One of the chorus' roles in the play is to change the plot and affect the main characters' thoughts and actions. The chorus urges moderation for Oedipus and tries to steer him in the right direction. While Tiresias and Oedipus are fighting the chorus tries to stop them and solve the problem, "If we may make a suggestion-both his words and yours, Oedipus, seem to have been spoken in anger. This sort of talk is not what we need-what we must think of is how to solve the problem set by the god's oracle." (27). Although the chorus gives good advice throughout the play, Oedipus does not listen, but tries to prove Tiresias wrong and evade his fate by proving he did not kill Laius. One of the roles of the chorus is to try to help Oedipus, but he does not listen.

While Oedipus is changing throughout the play as more of his past is revealed to him, the chorus changes in the same ways. In the beginning of the play, the chorus disagrees with Oedipus and tries to persuade him otherwise, but he pursues his fate. Near the end of the play when Oedipus learns his fate and gouges out his eyes, the chorus feels pity for him, because he pursued his fate, found it, and learned he lived a very terrible life, "O suffering dreadful for mankind to see, most dreadful of all I ever saw...I pity you." (95). The chorus also changes in that they feel bad for Oedipus and are relieved that he finally found his fate, "And Oedipus-poor wretched Oedipus- has he now some rest from pain?" (94).

The chorus also acts to evoke emotion from the audience, and to intensify these emotions. Since the chorus is starving, poor, and plagued, they evoke a feeling of pity from the audience. They also evoke hatred or anger towards Oedipus and intensify the audience's dislike of him because he is the ruler of a kingdom whose people are living in terrible conditions, "There is no way to count the pains we suffer. All our people are sick. There is no sword of thought which will protect us. The fruits of our famous land do not ripen. Our women cannot ease their labor pains by giving birth...The city is dying, the deaths cannot be counted." (12).

The chorus plays a large part in shaping the plot of this play, and evoking emotion from the audience. They change alongside the tragic hero, cause the audience to dislike him, and try to help Oedipus to do the right thing.

The theme of sight vs. blindness is a very prevalent theme in Oedipus the King. The two most affected characters by this main theme are Oedipus, the king, and Tiresias, the blind seer. Oedipus is affected because while he is not literally blind, he is blinded by ambition to find the killer of Laius, and blind to what is happening around him. Tiresias, who is actually blind, is a prophet and understands what is happening around him. Oedipus does not understand what is happening around him, but can see, while Tiresias is the opposite.

Oedipus, whose eyes are fully functional, does not see how corrupt the life he has been living is. Tiresias, a seer, tells him his destiny, and he fails to see that it is the truth. Tiresias also says, "You do not see the evil in which you live." (25). Oedipus questions Tiresias and calls him a liar, "You have no power or truth. You are blind, your ears and mind as well as eyes." (25). Oedipus and all of the other characters in the play who can see with their eyes, are blind to their current circumstances and cannot see the truth.

Tiresias, who is blind, but knows the truth, is the only person in the play who can figuratively "see." When Tiresias gives Oedipus his prophecy, Oedipus is flabbergasted and ignores what Tiresias says, "Say what you like. It will all be meaningless." (25). Oedipus accuses Tiresias of making up his prophecy, showing how blind to the circumstances he is, "Was it Creon, or you, that invented this story?" (26). Tiresias, the blind man, sees and understands the circumstances of the kingdom Oedipus is living in, while Oedipus, who can see and lives there, does not.

The theme of sight vs. blindness also creates a very ironic situation in the play. Tiresias, a blind seer, sees and reveals the truth to Oedipus, who can see, but does not understand what is happening around him. Tiresias provides a very clear example of this ironic situation in saying, "I am what I am-a fool to you, so it seems, but the parents who brought you into the world thought me sensible enough." (29). Tiresias is a prophet and he speaks the truth, so most people believe him, but Oedipus does not because he is blind to the world around him. The irony Tiresias is involved in is one in which a blind man reveals the truth to a man who can see.

In the play Oedipus The King people who can physically see are blind to the truth and what is happening around them. People who are physically blind can see the truth.

