Response Paper for the Ancient Tragedy Book - Essay Example

The story shows us that bad deeds and false pride can only lead to one’s destruction and pathetic death. Human suffering The suffering undergone by Oedipus is so extreme and intense that anyone will be heartbroken. The suffering of Oedipus is not equal to the crime committed by him. According to (Evans 109) “The play Oedipus begins with Oedipus at Colonus as a wandering blind beggar,completely depended on charity and on support of his loyal daughter Antigone”. The first suffering faced by Oedipus is the downfall of the city.

The figure Oedipus has come to be knows as a ‘tragic hero’ due to the sufferings he faced. Oedipus into the later part of the story has to walk with a swollen feet which is implied to the misery he brought to himself by killing his family members and losing his kingdom. His fall from the royal status and happy matrimony to shameful banishment has become the symbol of the reversal of fortune. Oedipus as an extreme example of human suffering is exposed to the terrible storms of destiny that relentlessly break upon one and all.

Oedipus suffered extreme physical pain and was exiled from his country. Oedipus received a death of surrogate a nature and had the worst of sufferings of both the worlds. When he finds his mother suicide and realized he has married his own mother he blinds himself. “"Dark, dark! The horror of darkness, like a shroud, Wraps me and bears me on through mist and cloud.Ah me, ah me! What spasms athwart me shoot. What pangs of agonizing memory?".This shows his agony as a blind man. Later his son’s kill each other and he no longer remains the king of Thebes which is inflicted by plague.

Death Death is a recurring theme in the story of Oedipus as it has the background of war occurring between Thebes and Orchomenus.As per (Charlene)“Death is prevalent throughout the play and all of the deaths are fated to happen”. The central plot of the story is the investigation of the murder of King Lais of Thebes. In the story the major event is that of Oedipus killing his own father unknowingly. This event was prophesized to Oedipus by an oracle which he ignored and mocked. Oedipus killed his father has a retaliation and killing one’s father was the most heinous crime.

Death can be observed throughout the play. The opening of the play itself depicts the death of both of his sons. The brothers fought over the throne and killed themselves. The character Antigone also hanged herself in the cave. So here we can se e the terrible death of the daughter of Oedipus. The wife of Creon also hangs herself hearing the death of her son Haemon.The next major even is the suicide of Oedipus mother and wife Jocasta.Jocasta kills herself because she came to know that her son who is also her husband killed his own father and her former husband.

Ultimately it was the tragic death of Oedipus which was only witnessed by Thesus. “Sun, daylight, which has been no light to me for years, I saw you once. I remember how good you were. And now I can still feel you, your life-giving warmth, and here on my face for the last time. Now I go down with faltering steps to the last darkness, the blindness of eternity”. This quote shows how Oedipus was urging for death from God as punishment for his cruel deeds. Fate and free will Central theme of the story of Oedipus is that of free will of individual and fate .

Here the free will possessed by Oedipus to acquire