Maheen Khan
ENG2D7-04
Ms. Wittlin
Friday, April-02-10
Oedipus Journal Notes
Oedipus Character Study
Oedipus is a great ruler
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Oedipus is the master of riddles which ironically is “my greatness [Oedipus]? Your [Oedipus] great misfortune and ruin.” (38)
Irrational behaviour
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Because he is worshiped (equal to God) he is punsihed
Secondary Characters
Creon
Foil to Oedipus (See Seminar topic Foils to Oedipus)
Creon has the most screen time.
Ironically in the beginning Creon has no desire for kingship. Yet, when he overly excited when he is made King.
We learn in Oedipus at Colonus that he is willing to fight with his nephews for this power, and in Antigone Creon rules Thebes with a stubborn blindness that is similar to Oedipus’s rule. This is ironic because Creon has seen Oedipus’ down fall, and is aware of the cause.
He is bossy and bureaucratic, intent on asserting his own authority therefore no sympathy
Tiresias
a blind soothsayer of Thebes, in King Oedipus and Antigone.
In King Oedipus, Tiresias tells Oedipus that he is the murderer he hunts.
In Antigone, Tiresias tells Creon that he is bringing disaster upon Thebes, and again the King in power doesn’t believe him.
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The literal blindness of the prophet points to the metaphorical blindness of those who refuse to believe the truth about themselves when they hear it spoken
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Jocasta
Is Oedipus’s wife and mother, and Creon’s sister.
Jocasta is in the ending of King Oedipus.
She tries to create peace between Oedipus and Creon
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She is comforts Oedipus
As Jocasta solves the riddle of Oedipus’s identity before Oedipus does shows she is wiser than Oedipus
She...