Oedipus, whose eyes are fully functional, does not see how corrupt the life he has been living is. Tiresias, a seer, tells him his destiny, and he fails to see that it is the truth. Tiresias also says, "You do not see the evil in which you live." (25). Oedipus questions Tiresias and calls him a liar, "You have no power or truth. You are blind, your ears and mind as well as eyes." (25). Oedipus and all of the other characters in the play who can see with their eyes, are blind to their current circumstances and cannot see the truth.

Tiresias, who is blind, but knows the truth, is the only person in the play who can figuratively "see." When Tiresias gives Oedipus his prophecy, Oedipus is flabbergasted and ignores what Tiresias says, "Say what you like. It will all be meaningless." (25). Oedipus accuses Tiresias of making up his prophecy, showing how blind to the circumstances he is, "Was it Creon, or you, that invented this story?" (26). Tiresias, the blind man, sees and understands the circumstances of the kingdom Oedipus is living in, while Oedipus, who can see and lives there, does not.

The theme of sight vs. blindness also creates a very ironic situation in the play. Tiresias, a blind seer, sees and reveals the truth to Oedipus, who can see, but does not understand what is happening around him. Tiresias provides a very clear example of this ironic situation in saying, "I am what I am-a fool to you, so it seems, but the parents who brought you into the world thought me sensible enough." (29). Tiresias is a prophet and he speaks the truth, so most people believe him, but Oedipus does not because he is blind to the world around him. The irony Tiresias is involved in is one in which a blind man reveals the truth to a man who can see.

In the play Oedipus The King people who can physically see are blind to the truth and what is happening around them. People who are physically blind can see the truth.

To begin with there is evil. Evil can be anything because it all depends on where one draws a line between acts of good and bad. The characteristic of evil is mostly seen in the ruler Creon.

The first thing that Creon did was take over after his father died because he wanted to be powerful and to raise his pride. However with this pride and power Creon didn’t have a care in the world and he didn’t think about any of his actions.

Without even realizing it he had accused Antigone for burying her brother when his ordinance was really unmoral. This is why he fits the characteristic of evil because he blamed Antigone for doing something that wasn’t wrong.

In addition, he sentenced her to death because of burying her brother and that is really unjust of him. Last of all, the fact that Antigone was going to be the wife of Creon’s son and he still sentenced her to death. He obviously wasn’t thinking of how his actions would affect other’s because his son loved Antigone. All in all, it is quite obvious why Creon was characterized evil in this tragedy.

The next event is suffering and death. Suffering can be defined as many things but agony and pain from loss but most of all suffering only causes more suffering because bad cannot bring out anything other than more bad until it stops at a death. Suffering is seen after Creon sentences Antigone to death because that is when everything starts to go downhill.

It was not only Antigone who was suffering all of the time because of loosing her family, it was also Creon’s son because his wife that he loved was sentenced to death so he killed himself which provided even more suffering. In a domino effect from the son’s death the mother killed herself because she couldn’t stand the loss of her son.

Which left Creon alone suffering because of his own decisions that he made to kill Antigone. Therefore, suffering eventually leads to death and is a factor that was included into this story.

The last factor for a tragedy is a hero. A hero in the end who is depressed because of what they could have done to actually save someone. The hero in Antigone is Creon again. The only reason why Creon is the hero is because at the end of Antigone he finally realizes that his law was against the gods’ wishes, so he tried to fix them by giving Antigone’s brother a proper burial. However, by holding a burial first, he gave Antigone time to kill herself.

If he had just saved Antigone first than the dominoes wouldn’t have fallen over at all. Everyone would have been save and lived happily ever after, but that is not how tragedies come to end. Finally, with all of the deaths that the want to be hero had caused, he was left with an empty world with no one left in his world that meant much to him.

In the end, all ended like a tragedy should. The audience learning a lesson. That one should think before he acts, and that sometimes moral laws come before ones set by man. Its astonishing that one could kill three people with just one mistake of not paying attention. Also the Prophet even told him that what he was doing was wrong, and he still didn’t fix it correctly.

