Luz Zapata
Professor Linda Lui
Reading Journal
Week 9
3/25/19
Reading Journal
The play called “Oedipus The King” was simply amazing. I like everything about the book including the drama and the plot. When I was reading the play, I had a lot of emotions and expressions in my annotations, with words like “OMG” and “WOW.” Even though I loved the book, the title is not my favorite. The title describes Oedipus as a king, when he is not. A king shouldn’t want others to fix their problems, a good leader shouldn’t accuse his people without proves, a good leader shouldn’t lie, and finally a good leader should have wisdom and good temper. To begin with, a king shouldn’t want others to fix his problems, he should fix them himself. In page 85, verse 311:314 it says “…Save yourself and the city, save me; save all of us from this pollution that lies on us because of that dead man.” This shows how Oedipus is not a good leader because he was in charge of finding the killer of the previous king, Laius. Instead, Oedipus tries to go the easiest way which is forcing people to talk when they don’t want to. Also, a good leader should not accuse people without having proofs. When you accuse someone without proofs, deep inside it might not be true, but also you are doing it to feel better about yourself. Oedipus accused Creon of betraying their friendship and not being loyal. According to Oedipus, the prophet and Creon met up and made a plan to accuse Oedipus as the killer of Laius. This is not true at all, Oedipus is just feeling at bay, and he wants to blame and take off his anger with someone. In page 102, lines 643:645, it says, “…May I die accursed, if I’ve been guilty in any way of any of the charges you bring against me.” This shows how Creo’s is willing to die if he is found guilty, but clearly Oedipus does not have proofs, he is making things up which shows that he is a liar. A good leader should not be a liar and that is what Oedipus is. Oedipus makes up the whole story and accuses Creo’s of not being loyal. In page 725, line 703, Oedipus says, “Creon says that I’m the murderer of Laius.” This is a big lie because Creon never accused Oedipus of being the killer. The person that accused Oedipus of being the killer was the prophet. Additionally, a good leader should have a good temper. In page 103, lines 673:675, Creon says, “I see you sulk in yielding and you’re dangerous when you are out of temper; natures like yours are just simply hardest for themselves to bear.” Similarly, in pages 755, line 749, Jocasta says, “I’m frightened- but you ask, and I will listen.” This shows that when Oedipus is out of temper, he is mean and dangerous; which make people fear him. Even though the book is great, I will change the title.
