Monday, December 22, 2014

Character Identification With Oedipus

In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is easily to identify with because displays how being arrogant will only lead to personal demise. If he did not think he was so great and better than everyone else it may have turned out better for him: hubris (excessive pride leading to disaster). Oedipus believes that he is a god, and displays his arrogance with his rudeness towards the chorus when he calls for them to pray to him. If Oedipus had accepted his destiny, rather than try to run away from it, Thebes may have accepted and forgave him, but this was not the case. Oedipus’s arrogance has skewed his perspective so much that he does not see the truth until he is blind. His blindness allowed him to block out the materialistic world around him and focus on what was really important. For me and all other teens alike it is so simple to become arrogant, whether it is socially, in sports, or even academically. Teenagers tend to focus on becoming popular, getting good grades, or getting jacked, rather than focusing on what is really important: the inside. So I have to ask myself who am I? If I had everything taken away from me and nothing, like Oedipus, would I end up like him? I cannot be constantly comparing myself to others, because by doing that I lose focus on myself and what really matters. If I truly find myself, then if I were to lose everything then I will have the ability to build myself up from the ashes. Oedipus has lost everything; he has nothing left, so he only has one choice: to build himself back up. Oedipus has had a lifetime of experience and his blindness has actually allowed for an improved view on life. He has at an all-time low so there is nowhere else to go but up.

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