Oedipus Rex has influenced artists and thinkers around the world for more than two millennia. The childhood prophecy about Oedipus, that he would kill his father and marry his mother, has been fulfilled, though with Oedipus’s full ignorance of the significance of his actions. He also knows Jocasta tried to kill her own child. Chance rules our lives, and the future is all unknown.
Quote 14: "[Oedipus] knew the famous riddles. He was a mighty king, he was the envy of everyone who say how lucky he'd been. That's what the words of prophecy defined." Copyright © 1998-2020. Oedipus is a proud man, he is praised as the King of Thebes and the defeater of the Sphinx, but it is his pride, his own belief that he is a good man who is favored by the gods, that leads him to unravel this very belief. Apollo didn't cause this boy to be his father's killer. Oedipus recalls the prophecy he received as a young man only when Teiresias again prophesies the same fate. Line 1314, Quote 13: "to live where time allows, and have a better life than the man who fathered you." concepts. The Best Dramatic Monologues by Greek Playwright Sophocles, Tragic Flaw: Literary Definition and Examples, Antigone's Monologue in the Classic Play by Sophocles, Writing About Literature: Ten Sample Topics for Comparison & Contrast Essays, Eteocles and Polynices: Cursed Brothers and Sons of Oedipus, M.A., English Literature, California State University - Sacramento, B.A., English, California State University - Sacramento. ", As Oedipus and Jocasta return to the palace, the Chorus takes the stage, describing Oedipus in not so flattering terms: "Pride breeds the tyrant violent pride, gorging, crammed to bursting with all that is overripe and rich with ruin.... Can such a man, so desperate, still boast he can save his life from the flashing bolts of god? You with your precious eyes, you're blind to the corruption of your life, to the house you live in, those you live with-who are your parents?

Line 717, Quote 9: "send him to the fields, the sheep pastures, so far he couldn't even lay eyes on Thebes." ( Sophcles 1) ~ The quotes states that there is a plague going on in the land and is killing innocent people. 21 of the best book quotes from Oedipus the King, “E’en intolerable ills, Finding right issue, tend to naught but good.”, “Words scare not him who blenches not at deeds.”, “Monster! Creon. While you're alive, you must keep looking to your final day, and don't be happy till you pass life's boundary without suffering grief." | “This day will bring your birth and your destruction” Someone tossed it in a mountain wilderness. CHORUS No marvel if in such a plight thou feel'st The double weight of past and present … He hasn't yet realized he is the murder and is thus cursing himself—a curse that will later be carried out. This is a testament to Oedipus’s character that he is willing to accept a harsh, self-administered punishment, and accept it with all the grace he can muster. In the situation in which he says this line, Oedipus is dealing with the newfound fact that the people who raised him were not his parents.

At the end of the play, the irony is that Oedipus is still greatly under the guidance of Fortune, but rather than favoring him, it destroys him. These lines are spoken by Oedipus before he is aware that the prophecy he tried avoid has come true. It tells the whole prophecy becomes true, but Oedipus does not know it. 21 of the best book quotes from Oedipus the King #1 “E’en intolerable ills, Finding right issue, tend to naught but good.” author. A humbling lesson—Sophocles shows how Oedipus' hot temper and hubris provoked Teiresias and set his own downfall in motion. “Fear? What makes these particular lines ironic is that Oedipus is known not only to the people of Thebes for defeating the Sphinx, but by the actual theater audience because of his terrible fate, which had long been known through the retelling of myths. Line 761, Quote 10: "if a man's contemptuous, and goes along with acts and speaks without respect for what is right and doesn't revere statues of gods, then let a sorry fate destroy him - for this perverse pride - since he unjustly reaps rewards, does not respect what's godly." Oedipus now knows he has fulfilled the prophecy he tried to escape years before—the same prophecy Jocasta tried to avoid. The city is beset with a plague and many of Oedipus's citizens are sick and dying. Sophocles. Line 451, Quote 4: "blind, though now he sees - and poor, though now he's rich - he'll use a stick to guide his steps into another land." The following Oedipus Rex quotes convey information about themes, symbols and motifs or the characters of the play. We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Oedipus utters these words to his daughters, Antigone and Ismene, at the end of the play before being cast out of the city. “I thought it wrong, my children, to hear the truth from others, messengers.

