The Writings of Sophocles and Aristotle
Writing, particularly story writing, is an art. When a person sets out to create a painting, there are certain rules of composition that need to be followed. In the art of writing, it is the same. There are rules of composition for writing and they must be followed by the writer. Some of these rules date back to Aristotle, who set down some rules for classical drama in his Poetics, a collection of class notes in which Aristotle attempted "to treat of Poetry in itself and of its various kinds" (1028). These rules, adhered to by great writers for centuries, were preceded by at least one great classical work: Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Interestingly, even though Oedipus the King came before Poetics, Sophocles' play illustrates Aristotle's rules for classical drama. Oedipus the King particularly displays a tragic emotion, a tragic character, and a tragic fall according to Aristotle's rules.
Aristotle says that a tragedy should "imitate actions which excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of tragic imitation" (1036). There is certainly little as pitiful as Jocasta's anguish as she begins to suspect the truth about the man she has loved (Sophocles 1317-1342). Of course, the most profoundly pathetic scene in Oedipus the King occurs off stage, in the bed chamber of the King and Queen. There, as described by the servant, Oedipus discovers Jocasta's body where she hung herself from a rafter. He then takes the broaches from Jocasta's dress and stabs his eyes with the sharp pins on the back of the broaches, over and over until his eyes were pulp (1600-1637). This is certainly sufficient to, in Aristotle's words, "excite pity" (1036).
Aristotle also describes a tragic character, a hero of sorts who is a good and virtuous person, but who destroys himself by a particular flaw or error (1036). In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is just such a character. He is described in glowing terms as "more like a god than any man alive" (66). He is called "greater than any man" (52). He exclaims "nothing can dishonor me, ever" (1355-1356). Yet he is condemned to murder his father and to sleep with his mother (1481-1484). He has attempted to escape his fate, as his parents attempted to escape theirs, and in doing so he has made that fate possible.
Oedipus fits Aristotle's definition of the tragic flaw and protagonist almost flawlessly. Aristotle described the protagonist as "someone regarded as extraordinary rather than typical..."(1117). Oedipus freed Thebes from the Sphinx by solving her riddle-- something nobody else had been able to do. The priest in the first scene of Act I calls Oedipus "...our greatest power" (1121) and describes him as rated first among men.
In his lecture Oedipus at the Crossroads, Simon Goldhill addresses the idea that the incest between mother and son results in the collapse not only of the characters, but of language itself: or rather, of the language the characters use to express their despair. The fact that Oedipus stumbles on the words “Daughter, sister…” reflects this breakdown of language. In Sophocles’ Philoctetes, there is a similar sense of shattered language, but here it is more a case of being abandoned by language, of language and civilisation being so intrinsic to each other that being left behind by one implies being left behind by both. The Chorus’s description of what they imagine Philoctetes’s solitary existence to be like reflects this: “He cries out in his wretchedness;/there is only a blabbering echo,/that comes from the distance speeding/from his bitter crying”(187), using lack of dialogue to represent his solitude. Similarly, it is significant that it is not distinct words that announce Philoctetes’s approach the first time he comes on stage, but rather “the voice of a man wounded” and “a bitter cry” (209,210). And it is no coincidence that upon meeting Neoptolemus, Philoctetes’ greeting becomes an insistent, repetitive cry: “Take pity on me; speak to me; speak/ speak if you come as friends. / No—answer me/ If this is all/ that we can have from one another, speech, this, at least, we should have” (230). Just as, when Odysseus’ plan has been revealed and the men are preparing to leave, Philoctetes’ supplication is “Your voice has no word for me, son of Achilles? / Will you go away in silence?”(1065). Speech is equated with pity, di...
The great Sophoclean play, Oedipus Rex is an amazing play, and one of the first of its time to accurately portray the common tragic hero. Written in the time of ancient Greece, Sophocles perfected the use of character flaws in Greek drama with Oedipus Rex. Using Oedipus as his tragic hero, Sophocles’ plays forced the audience to experience a catharsis of emotions. Sophocles showed the play-watchers Oedipus’s life in the beginning as a “privileged, exalted [person] who [earned his] high repute and status by…intelligence.” Then, the great playwright reached in and violently pulled out the audience’s most sorrowful emotions, pity and fear, in showing Oedipus’s “crushing fall” from greatness.
What would you do if someone told you you would end up killing your father and marrying your mother when you grow up? You would do anything to keep that from happening, wouldn’t you? Oedipus did in Oedipus the King by Sophocles. Unfortunately, Oedipus fails in avoiding his fate. Faced with a choice between pursuing the truth which everyone tells him would lead to his destruction or accepting a life without knowing any better, Oedipus chooses self-knowledge over self-deception. This makes Oedipus a perfect example of a tragic hero. In Greek drama, a tragic hero is a protagonist of a noble birth who possesses a tragic flaw that leads to his down fall but shows the courage to accept responsibility for his own actions.
Through Aristotle’s specific definition of a tragic hero, it can be concluded that Oedipus is a tragic hero. Oedipus The King was written by a well-known tragic dramatist named Sophocles. This story is considered to be one of the greatest tragedies of all time. In fact, the Marjorie Barstow of the Classical Weekly says that it “fulfills the function of a tragedy, and arouses fear and pity in the highest degree” (Barstow). It is also very controversial because of the relationship that Oedipus has with his mother, although it was unknown at the time that they were related. The qualifications of a tragic hero, according to Aristotle, include coming from a royal family and falling from power due to actions that only the protagonist can take responsibility for. The main character must also have a tragic flaw, which is defined as a “weakness in character” (Gioia). There have been many protagonists in other plays that represent a tragic hero, but none exemplify Aristotle’s tragic hero traits quite as well as Oedipus does because of many reasons including his royal history, his tragic flaw, his hamartia, and his his fall from power.
