Oedipus themes

Question 1

Fate vs freedom (free will)

Answer 1

power, prophecy, helplessness, resistance, excape, fate, chance, luck, family, origin

FATE:
prophets or seekers (like blind Tiresas) saw visions of things to come. Oracles (priests like the ones in Delphi) were believed to interpret the gods’ visions, giving prophecies to those who sought to know the future.
- Oedipus is doomed to marry his mother (Jocasta and kill his father, Laius.

FREE WILL:
the abiloity to determine the course of your future, control your destiny, the belief that the future is not predetermined and that Oedipus can fightb against the prophecy.
- Oedipus’ destruction does not come from the actions themselves, but from his persisting desire to uncover their whole truths, which reveal their true nature.

OEDIPUS argues that while it is impossible to fight againt or avoid one’s fate, how you respond to your fate is a matter of free will.

Question 2

knowledge vs ignorance

Answer 2

blindness, sight, knowledge, denial, embatrassment, naivety, silence, hypocrisy, oblivion.

Question 3

Guilt & shame

Answer 3

disgrace, guilt, shame, embarassment, plagues, suffering, despair

Question 4

Punishment vs Justice

Answer 4

revenge, blame, violence, doomed, cursed, plagues, suffering, grief, corecction

Question 5

Authority vs powerlessness

Answer 5

Leaderhsip, authority, duty, sacrifice, power, impulsivity, irrationality, decisiveness, contemplation, action, reflection, class

Question 6

Hubris vs humility

Answer 6

shame, pride, ego, heroism, self importamce, irony, narcissism, arrogance, class, bevnevolence, generosity, maganinity