Oedipus Rex. He thinks that because his patronage is unknown, that Fortune must be his mother, since he has been gifted with greatness. Sophocles.

Oedipus’s realization is the turning point of the entire trilogy. Quote 12: Oedipus' cloud of darkness is "inescapable, unspeakable, unstoppable, driven by cruel winds." ", Using Jocasta's brooches, Oedipus gouges out his eyes, screaming, "You, you'll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Nothing I could see could bring me joy. By using our site you consent to our use of cookies. Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen, blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! All of the prophesies have come true despite everyone’s attempt to circumvent what has been foretold. (Sophocles 12) ~ Tiresias,the blind prophet, is telling Oedipus the man that murdered King Laius whom he is looking for is himself.Oedipus believes that Tiresias does not know what he is talking about while Tiresias argues that he is not wrong. Provoked by Oedipus's offensive words, Teiresias finally hints at the truth. words actions afraid #3 “Monster!

Let me grant your prayers. book. In a grotesque scene, Oedipus screams these lines after he blinds himself. What's happening is that Teiresias, a prophet, refuses to tell Oedipus who the murderer of King Laius (Oedipus's father) is. There are many translations of the play, these quotes and line numbers refer to the translation by Robert Fagles The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus, published by Penguin Classics (1st edition). In darkness now you'll look on those I ought not to have seen, and not know those I yearned to know,'" Line 1268, Quote 12: Oedipus' cloud of darkness is "inescapable, unspeakable, unstoppable, driven by cruel winds."
Line 1514. ", Oedipus gives his famous quote: "O god-all come true, all burst to light! These lines are spoken by Oedipus before he is aware that the prophecy he tried avoid has come true. By doing this, Oedipus also helps the prophecy to come to past. He also accuses Creon, the person who brought Teiresias, for planning this perplexing scene in an attempt to undermine Oedipus. This image, juxtaposed with Oedipus's dark and twisted past, revealed later in the play, makes his downfall even more striking. These lines are spoken by Oedipus before he is aware that the prophecy he tried avoid has come true.

He was a mighty king, he was the envy of everyone who say how lucky he'd been. thy silence would incense a flint.”, “May the god who sent this oracle Save us withal and rid us of this pest.”, “I seemed forsooth too simple to perceive The serpent stealing on me in the dark.”, “I am not so infatuate as to grasp The shadow when I hold the substance fast.”, “Thou lov’st to speak in riddles and dark words.”, “Offspring of endless Night, thou hast no power O’er me or any man who sees the sun.”, “No living man can hope To force the gods to speak against their will.”, “Yea, I am free, strong in the strength of truth.”, “I have sent Menoeceus’ son, Creon, my consort’s brother, to inquire Of Pythian Phoebus at his Delphic shrine, How I might save the State by act or word.”, “Not for some far-off kinsman, but myself, Shall I expel this poison in the blood; For whoso slew that king might have a mind To strike me too with his assassin hand.”, “Many, my children, are the tears I’ve wept, And threaded many a maze of weary thought.”, “This day shall be thy birth-day, and thy grave.”, “Thou art the man, Thou the accursed polluter of this land.”, “A blight is on our harvest in the ear, A blight upon the grazing flocks and herds, A blight on wives in travail; and withal Armed with his blazing torch the God of Plague Hath swooped upon our city emptying The house of Cadmus, and the murky realm Of Pluto is full fed with groans and tears.”, “Alas, alas, what misery to be wise When wisdom profits nothing!”, “Crave not mastery in all, For the mastery that raised thee was thy bane and wrought thy fall.”, “Thus then I answer: since thou hast not spared To twit me with my blindness—thou hast eyes, Yet see’st not in what misery thou art fallen.”, “Wretch, may he pine in utter wretchedness!”.

- Oedipus. Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) is a famous play by the great ancient Greek tragedian Sophocles. OEDIPUS Dark, dark! Here, Tiresias prophesizes Oedipus' tragic fate. This is the first piece of information Oedipus gets in discovering how he unwittingly committed incest and patricide. Like Oedipus, Caesar receives a dire prophecy that proves tragic. Line 1514, Quote 14: "[Oedipus] knew the famous riddles. “What good were eyes to me? This line also foreshadows the origins of Oedipus, the death of his wife, the loss of his sight, and the decree he pronounced on Laius's murderer being carried out upon Oedipus himself.