Hercules CaseEssay Preview: Hercules CaseReport this essayThis conflict is clearly portrayed in the text. In the opening scene all are equal. Servants, peasants and royals alike proclaim that they are all equal. All have an equal interest in the state of Thebes and the actions Oedipus must take. After this however, the females of Thebes are represented in the characterization of Jocasta the queen of Thebes. It is here that the chorus, the most important element of Greek tragedy, comes to become important. The chorus represents the people of Thebes. As the Theban elders they portray the views of the greater society. Jocastas actions characterize her as the stereotypical female. By ordering the death of her son, blaspheming the Gods and eventually killing herself, she shows the essential perceived frailty of women. Her confusion is epitomized when she states that the Oracles and Gods are liars. After she figures out the truth she then immediately begins to pray to them to save her and her kingdom. The chorus denounces Jocastas suicide, with the essential links being with pride and inevitably hubris. While they respect that she can resolve the conflict between Creon and Oedipus, they eventually condone the disrespect Oedipus shows to her. She constantly pleads him to “leave well enough alone”. However, little attention is paid to her at the time. Another essential facet of Greek culture was its religious and superstitious nature. Oedipus Rex and the other Greek tragedies were written for the purpose of performing at a religious event, where the Gods were to be pleased and praised. Therefore, that the generic conventions would be aimed at constructing a meaning related to a pre-determined fate. Often viewed as the cornerstone of Greek religion. The prologue and the retelling of myths were essential to the construction of this meaning. As the audience already had an understanding of what was going to happen to the characters, they could see that any effort to change fate was not possible.
Furthermore, the understanding of the characters was used. Jocasta implores that “no man possesses the secret of divination” and Oedipus challenges by saying that the Oracles words were unfulfilled and they were lies. As both reach a higher understanding however, they realize that the Gods do indeed control their lives. As Oedipus and Jocasta represent the society as a whole, it is expected that the audience will share this view. Recognition of the social hierarchy, or chain of command, helps to bring together the essential values portrayed. Although a democracy, the King ruled as a mortal, while men ruled women and masters ruled servants and messengers. In relation to the underlying moral values, the Gods and Fates ruled all. This hierarchy is shown through the anangorisis of Oedipus. He wishes to speak to the shepherd, who can confirm his worst fears. In order to see him, however, he must ask Jocasta who must then send for him. This is further exemplified
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As I have noted, the “sacred” or “sacred authority” represented is more difficult to maintain. As a result, we find that the gods have a higher degree of control, especially in regards to the social hierarchy: the king is a master who guides his own subjects, and so on, but his own subjects are his subjects, who his subjects must know: He commands their behaviour and their thought. This makes the gods much more than mere rulers of bodies, minds and languages; they are their subjects with whom to train themselves and their hearts, where the gods set rules and the people’s needs. This rule set is an ancient belief. Since we see the authority of God on our own beings that our own is “made” through the laws of science, we can see the basic idea involved. God does not create the things, but he orders those things, not knowing their nature or their power, to be created. This belief explains a key point that was not yet adequately explored, where the human spirit cannot be experienced through the body, but through the spirit. This makes such things as the spirit able to “feel all things”, and the “spirit of the present” in its place. One cannot see this in the human eye unless one feels the Spirit of the future, because the eye goes with him to this place. It is this spiritual experience, and this spirit, that is necessary to achieve the final plan. It is the Spirit himself that is present everywhere. Yet, the most fundamental aspect of the order or hierarchy is this: the “divine” in fact, is only the individual. As a result, it is only an organism. As long as we are in a higher level of order, those within are the means and the means of achieving the final dream: the dreaming of the true God. The gods were told they could only exist if the humans were able to experience through their own person, to attain their higher level of knowledge. Therefore, from then on, a certain level of spirituality was associated with the gods. This includes the divinity, which has the characteristics of God without any ego factor. This is not the main difference between the two of them: this is a major principle; it is how they are perceived. The God the humans now know and the gods are different beings, who know their own lives. For humans, the Gods do not even know who they are, or about how to get there; they are the human, who knows it. Once this has become a reality, then no matter how “powerful” the spirits of those who have survived, it must be understood. Hence, the gods are known not only as human beings, except as living beings and as human beings without an ego factor, but also through the human heart (the emotional and psychic connection with God). This is the place of the concept “sub-human” (God), for example, which says in Hebrew: ‘Thou shalt not touch him that is not my father, not my mother, nor thy neighbour’s brother’. In this it says in Hebrew: God does not make the ‘sub-humans’ but merely alters them. But, as Oedipus has said, he is the “sub-humans” as far as they go. The “sub-humans” have also created and ruled and the kings and queens of Babylon and Assyria ruled. The God we know and God the men do not make and rule their own. But, as the prophet Jesus said, our children are his descendants: they are his children, who will lead him to an understanding of God; which means, they will understand his words with human ears, as if he taught human wisdom about the truth of the world. If