Oedipus Quotes

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Oedipus —King of Thebes after King Laius died —From Corinth and thought to be the son of Polybus and Merope —Fled to Thebes after the oracle told him his fate —Solved the riddle of the Sphinx and became king —Dynamic character —Motivation is to find King Laius’s murderer —But later finding out the truth —Tragic flaw of his blindness results in his downfall —Concerned but arrogant Jocasta —Wife and mother of Oedipus —Ignorant and did not want to know the truth relating to Oedipus’s patronage as she believes that the prophecy may in fact be true —Static character —Motivation is that she wants to prevent Oedipus from knowing the truth — Very hypocritical of the God’s and prophecies —One minute she is talking about disbelief while at another point…show more content…
—Context- said by Creon towards the end of the play as he is talking to Oedipus who is about to be exiled from the city of Thebes —Significance is that it shows how Oedipus tries to control his life by fleeing from his parents so that he will not fulfill the prophecy Quote from Teiresias —“Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man that’s wise.” (Sophocles 342-343). —Context- Tiresias says this while talking to Oedipus about his fate. —Teiresias knows the truth about Oedipus and his real parents, causing him to say how terrible some forms of wisdom may be. —Significant as it shows that wisdom can sometimes have little benefits to a man as it can become very detrimental to one’s life Quote from Oedipus —“Because of all these things, I fight in his defense as for my father, and I shall try all means to take murderer of Laius” (Sophocles 283-286) —Context- This is said by Oedipus as in his speech to the citizens of Thebes explaining how he will find the true murderer of king Laius —Dramatic Irony as he is the murderer of King Laius and is also the true son of…show more content…
Two Gods of Mount Olympus became interested including Poseidon and Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom. Both God’s presented Cecrops with gifts so he could choose one. When Poseidon presented his gift to Cecrops, he uses his trident and created a well for the city. But, this well had salt water instead of freshwater. Athena presents an olive tree to the city symbolizing peace and prosperity. The king chose Athena as the God for Athens causing Poseidon to become enraged. (“The Contest of Poseidon and Athena”) —After the king of Athens chose Athena, Poseidon became very enraged and set a curse on water shortage throughout the city of Athens —A major problem in Athens after this curse was little water among the city (“The Contest of Poseidon and

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