This Tricky Beggarpriest for Gain Alone Keeneyed but in His Proper Art Stone Blind

Oedipus the King: "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles

When a plague ravages the city of Thebes, Oedipus hears a prophecy that begins to unravel everything he thought was truthful. Read the total text here.

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Full listing of words from this list:

1. suppliant

   one praying humbly for something

   My children, latest born to Cadmus old,
   Why sit ye here every bit suppliants, in your hands
   Branches of olive filleted with wool?

2. venerable

   impressive by reason of age

   Ho! aged sire, whose venerable locks
   Proclaim thee spokesman of this company,
   Explain your mood and purport.

   Another definition of "venerable" is "greatly honored"--this would also be a plumbing equipment description of the priest's status among anybody praying, only Oedipus picks the priest out of the crowd because of his age and white hair, which are assumed to be connected to wisdom and worthy of respect.

3. obdurate

   showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings

   Ruthless indeed were I and obdurate
   If such petitioners equally you I spurned.

4. welter

   toss, gyre, or rise and autumn in an uncontrolled way

   For, as thou seest thyself, our ship of Land,
   Sore buffeted, can no more lift her head,
   Foundered beneath a weltering surge of blood.

   The priest uses the epitome of a sinking ship to describe the state of the kingdom--it is "sore buffeted" (pounded repeatedly by storms) and foundering beneath wild waves of blood (from plague and hunger).

5. blight

   a country or condition being devastated or run-downwardly

   A bane is on our harvest in the ear,
   A blight upon the grazing flocks and herds,
   A blight on wives in travail;

   The kingdom is in serious trouble considering the list of blights includes not only the devastation of the nutrient supply but as well the deaths of women and babies during childbirth.

6. beseech

   inquire for or asking earnestly

   All we thy votaries beseech thee, discover
   Some succor, whether past a voice from heaven
   Whispered, or haply known by human being wit.

7. sluggard

   an idle slothful person

   Therefore ye rouse no sluggard from day-dreams.
   Many, my children, are the tears I've wept,
   And threaded many a maze of weary thought.

8. extirpate

   destroy completely, as if down to the roots

   King Phoebus bids united states of america straitly extirpate
   A fell pollution that infests the state,
   And no more than harbor an inveterate sore.

   Creon uses agricultural images to describe what must be done to salve the kingdom--the deeply-rooted sore that must be extirpated considering it's polluting the country is the unpunished murderer of the rightful king.

9. expiation

   the act of apologetic for sin or wrongdoing

   What expiation means he? What'due south amiss?

   At this point in the play, Oedipus does non know all the details of the sins that need to exist expiated, but once he does, he recognizes that "no gallows could atone."

10. suborn

    incite to commit a law-breaking or an evil act

    Did any bandit dare and so assuming a stroke,
    Unless indeed he were suborned from Thebes?

11. unscathed

    not injured

    And if he shrinks, let him reflect that thus
    Confessing he shall 'scape the capital charge;
    For the worst penalty that shall befall him
    Is banishment— unscathed he shall depart.

12. recompense

    payment or advantage, every bit for service rendered

    But if an conflicting from a foreign land
    Exist known to any as the murderer,
    Let him who knows speak out, and he shall accept
    Due recompense from me and thank you to boot.

13. teeming

    abundantly filled with especially living things

    And for the disobedient thus I pray:
    May the gods send them neither timely fruits
    Of world, nor teeming increase of the womb,
    But may they waste and pine, as now they waste,
    Aye and worse stricken;

14. blanch

    turn pale, as if in fear

    Words scare not him who blenches not at deeds.

    "Blench" is an alternate version of "flinch"--Oedipus is responding to the chorus of old men's proffer that the murderer of Laius might have run away because of the curse.

15. adjure

    ask for or request earnestly

    Oh speak,
    Withhold not, I adjure thee, if thou know'st,
    Thy knowledge. We are all thy suppliants.

    "Attest" too means "control solemnly"--both definitions seem to fit the situation considering Oedipus is the king, merely Teiresias is a respected prophet. Thus Oedipus starts his speech with two commands "Speak" and "Withhold not" but he ends with the acknowledgement that he and the rest of the kingdom are all praying for Teiresias to relieve them with his knowledge.

16. taciturnity

    the trait of being uncommunicative

    Monster! thy silence would incense a flint.
    Will naught loose thy natural language? Tin can zip melt thee,
    Or milkshake thy dogged taciturnity?

