Point of View:
In Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the story is mainly told around Oedipus. Sometimes, Oedipus is out of the scene, and the Chorus is speaking, but only as a sort of narration to align the reader's thoughts, mainly about Oedipus.
Characters:
Oedipus begins as the almost godlike king, when he addresses the people of Thebes in their "Huddling at my[Oedipus'] altar, praying before me" (2-3). Oedipus is portrayed as the prime example of a king and a regular citizen. He shows respect to the old Priest, as he is "Helping a Priest to his feet" (footnotes for actions, before L10). Oedipus is shown as the hero who saved Thebes from the mysterious Sphynx, and I suppose Oedipus' legend is well known in the time this tragedy was written. The character of Oedipus is given the heroic traits and called to be on the plane of mortal heroes, or even gods. BUT, Tiresias, the ironically blind seer and prophet, calls down Oedipus' own curse onto Oedipus. He indirectly accuses Oedipus as being the murderer that he seeks. Through the point of view as an audience, Sophocles gives us knowledge that the characters beside Tiresias knows. This narrative voice is triumphant and showy until Tiresias and Oedipus get into their shouting match, in which Oedipus' weakness, hot headedness, is revealed. He is given to loss of control over his actions, and his ideas are unreliable as a result. Sophocles' persuades the reader to side with one character and use that person's bitterness towards others to judge. The blind seer rouses up a storm in the conversation with Oedipus, and since the reader was first given the heroic information on Oedipus, Tiresias' "radical" sayings have a negative effect on the reader. Oedipus' new rage towards Creon also creates a bias against Creon justified by Oedipus' seemingly spotless reputation.
Oedipus Journal 2: Poem by Oedipus
Bold, leaping into challenge
Whipping with undeserved dignity
Following prophecies, not escaping
forces a cringe.
An equal unmatched
to my dearest heart,
releases the hypocrite
now incapacitated.
Truth revealed through lies.
I tell myself this:
I blindly yearn
for my mother's hand.
Sunset flashing beneath the last hill
Blood, the purest of hues
smears my judgment.
I seem to have not saved Journal 3 on my computer and I have misplaced it for the moment. I'll post it when I find it.
Oedipus Journal 4: Letter to Oedipus, from Creon.
Brother, beggar, Oedipus,
Let go of the suffering you have caused. Jocasta is gone, you now fulfill Tiresias' prophecy, and the citizens will begin throwing rocks painted with their miseries at you. You yourself have upset the equality of our joint ruling. Jocasta is gone, and you have gouged your eyes, your sight, your judgement. Remember, with your eyes the suffering did not go. It is only kind of me to allow you your rest; let me take the wheel of this unsightly ship. Already, the people spit at your feet, and even ask me to drive you out! Tiresias saw, and still sees. I pray, Oedipus, that you can break from your name in your suffering and that you may, in your blindness, seek your final vision.
In your search, yield to time, and in doing so, yield to the gods' will, never fleeing them again. You never were in the place to be master over your fate. You stumbled into a slip of fate, and hardly even juggled the unwieldy position of Thebes. Your children, a result of the most hideous of acts, will follow in your shame. You have failed to do many things, Oedipus. Do not fail in leaving further change alone.
Creon
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