Tragedy of Oedipus Rex Essay Example For Students

Tragedy of Oedipus Rex Essay Brooks and Heilman wrote Understanding Drama in 1948. Their combined experience and efforts in research of the play, Oedipus Rex, give them the opportunity to become co-authors of their essay. Cederic Whitman, in 1951, also wrote an essay about Oedipus Rex entitled Sophocles: A Study of Heroic Humanism. Being published at Cambridge shows his knowledge and experience. The essays together explain their beliefs of Oedipus as a tragic hero. However, Cecil Bowra, author of Sophoclean Tragedy, published at Oxford in 1945, believes that the role of the gods effects the outcome of Oedipus Rex. Brooks and Heilman plus Whitman combined successfully refute Bowras belief in the role of the gods. We will write a custom essay on Tragedy of Oedipus Rex specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Brooks and Heilman believe that Oedipus is a true tragic hero. They begin to say that Sophocles chose to portray Oedipus as a true tragic hero and an object of fate. Oedipus refused to accept the accusations Teiresias had told him. Oedipus needed proof. Going against the will of the gods, he sought to find the truth. Finding the truth, he can no longer stand himself and gouged out his eyes and asked to be banished. Since he did attempt to fight his fate, instead of running from the accusations, he is a hero for standing tall in his quest for the truth. Cederic Whitman also believed that Oedipus was a tragic hero. He believed also that Oedipus was not an object of fate, and that standing up for himself made Oedipus a hero. Whitman realized that Oedipus cannot be guilty of the crimes he committed, because he had done so unwittingly. Whitman continues on that the gods cannot be just if Oedipus is morally innocent. To say that the gods helped Oedipus to kill his father and marry his mother is ridiculous. It was Oedipus negligence to the oracle that damned him to his own fall. Bowra, against Brooks and Heilman and Whitman, believed that the gods played a major role in Oedipus Rex. Bowra believed that Sophocles intended to show the gods at work. He goes on saying that Oedipus is just a parody. The gods humiliated Oedipus to show the people that there is a lesson to be learned. There is indeed a lesson to be learned, but their gods do not exist, therefore the gods are not teaching anyone a lesson. Oedipus was an object of fate, not an object of the gods. Bowra then said that Oedipus blinded himself to make peace with the gods for his past actions. Sophocles established that Oedipus did not believe in the gods. Brooks and Heilman along with Sophocles stated that he blinded himself to save himself from the humiliation of his actions. Brooks, Heilman, and Whitman all believe that Oedipus is a true tragic hero. Together they successfully refute Bowras belief in the gods. It is true to say that Oedipus is a tragic hero instead of a toy of the gods. With their combined experience, Brooks, Heilman, and Whitman presented a wonderful essay showing that Oedipus is a true tragic hero.

