Truth Revealed in Sophocles´ Oedipus the King Essay

A story of fate versus free will, innocence versus guilt, and truth versus self-denial, Sophocles laces Oedipus the King with suspense through his use of dramatic irony and achieves an excellent tragedy. The drama opens and we meet Oedipus trying to figure out why his land is cursed and his people suffering. His quest to find out who has caused the downfall Thebes ultimately leads to his downfall. We learn of his triumphs as he has saved the people of Thebes by solving the riddle of the Sphinx, and so his character reflects one who has an ability to seek out the truth and also one who has the flaw of hubris. He reacts rashly when confronted by Tiresias and Creon when their revelations threaten his reality. This certainly reflects an†¦show more content†¦Through his pride he mocks Tiresias for not using his â€Å"prophetic eyes† to solve the riddle of the Sphinx and save Thebes as he did. Tiresias response proves Oedipus’ lack of sight and knowledge even further : â€Å"you mock my blindness? Let me tell you this. You with your precious eyes, you’re blind to the corruption of your life to the house you lie in and those you live with—† (469-72) Tiresias has full knowledge of the truth even without physical sight versus a man who has sight but is unseeing of the truth that is literally in front of him. This adumbrates Oedipus’ fate, as he will also become like Tiresias with knowledge but no physical sight. Despite many warnings to let things be, Oedipus persists to know the truth especially since it seems to evade him. He is sure he has absconded the claim of patricide and incest by staying away from his â€Å"parents;† the same way Jocasta and Laius thought they had speared themselves that fate as well. Now, they both disregard prophesies as truth. Oedipus has been accused of killing his father but word has been brought to him that his father, Polypus, has died in Corinth and he exclaims: â€Å"Jocasta, why, why look to Prophet’s hearth †¦to murder my father, did they? That was my doom? Well look he’s dead and buried, hidden under the earth, And here I am in Thebes, I never put hand to sword— †¦But now all those prophecies I feared—Polybus packs them off to sleep with him in hell! They’re nothing, worthless.†Show MoreRelatedOedipus The King Analysis1357 Words   |  6 PagesGreek play, Oedipus the King, shows how easy it is for a man to fall apart, while trying to make things right. Sophocles’ tragedy tells the story of Oedipus, a regular man turned king of Thebes. Throughout the tragedy, Oedipus searches for the cause of the chaos and havoc encompassing his land; however, he discovers that he is the one responsible for the hardships plaguing Thebes. As the tragedy continues, Sophocles’ exposes a dark side to power, fame, and ambition. Further, Sophocles’ exposes theRead MoreEssay on Irony in Sophocles Oedipus the King795 Words   |  4 PagesIrony in Sophocles Oedipus In the play Oedipus, irony is used frequently as and as eloquently by Sophocles to the reveal theme of seeking knowledge. Not knowing the King of Thebes, Oedipus, gives speeches on finding the murderer of the King of Laias and how wretched the poor soil will be when the truth is revealed. Then once more I must bring what is dark to light†¦, whoever killed King Laios might- who knows?-might decide at any moment to kill me as well. By avenging the murder of theRead MoreAssessment Of Knowledge In Oedipus The King733 Words   |  3 PagesIn Sophocles’ play, â€Å"Oedipus the King†, he makes an assessment of knowledge and its effects on the human psyche. To him, knowledge can shape not only a person’s life, but their character, morals and ideals as well. The play emphasizes this through Oedipus, the main character, as someone whose life is impacted by his pursuit knowledge, which, in turn, transforms his character. Consequently, Sophocles’ assessment of knowledge, as a gift, burden, and an absolute truth, is ascertained through Oedipus’Read MoreOedipus The King Analysis800 Words   |  4 PagesOedipus the King Sophocles is widely recognized as one of the greatest drama and play writes of all time. Sophocles’ writing takes place in the classical period. His unique style of writing involves symbolism, archetypal characters and tragedies. This type of style is shown in the â€Å"Oedipus the King† which can consists of either a great man or woman who has fallen. Sophocles paints a clear picture of exercising free will and it’s benefits, and the disastrous effects it can have on ones’ life. OedipusRead More The Search for Truth in Anton Chekhovs The Cherry Orchard and Sophocles Oedipus Rex1281 Words   |  6 Pagesis engaged in the interminable quest for truth. The knowledge that one can never understand everything makes a person wise. Ignorance is the assumption that one can understand all about the world around them. An ignorant person is so confident they comprehend the truth, that they are blind to the greater truth. Anton Chekhov and Sophocles deal with the i dea of this sinful pride that leads to ignorance in their respective works, The Cherry