1. By: Joseph Yu Taylor Lindsey Sophia Jiang Emmanuel Yamba
Oedipus Rex
By: Joseph Yu
       Taylor Lindsey
       Sophia Jiang
       Emmanuel Yamba

2. Literal Meaning of the Prompt
Exact Wording: In Oedipus the King, considering Barthes' observation, analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers any answers. Explain how Sophocles treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole.
Simplified Wording: Literary works pose questions without answers. In Oedipus the King what is a central question throughout the novel and what is the answer given to the question. How does Sophocles address this question and how does that affect your understanding.
This topic is related to the material and the novel because the central question posed in Oedipus is does man have power over his fate.
Sophocles answers through the story of Oedipus ultimately showing that man has no power over his fate.
Stories in Greek theatre are usually full of archetypes. Through the idea that men like Oedipus seek to control their fate but fail to do so Sophocles presents the his story as one of a tragic hero.

3. Examples Literal Meaning of Topic Pt.1
The first example from the text is when Oedipus goes to the oracle of Apollo and hears the prophecy that he will kill his father and sleep with his mother he runs away from Corinth in fear of fulfilling the Prophecy. However, by running away he actually fulfilled the prophecy.
Quote: "When I heard that, I ran away. From that point on I measured the distance to the land of Corinth by stars I was running to a place where I would never see that shameful prophecy come true." (pg. 56)
Analysis: When Oedipus ran from Corinth and ended up fulfilling his prophecy because he kills King Laius at the triple crossroads it shows the idea that Oedipus cannot change his fate and that no matter what he does the prophecy will always be fulfilled.

4. Examples Literal Meaning of Topic Pt.2
The second example is when Polybus dies and the Corinthian messenger comes to Thebes. At first, Oedipus believes that since Polybus died of old age and not by him that means the prophecy will not come true. However, the messenger reveals that Polybus was not the true father of Oedipus.
Quote: "If that’s what you wanted to hear first, here it is, a plain statement: Polybus is dead and gone." (pg.66)
"Because Polybus was not related to you in any way." (pg. 72)
Analysis: The events of Polybus's death coincided with Oedipus's search for Laius's murderer and the details of his heritage. Sophocles wrote the story so that events in the story line up and show that Oedipus's fate was pre-determined. All his interactions and the events happening around him were unavoidable and served to guide him towards the end of learning about his heritage, removing his eyes, and Jocasta dying.
Sophocles US
Oedipus the book 

5. Literary Devices and Archetypes: Tragic Irony
"I am the victim or some harsh divinity; what other explanation can there be? Let it not happen, not that, I beg you, holy majesty of God, may I never see that day!" (p. 56)
“It was the son of Laius, so I was told. But the lady inside there, your wife, she is the one to tell you” (p. 87)
Throughout the story, Oedipus is searching for the killer of Laius; he does this because he seeks to bring justice to the murder of their previous king, he seeks to prove he is not the killer of Laius, and he seeks to save his city from the plague. Thus when it is revealed that he is the person he has been searching for, not only did he fail to change his fate but he has ironically been searching for himself this whole time.

6. Literary Devices and Archetypes: Tragic Hero
“I thought he would take it away to a foreign country – to the place he came from. If you are the man he says you are, you were born the most unfortunate of men.” (p. 91)
“His life is lived in merciless calamity and pain—a complete reversal from his happy state. (p. 99)
The tale of Oedipus begs the question: does man have power of his fate? 
It is clear throughout this book and the fulfilment of the prophecies proclaimed to Oedipus and his parents that man does not have power over his fate
The use of the classic archetype, the tragic hero, helps cement this answer to this question. By using this archetype, which shows Oedipus, a successful king, fall down to a blind beggar shunned by his former kingdom, readers are reminded of archetype so common in literature that they can relate to such tragedy even better.