According to Aristotle, the protagonist in a tragedy must have a tragic flaw that ultimately becomes the cause of his ruin. Oedipus in Oedipus the King by Sophocles tragic flaw that caused his downfall was his pride. Three examples of when Oedipus’ pride got the better of him were: when he left his adopted parents in Cornith, the second is when he goes against Creon, and the third is when Oedipus is demanding that the messenger tell him all he knows about who his real parents are.
Tiresias, from “Oedipus the King” by the Ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, is a blind prophet and whilst he is only on the stage for a little time he plays a major role by what he does and what he represents. Tiresias enters the play after being summoned by Oedipus to tell him of the murderer of Laius, the recent King. Tiresias for the sake of Oedipus does not tell him the truth at the start saying that “what will come will come. Even if I shroud it all in silence”. In is conversation, Sophocles, uses Tiresias as a turning point in the plot as it is the beginning of Oedipus’ downfall. As well as that Sophocles uses Tiresias to represent many of the key ideas in the play. Tiresias represents the idea of fate and how
Courageous and admirable with noble qualities defines a heroine. In Aristotle’s Poetics he describes a tragic hero as a character who is larger than life and through fate and a flaw they destroy themselves. Additionally, Aristotle states excessive pride is the hubris of a tragic hero. The hero is very self-involved; they are blind to their surroundings and commit a tragic action. A tragedy describes a story that evokes sadness and awe, something larger than life. Furthermore, a tragedy of a play results in the destruction of a hero, evoking catharsis and feelings of pity and fear among the audience. Aristotle states, "It should, moreover, imitate actions which excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of tragic imitation." (18) For a tragedy to arouse fear, the audience believes similar fate might happen to them and the sight of the suffering of others arouses pity. A tragedy's plot includes peripeteia, anagnorisis, hamartia and catharsis. Using Aristotle’s criteria, both characters in Oedipus The King and The Medea share similar qualities that define a tragic hero such as being of noble birth, having excessive pride, and making poor choices. They both gain recognition through their downfall and the audience feels pity and fear.
The aim of tragedy is to evoke fear and pity, according to Aristotle, who cited the Oedipus Tyrannus as the definitive tragic play. Thus pity must be produced from the play at some point. However, this does not necessarily mean that Oedipus must be pitied. We feel great sympathy ('pathos') for Jocasta's suicide and the fate of Oedipus' daughters. Oedipus could evoke fear in us, not pity. He is a King of an accursed city willing to use desperate methods, even torture to extract truth from the Shepherd. His scorning of Jocasta just before her death creates little pity for him, as does his rebuke of the old, blind Tiresias. But with this considered, we must not forget the suffering he endures during his search for knowledge and the ignorant self-destruction he goes under.
Although Incendies (2010), filmed by Denis Villeneuve, is the rewrite of Sophocles’ play, Oedipus The King, these two stories have their own variations in them. Both of their narratives are surrounding with the same concept: nobody could escape from their family’s history, which it has some tragedy outcomes and violence as the characters’ journey begin. Each character from Oedipus Tyrannus and Incendies responds differently obtaining knowledge about their past, and the closure of these two stories are completely diverse.
In his classic work "Poetics" Aristotle provided a model of the tragic hero. According to Aristotle, the tragic hero is more admirable than the average person. This results in the tragic hero being admired by the audience. For the audience to accept a tragic ending as just, it is crucial that the tragic hero be responsible for their undoing. At the same time though, they must remain admired and respected. This is achieved by the tragic hero having a fatal flaw that leads to their undoing. One of literature's examples of the tragic hero is Achilles from Homer's The Iliad. However, Achilles is different from the classic tragic hero in one major way - his story does not end tragically. Unlike the usual tragic hero, Achilles is able to change, reverse his downfall, and actually prove himself as a true hero.
In Greek tragedy the natural forces are destructive. These forces might be nature, gods or fate. Man is helpless in facing these powers.
Aristotle, in his work The Poetics, tries to delineate the idea of a tragedy. Throughout his work Aristotle says that the hero, or at least the protagonist in a tragedy must be substantially good, almost godlike. This hero must bring upon themselves their downfall, due to their fatal flaw. If the hero is not at a high point, an audience will not care about them, and won’t notice their fall. One must fall a long way in social class in order for it to be noticed by the outside man. Oedipus perfectly exemplifies a tragedy, in relation to modern society, effectively showing how too much pride can often lead to downfall or doom.
According to Aristotle, a tragedy must be an imitation of life in the form of a serious story that is complete in itself among many other things. Oedipus is often portrayed as the perfect example of what a tragedy should be in terms of Aristotle’s Poetics. Reason being that Oedipus seems to include correctly all of the concepts that Aristotle describes as inherent to dramatic tragedy. These elements include: the importance of plot, reversal and recognition, unity of time, the cathartic purging and evocation of pity and fear, the presence of a fatal flaw in the “hero”, and the use of law of probability.
Oedipus the King by Sophocles has the ingredients necessary for a good Aristotelian tragedy. The play has the essential parts that form the plot, consisting of the peripeteia, anagnorisis and a catastrophe; which are all necessary for a good tragedy according to the Aristotelian notion. Oedipus is the perfect tragic protagonist, for his happiness changes to misery due to hamartia (an error). Oedipus also evokes both pity and fear in its audience, causing the audience to experience catharsis or a purging of emotion, which is the true test for any tragedy according to Aristotle.