Customer Reviews

Oedipus Rex (Dover Thrift Editions)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles was a very good reading because of the way that the author is able to throw the reader for a curve ball. Sophocles was very good at making the reader unsure of what was going to happen. Every couple of scenes the author is able to make the reader say to himself/herself, "Wow I didn't see that one coming!" It is writing like this that makes an author like Sophocles go down in the history books for all time.
I believe that Sophocles' purpose in writing this story is to get the reader to wonder whether we as humans have free will to choose or if we are just puppets in the hands of fate. I believe that Sophocles tries to convey this question throughout the entire play not just in specific scenes and it all comes out in the end. The reason why I say that this is the theme is because if you look at what the oracle said to Laius he said that their son, Oedipus, would kill him and marry his wife. In order to try and prevent such a drastic ending they sent their son away in hopes that he would be killed. It came about however that when Oedipus was older he heard this prophecy and not wanting to kill his adopted father ran away. On his journey he met five men that looked wealthy so Oedipus needing some supplies killed all the men but one and stole their stuff. Oedipus decides that he wishes to go to Thebes and live in that land. There was a great famine in the land of Thebes however and the only way to stop it was to answer a riddle given by the great sphinx. Oedipus was the one to solve this riddle so in honor of his achievements he was to become king and marry the queen whose husband had died. It just so happens that the man that Oedipus killed was Lauis his father and the prophecy also came true that he would marry his mother. This raises the question of did Lauis and his wife really have a choice as to what Oedipus would do or was fate just giving them a chance to think that they had gotten off safe and that the prophecy would not come true.
This reading of Oedipus Rex has made an impression on me personally. One of the things that I have learned through this reading is that I should not just believe what I hear on Sunday morning about free will. I learned that these things are better to investigate on your own rather than just take it by faith in other people's beliefs. In a way that is what Lauis and Jocasta did. They took a chance and tried to alter fate by sending Oedipus away. They later found out that trying to mess with fate would not work. That is another lesson that I learned from this reading. If the gods or God is determined to have something to do then he will bring out predestination and overpass free will. That is exactly what the gods did in Oedipus Rex they said the prophecy and Laius tried to prevent his disastrous end and the gods saw that they had to do something in order for their will to be accomplished. In the end the gods had the supreme reign over what was to happen and nothing that Laius did could stop the god's will.
Though one could go on and on for a long time about the many life lessons and the main point of Sophocles' writing this play it is time to bring this entire thing to a close. A brief review of my opinion on Sophocles' purpose for writing is to get the reader to question whether he and the people around him have free will or are they just puppets in the hands of the puppeteer. The main life principal that you can get from this reading is that in the end when all hell breaks loose on earth it is not the humans will that will make a difference. The decision on life and death then rests on the hands of God and the only thing you can do is become part of his kingdom.

"Oedipus" is an excellent story of ironic occurrences. Irony is a main theme in the book. "Oedipus" is a story about a boy that is entangled in a situation of incest and hubris, and later on in his life, as a man, he learns of the mistakes that he has made and retaliates strongly. It is a well written story, giving great detail in each line and each statement. My thoughts on the book is that it was a little disturbing thinking about how his life had to have been and how he dealt with his problems. Overall, I think that "Oedipus" is a great book and should be read by a mature audience.

Yes, I agree with Kosh's review. As a matter of fact Sophocles was so great (inspite of being a moldy old ancient Greek dude) that this individual has been remembered for over 2300 years. Wow, that's like immortality isn't it!

Oedipus Rex is an older story that is still read today. Many have had to read this story because it is required in a high school course or college course. Oedipus Rex is a story that one could simply hate or love.
Oedipus Rex is a tragic story that deals with a motif of sight and blindess. Predistination also plays a big factor throughout the story. Oedipus was left on a mountain to die because King Lauis was given information from Apollo, the God of Truth. Apollo said that Lauis would be killed by his son, so he got rid of him, or so he thought. The King is killed and Oedipus comes to Thebes and answers the riddle correctly, which places him as the King of Thebes. Oedipus, unbeknown to him, marries his mother, Jocasta. Throughout the story, Oedipus is searching for the person that murdered King Lauis. In the end, Oedipus finds out the truth about himself and the whole ordeal. Oedipus comitted a gruesome act of raking his eyes out.
My thoughts on this story are somewhat mixed. I didn't really care for the story, but it kept my attention. The details such as the ones above helped to keep my attention. I would not choose to read this story, but it was a required reading. All in all, the story wasn't all that bad.