7. Literary Devices and Archetypes: Flashbacks
“As I journeyed on I came near to this triple crossroad and there I was met by a herald” (p. 56)
“’This one, here. Did you ever cross him?’ ‘I can’t say, right away. Give me time. I don’t remember’” (p. 83)
The use of flashbacks throughout the story helps answer our question. By using flashbacks, Oedipus' fate and prophecy is established from the start. Moreover, the notion that Oedipus' fate is unavoidable and certain is further established with the use of flashbacks thus showing the futility of Oedipus' attempts to change it

8. 1. Significant moment: Tiresias tells his prophecy
Tiresias’s prophecy: “He is apparently a man of foreign birth, but he will be revealed as a native-born Theban.”
“Blind instead of seeing, beggar instead of rich, he will make his way to foreign soil.”
“He will be revealed as a brother and father of the children with whom he now lives, the son and husband of the woman who gave him birth, the murderer and marriage-partner of his father.” (31)
Tiresias’s prophecy foreshadows Oedipus’s unthinkable actions that will be revealed later on. At the time, the accusation seem unfounded, so Oedipus became enraged, pushing away everyone around him.
Oedipus has heard of the prophecy before and believed that he prevented his grim future by running away from home and staying away from his parents, but these actions actually enables the prophecy to come true, lending to the idea that fate in unavoidable.

9. 2. Significant moment: Polybus dies
The Corinthian messenger informs Oedipus, “Polybus is dead and gone.” (66)
Oedipus, remembering his prophecy, asks “Why then, Jocasta, should we study Apollo’s oracle, or gaze at the birds screaming over our heads – those prophets who announced that I would kill my father? He’s dead, buried, below ground. And here I am in Thebes – I did not put hand to sword.” (66)
At this point, Oedipus thinks that he outwit Apollo’s prophecy, because his father died from old age and disease. It proves that Apollo’s prophecy does not always come true, which temporarily unsettled the Thebans’ faith in their gods.
When Oedipus’s beloved father dies, instead of mourning, he ironically celebrates triumphantly as he believes that he has defeated the great Apollo’s fate for him.
Oedipus’s excessive pride (hubris) is his greatest weakness, because it pushes him to discover the truth about his parents, which lead to his fall.

10. 3. Significant moment: Oedipus blinds himself
In the beginning, Tiresias prophesizes: “Blind instead of seeing, beggar instead of rich, he will make his way to foreign soil.” (31)
Oedipus has been trying to avoid this terrible prophecy his whole life, but in the end, he blinds himself by choice, ironically fulfilling all parts of Apollo’s prophecy.
Finally, when Oedipus realizes that he murdered Laius, he stabs his eyes with needles. Now, every part of Tiresias’s prophecy finally comes true, despite that Oedipus himself was aware of it.
Oedipus: “Be dark forever now – eyes that saw those you should have never seen, and failed to recognize those you longed to see.” (91)
Only now, without eyes, does Oedipus realize that all along he should have valued the time with his parents instead of devoting his life to preventing an unavoidable future. The moment reinforces the idea that man does not have power over his fate, even if he is made aware of the future.

11. 1. Tragic Figure: Oedipus Rex
(2003)Select a tragic figure that functions as an instrument of the suffering of others in "Oedipus Rex." Discuss and explain how the suffering brought upon by the tragic figure contributes to the tragic vision as a whole. 
Oedipus makes the novel tragic
Oedipus has killed his own father, had children with his mother, and also brought great suffering on the city of Thebes (all unknowingly)
The discovery of his sin not only causes him to blind himself but also leads Jocasta to commit suicide, leaving their two daughters to suffer through life alone and shunned 
Typical archetypal tragic hero- starts the novel with great fortune but by the end of the novel has experienced a fall from grace
"The wealth and happiness they once had was real while it lasted, but now-weeping, destruction, death, shame-name any shape of evil you will, they have them all." (Sophocles 94)

12. 2. Justice: Apollo and the Gods
(2011)In a novel by William Styron, a father tells his son that life "is a search for justice." Choose a character from "Oedipus Rex" who responds in some significant way to justice or injustice. Then analyze the character's understanding of justice, the degree to which the character's search for justice is successful, and the significance of this search for the work as a whole.
The Gods' justice in historical literature is often subjective, although most stories punish mortals for disrespecting the gods.
Ex: Myth of Niobe
Thebes could have been targeted for various reasons: Apollo may have been rejected, the gods may have been offended by Oedipus' hubris, and in the myth of Niobe, Niobe herself is married to Amphion, one of the founders of Thebes
Apollo's search for justice is successful as Oedipus suffers and is condemned to exile by the end of the book, while Thebes is also tormented
The search for justice is significant because it is the driving force behind the entire plot of the novel
The novel begins with Apollo's quest to punish Laius' killer and only ends with the closure of the punishment suffered by Oedipus
"It was Apollo, my friends, Apollo, who brought to fulfillment all my sufferings." ( Sophocles 96)

13. Citations
Knox, Bernard, translator. Oedipus the King. Pocket Books, 1994.