Oedipus Final Essay

Tim Rezendes

Oedipus Vs Creon, Who Suffered the Worst Fate?
Oedipus and Creon are two contrasting characters the unknowingly evolve into each other; both of them making similar mistakes and suffering dire consequences. The corruption of power, which is a recurring theme throughout the Theban Trilogies, influences and in some cases directly effects the decisions that are made by Oedipus and Creon. Other than the corrupting nature of power, Oedipus spawns four doomed children out of incest with his mother Jocasta, while Creon fails to properly bury his nephew Polyneices and eventually loses his beloved son Haemon through the killing of his bride-to-be Antigone. In reality, I believe Oedipus suffered a worse fate because he brought eternal disgrace to his house; he blinded himself so that he could finally see the truth, and he murdered his father and committed a terrible act of incest with his mother.
Through Oedipus’ incestuous spawning of his children he brought eternal disgrace upon his house; although Creon suffered an almost equally terrible fate, the fate of Oedipus is still more extreme than that of Creon. Creon did not bring disgrace upon his house; he merely brought disgrace upon himself. Tiresias proves the disgrace of the house of Oedipus when he says, “Oh yes, detected in his very heart of home: / his children’s father and their brother, / son and husband to his mother, /bed-rival to his father and assassin. This is basically a summary of Oedipus’ dishonorable deeds, and it also shows that Tiresias is fed up with Oedipus and does not think fondly of him. If Tiresias does not think fondly of Oedipus then that means the gods do not think highly of him either, meaning that the house of Oedipus is disgraced for eternity. The house of Creon is not completely disgraced because Creon did not commit incest or murder his father. We also do not learn Creon’s fate while Oedipus on the other hand blinds himself by crudely piercing his eyes with Jocasta’s brooches.
Oedipus is so hard-headed and arrogant that he resorts to blinding himself just so that he can see the truth, while the fate of Creon is uncertain. We believe that Creon killed himself, and if that is the case, Creon’s suicide is not an uncommon cause of death in ancient times. In fact, a bloody suicide was an honorable way to die. Oedipus takes a completely different route in his self punishment; instead of committing suicide he blinds himself because of what he saw, his mother while performing in incestuous acts. Also, there is something said by Oedipus’ own mother that I think are words that can cut through emotions like a knife. Jocasta says to Oedipus, “Good-bye, my poor deluded, lost and damned! / There’s nothing else I can call you now.” This shows that even Oedipus’ own mother turned on him and was not even sure what to call her son. In the play, Antigone, Creon only loses Eurydice and Haemon, but in, Oedipus the King, Oedipus directly and indirectly loses everything he knows and loves and his world is completely turned upside down. Oedipus goes from the beloved king to the incestuous outcast. Other than blinding himself to see the truth, Oedipus kills his father and has sex with his mother, spawning a generation of damned children.
Creon and Oedipus both lose people they love, but Oedipus murders his birth father and has sexual intercourse with his birth mother. Creon did not murder his son, although some people may argue that he did so indirectly, he did not have sex with his mother, and he did not spawn a generation of hated children. Oedipus did all these things and everyone in Thebes found out, making him an outlaw instead of a king. Obviously, an act of incest and a murder of the man who brought him into this world is one of the worst things that can happen to a person. The closing moments of Creon’s life are nothing in comparison to Oedipus. Also, Oedipus tried to be the master of everything which was his downfall; if he had never tried to find out the truth his life would have been fine, in his own eyes at least. Creon illustrates this perfectly when he says, “Stop this striving to be the master of all. / The mastery you had in life has been your fall.” I believe this completely, Creon did not try to be the master of everything; he only became king because he was second in line for power. At one point Creon even says that he did not want to be king because he can enjoy the life of a king without all of the obligations of a king. I do think Oedipus was a better man than Creon, but in the end Oedipus suffered a far worse fate than that of Creon.
Oedipus and Creon are two characters that suffer unbelievably brutal fates. Oedipus’ fate is worse because he brought eternal disgrace to his house, blinded himself so that he could see the truth, and committed acts of incest with his mother and murdered his father. Creon and Oedipus are eerily similar in the way they evolve when the corrupting nature of power sets in. In the end Oedipus, the better man in the stories, suffers the worst fate and is exiled from Thebes for eternity. The story of the house of Oedipus is unbelievably tragic; it makes for a great play and a great story to read during our English Ten Honors class.

