The selected text that will be examined in this essay is Oedipus the King and Plato ‘Crito’. Oedipus and Socrates play a major role in their own lives when it comes to their intelligence in resolving issues that are given to them. In contrast, there is a difference between our world and the Greek culture, which seems to be very alienating. The following discussion examines that Oedipus and Socrates stage mythical knowledge and autonomy in their presentation of themselves to the audience. It shows what implications self-reliance has for the authority of Oedipus’ and Socrates’ traditional beliefs.
Body Oedipus ascended the throne of Thebes; as to many years ago he had solved the riddle of the Sphinx, saved the city of Thebes and was welcomed as King. We see that this quality makes him an excellent ruler who anticipates his subjects’ needs. Taking up the responsibility of being a king by serving the citizens, Oedipus is adequate to the challenge, believing he can purge the land. Oedipus the King is a character that tempts fate, thinks he can change fate as a man who knows his rights and wrongs. He is renowned for his intelligence and his ability to solve riddles.
As he said “I stopped the Sphinx! With no help from the birds, the flight of my own intelligence hit the mark. ” (Fagles, 1982, pg 78). Oedipus’s actions are defined as autonomy, instead of relying on the gods; Oedipus counts on his own ability to root out the truth, as he is a man of swift action and great insight. Oedipus disagrees when Tiresias tells him that he is responsible for the plague of killing the king and he did not know that he was his biological father; he refuses to believe Tiresias and continues to search for the killer.
This scene consequently shows the amount of pride he has as a king and demonstrates his intelligence as manifest. Oedipus who, as a human being, has knowledge to what implications he has come across that only he can bring an end to the civil strife in Thebes after given evidence of committing a crime of killing the king. Oedipus’s own implication was to blind himself for life and exile himself from Thebes as he has no desire to return. Socrates’ accusers have unjustly sentenced him to death by using the Law. Crito has indicated Socrates to escape from the prison and Socrates in a sense talking past one another.
If he stays in prison, he will be siding with his unjust accusers and if he escapes he will be acting against the just Laws. Socrates grounds knowledge and reason that he would in fact be harming the Laws, which are just. As of his way virtue was based on knowledge, which was attained by a dialectical process that took into account many aspects of a stated hypothesis. With the use of his own intelligence he would draw assumptions of other people in a method of teaching proceeded by questions and answer as opposed to lecture.
Socrates own implication was that he would not disobey the law than to side against the people, which simplifies his human knowledge as suppose to religion and tradition beliefs. As he said “Then let it be, Crito, and let us act in this way, since this is where the god leads us” (Woods & Pack, 2007, pg 10). The two characters, Oedipus and Socrates have good intentions when it comes to improving life for greater mankind, however, both suffer terrible consequences as the result of their actions. In the ancient world, there is barely any autonomy in a modern sense but it is beginning to be considered.
Oedipus possesses his own use of knowledge rather then religious superstition to solve the problem of the Sphinx that had been plaguing Thebes, although Oedipus has followed the traditional responsibilities in serving the city. Oedipus’s and Socrates beliefs have ended them in death. Socrates, like Oedipus, also take a somewhat sceptical attitude toward the divine or at least toward the traditional gods of Athens. It is important to remember that Socrates accepts the truth of the oracle not simply on its authority as divine, as the word of the god, but only because it passes the test of human reason.