17. flout

    treat with contemptuous disregard

    And who could stay his choler when he heard
    How insolently m dost flout the State?

18. stint

    supply sparingly and with restricted quantities

    Yea, I am wroth, and will not stint my words,
    but speak my whole mind.

    Teiresias's status in Thebes gives him some liberty in his speech (and silence). But Oedipus's wrath and choler are getting the meliorate of him (this aforementioned angry nature is what led him to murder the travelers). No longer able to stint his words, Oedipus accuses Teiresias of beingness the mastermind backside the murder of Laius. This actually succeeds in provoking Teiresias to throw the truthful allegation back at Oedipus.

19. calumny

    a false accusation of an offense

    Thou shalt rue it
    Twice to echo and so gross a calumny.

20. adventurer

    a flamboyant deceiver

    for this crown
    The trusty Creon, my familiar friend,
    Hath lain in wait to oust me and suborned
    This mountebank, this juggling adventurer,
    This tricksy beggar-priest, for gain lone
    Swell-eyed, but in his proper fine art stone-blind.

    "Charlatan," "mountebank," and "tricksy beggar-priest" are all the same insult. Angry that Teiresias should dare charge him of existence the cause of the kingdom'due south troubles, Oedipus accuses Teiresias not only of being a faux prophet for turn a profit, but also of conspiring with Creon to take his throne.

21. reverberate

    ring or echo with audio

    Ah whither shall thy bitter weep not attain,
    What crag in all Cithaeron only shall then
    Reverberate thy wail, when thou hast constitute
    With what a hymeneal thou wast borne
    Home, but to no fair haven, on the gale!

    Oedipus gets a huge hint here that in that location's something seriously wrong with his marriage (a hymeneal is a hymeneals march) that would make his cries reverberate off mountains. Simply he is and so aroused that he does non run into the truth and believes instead that Teiresias is just being foolishly rude.

22. petulance

    an irritable feeling

    This taunt, it well may be, was blurted out
    In petulance, non spoken carefully.

23. glib

    artfully persuasive in speech communication

    Thousand fine art glib of tongue, merely I am boring to learn
    Of thee; I know too well thy venomous detest.

24. repose

    liberty from activity

    Start, I bid thee think,
    Would whatever mortal choose a troubled reign
    Of terrors rather than secure repose,
    If the same ability were given him?

25. stealthy

    marked by tranquility and caution and secrecy

    When with swift strides the stealthy plotter stalks
    I must be quick as well with my counterplot.
    To wait his onset passively, for him
    Is sure success, for me assured defeat.

26. probity

    consummate and confirmed integrity

    Respect a man whose probity and troth
    Are known to all and now confirmed by adjuration.

27. truculent

    defiantly aggressive

    Thou art every bit sullen in thy yielding mood
    As in thine anger thou wast truculent.

28. mitigate

    lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of

    Strange counsel, friend! I know g mean'st me well,
    And yet would'st mitigate and blunt my zeal.

29. unrelenting

    non to be placated or appeased or moved past entreaty

    Allow me too, I adjure thee, know, O king,
    What cause has stirred this unrelenting wrath.

30. roisterer

    an especially noisy and unrestrained merrymaker

    A roisterer at some banquet, flown with wine,
    Shouted "M art not true son of thy sire."

31. suffice

    be acceptable, either in quality or quantity

    Yet was I quits with him and more; i stroke
    Of my adept staff sufficed to fling him clean
    Out of the chariot seat and laid him prone.
    So I slew them every i.

32. ethereal

    of sky or the spirit

    My lot be still to atomic number 82
    The life of innocence and fly
    Irreverence in word or deed,
    To follow still those laws ordained on loftier
    Whose birthplace is the brilliant ethereal sky

33. emulous

    eager to surpass others

    But O may Sky the truthful patriot continue
    Who burns with emulous zeal to serve the Country.

34. impious

    defective piety or reverence for a god

    Perdition seize his vain imaginings,
    If, urged past greed profane,
    He grasps at ill-got gain,
    And lays an impious hand on holiest things.

35. overwrought

    securely agitated peculiarly from emotion

    I had a heed to visit the high shrines,
    For Oedipus is overwrought, alarmed
    With terrors manifold.

36. rebuke

    censure severely or angrily

    Softly, erstwhile human, rebuke him not; thy words
    Are more deserving chastisement than his.