Sophocles' Oedipus Rex was a part of a trilogy of plays he wrote around one family. This play was the middle of the three, and it revolved around one man, Oedipus, the king of Thebes. Oedipus had a prophecy that said he would marry his mother after he killed his father, so after he was born to Laius, king of Thebes, and Jocasta, his queen, he was abandoned in the countryside to die with a spike through his ankles. But he was found by a farmer, and given to a ruling family in Corinth. After he got to be of age, and heard the prophecy, he ran away to avoid the curse, hoping that by getting away from his family, he could keep from bringing them harm. He traveled until he got to the "place where three roads meet", where he crossed paths with a party of travelers. There was a scuffle, and he killed them all, save one, including an older man. He continued on until he met up with the Sphinx, a creature who had been terrorizing Thebes for some time. He defeated it by answering its riddle, and the people of Thebes were so glad that they made him king, since there old king had just recently been reported to have been killed by a band of robbers. All is well, and he rules there until everything starts dying. Come to find out that it is because Apollo is cursing the city-state because of Oedipus' unknown sin of killing his father, who was the old man at the crossing, and sleeping with his mother. Tiresias, a blind prophet, reveals the truth to Oedipus, who doesn't want to hear it. The play revolves mostly around the pride of Oedipus, who refuses to listen to any of his advisors, his wife/mother Jocasta, or his brother-in-law/uncle Creon. In the end, once all is revealed, Jocasta kills herself, and this agony causes Oedipus to stab out his eyes. The play ends with Oedipus leaving the city-state with Creon in power.
Sophocles' main purpose in writing this play was to address two main issues. The first was the issue of hubris, or pride, and how it can cloud your view of things. This can be shown by the actions of Oedipus, who was counseled by not only Creon and Jocasta, but also by Tiresias, the blind seer. Tiresias tries to warn Oedipus that the reason for all the trouble in Thebes is his own sin, but Oedipus ignores him, and brashly proclaims that the man who killed Laius must be killed. Tiresias even comments on the irony of his being blind but able to see the truth, but Oedipus' ignorance of it though he has his sight. Oedipus' sin and inability to bring himself to listen to those who are more knowledgeable than he are what bring him to even accusing his own brother-in-law of trying to take the throne from. He becomes paranoid and distrustful, and is eventually driven to the brink of insanity. He becomes desperate to find the truth of what is really happening, even though he begins to realize that the truth will destroy him, and maybe all those around him as well.
While I read this play, another, perhaps more subtle twist that Sophocles threw in there became apparent to me. Throughout the play, both Jocasta and Oedipus are shown to be trying to escape their fate, their destiny, by their own human actions and endeavors. But in the end, they find that all their attempts, all their efforts to change their future, were in vain. The prophecy that was given at Oedipus' birth comes true, and there is nothing that they can do to stop it. I thought that this was an interesting commentary by Sophocles on our role as humans compared to fate. It seems that Sophocles felt that no matter what we do, our destiny is set in place, and is unchangeable, no matter what course of action we take. I'm not sure if I agree with that, but it seemed to be a sentiment that he felt needed to be conveyed to his original audience, the Greeks. He obviously felt that the gods they worshipped were in control of fate and destiny, totally, and that humans should just resign themselves to whatever was to happen to them.
Personally, I enjoyed reading this play. It was a good storyline, with several good points, and even could be found to spark some interesting discussions questioning fate. I found myself growing because of this book, not physically, but spiritually, because I was forced to question: are we in control? Does our fate rest in our own hands? Or are we controlled by some cosmic, impersonal force that doesn't care about us? As a Christian, I found this question very interesting, and I would recommend everyone who reads this book to consider it as I did.

