Questions On The Guilt Of Oedipus - 1574 Words

Section II: Counterarguments Free Will and Hamartia Counterargument #1: P. H. Vellacott for Free Will Many classicists believe that Oedipus’s fall is due to his Free will and the decisions he makes. Those who hold this belief hold that Oedipus made his own decisions, which is what led to his fall and that he was not compelled by some external source. P. H. Vellacott is a strong supporter of this theory. As such, in his famous essay, â€Å"The Guilt of Oedipus,† Vellacott argues that, factually speaking, Oedipus must have at one point thought to himself, â€Å"If the man I killed was my father, and if I overcome the Sphinx and marry the queen, the oracle will be exactly fulfilled, and I shall have only myself to blame,† (Vellacott 213). In other words, Oedipus, knowing the prophecy given to him, must have understood the risk he was taking in possibly fulfilling the prophecy. What Vellacott is claiming then, is that Oedipus made the choice to approach the Sphinx, in turn risking the fulfillment of that awful prophec y for the reward of a throne. Furthermore, Oedipus, in making this choice brings upon himself the curse that we are addressed within the Oedipus Rex and it is his fault alone, because he chose to take a risk. In Sophocles play, there was no investigation of the murder of king Laius; â€Å"Oedipus: Trouble? What could have kept you from investigating the death of your king? Creon: The Sphinx. The Sphinx was confounding us with her riddles, forcing us to abandon our search for theShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Oedipus The King  ¸ Jocasta 1078 Words   |  5 PagesSuicide is a desperate act that puts forward a clear yet sombre statement to their audience. Keeping this is mind, the question arises, why do people commit suicide? In Sophocles’ play, Oedipus The King ¸ Jocasta who is both wife and mother to Oedipus is an excellent example of why one might commit suicide due to two major themes. The first theme is pride and manifests itself in Jocasta’s prideful character. The second theme is prophecy and its relation to suicide is found it Jocasta’s actions afterRead MoreGuilt And Regret Essay1338 Words   |  6 Pages Facing and Handling the Burdens of Pain, Guilt, and Regret Analyzing how guilt and regret stick with one forever not to mention the constant weight of pain, Oedipus and Amir the (main characters) confront guilt, regret, and pain in hopes to relieve themselves from the burdens. Guilt and regret two things everyone should be very familiar with because they tend to co-sign together. However, let’s not forget about pain; it may haunt one forever. After all everyone knows what they did/didn’t doRead MoreOedipus Rex Character Analysis994 Words   |  4 PagesGuilty Woman Within the drama Oedipus Rex, Iocastà ª becomes a central figure of the controversy surrounding the arising destruction of Thebes. The kingdom of Thebes has become the victim of a sickness causing the death of crops, animals and people. The King Oedipus has sent his brother-in-law to the Oracle of Delphi to discover the problem that is plaguing the kingdom. The Oracle reveals that in order for the plague to end, the murder of the previous king must be found and killed. In the hunt ofRead MoreA Greek Play Created By Sophocles1608 Words   |  7 Pagesplay created by Sophocles around 335 BC, Oedipus the King tells a story about one man’s irony to find the previous’ king’s murderer to seek justice. Oedipus stops at nothing to find the killer. As he questions the citizens, he only finds himself to be the killer. In this essay we explore how one major event can create multiple forms of conflict. The conflicts of Human vs. supernatural, the predestined fate of Oedip us and the gods. Human vs. human, when Oedipus heeds no warnings and stops at nothingRead MorePride Can Hinder People From Taking Other s Opinion Into Account1500 Words   |  6 PagesPride can hinder people from taking other’s opinion into account. Sophocles wrote the play Oedipus The King to accentuate that pride can lead to smugness and prevent an individual from listening to others. Oedipus, the protagonist, takes pride in his wisdom due to solving a riddle to become a king. As a result, he embarks upon a journey to unmask the culprit behind King Laois’ murder to free his people from the plague. However, during the process, the prophet, Teiresias, warns him that it might bringRead MoreSophocles Oedipus The King992 Words   |  4 PagesThroughout tragedies in Greek literature, the hero always has one tragic flaw. In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus’ main flaw is his overactive hubris, which in turn clouds his overall judgment. This is evident in the Chorus’ first ode to the city of Thebes as they try to ask the Gods for the banishment of the plague. Their answer does not come from a deity, but from Oedipus himself as he enters the palace and says, â€Å"You have prayed; and you prayers shall be answered with help and release ifRead MoreTrue Character of a Man1019 Words   |  5 PagesOedipus is a great King, and an even greater man, as Sophocles presents Oedipus in the play Oedipus the King. Oedipus originally comes to Thebes as a young man avoiding an awful fate and finds himself rescuing the people of Thebes from the Sphinx. Oedipus is wise as he speaks with her and deciphers her riddle, â€Å"What goes on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three at evening?† giving the answer of â€Å"man†. Little did Oedipus know this riddle would be an analogy of his life as King in ThebesRead MoreOedipus Rex Motifs And Symbols1319 Words   |  6 Pages Oedipus Rex Motifs and Symbols The paths (3 crossroads): Expressed three independent ways Oedipus could have chosen to continue his life, and Oedipus chose the inferior road. Oedipus’s legs: Oedipus’s damaged legs and feet symbolize his painful upbringing. As well as this, it represents his mental health, which is damaged just like his feet. Vision: Oedipus can actually see, while Tiresias is actually blind. Yet, even though he can see, Oedipus is blind enough to not recognize that he killedRead MoreThe Role of Fate in Oedipus the King Essay1051 Words   |  5 Pages Fate played an important part in the plays and literature of the Greeks as is shown in Sophocles play Oedipus Rex Sophocles lived during the Golden Age of Greece. He is renowned as one of the greatest dramaticist of western literature. He was a greek through and through as he held important political positions, and he even served as the priest of the haling diety Amynos. During his life tragedies were popular plays of the greeks, and Sophocles noted for his writingRead MoreComparison of Othello and Oedipus the King Essay525 Words   |  3 Pages *INTRO*The character Oedipus in the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles, and the character Othello in the play Othello the Moor of Venice by Shakespeare are both tragic characters. Oedipus ends up killing his father, and marrying and having children with his mother, whereas Othello ends up mistrusting and killing his wife. These two individuals have similarities and differences in several aspects such as the roundness of their characters, the retribution that they incur upon themselves and upon

