is procrastination, hence why I am finishing up my blogging the day before the test! Oops!
Oedipus's tragic flaw is definatlly his Hubris, however he is not the only one in the play with excessive pride. His entire family was guilty of the flaw, had Jocasta and Laius excepted Oedipus and raised him as their own son he might not have grown up to commit this tragic event. However there hubris led them to try to take their fate into there own hands and simpy dipose of Oedipus, setting in motion a chain of events that led to Oedipus killing his biological father and marrying his mother.
ReplyDeleteMy tragic falw would be the same as ellie's as i to am finishing this blog the day before the test.
Howdy, Oedipus has many flaws, but i think that he is a classic case of curiosity killed the cat, or in this case, get the cat to murder his father and marry his mother, whatever. I get that he couldn't just give up the search for Laius because of the plague on his people, but there sure were a lot of hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, situations that he just couldn't put together. Sometimes it's just better if you stop when the prophet tells you that you married your mother and killed your father, and you're still not believing them, just stop.
ReplyDeleteThe obvious situational irony is that Oedipus ran away from home to avoid the prophecy just to end up back to his original family. The dramatic irony is that we all know that he's the one that killed Laius, married his mother, and fullfilled the prophecy, but he just can't seem to grasp it.Some verbal irony is when he insults Tiresias for plotting against him, when he really is just telling Oedipus the truth.
My tragic flaw.... probably my lack of urgency, people are always in a rush to get things done on time, clearly i don't believe this. I'd rather just do things on my own time, I like to say that I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
Man, after reading a lot of these posts to compare what i thought to others, i see that there really isn't much else I can say without restating at least one person. Oedipus's tragic flaw was again his excessive pride and curiosity. Wanted to know who the killer was to help the city, and also what the shepherd and messengers had to say about himself. He kept on questioning people like tiresias, and the two that exchanged the kid, even after Jocasta had wished him to stop. He was sure that the killer would not be him, so with his pride,he wished a horrible fate for the murderer of Laius.
ReplyDeleteAlso i was amazed by how much irony was in such a small book or play. The Dramatical irony was that the reader knew that Oedipus was the killer throughout most of the book. The situational irony was that he left Corinth because he didn't want the prophecy to come true, which in turn made it come true. Also I would just like to point out the situational irony in Laius's decesion to throw the baby away. This act, through different events, eventually leads to his own death. The verbal irony is when Oedipus puts a curse on whoever murdered Laius, when it actually was himself.
I am sure that I have many flaws, everybody does. The biggest flaw that I have in my mind is procrastination. I get a project and think oh this isn't due for a month, i'll start it next week then. The next week I decide to start it another week later, because i have time. It keeps going until i have three days left to do a project that i should have started a month ago.
Oedipus has several flaws, but I think his biggest one is curiosity. He keeps prodding and poking about this prophecy that was made for him. If he had just left the old man alone when he told him to, Oedipus would still have his eyes. I don't know about you guys, but if I once killed a man at a crossroads, then I hear the king was murdered at crossroads; I would probably connect the two. It would at least occur to me that they were related, and I would stop asking questions.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to side with Hannah, my tragic flaw is I am terribly indecisive, to the point where it is actually a hindrance in my everyday life.
In the play there is a lot of dramatic irony in the sense that the audience is very much aware of Oedipus' fate and he is completely unattached to the truth that is right in front of him. I also found the verbal irony of Oedipus to be quite humorous when he swears on finding the murderer of the king and killing him himself and how he asks the citizens of Thebes to clue him in because he's new in town.
ReplyDeleteAs many have mentioned before, Oedipus' tragic flaw is his pride, which blinds him from seeing the truth.
My tragic flaw would be my lack of time management stills. I am a very ambitious person, but my mind tends to run more like a sprinter and a long distance runner.
My post is pretty much a repeat of what everyone has already said. Like many have already stated, I believe that Oedipus’ flaws are his arrogance and his inability to see the truth. His ignorance is obviously an example of dramatic irony, which many others have already pointed out. All of us readers made the connection that Oedipus was the one that the prophecies were all about. He is the son of Laius and Jocasta; he murdered his father and married his mother. The fact that he gouged out his eyes is also ironic because he couldn't "see" what was right in front of him right from the beginning. He is also too proud in the beginning to think that he himself could have messed up or done anything wrong. Many of us feel this way. I know personally I have a hard time with being wrong. I will argue my point until I feel the opposing person has given enough evidence to prove me wrong. I however, do not gouge out my eyes with pins when I find myself in this situation. However, I would never kill anyone, or marry someone twice my age.
ReplyDeleteI think Oedipus’s tragic flaw is his excessive pride or hubris. Ultimately, this leads to his downfall because he believes there is no way that he could be the murderer. He has too much pride in himself and when Tiresias says that Oedipus is indeed the murderer, he denies it and even accuses Tiresias of being the one who murdered Laius. Instead of looking into the crime, Oedipus first accuses those who accuse him. He thinks he is better than all of the other people. Another example of Oedipus’s pride is how he tries to run away from the prophecy that says he will kill his father and marry his mother. He thinks he can defy the gods. This is also an example of dramatic irony because the audience knows that the prophecy is true while Oedipus is still trying to run away from it.
ReplyDeleteOne of my flaws that is an obstacle to my success is that sometimes it is hard for me to focus on one thing. I will go to do one thing, such as clean my room, but then go on the computer or play with my dog instead. When I finally remember to clean my room, I start on it, but will often take breaks because I get bored and just can’t focus on it well. This is also true when I do other things like homework. I try to work on it for short periods at a time to stay focused, but it is one of my flaws that becomes an obstacle when I want to achieve or do something.