Orchard and Oedipus Rex. In each drama, certain characters areRead MoreStructure Of Oedipus The King1452 Words   |  6 Pagesthis. Of the three Theban plays, Oedipus the King is the finest example of how a drama’s structure and characters heavily contribute to the development of the theme. In the prologue of Oedipus the King by Sophocles, the audience learns that the city-state of Thebes, ruled by a beloved man by the name of Oedipus, is in shambles. However, almost immediately after the audience discovers this, the supposed solution is revealed. In order to cure the city of Thebes, Oedipus must delve deeper into the mysteriousRead MoreOedipus Rex Literary Synthesis1483 Words   |  6 Pages2012 The Tragic Destiny of Oedipus Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex is one of the most well- known tragic plays in existence. Oedipus, the King of Thebes, is the victim of a curse in which he must suffer the tragedy of his own unchangeable fate. The tragic heroism of Oedipus befalls him because of his heroic qualities and his loyalty to his Thebans and to himself. His unchangeable destiny affects so many others throughout the play. These others’ subsequent suffering that Oedipus brings upon them helps contributeRead MoreOedipus And His Tragic Traits. In Sophocles Play Oedipus1017 Words   |  5 PagesOedipus and His Tragic Traits In Sophocles play Oedipus the King, Sophocles depicts the horrible fate of Oedipus, a pompous, arrogant young ruler. The story begins in the Greek town of Thebes. A plague has descended upon the Thebians causing death and famine throughout the land. Oedipus, being the heroic king, takes full responsibility to find out the cause of their aliments. While working to discover the source of the plague, Oedipus stumbles upon the tragic truth of his heritage and the horrifyingRead More Film Adaptation of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex Essay971 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"You are your own enemy† (Guthrie, Oedipus Rex, 22:43). In the film adaptation of Sophocles’ â€Å"Oedipus Rex† (1957), Sir Tyrone Guthrie portrays the characters as truth seekers that are ignorant when trying to find King Laius’ murderer. On the other hand, Sigmund Freud’s hypothesis of Sophocles’ work introduces us to â€Å"The Oedipus Complex† (1899) which states that as w e’re young we grow infatuated with our opposite sex parent and feel resentment towards our same-sex parent. These two pieces have adaptedRead MoreSelf-Discovery and the Pursuit of Truth in Sophocles Oedipus1138 Words   |  5 PagesPursuit of Truth in Sophocles Oedipus It is said that the truth will set you free, but in the case of Sophocles’ Oedipus, the truth drives a man to imprison himself in a world of darkness by gouging out his eyes. As he scours the city for truth, Oedipus’ ruin is ironically mentioned and foreshadowed in the narrative. With these and other devices Sophocles illuminates the king’s tragic realization and creates a firm emotional bond with the audience. Oedipus’ quest is

Lipstick Jihad Free Essays

In Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran, Azadeh Moaveni has written a memoir of growing up first as an American girl born of Iranian parents in Southern California, then as an adult working as a reporter for Time magazine while living in Tehran, Iran. Azadeh Moaveni tells of her jihad (struggle) to develop from a self-centered, spoil girl into an adult with recognition that there are billions of others in the world, each of whom has opinions and beliefs that are equally as important as her own. While living among the community of expatriated Iranians and going to public schools, Azadeh Moaveni sometimes felt she was living a schizophrenic life: at home she was an Iranian daughter of upper middle class Iranians who had escaped Iran just prior to the 1979 revolution that overthrew the Shah of Iran and installed a Moslem Republic in its place. We will write a custom essay sample on Lipstick Jihad or any similar topic only for you Order Now At school and at the mall she felt like an outsider because she was darker skinned and had a name no one could pronounce. She was ashamed of her parents, ashamed of being an Iranian because so many people remembered the taking of the American hostages and harbored resentment against Iranians. Since she felt out of place in California, Azadeh Moaveni had built a fantasy of what her life Iran would be like; it would be perfect. What she fails to realize is that she was really just a typical teenager; no one feels they fit in while going through adolescence; everyone is ashamed of his or her parents and other family members. Although the book isn’t formally divided into two sections, it is in fact divided in this manner. The first four chapters tell of her life growing up in Palo Alto and San Jose and her first few months working as a reporter. The second half of the book tells about her realization that the beliefs and opinions of others matters; she moves from an egocentric worldview to a more realistic, balanced view of the world and her place in it. The first