How A Quilt Is Unique, And Prospects For Restoration

So you ve inherited a family quilt, and discovered that it has deteriorated over the years. The normal aging process of textiles cannot be halted, but there are some things that can be done to help restore a quilt to its former glory. Every quilt is unique, and prospects for restoration will be different from quilt to quilt, but if your heirloom is in poor condition, this is the place to go for information about getting help for it. As stated on the homepage, Don t let your family quilt sadly crumble away. Click on this website link, Heirloom Quilt Restoration at www.restorequilts.com and you will find lots of information about caring for your vintage quilt, and how to store it properly. If you decide that your quilt may need some restoration or repair done, you can see that the process is tailored to the individual needs of each quilt. The specific needs for each quilt will differ. Since there are so many types of deterioration that can affect a quilt, it is important to find out w hat the specific problems are and what some possible solutions are. You can t un-do the ageing from normal use or previous poor storage conditions, but you can learn how to properly care for and store your heirloom to avoid causing additional damage. If you want to have an evaluation done, there will be a small fee charged. When you email for more information, you will receive an offer to email any pictures of your quilt and its damage for a no-cost assessment. Specific recommendations orShow MoreRelatedLaundry Shop- Business plan6416 Words   |  26 Pagesproviding quality services and products that will meet the needs and wants of our customers. There are many groups of individuals in the Sydney Central Business District; a concentration of high disposable income families who can afford to pay for Restoration and Dry Cleaning, a number of small families who have limited income, and need maximum return on every dollar they spend, those who have plenty of time on their hands, thos e who are time-poor, as well as individuals who live in high-rise small apartments;