    "Rebuke" and "chastise" are synonyms that Oedipus is using to shame the herdsman into speaking the truth. The herdsman doesn't want to reveal the truth because he knows it would hurt Oedipus (and would also injure himself, since he'd played a role in fulfilling the prophecy), and so when the messenger blurts it out, he yells at him for having a "wanton natural language," which prompts Oedipus'southward rebuke.

37. prevaricate

    be deliberately ambiguous or unclear

    The knave methinks volition still prevaricate.

38. shroud

    cover as if with a burying garment

    Not Ister nor all Phasis' flood, I ween,
    Could wash away the blood-stains from this house,
    The ills information technology shrouds or soon volition bring to light,
    Ills wrought of malice, not unwittingly.

39. sanguine

    a blood-carmine color

    Such was the brunt of his moan, whereto,
    Non once but often, he struck with his hand uplift
    His eyes, and at each stroke the ensanguined orbs
    Bedewed his beard, not oozing drop by drop,
    But one black gory downpour, thick as hail.

40. respite

    a relief from harm or discomfort

    Just hath he still no respite from his pain?

    Some other definition of "respite" is "postponing punishment"--in that sense, Oedipus enjoyed years of respite for the murders of Laius and his traveling party, during which time he became a king and fathered four children. But the question is coming from a concerned Chorus, who just heard that Oedipus, on discovering what his murderous acts led to, was and so emotionally pained that he poked his ain optics into a bloody, bullheaded mess.

41. fetter

    a shackle for the ankles or anxiety

    My curse on him whoe'er unrived
    The waif's fell fetters and my life revived!
    He meant me well, still had he left me in that location,
    He had saved my friends and me a world of care.

42. defile

    spot, stain, or pollute

    The monstrous offspring of a womb defiled,
    Co-mate of him who gendered me, and child.
    Was always man before affected thus,
    Like Oedipus.

43. apple-polishing

    virtually unfortunate or miserable

    Come up here, deign to affect an abject wretch;
    Draw nigh and fear non; I myself must bear
    The load of guilt that none but I can share.

    "Apple-polishing" also means "of the most contemptible kind" (Oedipus killed his father, married his female parent, and fathered his ain brothers and sisters), "showing utter resignation or hopelessness" (he begs to be exiled or killed), and "showing humiliation or submissiveness" (he recognizes that both Apollo and he are responsible for his miseries).

44. rancorous

    showing deep-seated resentment

    Ah me! what words to accost him can I find?
    What crusade has he to trust me? In the past
    I have been proved his rancorous enemy.

45. derision

    the act of treating with contempt

    Not in derision, Oedipus, I come
    Nor to upbraid thee with thy past misdeeds.

46. providence

    the guardianship and command exercised by a deity

    May Providence deal with thee kindlier
    Than information technology has dealt with me!

    Although this play takes place chronologically before Antigone, Sophocles wrote it near fifteen years later. Thus, the Greek audiences who knew the myths and had seen the production of Antigone would know that Oedipus's wish does not come true: Creon, because of his pride, anger, and disrespect to the gods, also brings on the destruction of his family.

47. abashed

    feeling or caused to feel uneasy and cocky-conscious

    Where'er ye go to banquet or festival,
    No merrymaking will it prove for you lot,
    But oft abashed in tears ye will return.

48. disrepute

    the land of being held in low esteem

    And when ye come up to marriageable years,
    Where'due south the assuming wooers who will jeopardize
    To take unto himself such disrepute
    As to my children's children still must cling,
    For what of infamy is lacking here?

49. destitute

    poor enough to need assistance from others

    O leave them not to wander poor, unwed,
    Thy kin, nor let them share my depression estate.
    O pity them so young, and just for thee
    All destitute.

50. overwhelm

    overcome by superior forcefulness

    Wait ye, countrymen and Thebans, this is Oedipus the great,
    He who knew the Sphinx's riddle and was mightiest in our land.
    Who of all our townsmen gazed not on his fame with envious eyes?
    At present, in what a sea of troubles sunk and overwhelmed he lies!

    The superior force that overwhelmed Oedipus is Fate. Upon discovering that he really did fulfill the oracle's predictions (which he thought had been carefully avoided), Oedipus is overwhelmed by grief, shame, and horror.

Created on June 10, 2013 (updated August 1, 2018)

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Source: https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/271219

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