Antigone Reading Assignment #2

Messenger- "Haemon's gone. Blood spilt by his own hand." (244)

In the passages surrounding this quote the messenger is explaining is explaining Haemon's death and the fulfillment of the prophecy to the chorus leader. He begins to go into explaining that Haemon was found dead with his dead bride Antigone, who also killed herself,. The messenger also somewhat blames Creon for Haemons's death by saying "Both. Driven to it by his father's murdering," this puts the blame on Creon because Creon did not allow Haemon to live his own life.

Is Tiresias the only person in these stories whose character stayed the same throughout the entire trilogy

Antigone Reading Assignment #1

Antigone- "And if you judge me fool, perhaps it is because a fool is judge." (211)

This quote is from the part of the passage when Creon is accusing Antigone of burying her disgraced brother. Antigone stands up to Creon, which is not customary of women of that time. This shows that Antigone is much like her father Oedipus, who is very opiniated and headstrong.

Is Heamon on Creon or Antigone's side? In one part of the reading he tells Creon that he is on the side of his father, as is customary; but in another part he defends Antigone and begins to argue on her behalf.

First essay of the year in English Honors
Topic: Facebook or Myspace?
Resources- Wikipedia.com

Facebook and Myspace are two websites that have burst onto the social networking scene about five to six years ago. Both sites have over one hundred million users but Facebook is the better website. I believe Facebook is substantially better than Myspace due to its features, the applications Facebook provides, and the level of privacy Facebook offers.
The features of Facebook are much more advanced than those on the website Myspace. While Myspace does allow room for more customization, Facebook provides features such as the wall, groups, and “pokes”. Facebook also has a news feed which gives updates on relationship statuses, wall posts, and new friends, which Myspace does not have. Facebook also has gifts which allow users to send gifts to their friends. Another big plus for Facebook is called “Facebook Beta”, this is the new version of Facebook that combines certain things to reduce space and allow for more information. Facebook Beta is not very popular yet, but as users learn the particulars of the new system it will continue to help Facebook stay the number one social networking website in the world. The top features of Myspace include top friends, profile songs, and profile layouts. Two of these top features are available on Facebook via applications which are quick and easy to use.
Facebook offers many different applications for certain people and certain personalities. Even though Facebook does not allow profile layouts, applications provide a way of customization. While Myspace only has certain features, Facebook has many applications such as, heritage, fantasy sports, bumper sticker, and the ability to compare people. Myspace does not offer many applications and can make the website get old and boring. With the application of heritage you can put your country’s flag on your page so that everyone knows where you are from. Fantasy sports allow fanatics of all sports to participate in picking their teams and even drafting a team of their own. Bumper sticker is another way to customize your personal profile by adding stickers that show everyone your own unique personality. Finally, the application “Compare People” lets users compare their friends and vote on who they think is the funniest, most likely to succeed, and most desirable. These are a few of the applications that Facebook has and Myspace lacks, making Facebook the website with the better applications. Privacy on social networking websites is a big issue and we hear about it often from the media, from parents, from teachers, and most other role model in our lives. Facebook and Myspace both let users choose how much of themselves they want to put out on the internet, but Facebook has the better privacy settings.
I believe Facebook has the better privacy options. On the news we frequently hear of Myspace leading to abductions of children all over the country, but as I watch the news, Facebook comes up a lot less frequently. On Facebook you can block unapproved users from seeing your profile; you can also block users who are your friends from getting your information in their news feed. This information includes your relationship status and your wall posts. Myspace does have a feature where you can set your profile to private, but it does not have the in depth security standards set by the superior Facebook.
Facebook uses its features, applications, and security options to create a social networking website that trumps all other websites of its kind. There are many other social networking options available on the internet, but if you are looking for the best website Facebook is the way to go.