"Woe! Woe! It is all plain, indeed! O Light, This be the last time I shall gaze on thee, Who am revealed to have been born of those Of whom I ought not-to have wedded whom I ought not-and slain whom I might not slay!" Page 42, Oedipus discovers the truth. How sad, indeed, to find out that one has fulfilled such a God forsaken prophecy. Would it have been better if Oedipus had never been born? Would the prophecy have been fulfilled had Oedipus' parents not given him away?
That's one of the many questions left up to the imagination. But the stand that Sophocles chose was the stand on destiny. Destiny can not be changed or avoided. That's the impression I'm left with after reading this book. The prophet told the King and the Queen that their son was going to kill his father, the King, and marry his mother, the Queen. In light of this information, the King and Queen decided to do away with this Evil child.
Through the irony of destiny, this child makes his way back to the city of Thebae. If only to fulfill this prophecy. And the Queen, the mother! How horrific a deed for a mother. None other so disgraceful, so distasteful. Her deeds were justified. Suicide! There was no other way.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something entertaining. Not many books capture my attention, none as much as this one, I assure you. Oedipus Rex is a tragedy of riddles. A riddle to discover oneself.

The novel Oedipus Rex by Sophocles is a classic tale of a tragic hero. It has proven to shock the readers and bring out the empathy for humanity. No man deserves such devastation, but fate's hands chose him. I have read read this novel twice and with each time I grew a cloud of sympathy for this poor soul. Oedipus grew to be a good, great man and carried such prestige it seemed as if he was invincible, unfortunately his story was only unfolding. The confidence he carried made it impossible to defy such grace, but when Oedipus found out about the horrible secret that had lingered his whole life, it brought about a downfall that left an imprint in history. This classic tale will forever be remembered and will remain one of my favorites.

In english class we are reading the story "Oedipus Rex." I think that the story is ok. I think that it is very interesting. Although some of the story may be hard to understand at times,once you go over what each paragrah means it makes more sence. I would recommend this book for other ninth graders to read. I think you will enjoy this. Especially if you like Greek Mythology. Therefore my overall review is good. :

Ordered as new and that is exactly what I received. The text will be used by my son for his ancient literature class. Excellent source.

Oedipus Rex was a good play about Greek Theatre. It was really hard to read, so you had to go over it more than once to understand it fully. It did a good job of showing how fate could control your life and how it is impossible to overcome it. The Greek people believed that fate dictated what you were going to do in life and not even the gods could control it. The play was kind of slow getting to the point, but the basic idea was good.
Sophocles' main purpose in writing this play was to get the point across that you cannot run from your problems. They will eventually find you out. When Jocasta and Laius found out from an oracle that their son Oedipus would kill his father and Mary his mother they wanted to keep it from happening. They decided to pin Oedipus' ankles together and leave him to die on a mountain. The reason they did this was because they believed that fate could not be changed. Because of fate someone gave Oedipus up for adoption. So no matter what Oedipus' parents did, things would always turn out the same way. Later Oedipus killed some people in his way not knowing that one of them was his father. He then became King and married Jocasta without knowing that she was his mother.
I have learned from Oedipus Rex that the truth will find you out whether you want it to or not. Do not do something wrong in the first place because it might not only hurt you but in the end hurt people around you as well. Oedipus wanted to find out the truth of Laius' slayer. When he started to find out information that was against him he wanted to avoid it, but finally it caught up with him. I also learned you should not judge people by their appearance. People that have disabilities are not always unintelligent; some of them are actually pretty smart. Something really interesting is that Oedipus was making fun of a blind man named Tiresias who knew everything. In the end though, when Oedipus found out the truth he blinded himself. Also his wife/mother killed herself. It turned out that Tiresias was actually right and Oedipus was not. The person who could not see knew more than Oedipus who could see.
I have also learned a lesson about losing your temper and not thinking carefully about what you are going to do. If Oedipus had not gotten angry at the travelers he encountered, he would not have killed his father. Because of this he would not have married his mother. His lack of control led from bad to worse.
According to Sophocles you cannot run from your problems. Therefore you should try to do what is right. If you run from your problems, they will keep on getting worse and worse until it is too late. Don't make the same mistake that happened in Oedipus Rex. It is better to confront your problems and resolve them. If you look for the truth you will eventually find it.