If only he had thought things through than he wouldn't have lost his son, his wife or his future daughter-in-law, Antigone. Therefore, evil, suffering with death and a desecrated hero are all exponents of Antigone that all turn it into a tragedy.

Antigone defies Creon's order, saying that she is honoring the law of the gods by burying Polynices. She says that the law of the gods comes before the law of man. Angry at Antigone's defiance, Creon has her thrown in a cave. After he does this several tragic occurrences befall Creon's family (his wife Eurydice, his son Haemon, and Antigone all kill themselves in the end). Antigone shows the conflict between the law of Creon, the main character of the play, and the law of the gods.

Creon, not Antigone, is the main character of the play because the main conflict involves Creon and the gods. The gods have a law giving everyone the right to be buried, and Creon disobeys this law causing tension between him and the gods. Antigone is simply caught in this conflict. She is in trouble with Creon for defying his law and, because of the sins of her father; she is in trouble with the indiscriminate law of the gods. So, Creon is the main character because the conflict is between him and the gods.

The conflict of the play is between Creon and the gods, between the law of man and the law of the gods. Creon does not want Polynices to be buried because of his treason against Thebes. This rejection of burial rights puts Creon into conflict with the gods because they have a law that gives everyone a right to a proper burial. By going against the gods, Creon is basically upsetting the constant cycle that the pagans strongly belief in (pagans belief that history constantly repeats itself).

For instance, a person lived for a certain period of time and then they eventually died. After they died, they were required to be properly buried, no matter what kind of person. The gods made an unwritten law assuring that after a person died, they must be buried. When Creon goes against this law denying Polynices burial, he angers the gods because he is disturbing the constant cycle that they have tried to enforce. So as punishment for breaking the cycle, tragedy befalls his family. First Antigone hangs herself, then Haemon kills himself, and finally Creon's wife Eurydice takes her own life.

The blind prophet Teiresias foretells this series of fateful events. His blindness symbolizes the blindness of Fate. Fate is indifferent, it doesn't look at the quality of the person it affects. This indifference is parallel to the indifferent punishment handed out by the gods. Just as Fate and the gods' act of punishing are indiscriminate, so is the law of Creon. He doesn't really aim his law at a specific group of people. If the law is broken then the penalty of death is given out, no matter who the doer is or what the circumstances are. Therefore, the conflict between Creon and the gods is a clash between the indiscriminate law of Creon and the law of the gods.

In conclusion, the main character of the play Antigone is Creon and not Antigone. This is because the main conflict is between the law of Creon and the law of the gods. When Creon makes a law prohibiting the burial of Antigone's rebellious brother Polynices, Antigone openly defies it and she is forced to live in a cave. Creon's law disrupts the constant flow that the gods created. He keeps Polynices from being buried, and the right of burial is a right given by the gods that no man has the authority to take away. But Creon gives himself this authority by taking away the burial rights of Polynices given to him by the gods.

Therefore, because of Creon's illegal act of authority, the blind prophet Teiresias foresees that terrible things will happen to Creon because of what he does and this prophecy becomes fulfilled: Creon suffers the loss of his family. It takes the loss of his family to see that the law of god is more powerful than the law of man. The conflict between the law of Creon, the main character, and that of the gods is the main conflict of the play.

As the idea of fate is brought forth by Oedipus going to the Oracle, it is clear that Oedipus believes in the idea of fate but feels more strongly in himself than in the idea of fate. Upon realizing that what the Oracle has said is coming true, the truth of what has happened has still not struck home, he will not abandon his faith in himself but will see himself out to the end. To the very end of this play, Oedipus is still insisting that he is the one who has blinded himself, that he will accept his exile, that he is fully prepared to accept the self-destructive consequences of what he has done. I have observed that one key to Oedipus's character is that he will not compromise. He must see life through on his own terms, no matter what the cost. He is prepared to acknowledge no authority outside his own will. Hence, if he is to be satisfied the world must answer to him. As his situation gets more complicated and things do not work out as he has imagined they might, Oedipus does not adapt, change, and learn. He becomes more and more determined to see the problem through on his own terms; he becomes increasingly inflexible. Having accepted the responsibility for saving Thebes, he will on his own see the matter through, without compromise, without lies, without deceit. Anyone who suggests that he proceed differently is simply an obstacle who must be overcome. That attitude, as we know, leads to the most horrific conclusions.

