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Oedipus Rex Character Analysis

The document analyzes and characterizes several characters from the play Oedipus Rex: Iocaste tries to convince Oedipus to stop pursuing the truth about his past and avoid his inevitable fate. Creon is portrayed as a rational leader in contrast to the arrogant Oedipus. Teiresias desperately wants to save Oedipus from discovering the terrible truth but Oedipus refuses to listen. The chorus represents the citizens of Thebes who are unwilling to question the integrity of their leader Oedipus due to his status.

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Alexander Jr Cusianovic Vallve
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879 views

Oedipus Rex Character Analysis

The document analyzes and characterizes several characters from the play Oedipus Rex: Iocaste tries to convince Oedipus to stop pursuing the truth about his past and avoid his inevitable fate. Creon is portrayed as a rational leader in contrast to the arrogant Oedipus. Teiresias desperately wants to save Oedipus from discovering the terrible truth but Oedipus refuses to listen. The chorus represents the citizens of Thebes who are unwilling to question the integrity of their leader Oedipus due to his status.

Uploaded by

Alexander Jr Cusianovic Vallve
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Alexander Cusianovic

AP Lit. Per. 2
10/20/2015
Oedipus Rex: Character Analysis (Iocaste, Creon, Teiresias, Chorus/Choragos)
Iocaste: “Why think of him? / Forget this herdsman. Forget it all. / This talk is a waste of time”
(1411, 137-139). When Iocasta sees the truth long before Oedipus does, she attempts to mend
the situation by telling Oedipus to stop pursuing his past. Unlike Oedipus, she is satisfied with
leaving what is unknown untouched. Iocaste acts as a voice of reason for Oedipus, as she does
not have the imaginary shield of immunity that Oedipus does; that is, Oedipus is so arrogant
that he thinks nothing bad can come from knowing the truth while Iocaste does not hesitate to
attempt to save herself before it is too late. Despite the fact that knowing the truth might save
the city from the plague, she persistently avoids it, making her a selfish character. This idea of
selfishness and a voice of reason represents the theme that one cannot avoid something that is
inevitable. Iocaste tried to avoid the inevitable when she was given Oedipus’s prophecy and her
decision to avoid it was ironically the reason it realized. Furthermore, her cowardly suicide not
only shows the punishment for her sin, but the theme that suicide is ignoble since she fled into
the darkness of death rather than be exposed to the light of her punishment. Since Iocaste
possess few character traits and does not attain any new ones throughout the story, she is a flat
and static together. Also, even though she is the wife of the protagonist, Oedipus, she
demonstrates antagonism by being the one to expel Oedipus to the mountains as a child and
being the one to stop Oedipus from his main goal: discovering the truth.

Creon: “How could I desire a scepter more / Than what is now mine—untroubled influence? /…
Besides, no sober man is reasonable / I hate anarchy / and never would deal with any man who
likes it” (1399, 76-77 & 84-86). Sophocles uses Creon to reveal the idea of true leadership to the
people of Greece. At this stage of the play, Creon enjoys his freedom of power as the third in
command more than a superficial Oedipus’s scepter. Creon derives his power from his skills as a
statesman while Oedipus derives his power from just his title of king and his noble deed of
killing the Sphinx. Sophocles uses Creon’s intelligence and professionalism to provide a contrast
to Oedipus’s paranoid, arrogant personality in order to demonstrate the theme that a true
leader in a democracy is one who is clear-minded (or sighted), calm, rational, and intelligent.

Teiresias: “How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be / When there’s no help in truth!” (1392,
100-101). Teiresias is one of the many characters in the play who warn Oedipus of the dangers
of his search for the truth; moreover, he is the sight of the play. Teiresias sees past the
blindness of Oedipus and even society, who, as represented by the chorus, readily neglects any
notion of wrongdoing in their elected leader. Teiresias desperately wants to save Oedipus from
his doom, but when Oedipus resorts to belittling him like a child, Teiresias gives up and
unleashes the power of knowledge on him. Although Teiresias may be blind, old, and crooked,
he still is, ironically, the most knowledgeable person in this place, indicating that, in a
democracy, everyone – even the old and the poor—should have a say in the matters of politics.

Chorus/Choragos: “‘Did he look like a man in his right mind?‘/ ‘I do not know. / I can not judge
the behavior of great men’ “ (1397, 18-19).. Choragos is the leader of the chorus; therefore, his
actions and statements reflect the chorus as a whole. Also, it is important to note that the
chorus is a representation of the perspective of the people of Thebes, so Sophocles uses the
Chorus to tell the audience how to act and how not to ask. When questioned about the
rationality of king Oedipus, Choragos states that he cannot judge Oedipus because of his
Alexander Cusianovic
AP Lit. Per. 2
10/20/2015
“great” position as king. Choragos’s inability to address the irrationality of Oedipus solely
because of his title as king reflects the entire Chorus’s (and the people of Thebes) attitude.
Because the citizens of Thebes look so highly upon leaders such as Oedipus, the very idea of a
leader being corrupt and blind escapes the people. Not only is Oedipus Red about the tragedy
of Oedipus, but also a play about the ignorance of the people of Thebes. Blindly, they follow a
leader who is just as blind as they are. Sophocles aims to reveal that while anarchy in a
democracy is detestable, a society must always be willing to judge the integrity of its leaders or
else it is not a true democracy.

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