Position Paper: A Review

Firstly, this is my pioneer venture in writing a position paper. Although I have done different types of papers namely; Theme Paper, Explication Paper, Research Paper, and Project Paper, but this type of writing has somewhat brought the other side of me onto paper. The reason as to why I say so is because rarely do we write something that we believe in. Thus, position paper has indeed provided the privilege in doing so. The text that worked on was the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles. Oedipus the King is an ironic play where Oedipus who once was a man of power and wealth who suddenly falls destitute. From much great position, he was blinded and expelled from the land that he once ruled. Thus, there was the issue of who is to be blamed; Oedipus or his Fate that is predestined.
The first thing that I had to do is to choose a stand and turn it into a thesis statement. My thesis statement sounded like this; ‘Oedipus is solely responsible for his downfall.’ And in order to counter claim it I came up with something like this; ‘Oedipus is not solely responsible for his downfall.’ This is due to the reasons;
· fate has control over Oedipus’ life.
· the context of man being free, but at the same time, fated. (predestination to one’s life)
· Oedipus is free to run, but ultimately he cannot run away from himself.
In order to support my thesis statement, Miss Dzeelfa asked me to come up with supporting details. So those three supporting details are;
1) Oedipus chooses to blindfold himself in perceiving his own fate.
· Inability to see the truth
· Ignorance leads to unawareness
2) Oedipus’ impatience leads to the discovery of his origins.
· eagerness in wanting to solve the murder
3) Oedipus’ arrogance leads him to belittle other’s advices and opinions.
· role of hubris
· the act of neglecting of Teiresias’s advices

These supporting details are drawn from his three main his destructive character traits namely; ignorance, impatience and arrogance. Hopefully, everything goes well during the presentation…. Good luck everyone!