(326 words)
As a king, Oedipus had the responsibility of protecting the people from the curse in Thebes. With the crop and animals dying, people are finding it difficult to cope with the strenuous life. The priests believed that Oedipus was the only person who would save Thebes since he had earlier saved them from the Sphinx. The only way to save the people would be murdering those who were responsible for the death of Laius; however, Oedipus gets confused after learning from Tiresias that he was the killer(Puchner & Martin 206).
Oedipus thinks that there is a conspiracy by Creon and Tiresias to overthrow him, he also gets to learn that he married his own mother, he learns from Jokester that a prophecy had been made that Laius was to be killed by his son. There is a lot that Oedipus gets to hear a lot concerning his past, he finds it difficult to face life after realizing he killed his father and married his mother.Teresias is forced to commit suicide after learning that she had slept with her own son.Odipus gorges his eyes and sees no beauty in life. His pursuit for the truth about his past has turned out to be a tragedy in his life. Oedipus is a victim of his own challenges and he cannot face the mistakes of his past, which have been revealed in the course of pursuing the truth. Oedipus could not pursuit his future ambitions since there was nothing else left to be proud of in life; he was responsible for the death of his father and after the truth was finally revealed, he lost his mother. Oedipus the King represents a society where the past keeps on haunting the dreams and ambitions of many people. Oedipus can however not be blamed for the events that took place in the past, he never had a chance to know his real mother and father, his pursuit for the truth ruined all his ambitions.
Medea
(320 words)
Medea represents the modern day women who are not held by retrogressive gender biases with the control over a woman’s life men; Medea airs an unusual voice that advocated equal treatment of women. Through her speech, Medea airs the difficulties that women go through including the labor pain but they are still treated as ordinary property by them men.
Her love for Jason symbolizes the love of a woman to a man, whereas men treat women without any love and care, once a woman has given her love to a man, she does not believe in letting it go so easily. Jason as a tool that he used to achieve his success after which he dubbed her. Many women are quite emotional when handling a broken heart and can do anything to revenge or win back the love, in this case Medea is contemplating on killing her son since she knows it would be the best way to revenge against Jason(Puchner & Martin 695). As much as she advocates women’s rights, her approach is questionable and might not reflect on the modern day woman. Exerting influence over men in the bedroom degrades women to be bedroom tools that men will use and walk away. She represents the voice of the women on political and social issues that is important in creating awareness on women that they need to stand up for their rights and equality in a male dominated society. Medea ‘s speech motivated many women to rise against the oppression that many were going through in silence and fear, her speech represented the voice of many women who were too afraid to speak out. The speech was a wakeup call for women to rise and free themselves from oppression and control by men who did not care about their feelings.It is a speech whose theme continues to prevail in the modern world where people are advocating for gender equality.
Work Cited
Puchner, Martin. The Norton anthology of world literature. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2012. Print.