The use of many types of irony such as verbal, dramatic, and situational ad to the complexity of the book. For example, when Oedipus says: ?

So will I fight on the gods? side,
And on the side of the slain man!
But my curse be on the one who did this, whether he is alone
Or conceals his share in it with others.
Let him be free of no misery if he share my house
Or sit at my hearth and I have knowledge of it.
On myself may it fall, as I have called it down!

Oedipus makes this statement about the killer of King Lauis, cursing the killer not knowing he was the killer. This is an example of dramatic irony. Another example of irony is that when towards the end Oedipus gouges his eyes out and becomes blind. This is an example of irony because Oedipus has been blind or ignorant to all the circumstances and happenings around him. He is blind to the fact that everything the Oracle has said. The gouging of his eyes is symbolic of him being figuratively ?blind.?

There are several points in the play where Oedipus acts with reason. The first such point occurs when he is asked by his followers to help save Thebes. He acts with reason when he immediately decides to heed to their demands and find help for them. However, he may also have been deciding to do this through passion. His need for his land to be perfectly normal might have prompted this immediate decision. Reason also occurs through the character of Oedipus himself. He has a heroic confidence in his own abilities, and he has good reason for such confidence, both from his own sense of past achievements and from the very high regard everyone has of those achievements. Reason also occurs through the character of Oedipus himself. He has a heroic confidence in his own abilities, and he has good reason for such confidence, both from his own sense of past achievements and from the very high regard everyone has of those achievements. He is conscious of himself as a great man. He feels he can achieve anything.

The reoccurring theme that we can deny fate and go our own way and make our own path, and that we keep trying even though it doesn?t work out, shows that Sophocles believes in fate. I believe that Sophocles shows this by having Oedipus fail in the end. If Sophocles believed that we could do it alone he would have had Oedipus prevail over all circumstances. I also think that Sophocles believes in reason rather than making choices without thinking. When Sophocles wrote the novel, Oedipus the King, he used a irritated tone to describe how society tries to change their fate, he achieved this by using many types of irony, and I believe that Sophocles effectively achieved his goal.

“Ah God! Ah God! This is the truth, at last!”

Aristotle outlined the characteristics of a good tragic hero, he must be “better than we are”, “ a man who is superior to the average man”3. Oedipus is not only superior due to his social standing, but also because he is intelligent, we know this to be true as he was the only person who could solve the Sphinx's riddle.

The whole play is a step by step unraveling of Oedipus` true identity, in attempting to discover his identity without knowing the results would be catastrophic. There are several themes which run throughout the course of the play. The theme of Religion manifests itself in the oracles and is evident in mans reference to the gods. Iocasta has more doubt regarding the oracles than any other character, is Sophocles trying to reassert traditional doctrine ? As a puppet of fate, Oedipus cannot affect the future which the oracle of Apollo has predicted for him, this is an important message in the play. Irony is another key theme in the play, the central role of irony is that Oedipus is metaphorically blind. This ironic contrast stands out for the audience, when Oedipus curses Laius he is actually cursing himself. The chorus are an extremely clever tool employed by Sophocles, they are the emotional bridge between the stage and the audience. The chorus are set in a polyistic society, they invoke the assistance of the gods and are made up of fifteen males in unison, therefore creating a powerful, lever berating and highly dramatic function. The chorus condition us to feel a particular way, they interact with both the audience and characters highlighting it is a dignified and formal play. Hamartia is another key theme, Aristotle's poetics state that the cause of a tragic hero's downfall must lie not in any depravity, but in some great error on his part4, leaving the matter ambiguous. There is a reluctance however to condemn Oedipus to a huge degree of hubris when compared to characters such as King Lear and Macbeth.

At the end of the play Oedipus transforms from a selfish creature to an admirable protagonist, enormous pathos is evident. The play `Oedipus Rex` is not depressing, there is a definite sense of human dignity in the way Oedipus faces up to his fate and endures his destiny.