Character Development in the Oedipus Cycle - 875 Words

In the Oedipus Cycle Sophocles conveys a powerful message through his charactersÂâ€"that with experience comes wisdom, and with wisdom comes the ability to see the truth. Oedipus is the man of unyielding pride and arrogance, Creon, his brother, is the crafty politician, and Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus, is perceptive and righteous. These three characters personae play a major role in making the idea of truth tangible. In the beginning of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus is still riding on the power high he received from solving the riddle of the sphinx and becoming King of Thebes overnight. When presented with the news of the plague from the local priest, Oedipus is eager to once again flaunt his skills and save the city of Thebes. Once†¦show more content†¦When Oedipus realizes what the gods had in store for him, Creon benevolently grants him all of his wishesÂâ€"to oversee his daughters safety and to exile him from Thebes. This character is markedly different from the Cr eon in Oedipus at Colonus. In the second play of the cycle Creon comes to Oedipus, Â…generous in words, but in reality evil. Creon attempts to attain the throne by gaining Oedipus favor and he cunningly tries to manipulate the chorus emotions so that he can avoid conflict. Unfortunately, for all of Creon s cleverness, Oedipus manages to get the upper hand and Creon demonstrates the length he will go to meet his ends by kidnapping Oedipus daughters. This brutality extends into Antigone but absolute power transforms his manipulation into outright tyranny. Creon finally achieves the ultimate dream of any politician and he relishes it so much that one of the first things he does as king is to decree that no one touch the body of Polyneices. Once he realizes the error of his ways, like Oedipus, Creon is too proud and arrogant to accept the facts. He believes, Â… all that I do is within my rights, yet his irrationality and blind fury is evident when he states that both si sters should be killed and then immediately changes his decision afterwards. He still refuses to retract the death sentence from Antigone until it is too late, thus reaping the death of his family. The consequences Creon incurs enable him to comprehend that the will of theShow MoreRelated Tragedy In Drama Essay1713 Words   |  7 Pagesworks from Agamemnon to Hamlet, one sees the range of development of the tragic form, from the earliest Greek to the later Shakespearean tragedies. There are two basic concepts of tragedy: the concept introduced by Aristotle in his Poetics, and the concept developed by Frederick Nietzsche in his quot;The Birth of Tragedy.quot; Many dramas can be reviewed to reveal the contrast between these two concepts of tragedy, and demonstrate the development of the tragic form over time. 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