Comparing Divine Punishment in Oedipus Rex and Leda and the Swan :: comparison compare contrast essays

forebode Punishment in Oedipus Rex and Leda and the wander divine penalisation is an irreversible detail that creates distinct mental attitudes in characters. In Yeats poem, Leda and the Swan and Sophocles Oedipus Rex, Divine punishment plays a crucial role, and is the basis for the actions of both Oedipus and Leda. Yeats and Sophocles explore the mentation of Divine punishment in various ways. Yeats shows Ledas attitude towards the make love of the rape, and the result of the rape leads to Ledas attitude towards the Gods, which then leads to many more travesties. In a similar way, Sophocles shows Oedipus reply to Divine punishment when Oedipus realizes that he has killed his father and married his mother. It was these actions that drove Leda and Oedipus to experience Divine punishment. As a result, each has suffered even more. In Yeats poem, Leda and the Swan, Yeats explores the idea of Divine punishment in using the result of Ledas rape as his subject. The offspring Leda produced represents the Divine punishment of the story. In the story, Leda is raped by a swan, which represents Zeus, the most powerful Greek God. The consequences of this rape includes two children, Helen and Clytemnestra who later hook up with and experience the fall of the Trojan empire and the killing of Agamemnon, Clytemnestras husband. The story of Leda and the Swan creates a vivid portrait of a rape between an all-powerful swan and Leda, the Spartan Queen. It is peculiar that two such powerful individuals ar the subjects of the horrendous act of rape. Zeus is the most powerful of all gods, and Leda herself has swell power, being the Queen of Sparta. Aside from this however, lies another topic, which Yeats attempts to explore, and that is the idea of Divine punishment. The unadulterated thought of punishment from the Divine, meaning God, is the reason why Leda allows the Swan to stick around the rape without a great deal of fight. Yeats writes, Being so caught up, s o mastered by the brute blood of the air, did she put on his acquaintance with his power before the indifferent beak could let her drop? (Kuehn 140). Here, Leda essential choose whether or not she should put all of her power in Zeus, knowing that he has harmed her. Her action to not resist the force leads to the Divine punishment.