Open Prompt Reflection and Essay

Prompt:

Select a novel, play, or epic poem that features a character whose origins are unusual or mysterious. Then write an essay in which you analyze how these origins shape the character and that character’s relationships, and how the origins contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Essay:

Oedipus, from Sophocle’s Odeipus Rex, exemplifies a character of unusual and mysterious origins. The unknown prophecy surrounding the setting of Thebes continues to haunt and plague Oedipus throughout the play, and it plays a major role in shaping the plot and the characters.

In the beginning of the play, a plague is destroying Thebes, and Oedipus, the King, hears an oracle from Creon and Teiresias in an attempt to cure his townspeople. Creon declares that the murderer of the previous King, Laius, must be killed. Oedipus, who is actually the murderer, does not know of his own unfortunate circumstance and thus is confident that he did not commit any such atrocity. His temper and pride due to him not understanding his own unusual origins causes Teiresias to reveal to the town that Oedipus is indeed the murderer. Through the character’s own ignorance of his origins, the plot of Oedipus Rex is able to unveil itself.

However, without witness of Laius’s murder, Oedipus does not want to accept the fact that he killed Laius. In addition, he does not know that Laius is his father, and neither do the townspeople. When Teiresias continues reveals that Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his mother, this causes strain between him and Jocasta, his “wife”. Jocasta is confident that the Oracle cannot be fullfilled, since she claims that she and Laius left their son to die after his birth. The reveal of Oedipu’s true origins, however, causes Oedipus to grow doubtful, because he realizes several similarities between Laius’s murder, and a murder he committed prior. The oracle proclaimed Laius was killed “where two roads met,” and that all 5 of the travelers were slain, and Oedipus realizes that this story is the almost identical to the murder that he committed after an angry dispute with several travelers on a road crossing. Once Oedipu reveals this suspicion to Jocasta, she is immediately dismissive of this theory, even though her own brother, Ceron, is delivering the prophecy. She remains loyal to Oedipus, creating strain between her and Creon, as she struggles to accept what Creon knows to be the truth.

The ultimate truth of Oedipus’s origin is not brought to light until the witness arrives. The witness, not knowing Oedipus’s unusual origin, reveals that he is adopted, thinking this will ease Oedipus’s worries. However, this ignorance ultimately leads to the truth of Oedipus’s origins: he was adopted and later killed Laius, his father, while trying to escape his hometown, and thus, his fate. Ironically, in trying to avoid his prophecy, destiny persisted and he married Jocasta, his own mother. The fact that Oedipus was unaware of his own origins leads him to to his demise him. At the end, Oedipus realized that Creon was right about the truth of his birth; although he had previously accused Creon of lying, he mended his relationship and asked Creon to bring forth his children. Creon, who was very understanding of the tragedy of Oedipus’s oracle, fullfills this request, despite losing his sister, Jocasta, to the very same prophecy.

Ultimately, the both Oedipus and Jocasta’s unawareness of the prophecy lead to downfall of their family. Oedipus is excessively prideful due to his lack of knowledge of his birth, and this leads him to urge Creon, Teiresias, and the witness to reveal the truth. In the end, Oedipus’ prophecy shaped his character and the plot of Oedipus Rex. The true tragedy lies in the fact that Oedipus tried to do everything he could to escape his prophecy, yet his origins still ended up betraying him.

Reflection

        Tuesday afternoon, I was delegated the task of responding to free-response question from the 2017 AP Literature exam. The prompt asked students to "feature a character whose origins are unusual or mysterious" and analyze how these origins shape the text, the character, and his/her relationships as a whole. Using Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, I was able to extrapolate some aspects of Oedipus's character and relate it to the prompt. Specifically, my thesis revolved around the idea that Oedipus's own unawareness of this birth and prophecy led his and Jocasta's ultimate demise. Considering multiple aspects of my writing, I initially decided to score my essay as a 4. In reality, however, I actually scored a 5, which I felt was appropriate due to the lack of complex reasoning and reliance upon plot summary.

        I first introduced this thesis at the end of the first paragraph: "Through [Oedipus's] own ignorance of his own origins, the plot of Oedipus Rex is able to unveil itself". Aside from the horrendous repetition of the word "own", this thesis lacks the complexity needed in an upper-level essay. Further in my essay, I use Teiresias's reveal of the prophecy as evidence of his origin "causing strain between him and Jocasta, his wife." While I do explain and "explicitly analyze" this evidence, I feel that it is too simplistic and contains too much plot summary.

        Overall, I found the Hero's Journey to be very useful in helping me construct together a coherent essay. Since all parts of the Hero's Journey relates back to the characters and/or plot in some way, I used the stages to help explain Oedipus's character and its progression through the plot. Hopefully I can continue to use this strategy and choose more specific lines of evidence (instead of summaries) in the next FRQ.