Oedipus the King as a Classical Tragedy
Aristotle, in his work 'The Poetics', tried to define the tragedy. Aristotle said that the hero, or at least the main character in a tragedy must be essentially good, but must bring upon himself his fall, due to a fatal flaw. Were the character not noble, many reason, an audience would not care about the person, and would not really notice his fall - from the street to the gutter is not a long way. In today's society this, of course, has been shown not to be true. Modern playwrights have proven that an audience certainly can care about less prolific heroes, but in classical literature this rule stands, and all heroes of tragedy were noble, and tried to do good, but failed. Oedipus follows these rules in that he was a good, understanding and just person while anger and pride were his tragic flaws.
Oedipus was a very good man. Oedipus solved the riddle of the sphinx, which is how he came to be king of Thebes in the first place. This suggests both good intentions and the intelligence to put these intentions to good use. Oedipus was a pio...
So all the memories everyone had from the past has now created a world that is today, enjoyable. “Call me the Giver.” (Lowry 110). Quoted by the only old man who holds all the memories from years and years of the past to give to the new Receiver, which is Jonas. It is not just the happiness of past memories holding on throughout lives. But pain is the biggest part of memory that anyone will have to endure. It is not just the mental pain we suffer through, it also could have a pain in the physical body and mind that the elderly man had to be tortured with throughout his life. Lois Lowry is a powerful writer inflicting and teaching in the minds of all and how most important and delicate memory is in the novel, The Giver, and how it must not be forgotten or fade away as it will determine your future and fill the gaps of mistakes individuals have
Set in a community with no climate, emotions, choices, or memories Lois Lowry tells the tale of Jonas in The Giver. Jonas is selected to be the receiver of memory, which means the memories of generations past, before the community was created, will all be transferred to him to hold. As Jonas receives memories his concept of the world around him drastically changes. Jonas starts out as twelve-year-old boy with perceptions different from those around him, he then begins to see the community for what it really is, and he makes a plan to change it.
The ancient Greeks were fond believers of Fate. Fate, defined according to Webster’s, is “the principle or determining cause or will by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as the do.” The Greeks take on Fate was slightly modified. They believed that the gods determined Fate: “…fate, to which in a mysterious way the gods themselves were subject, was an impersonal force decreeing ultimate things only, and unconcerned with day by day affairs.” It was thought that these gods worked in subtle ways; this accounts for character flaws (called harmatia in Greek). Ancient Greeks thought the gods would alter a person’s character, in order for that person to suffer (or gain from) the appropriate outcome. Such was the case in Oedipus’s story.
Oedipus is widely known for being the man that killed his father and married his mother. After Oedipus finds out about what he has done he proceeds to jab both of his eyes out and remains blind for the rest of his life. By Oedipus doing this it means that his fate that was told to his parents at the beginning of the story had come true. With Oedipus jabbing his eyes out, this made it clear that this was a tragedy. Oedipus is the perfect fit of being a tragic hero. First of all by being born into royalty and throughout his life he held a royal persona. Also he makes some choices that leads him to his own destruction. For example, with him already marrying his mother and his mother had already had several of his kids their was nothing that he could do when he found out that his wife was also his mother. In the story as he went back to confront his mother/wife, she had already hung herself. As for being a hero, he done many heroic things throughout his life. For example, when he arrived at the city where he met his mother and father, there
In my opinion, I think this is an extremely important issue to address because many women on a global context are vulnerable and susceptible to HIV/AIDS. The long history of male attitudes on threats and violence needs to be analyzed in order to implement prevention plans that work.
To begin the author uses the literary element, foreshadowing, to show that pain comes with happiness. The foreshadowing in The Giver allows you to predict what might happen later in the book. One example of foreshadowing is when Jonas didn’t take the pill. When Jonas did not take the pill, it foreshadowed rebellion in the future. Jonas rebels by going elsewhere and taking a baby that is supposed to be killed. Another example of foreshadowing is when Jonas bathes the old lady, and it shows his love for grandparents. "He liked the feeling of safety here in this warm and quiet room; he liked the expression of trust on the woman’s face as she lay in the water unprotected, exposed, and free," (Lowry, 30). The last example is when Jonas hears about an eleven going elsewhere. "He wondered what lay in the far distance where he had never gone,”(Lowry, 106). Jonas planned to escape elsewhere, and he did. As Jonas rides down the sled he is able to see the lights, the different colors. Jonas has to escape th...
First, one of the reasons many people believe that assassination is wrong, because it goes against our legal system. Abraham Lincoln survived many crises as our leader such as creating American goals and facing the worst war in U.S. history by ending slavery while the United States was split in a civil war are just a few of his strong challenges. “At 10:22pm, a shot rang through the crowded Ford Theater. Booth, one of the best known actors of the day, had shot the president from the rear of the presidential box” (Holzer). Abraham Lincoln’s assassination is an example of how killing is illegal. John Wilkes Booth, the person who killed Lincoln, was later shot by a soldier hours later, after as he was trying to escape. As one of the greatest achievers of all time, his death also considered one of the greatest assassinations. Not only is killing another man against the United States law, it is also tougher to face and assassination the head of our country.
W. B. Yeats’s poem ‘An Irish Airman Foresees his Death’ and Shakespeare’s poem ‘Come Away, Come Away, Death’ both deal with the theme of impending death, although by varying causes. While the poems employ similar figurative and sonic elements of language, their tone and style vary. Yeats’s poem is primarily a war poem that serves as an elegy for the Irish pilot Major Robert Gregory who died in WWI. As opposed to this Shakespeare’s poem is a lamenting love song sung by the character of Feste in Twelfth Night. Despite being different in setting, they both express an acceptance of death.
Religious liberty is a basic human right which is related to people’s daily life. When it comes to the question that whether Religious liberty should be protected by specific provisions or general provisions, people have divergent opinions. I agree that religious liberty should be protect by specific provisions including national law and international law. I have several reasons to explain it.
Network repeaters are used to boost in coming wireless signal or electrical signal. By using the repeater together with physical media like Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi, the amplified data transmission will only span limited distance before the signal starts to degrade.
...e used to share code between the browser and backend. JavaScript is on its way to become a really universal language.
The concept of tragic hero is very important in the construction of tragedy. It is the main cause of pity and fear. The tragic hero is a character between the two extremes; he is neither virtuous nor evil. At the same time, this character is better than the ordinary men or audience, he has some good qualities. Moreover, as a tragic hero, he is moving from happiness to misery by his downfall at the end. In fact, this downfall is caused by an error or a flaw in his character not by a vice or depravity. Another feature in the tragic hero is that he has good reputation and he is a man of prosperity. It can be said that Oedipus is a tragic hero because he has all the previous mentioned characteristics and the whole play is a classical application of this concept.
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.
Oedipus is depicted as a “marionette in the hands of a daemonic power”(pg150), but like all tragic hero’s he fights and struggles against fate even when the odds are against him. His most tragic flaw is his morality, as he struggles between the good and the evil of his life. The good is that he was pitied by the Shepard who saved him from death as a baby. The evil is his fate, where he is to kill his father and marry his mother. His hubris or excessive pride and self-righteousness are the lead causes to his downfall. Oedipus is a tragic hero who suffers the consequences of his immoral actions, and must learn from these mistakes. This Aristotelian theory of tragedy exists today, as an example of what happens when men and women that fall from high positions politically and socially.