Oedipus the King Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Oedipus the King - Essay Example All this happened because he tried to escape the predictions that he will commit these mistakes. He ran away from his foster parents, thinking that they were his real parents and ran into the horror all by himself. Oedipus represents the basic predicament of human beings trapped in the unknown spheres of their own destiny. In the beginning, he laments the suffering of himself and everyone else in the inflicted city of Thebes, without realizing that the cause for it is his sinful actions: Oedipus can be seen as belonging to the Greek culture which operated on the pragmatic aspects of life which included action at the expense of introspection though the element of piety was a major element in their day-to-day existence. In a broad analysis, it is possible to analyze Oedipus as a Dionysian representation in Greek terms, exhibiting sudden action, excesses, violence, ruthlessness, and so on. The Apollonian representations, on the contrary would depict contemplative action with due emphasis on intelligence over impulse Terry Eagleton, in his Holy Terror (2005) observes how in Sophocles’s Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus â€Å"is transformed into a tutelary deity, protecting the citizens of Athens from assault† (15) and states that the Dionysian impulse for violence is normally a reaction to â€Å"lack of piety† (16). In Oedipus the King, the question of morality is not strictly the concern of its protagonist, a man of action. He kills Laius where the three roads meet, because he was denied his freedom to proceed further. Even as he was troubled by the need to discover his identity, Oedipus does not try to find out the identity of the people whom he attacked and killed. He did not exhibit any sense of guilt even as he had to narrate this incident to Teiresias, after many years. Even though Oedipus has committed his sins unknowingly, the thoughtless actions from his side are not to be discounted, especially as he was