Classic Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Classic Literature - Essay Example ered around male characters, female characters are able to take on central roles as well and are frequently seen in positions of authority or importance even within the stories of the heroes. These themes, the importance of family and a different role for women than the traditional values of the Victorian age, can be traced through the works of three of the most popular Greek authors, Sophocles, Euripedes and Homer. In Oedipus the King by Sophocles, the action opens as Oedipus is approached by plague-stricken masses asking help from him as king. When he sees his people gathered around him as if he were a god, his response to them is paternalistic and godlike. His pride in his role is evident in the words he speaks in which he seems to be almost condescending to them for appealing to other forces than himself in their burning of incense to cloud the air. Throughout the remainder of the action, Oedipus’ personality clearly reflects a continued pride and a determination to maintain his family relationship within his nuclear unit as well as throughout his kingdom. A great deal of his story is actually predicated on an attempt to save his family. When Oedipus learned of his own prediction that he was doomed to kill his father and marry his mother, he was determined to avoid this fate by taking his future in his own hands. He left his homeland in Corinth for the further realm of Thebes. Howeve r, when he is able to solve the riddle of the Sphinx, a task that had not been accomplishable by anyone else, his natural pride in his own abilities rose to a new level. This pride is reinforced by the fact that he then became the king of Thebes and married Jocasta, the widowed queen of Thebes. Unfortunately, as it is discovered toward the end of the play, this widowed queen was the wife of the man Oedipus killed on the road, who turned out to be his own father. This made his wife his mother and himself the vile criminal he was seeking. After the disgrace he had