The verbal irony I found in the play Oedipus the King was near the beginning when he stated that whoever killed the king would be banished from Thebes, when in fact it was he who killed the king. The situational irony in the play was when Oedipus ran away thinking that he was out smarting the Gods and fate; when in reality that was when the prophet came true. The Dramatic irony was throughout the book we knew that the prophecy already came true, but Oedipus was oblivious to this.
ReplyDeleteOedipus' tragic flaw would have to be his arrogance. By thinking that he escaped from the prophecy made about him, he wouldn't consider himself as the killer of the king. Even though Tiresias hinted to Oedipus that it was Oedipus who was the killer he did not except it until the end.
My tragic flaw is I tend to feel unstoppable sometimes. For example, when deciding what I want to major in while in college I would listen and take things into consideration, but all I can about think about is that that won’t happen to me and I will be successful no matter what when sometimes there are slim chances of being successful.
Okayyy so i was re-reading some blogs to get other peoples views and totally realized that I forgot to do the first question.
ReplyDeleteAn example of situational irony is the fact that Oedipus ran away in order to not kill his father and sleep with his mommy. Unfortunatey for him, by doing this that nasty fortune came true...gross.
My favorite, verbal irony, is when Oedipus is all like i would harm myself and want to be exiled if i was the murderer, thinking that he wasn't the muderer, but he was!!! Then he did actually harm himself and left Thebes.
Dramatic irony is used right from the begining because before this was a greek play it was a well known story. When the audience went to watch the play they already knew the nasty fate of oedipus. You also know that this isn't going to end pretty for Oedipus because of the book's title.
That's all for now folks!
So, I think that Oedipus' tragic flaw is definately arrogance or hubris, but also he only hears what he wants to hear, and that caused alot of his problems. For instance, in his argument with Tiresias, Tiresias pretty much told him that he was the murderer, but Oedipus did not want to hear it. Not only did he not make that connection, but Tiresias also exclaims that the murderer is foreign born but would be presented as being born in Thebes. The only role I can think of where a person's place of birth matters is a king/president. And who is the king of Thebes?...Oedipus. And who was born in a foreign place?...Oedipus also. His ignorance to the connections made by Tiresias is more than just a flaw, so I understand why he had such a big downfall.
ReplyDeleteAn example of dramatic irony would be that throughout most of the latter half of the play everyone had put together the pieces of Oedipus' problem except for certain characters. An example of verbal irony would be that Oedipus had said that he would banish the murderer and anyone who had any information that was not willing to give it up, when Oedipus really was the murderer and ended up being banished. An example of situational irony is that Laius and Jocasta had their kid sent away with his ankles tied so that he would die, and not fulfill the prophecy they had recieved that he would kill his father. What makes this situation ironic is that by trying to kill their child that ended up putting the prophecy into effect. He ended up surviving and killed his father (not knowing it was his father).
My flaw that gets in the way of my own success is that I tend to procrastinate. So I believe that I can take care of a certain task later when really I should be doing it then, but I do not realize how much it affects me until I'm doing that task at the last minute, like this blog.
Irony? What irony? It's not like the entire play was nothing but irony or anything. :) Dramatic irony would be that the audience already knows the story, while the characters are blissfully unaware that they are in a tragedy (except Tiresias, but he doesn't really seem concerned about the fate of anyone. He is just laughing and saying "I told you so"). The situational irony is that Jocasta and Laius had the child sent away to avoid the prophecy, but that made Oedipus unaware of who he is, causing him to fulfill the prophecy. There is verbal irony in Oedipus' promises to punish the murderer, not knowing that he is digging his own grave.
ReplyDeleteI know that in most Greek tragedies the tragic flaw is hubris, but here I think it is just plain stupidity. Oedipus thinks he can avoid the prophecy by running away. Haha. As if the gods are that incompetent as to allow themselves to be proved wrong so easily. Then stupid Oedipus, upon his arrival to Thebes, doesn't realize that there just might be a connection to the murdered king and the man he killed on the road. And he is idiotic by disappearing from Thebes, because he knows the prophecy and has heard that Polypus and the queen are not his true parents. I'd think it would be safer to stay with the people he knows (ok, he doesn't, but should have figured it out) aren't his parents, instead of wandering around Greece where he could fulfill the prophecy.
My flaws? What a silly question; I have none. Yeah right. We'd be here all day if I listed them.
Just a random connection: Did anyone else think of Mordred? King Arthur, ignorant of who he is, sleeps with his half-sister, the evil witch Morgause (who fully knows who she is sleeping with), and Mordred is born. Merlin makes a prophecy that Mordred will kill Arthur, Arthur tries to dispose of Mordred (actually, not really, that's just Morgause's malicious rumor. Morgause's husband is responsible, as he attempts to get rid of his wife's son by another man, but whatever), Mordred doesn't know who he is (son AND nephew to the High King). Morgause, still looking young and beautiful thanks to her sorcery, tries to seduce Mordred. Yeah gross. She knows who he is. Mordred instinctively refuses, but if he hadn't, any child born would have been his cousing, nephew, and son! Bit worse than Oedipus. And yes Mordred does kill Arthur, knowing he is his father, but Arthur strikes the first blow. Mordred is not the arch-villian; he is AWESOME!
OK, none of the rest of you made the Oedipus/Mordred connection, but I couldn't resist.