Childhood Memories Essay Example

Childhood Memories Essay Example Childhood Memories Paper Childhood Memories Paper Lesson 8 By 1900s the meaning of American identity at home____________ excluded more people than previously Progressive reformers were primarily concerned with____________ making democratic capitalism work better American women of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries found that the settlement house movement_________________ was a good place to use their talents to help society Progressives launched the social purity movement to___________________ attack prostitution and other vices Progressives justified segregation on the grounds that it_________________ provided for a more stable society As a reform governor of California from 1911 to 1917, Hiram Johnson_________________ supported the initiative, referendum, and recall The Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire illustrated the_______________ need for government regulation of working conditions Taken together, President Theodore Roosevelts actions in the anthracite coal strike of 1902 and the dissolution of Northern Securities in 1904 demonstrated that the government________________ intended to act independently of big businesses The Federal Reserve Act of 1913______________________ was the most significant piece of domestic legislation in Wilsons presidency Progressive reform illustrates that___________________________ legislation makes a difference Lesson 9 President Wilsons foreign policy was based on_____________ his belief in moral duties The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914 led to a war in Europe because___________________ of military, economic, and political rivalries In exchange for it neutrality in World War I, the United States insisted on______________ free trade with all nations at war After the Germans sank the Lusitania, President Wilson______________________ threatened a break in diplomatic relations with Germany The immediate cause of President Wilsons decision to ask Congress for a declaration of war against Germany in 1917 was_____________________ German submarine attacks on American vessels in the sea lanes to Great Britain Progressive management of World War I at home was illustrated by all of the following EXCEPT_______________ businesses were all nationalized The committee on Public Information was created by President Wilson to_______________ stir up patriotism through posters, pamphlets, cartoons, and press releases Arrival of American troops on the front lines in 1918 was critical because they provided all of the following EXCEPT______________________ messages demanding unconditional surrender The Versailles treaty was a bitter disappointment to President Wilsons supporters, but his Fourteen Points were honored in the inclusion of___________________ the League of Nations The Red scare of 1919 and 1920 was a_______________________ reaction to labor unrest, Russian Bolshevism, and terrorist attacks Lesson 10 In general the 1920s can be characterized as a period which________________ new values clashed with old values The Republican administrations of the 1920s believed that__________________ business regulation should be kept to a minimum Fordism implies all of the following EXCEPT____________________ auto workers are better off with strong union representation One key element in the expansion of the consumer culture in the 1920s was_______________ commercial advertisement on radio broadcasts The Harlem Renaissance is a term that refers to_______________________ black American intellectuals and artists who stressed self-confidence The National Origins Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reid) had the effect of___________________ restricting the number and type of immigrants who could enter America The Ku Klux Klan gained support in the 1920s because of_____________________________ reaction to immigration and urbanization The trial and eventual execution if Sacco and Vanzetti symbolized__________________ the anti-foreign hysteria of much of the 1920s The Scopes Trial ended with_____________________________ deep divisions between still apparent between rural and urban America Herbert Hoover won the presidential election of 1928 for all of the following reasons EXCEPT___________ Republican control of inner city voters Lesson 11 When Herbert Hoover moved into the White House in 1929, the U. S. economy was marked by______________ a huge disparity in wealth between the rich and poor One of the biggest weaknesses of the stock market in the 1920s was_______________ over extension of credit On the international level, the Great Depression deepened when the_______________ industrial nations raised protective tariffs As the United States slipped into the Great Depression in the early 1930s, President Hoovers most generous response was to lend government funds to__________________ American banks, insurance companies, and railroads Those hardest hit by the Great Depression were_______________ the unemployed, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers In the video, The Great Depression, Professor David Kennedy observes that the tendency of Americans in the 1930s to blame themselves for the depression illustrates the_____________ dark underside of the American value of individualism The outcome of a protest by three thousand farmers who dumped thousands of gallons of milk into ditches during the Great Depression was______________ an increase in the publics awareness of farmers grievances During the Great Depression__________ socialist and communist groups attracted more American members Lesson 12 All of the following were priorities of Roosevelt when he first took office EXCEPT__________ civil rights legislation to end the practice of lynching The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation____________________ guaranteed bank customers that the federal government would reimburse them for the deposits f their bank failed The Civilian Conservation Corps was developed by the Roosevelt administration to__________________ give young men jobs on conservation projects During his first Hundred Days in office, President Franklin D. Roosevelt_________________ gave hope to the American people Although government allotments under the Agricultural Adjustment Act greatly benefited some farmers, the program did not address the needs of_______________ tenant farmers and sharecroppers The Works Progress Administration, which operated from 1935 to 1943______________ generated jobs for thirteen million unemployed men and women After a confrontation at the AFL convention in 1935______________ John L. Lewis proceeded to organize the CIO. The Social Security Act of 1935 provided___________________ old-age pensions, aid for dependent children, and unemployment insurance The New Deal Political Coalition consisted of all of the following EXCEPT_______________ business executives One of the most impressive achievements of the New Deal was __________________ that the United States did not need to abandon democracy to confront the nations economic crisis Lesson 13 Roosevelts good neighbor policy was designed to_____________ replace the countrys often belligerent relationship with Latin America with a more cooperative one In the video, Road to War Professor Calvin L. Christman makes the point that Adolf Hitler wanted war in the 1930s in order to do all of the following EXCEPT____________ gain control over oil supplies in the Middle East The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 was calculated to___________________ make armaments available to Britain The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was part of the Japanese plan to____________ knock out American naval bases in the Pacific Internment of Japanese Americans___________ left deep psychological wounds on those detained During World War II, members of ethnic minorities in America___________ fought in large numbers in the armed forces By the end of the war, the nations efforts to mobilize the economy had resulted in______________ all of the above-more jobs than workers to fill, manufacturing plants operating at full capacity, a federal budget of more than $100 billions In authorizing the Committee on Fair Employment Practices, President Roosevelt______________ risked offending his southern political allies In the video, Road to War, a theme common to people remembering World War II was________________ spirit of sacrifice Lesson 14 Allied strategists in World War II decided to______________ concentrate on their forces against the Germans first The Allies insisted on unconditional surrender of the enemy in World War II because they__________ thought a mistake was made by not doing so in World War I A contentious issue among the Allied leaders during the early years of the war centered around___________ establishing a second front against Germany The outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad was significant because______________ Russia could now go on the offensive against the Germans The primary significance of Operation Overload and D-Day was that it_____________ opened a second front against Hitlers forces One of the keys to Allied victory over Germany was________________ maintaining effective coordination of their strategy throughout the war All of the following help explain the lack of vigorous action by Franklin Roosevelts administration regarding the plight of European Jews EXCEPT_________________ persecution of the Jews was unknown until the death camps were liberated The Battle of Midway was significant because it________________ allowed the United States to go on the offensive in the Pacific The Japanese defense of Okinawa included the use of_____________ kamikaze pilots The primary reason for using the atomic bombs on Japan was to_____________ force Japan to surrender without an Allied invasion One of the most significant results of World War II was that_____________ the United States emerged as a superpower