I The Better Part of Justice Free Essays

Through two separate cases and decisions respecting the affirmative action policy at the University of Michigan, the Supreme Court offered two opposite opinions on the same question—striking down the university’s undergraduate College of Literature, Science and the Arts (LSA) affirmative action policy (Gratz v. Bollinger, 6-3) in 2003 and upholding the University of Michigan Law School’s (UMLS) affirmative action policy (Grutter v. Bollinger, 5-4) at the same time. We will write a custom essay sample on I: The Better Part of Justice or any similar topic only for you Order Now However, the specific reasoning for each of the two different opinions explains the court’s seemingly contradictory rulings. In the Grutter v. Bollinger decision of this reverse discrimination challenge, the Supreme Court agreed that the State had a compelling interest in an ethnically diverse student body at UMLS which afforded applicants who are ethnic minorities a greater regard in their candidature for acceptance to the law school. UMLS considered candidates holistically and did not award them points solely on the basis of their ethnic minority status. The Court held that the practice is not prohibited by the U.S. Constitution and was in keeping with the narrow tailoring set forth by Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978) for how affirmative action admission policies might be devised when informed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Moreover, the Court said that the affirmative action policy ought not to be permanent and should be replaced by a color-blind policy after twenty-five years at which time affirmative action in admissions should no longer be necessary. Concerning Gratz v. Bollinger, the Court’s opinion was opposite the Grutter case finding that the affirmative action policy used by LSA was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Unlike UMLS, LSA automatically awarded points to ethnic minority applicants on the basis of their minority ethnicity alone as opposed to the special consideration of each candidate as an individual like UMLS did. Thus, the Court sided with the plaintiffs against Bollinger because of the automatic nature of the preferential treatment of ethnic minority candidates for no other considerations than race. This was viewed as a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution because the numeric system was not narrowly tailored and failed to meet the standard of strict scrutiny. It is clear from these two cases and Supreme Court decisions that affirmative action as a means to student diversity was not in contention for the Court but rather the administration of any such policy. The how was the real heart of the matter and not whether such a policy was needed at this point in time in American history. As in almost any case, it is the details that ultimately determine the court’s as well as the public’s opinion on an issue before them. II: The Affirmative Action Controversy Ironically, Boatright’s â€Å"No† (p. 179) column against affirmative action on the whole were more compelling arguments in support of why the U.S. government should implement affirmative action in employment and in education than the â€Å"Yes† (p. 178) column favoring the policy. Although Justice O’Connor appealed to research in social science in her composition of the majority decision, like the â€Å"Yes† column arguments seem to do, the logical thinking of the â€Å"No† column appeals to reason and justice. When relevantly compared to the almost four centuries of societal and institutional discrimination and prejudice, the view that affirmative action promotes a victim mindset is an incompetent argument and becomes fallacious. The logical argument is that the very maltreatment itself is the greatest cause of any sense of victim identity as it would be in a criminal case (e.g., rape, assault, mugging, etc.). Contrarily, affirmative action is likely to foster a sense of relief or appreciation like when the criminal that victimized someone is caught. Furthermore, special consideration in getting a foot in the door of a school or job does not ‘taint’ the work or confidence of individuals—as we see from the privileged access white ethnics have enjoyed in the Americas since the 1600s—who understand the difference between access and performance and are often anxious to prove their worth for which the lack of access is a barrier. Once access is granted to those it has been denied, they desire to â€Å"succeed or fail on an equal basis† (p. 179) just as any other privileged class claims to desire. Although racial tensions may arise, it is a stretch of the imagination to argue that affirmative action is somehow worse than racial prejudice and discrimination respecting racial tensions or anything else. One day the pernicious effects of racial discrimination may well be in the past like American slavery is but they are not past yet. Sparing white ethnics from reverse discrimination sometimes is inadequate as a defense for maintaining the status quo in the quixotic hope that institutional prejudice and discrimination against ethnic minorities will someday just fade away. Certainly, the abundant evidence of discrimination is comparable to the special preferences afforded war veterans, Holocaust victims, 9/11 attack victims, their families, and affected businesses as well as displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina. Like the Tsunami victims in 2004 half the world away, the U.S. government recognizes by its own actions that victims of disaster, domestically or internationally, require some type of preferred assistance to overcome the devastating effects of something inflicted upon them. Victims of the long-lasting effects and consequences of the peculiar institution of slavery in the U.S. are just as deserving of special consideration as victims of events or forces that warrant special attention from the FEMA or the Red Cross or any number of other governmental and non-governmental organizations domestically and internationally which are dedicated to providing assistance to affected persons with particular regard to race. For example, these organizations would not locate themselves in England but in Ethiopia or Indonesia or Haiti. Moreover, because the aim of affirmative action is to increase ethnic diversity in colleges and universities and access to employment it does not explicitly quash the special privileges enjoyed by white ethnics with regard to access to higher education or gainful employment. The idea that race-neutral criteria can work, or are even just in this job/school context given the longstanding social history of the condition, to correct the tremendous inequities caused and maintained by institutional discrimination against ethnic minorities is unrealistic at best and underhanded in the least. It essentially is an argument for the status quo because it offers no compelling alternative public policy by which the object of ending racial inequity in schools and the labor market is begun. It would restore the privileges of the ethnic majority unabated while relegating the ethnic minority(ies) of the nation to feed on the scraps from the table of the descendants of their former slave masters. It takes no stretch of the imagination to see how such a non-policy policy would be the very framework of wider racial tensions on par with the widening gap between rich and poor in the United States. References Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003) and Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003). Writs of Certiorari to the United States Court Of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Nos. 02-241, 02-516). Retrieved April 29, 2007, from http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2003/feb/grutter_vs_bollinger.pdf    How to cite I: The Better Part of Justice, Essay examples