A Theme Of The Impact Of Our Actions On The Our Life In Oedipus Rex By Sophocles And Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell
In “Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles the author encounters how an act you do can haunt you for the rest of your life. Basically saying, anything you do in the dark will come to light. In "Shooting an Elephant, " by George Orwell, the circumstances show how the character has to chose between 2 different levels or evil/pressure. Many years later, the consequences still haunt him. Both these stories have a similar connection where past events continue to affect these.
Oedipus displays qualities of a Greek hero. Oedipus past is revealed by his friends and family members. Each time a character tries to comfort him with information, he goes into denial and shows short-tempered determination. Oedipus tries to seek the truth of his birth and Laius death, without the help from Tiresias, which he thinks has something to do with it, until proven otherwise. He’s hurt and wants to find the truth. He feels like everyone is hiding something from him. To me is like he feels out of place. Oedipus orders Tiresias to say something if seen, heard or did something. Tiresias is unwilling to speak; therefore, Oedipus starts to question Tiresias actions from that point forward. Since, Tiresias is unwilling to speak out Oedipus feels anger towards Tiresias. Proving a characteristic of Oedipus - short-tempered. With time him knowing the full truth of everything that happened in the dark, as a king he feels is right for him to blind himself over the dead body of Jocasta. This is his consequence towards himself after finding out that he was the one that committed that awful crime. Oedipus does not admit that he's the one. He might be in a state of shock or denial. He blinds himself in a rage of “regret. ” Him blinding himself is “accepting” total responsibility for what he did and it's like punishment.
In “Shooting an Elephant” Orwell is an unhappy young policeman who is mentally isolated. He is alone with his thoughts. Orwell sees the British as what today is known as “Police Brutality. ” In the story, The British techniques would use “force;” therefore, they would keep everyone under “control. ” Orwell gets put in a situation that he didn't know he was going to get in. Orwell is basically “forced” to kill the Elephant, because of the pressure the people put on him by just looking at him. He didn't want to kill or even think of being put in this predicament.
These two stories are alike, the characters make difficult decisions. The characters are different in a way but also very alike. Different in the way they think. Also, how they are going to react to consequences. Similar in the way that they are in the “same” situation with life decisions and how caring and thoughtful they are of the situation. Decisions that may affect their lives and others for years or even for the rest of their lives. Sometimes, the decision is based on whether to meet the expectations of others or to satisfy themselves. Like said before those decisions are basically life decisions, they have to care because it’s definitely are going to affect them forever.
