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Theories in the play of Oedipus the king by sophocles
Theories in the play of Oedipus the king by sophocles
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In the play “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles, Oedipus is exhilarated as he hears things that he wants to hear, but is agitated and angry when things that are unpleasant to him rush into his ear, resulting in the punishment of the ones who informs him, even though that the information is reality. This issue also has happened today, where some powerful people avoid confronting reality by stopping those ones who express their opinions using cruel methods. One example may be the upcoming Winter Olympics in Canada. This issue is caused by the hierarchy of both times and the relationship within the hierarchy. Firstly, the hierarchy in the play is explicitly reflected in the modern times. In the play, the king, Oedipus, is placed at the top of the hierarchy. Similar to that, the premier of BC, Gordon Campbell, may also be at the top in the modern hierarchy. Below the top, the less powerful men occupy the middle level. In the play, this person might be Creon, and in reality, the police. Finally, the bottom level is occupied by thousands of working class men or poor people, for both the mo...
Oedipus and Creon are two new rulers that seek to establish their legitimacy to the authority of the Thebes’ throne. Oedipus sought to find approval and identification with the people of Thebes by ending a plague. Creon emphasized national unity and obedience to laws that benefit the state. Similar to the runners of separate types of races Oedipus and Creon approach the problem of establishing authority in different ways. Oedipus has the mindset of a sprinter and approached each arising problem with the same tactics. Creon is likened to a distance runner that is trying to have his team win a track meet. Viewing the characters as different types of runners allows for insight as to justification why each character fails to gain the legitimate authority they desire.
won) fighting a war against the city of Troy and has been held captive by
Set ages apart, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex provide different perspectives on the topic of tragedy and what is defined as a tragic hero. Although Oedipus would be thought of as better representing the tragic hero archetype due to tradition and time period, the modern tragic hero of Oedipus Rex is more of a dismal one. Through analysis of their respective hamartias, it is exemplified that the New York businessman with his humble story proves to be more thought provoking than the King of Thebes and his melancholic tale. **By incorporating a more relatable character and plot, Arthur Miller lends help to making Willy Lowman spiral toward his own downfall while building more emotion and response from the audience than with Oedipus. When Oedipus learns of his awful actions, this invokes shock and desperation. With Willy Lowman, the audience goes for a bumpy ride until the eventual, but expected, crash. ** (NEEDS WORK)
Upon reading the play, there is an apparent class structure found throughout. In Oedipus Tyrannus, two mai...
In Oedipus at Colonus (OC), one sees the beginning of Creon's decline. Creon has now come to occupy the throne that once belonged to Oedipus. It soon becomes apparent that his vision of the proper role of a king has changed to accommodate his new-found position. The emphasis shifts from that of a king who must rule wisely to one who must rule unyieldingly. The kingship becomes a selfserving instrument for Creon in his attempt to secure the return of Oedipus and the good fortune prophesied to accompany him. Creon's notion of justice is severely distorted in OC. He becomes monomaniacal - conducting his affairs with tyranny and belligerence. For example, he threatens to harm Oedipus' daughters if the blind beggar does not return to Thebes. His view of rightness and fairness is no longer in line with that of his subjects.
The idea of fate has baffled mankind for centuries. Can humans control what happens to them, or is everyone placed in a predestined world designed by a higher power? The Epic of Gilgamesh and Oedipus The King highlight on the notion that no matter what, people cannot control what is destined to occur. Interestingly enough, many other distantly connected cultures had, and have similar gods or goddesses who play a role in the fate of individuals. Oedipus, King of Thebes, was told by the Oracle at Delphi that he would one day kill his father and marry his mother. Determined not to let this prophecy verify his fears, Oedipus does all in his power to prevent this from happening, yet fails. Similarly, Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, attempts to obtain immortality, but fails as well. Gilgamesh's and Oedipus's intense fear and ignorance cause them to try to interfere with their fates, leading to their failures and realization of the futility of trying to control destiny.
In Ancient Greece the existence of gods and fate prevailed. In the Greek tragedy King Oedipus by the playwright Sophocles these topics are heavily involved. We receive a clear insight into their roles in the play such as they both control man's actions and that challenging their authority leads to a fall.
...up the question of the value of truth, and whether the pain of knowing an awful truth is more important than the bliss of ignorance. This also applies to Death of a Salesman: while Oedipus chooses to pursue the truth, Jocasta and the Lomans try to live in naïveté and not face reality. The play also questions the increasingly proud leaders of the Athenian society who challenge the higher powers, i.e. men against the gods, when Oedipus reviles the oracles. The gods, he indicates, will always triumph when men, using their intellect, oppose them. One of the themes is that the course of things is partly based on the character's actions but mostly fate.
The noble characters, Oedipus and Willy rely on things of substantial value in their lives, but then unfortunately fail, further deepening their harmatia. In Arthur Millers’ essay “Tragedy and the Common Man,” he does not believe that just nobility and power over others is inadequate to just judge a select few:
Here is a story where Oedipus the King, who has accomplished great things in his life, discovers that the gods were only playing with him. He has everything a man of that time could want; he is king of Thebes, he has a wonderful wife and children, and great fame through out the lands. He has lived a good life, but in the end everything is taken from him.
Before the twentieth century plays were mainly written as either a tragedy or comedy. In a tragic play the tragic hero will often do something that will eventually destroy him. In the book Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the tragic hero. In this tragic play the main character, which is portrayed as Oedipus, will do a good deed that will in turn make him a hero. This hero will reach his height of pride in the story, and in the end the action, which he had committed earlier, will return and destroy this man who was once called a hero.
According to Aristotle's theory of tragedy and his definition of the central character, Oedipus the hero of Sophocles is considered a classical model of the tragic hero. The tragic hero of a tragedy is essential element to arouse pity and fear of the audience to achieve the emotional purgation or catharathis. Therefore, this character must have some features or characteristics this state of purgation. In fact, Oedipus as a character has all the features of the tragic hero as demanded by Aristotle.
Greek Drama had three main categories The Comedy, Satyr Plays, and The Tragedy. The most popular of the three is The Tragedy, its themes are often such as loss of love, complex relationships between men and the gods, and corruption of power. These dramas taught the people of the city the difference between good and bad behavior and the ramifications of going against the gods. According to Aristotle, the perfect tragedy consisted of the downfall of the hero through a great misunderstanding, causing suffering and awareness for the protagonist meanwhile making the audience feel pity and fear. The prominent writer who Aristotle based his perfect tragedy theory was Sophocles, his drama Oedipus the King had all the elements of a perfect tragedy.
Elizabeth Kubler Ross, in Death and Dying, discusses the stages one goes through when he or she comes to terms with his or her own fate. These stages include Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, and the medieval morality play, Everyman, by and anonymous author, both the title characters travel through these stages throughout the plot when they come to meet their fates or misfortunes.
Oedipus the King is an excellent example of Aristotle's theory of tragedy. The play has the perfect Aristotelian tragic plot consisting of paripeteia, anagnorisis and catastrophe; it has the perfect tragic character that suffers from happiness to misery due to hamartia (tragic flaw) and the play evokes pity and fear that produces the tragic effect, catharsis (a purging of emotion).