chapter, â€Å"The Secret Garden,† Moaveni tells of her life in the United States living within the Diaspora community of Iranian expatriates. Her parents and others of that generation had been among the upper classes in Iran before the 1789 revolution. In Iran they had lived well, they had servants, and led a life separate from the vast majority of the people of Iran. In many ways they had absorbed the superior attitude of the British who lived and worked in Iran to exploit the considerable oil resources at the expense of the less privileged members of Iranian society. In the United States they lived in their own Iranian community within the California community at large. Naturally they held a positive, nostalgic belief that Iran of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s was the real Iran and they waited for the Shah or his son to return to power so they could go home. Azadeh Moaveni had visited Iran once as a child when she and her mother spent a summer with their relatives in her grandfather’s walled compound in downtown Tehran. In this compound she felt absolutely free. She climbed the trees and ate the fruit of the trees. Due to this memory from her childhood and to the almost fanatical reverence of Iran that the adults around her believed Azadeh Moaveni developed a fantasy of life in Iran. When she was unhappy that fantasy was her escape from the difficulties of the day-to-day problems of being an adolescent. Consequently, when she finished college and was looking for a place to work, she chose to return to Tehran. Azadeh Moaveni called chapter two â€Å"Homecoming† because she anticipated that she would finally be where she should be, among her people, people that could pronounce her name, people who could understand her.   She was to be disappointed, â€Å". . . we had assumed here, in this country where people could pronounce our names, our world would expand. Instead we felt constricted† (Moaveni, 2005). Everywhere she went she found barriers from the officials, from the police, and from the volunteer, Basig, a group of young toughs who enforced the rules of public dress and behavior with force, if necessary. Azadeh Moaveni had an elitist attitude indicated by her opinion of the Basig. â€Å"The Basig were carefully selected in the poorest of neighborhoods and were cultivated to violence with a skillful balance of brainwashing and small incentives.† Certainly the violence practiced by the Basig was wrong, but Azadeh Moaveni’s failure to realize the Basig may not have seen their role as making barriers, but of enforcing the Islamic law established by the current administration. The fact that she speaks of them being from the â€Å"poorest of neighborhoods† indicates an aristocratic slant to her view of those less fortunate than she was. Much of her struggle at this point was a failure to look at any issue from any vantage point other than her own. She was very much the California girl. Her priorities were shallow and self-serving. â€Å"Celine became my first new Iranian girlfriend, guiding me to the best manicurist, waxing lady, and private pastry chef in the city with the shared belief that these were urgent priorities.† (67).   Throughout the remainder of the first half of the book she exhibited similar attitudes and priorities. Even her attempts to practice the precepts of Islam were lacking depth. For Ramadan I had â€Å"resolved to fast, naively expecting to spend the month in harmony with the daily rhythm of the millions of Iranians around me† (Moaveni, 2005). When she realized others she knew did not do, she was disappointed and gave up her fasting. Her fantasy view of Iran had begun to crumble. In the second half of the book, Azadeh Moaveni began to grow. More oppressive violence began to be practiced by the clerical militants in Iran in an attempt to discourage people from voting at all. It was clear to everyone that the reformist President Khatami would win the election, however the more conservative clerics wanted to make sure he did not win with a large enough majority to be able to claim that he had a mandate from the people to make changes and lift restrictions that had been established by the Ayatollah Khomeini when the Islam Republic had been established in 1979. Khatami was reelected with 78% of the vote with 66% of the people voting (Moaveni, 2005). Many of Azadeh Moaveni’s friends had boycotted the election because their vote would mean nothing in a repressive society. She began to realize that the political and educational elite she lived among had little in common with the people who lived in Iran. Their non-voting meant absolutely nothing. It was irrelevant to the majority of people of Iran. For the first time Azadeh Moaveni began to look beyond herself and her class and realize the Iran she carried in her head, was not Iran at all. What she and her friends thought meant nothing. â€Å"About six months after I came to Tehran, I put my labors of self-interrogation to rest, happy to nominally consider myself Iranian from America, but mostly happy just to live, and not consider myself so much† (Moaveni, 