Homework answers / question archive / Write an essay on Oedipus the King, the Greek tragedy in one of the following topics

Write an essay on Oedipus the King, the Greek tragedy in one of the following topics

English

Share With

---

Write an essay on Oedipus the King, the Greek tragedy in one of the following topics.

Final essay assignment: Write an essay on the Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King. Choose from any one
of the following topics.

The essay should be at least 750 words. | will not count the words. Try to be concise. Please double-
space the essay and give it a catchy title.

ADVICE: This essay does not need to be as carefully organized as the first two essays. You might think
of it more as a ‘response paper.’ Nonetheless, you should aim for some organizational skill, particularly
dividing up your ideas into paragraphs and using an idea-related topic sentence for each paragraph.
However, the connections between the paragraphs don’t need to be as careful as in the first two papers.
It is unlikely that this essay will lower your final grade, but if you didn’t do as well as you wanted to on
the first two essays, this is a chance to do better. Of course, | encourage thoughtful work, and hopefully
some of you can make this play seem vibrant and relevant to us today.

MORE ADVICE: Keep in mind that quoting is always good; try to include brief quotes from the play (1-4
words) in your essay. Be careful about how much weight you assign to specific words; remember you
are reading a translation and sometimes it’s not very accurate. Research is perfectly acceptable in

this sort of essay (there’s 2,500 years of it — including Aristotle!), but cite your sources.

You don’t need to cite Oedipus in the text or in the Works Cited list. If you cite line numbers (which can
be helpful for me), make sure you don’t include them in the text itself, only in parentheses.

Aim to have interesting ideas, inspired prose that captures the spirit of the play, and some
organizational clarity (i.e. try to stick to the topic within a paragraph, try to have idea-related topic
sentences for the paragraphs). Expert paragraph continuity is not crucial.

1. Discuss the play in relation to Chinese culture.

2. Discuss the play in relation to the current world we live in. You can discuss Hong Kong, but
remember that you have to submit your essay to Veriguide.

3. Discuss the nature of the ancient Greek gods in relation to Oedipus and in any myths you find
relevant. You can think about such questions as “What are the gods like?” “What do the gods expect
from humans?” “What do humans feel they owe the gods?” but you can focus on your own priorities.
4. Discuss the nature of ‘tragic heroism’ in Oedipus and in another example from film or literature
or life. The example can be brief or longer, as you choose, but you should have one.

5. Discuss the nature of marriage in Oedipus; do you think Oedipus and Jocasta have a happy
marriage?

6. Creative option: Write a scene (it can even be comic) that could be placed in Oedipus or discuss
how you would stage a scene (or a few scenes). You can set the play in any time or place that you wish.
Remember, if you want, that singing and dancing are part of the play.

7. Discuss the nature of the ‘chorus’ in Oedipus. You'll probably need to do more than note their
timidity. Doing research is fine.

8. Discuss Oedipus as an example of a person whose thinking is primarily ‘political.’ What does it
mean to be a ‘politically minded’ person and why might this be a problem in life?

9. Discuss the theme of ‘question asking’ in Oedipus; what are some reasons people ask questions?
What are some of the ways people find out answers to their questions? Are there different types of
questions (i.e. riddles is one type)?

10. The website below (“The Psychology of the Riddle Oedipus and the Sphinx”) includes several
paintings of Oedipus encountering the sphinx. Write an essay on the three paintings by Fabre (1807),
Ingres (1827), and Moreau (1864). These all depict Oedipus in a positive way; the first two are
produced during the Romantic period if that’s useful to you. You can write whatever you wish, perhaps
focusing on how these artists interpreted the story and which elements of Oedipus’s personality they
are highlighting and why. Research is fine, but make sure you cite it. And try to have some original
thoughts.

https://eclecticlight.co/2017/05/28/the-psychology-of-the-riddle-oedipus-and-the-sphinx/

11. Discuss the play Oedipus the King in relation to your own life experience.