Oedipus Complexity

Despite the fact that Oedipus’s fate has been predicated, one may argue that his downfall is actually a result of his own actions. One may also argue that the prophecy of Oedipus’s downfall was a self-fulfilling one, since Oedipus was indeed aware of the prophecy and changed his actions because of it. It can be argued that had Oedipus not been aware of the prophecy, he would not have followed it through.
Oedipus seems, at the beginning, to be an upstanding member of Greek society. He is well respected and well placed socially. This sets him up for his tragic fall. In order for Oedipus to be considering a tragic hero, he must start out as a person of renown and importance so that his tragic fall is pronounced enough that the audience can actually care about it. His tragic flaw becomes apparent quickly in this play. As in most Greek tragedies, or really just Greek stories in general, the heroes tragic flaw is overconfidence: hubris. Hubris brings the downfall of almost all Greek mythological characters.
Think, for example of Icarus, who was so confident that in his waxen wings that he flew too close to the sun and drown in the sea when his wings melted. Or perhaps think of Niobe who boasted that she was better than the goddess Leto because she had born seven times more children than her. She was punished for her hubris by the death of her offspring.
Oedipus too, is brought down by his own hubris. He is so confident in his leadership that he does too little to help the plague-stricken populous of his city, Thebes. He also rejects the negative predictions from Tiresias as treason and accepts the assurances from Jocaste that prophecies do not come true.
By accusing a prophet of the gods and embracing another who rejects those deities, Oedipus is essentially rejecting the gods. Rejection of the gods is the most blasphemous and damning form of hubris, but it is also the most common and hardest to avoid, especially for mortals who live their lives well without interference or blessings from the unseen deities.
It is easy to forget or ignore the gods, but in Greek myth, the gods are very active, very watchful, and very sensitive to being forgotten or ignored. By rejecting the god’s, Oedipus seals his own fate and fulfills the prophecy; therefore, he initiates his downfall.

How do you Keep Warm in Russia?

Many aspects of the structure and story of The Death of Ivan Ilych are designed as to easily allow the author to comment effectively and profoundly on the position of Ivan in his culture, how he is thought of by his acquaintances, and even on Russian society on a whole. Tolstoy opens the story of The Death of Ivan Ilych with Ivan’s funeral specifically for this purpose. This entry will focus on the use of the funeral as a way for Tolstoy to characterize Ivan.
All of descriptions of the people and the reactions of the people who attend the funeral focus around their lack of connection to Ivan. This trend shows the reader that Ivan has failed to—or was unable to—create meaningful personal relationships in his life. Even his wife, the person whom the reader would most expect to be seriously affected by Ivan’s death, only cries because she feels as though it is the expectation of society for her to do so. The only person who actually sheds true tears is Ivan’s son, who has retained the true feeling and sympathy of a child. His empathetic psyche has not yet been iced over by the unfeeling, unfriendly formality of Russian culture. Those, such as Gerasim, who are actually sad about Ivan’s passing, don’t even really lament his death. They just accept it and move on.
This whole scenario indicates that Ivan cannot form personal relationships. He reduces things, such as his marriage, to equations. He treats his personal life as if it were a business. Tolstoy suggest Ivan’s dealing with his life and personal relationships this way is a symptom of having to deal with life in Russian society. The coldness of the culture and the people mean that people, such as Ivan, must themselves become cold. Ivan’s personal lack of meaningful personal relationships is of course his own fault, but he is a product of a society that produces people such as him.