2005). When the attack on the United States occurred on September 11, 2001, Azadeh Moaveni was devastated. She couldn’t understand why no one seemed to care. The three thousand plus dead was a small number compared to the millions killed in the struggles in Bosnia, the genocide in the Sudan and Somalia. Thousands of men died in the recent Iran-Iraq war. Both sides in this war were armed by the United States. Azadeh Moaveni began to understand the anti-American sentiment throughout the Middle East. When this book began, I was disappointed. Based on the word â€Å"Jihad† in the title and the fact that it had to do with Iran, I expected something more universal than a memoir of a young woman. I felt deceived as if she had composed her title to attract more buyers who saw the word â€Å"Jihad† and were interested in learning about the Middle East and not at all interested in another teenager comes of age book. Throughout the first half of the book I saw little reason to change my opinion. I became more and more disappointed. Frankly, I did not care about Azadeh Moaveni or anything she did or thought. She seemed to be little more than a typical upper middle class teenager who thought the center of the universe coincided with her particular location at any particular moment. She was self-centered, arrogant and egotistical. By the time I had read half of the book, I was suffering from a Jihad of my own and wondered how I would be able to stand Azadeh Moaveni for the rest of the book. However, in the second half this changed. Azadeh Moaveni became a woman, a real person who understood that there were other people besides herself and her circle of friends and relatives. She recognized there were millions of people in Iran, and in California for that matter, who lived and struggled and died. Each of them was just as much a person as her educated, young, elite friends, and her relatives who had been made wealthy under the Shah and had made their wealth at the expense of workers in Iran. By the time I finished reading the book I had come to appreciate it. It was a Jihad for Azadeh Moaveni, a struggle to grow from the girl with childlike fantasies about life into a woman with sensitivity and balanced worldview that was not populated by solely her friends and relatives. It is a book well worth reading, not only for those who like coming of age stories, but for those interested in learning about the Middle East and America’s role in the development of its current political, religious and ideological structure. It can help the reader begin to understand the anti-American attitudes of other countries. Interestingly, the United States has in many ways behaved in the past the way Azadeh Moaveni did in the first half of the book: like a spoiled, self-centered child. Hopefully we will see the same growth that Azadeh Moaveni experienced begin in the United States and its interactions with other countries and peoples. References Moaveni, A. (2005). Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran. New York: Public Affairs, a member of Persius Books Group.    How to cite Lipstick Jihad, Essay examples

Child Neglect, Abuse and Juvenile Delinquency free essay sample

Child Neglect, Abuse and Juvenile Delinquency Many would argue that child neglect will lead to juvenile delinquency in the future. There have been many studies that have attempted to prove that there is a strong connection with child abuse and or neglect with juvenile delinquency. However, there is no strong evidence to prove this to be true. Just because there are many common factors with all three, they tend to believe that they are all entwined one way or another. Some of these factors are poverty, violence in the home, poor mental health, single parent or not having both parents present in the household, one being the disciplinary and the other the weaker of the two therefore no consistency in discipline and supervision, lack of attention, distant from other family members and friends. These kids will build a wall and feel that no one can be trusted and cocoon themselves from society. We will write a custom essay sample on Child Neglect, Abuse and Juvenile Delinquency or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This will lead to them becoming rebellious and become hostile around people, even when these people are trying to lend a helping hand. In today’s world, people tend to categorize child neglect and abuse as being the same, but these are two separate types of abuse or crime. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act also known as CAPTA, (42 U. S. C. A. Â §5106g), as amended by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003, defines child abuse and neglect as, at minimum: Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation; or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm. Most Federal and State child protection laws primarily refer to cases of harm to a child caused by parents or other caregiver; they generally do not include harm caused by other people, such as acquaintances or strangers (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2008). Neglect is results of abandonment of a child while under their parents care, for example not enough food, proper housing, medical care and love. Signs of child neglect are very hard to see unless the child speaks out and lets someone knows what is happening. Where abuse is more apparent and easier to see, it includes sexual, physical and emotional abuse towards a child which lso at times include many of the above mentioned traits of neglect. Several early reviews of studies examining the relationship between child maltreatment and delinquency concluded that knowledge about this relationship was limited because of methodological problems inherent in prior studies, including reliance on retrospective designs and lack of contro l or comparison groups of non-abused and non-neglected children. In addition, early findings on the relationship between child maltreatment and violent criminal behavior were sometimes contradictory (Cathy Spatz Widom, 2002). According to a raw study conducted by C. W. Wisdom in 2002, she conducted four studies in four different regions of the United States. The Midwest research included subjects that were arrested before they were 18 years of age and at the time of the research they were at least 18 and it does not include status offenses arrests. Now this was just on one of the four studies she conducted during her research. Out of the 908 subjects the following percentages were abused and neglected juveniles, 21. 6% were arrested for numerous crimes; 14. 6% for property arrests; 7. 9% for order and 5. % for violence offenses. Now this was just on one of the four studies she conducted during her research. Now according to her research these subjects were abused and neglected, most of these juveniles were approximately 17 years of age at the time of the study. The onset age for some were around 18 years of age at the time they were arrested, the average number of arrests were about 6 to 7, the recidivism percentage was 2-4 arrests and the chronic offenders had a 5 plus arrests. Now these are sad numbers to see when these subjects have yet to have lived long enough to see any better. Working in the legal field for nearly 19 years, one can’t help but to agree that there is some kind of association between child neglect and juvenile delinquency. Nonetheless, there may be others that have walked the same roads that I have and will disagree with this statement. Being raised in what back then was considered a perfect home environment for many, when listening to many of the kids in the neighborhood talk about their upbringing, what went on behind closed doors that no one saw, and what they have grown up to be, will allow anyone to believe that child abuse, neglect nd delinquency have something to do with one another. There are multiple remedies that will possibly lessen the outcome to juvenile delinquency. For starters all members of the family should involve themselves in improving the overall home environment these kids are being raised in. Become more involved in their upbringing, schooling and providing equal parental responsibility. In the community more re sources and programs to keep these kids occupied and out of the streets. A bored mind is a wandering mind and will always look for a challenge and ways to entertain themselves even if it means getting into trouble. Offer community outreach programs and activities where they don’t have to be in the streets, selling drugs, hanging around gangs. Have authorities get involved before they become criminals and again just like the family and the community, police and departments like Department of Children and Families can actively all work together to assure that kids that are being abused and neglected get removed from the cause and at least offered a way to live a normal and better life before it is too late for them. In conclusion, although sad as it may be some of these abused and neglected kids fall to the cracks and become juvenile delinquents not because they chose to but it’s because the way they were raised and they definitely were not taught any better. Society for many have turned their backs on them, and unless we do something to help them before it is too late the numbers that were provided in the case study referenced in this paper are going to unfortunately get higher and higher. One helping hand can make a difference and at the end others will surely follow because one person cared to help. ? References Cathy Spatz Widom, P. 2002). Understanding Child Maltreatment and Juvenile Delinquency: The Research. Retrieved July 31, 2011, from www. cwlaa. org Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2008). US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. Retrieved July 31, 2011, from US Department of Health and Human Services: www. hhs. gov Lundman, R. J. (1993). Prevention and Control of Juvenile Delinquency, 2nd Edition. New York: Oxford Press. Trickett, P. K. (2011). Child Maltreatment and Adolescent Development. Retrieved July 31, 2011, from Journal of Research on Adolescence (Blackwell Publishing Limited), 21(1), 3-20.