Suffering In Oedipus The King Essay

1421 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Critical essay aristotle on tragedy

The play, Oedipus the King, fulfills each of the 6 elements of tragedy according to the Aristotelian Dramaturgy. The play has a complex plot in which the protagonist has a reversal in his situation, a scene of recognition, and a scene of suffering. There are also characters in Oedipus the King that perform imitative actions to reinforce the plot. For example, the plot of the play includes a scene of suffering. For this scene of suffering to be manifested, the character, Oedipus, must first imitate the action of blinding himself. Thought is also fulfilled in the play. The thought can represent both the psychology of the characters and the themes. Some important themes in Oedipus the King include sight, which is ironically used in the play to …show more content…

One cultural element present in the play is the manifestation of a male-dominated society. Shakuntala’s presence in the play only exists through the “male gaze”. She is only recognized when king Dusyanta notices her: “her lips are fresh red buds, her arms are tendrils, impatient youth is poised to blossom in her limbs” (page 93). Ergo, his gaze defines her fate, especially towards the end when he recognizes her and the play resolves in a happy ending. Therefore, although women acted in Indian Sanskrit Dramas, the roles ascribed to them were heavily dependent on their male counterparts. This dependence on the male character(s) is reflective of a male-dominated society, in which women are viewed as low class. Another cultural element depicted in Shakuntala is illustration of Karma. Karma refers to an individual’s work and the consequences for that work. Shakuntala is a “good” character because she is benevolent, compassionate, and respectful. For example, when the king fails to recognize her, she magically disappears in the light without retaliating. In the end, her Karma resolves in a happy ending when King Dusyanta’s recognizes her and their love for each

Show More
Related

  • Oedipus the King: Narcissistic Oedipus

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is a classic tragic hero. According to Aristotle's definition, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is a king whose life falls apart when he finds out his life story. There are a number of characteristics described by Aristotle that identify a tragic hero. For example, a tragic hero must cause his own downfall; his fate is not deserved, and his punishment exceeds the crime; he also must be of noble stature and have greatness. Oedipus is in love with his idealized self.  All of the above characteristics make Oedipus a tragic hero according to Aristotle's ideas about tragedy.

    Read More

  • Oedipus is Deserving of his Suffering

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    Question: Sir John Sheppard comments that Oedipus behaves normally, commits an error in ignorance and brings suffering upon himself. He declares that "Oedipus suffers not because of his guilt, but in spite of his goodness.” What is your opinion of this comment?

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: The Pierced Ankle in Oedipus Rex

    525 Words  | 2 Pages

    The classification of Oedipus the King as a tragedy requires it to meet certain criteria pertaining to the main character, Oedipus. Oedipus must have no control over the situation which he is in, he has to have been harmed by someone for doing nothing or doing what is just, and he must come to an end in which he is utterly lost, or dies without resolving the situation. All three of these criteria can be found represented under a symbol, and that symbol is the piercing of his ankles as a child.

    Read More

  • Cesure and Sympathy in Oedipus the King

    637 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sophocles translates his philosophy of life, of there being a harmony in the workings out of the universal order of things, into a harmony in Oedipus Rex. In the play, Oedipus, for instance, is a free agent with, however, certain limits upon his freedom of action as determined by the will of the gods; a transgression by Oedipus would lead to intervention by the gods since justice must prevail as is evident by the admission of chorus in the play

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: The Tragic Flaws Of Oedipus

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Sophocles' Oedipus the King as Nothing More Than a Detective Story

    1986 Words  | 4 Pages

    This can lead to problems though, as shown by the character Jocasta, who shows that having guidance from a God or an Oracle doesn’t always help you in your future. Due to the way that “Oedipus the King” seems to incorporate all the things I have discussed, it would seem that this play is an example of. Greek tragedy at its best. The play stirs up the emotions and rouses sympathy for the characters and their protagonist. It motivates the audience and readers by asking questions, and using devices that utilise the suspense and the effect of dramatic irony.

    Read More

  • Oedipus vs. Hamlet as Tragic Heroes

    1556 Words  | 4 Pages

    Oedipus from the drama, “Oedipus the King” and Hamlet from, “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” are two characters that are different, yet they both share the same title of being a tragic hero. Oedipus and Hamlet have many characteristics of a tragic hero that separates them in varieties. However, some of those characteristics show that both characters have and use similar thought processes and methods, which classify them as tragic heroes of their dramas. The five characteristics of a tragic hero are: nobility, tragic flaw, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and lastly irony. Both Oedipus and Hamlet hold or have a nobility position in their drama’s plot. Oedipus is the son of the king, and fate has foretold that he will kill his father and take over the kingdom. Hence, Oedipus was fated into his nobility, so he is required always remain in a status above all others. Hamlet is also the son of the former king that is now dead. Hamlet was born into this nobility, and this makes him the prince. Both characters are royalty, yet their morals and values are what make their nobilities the same. Their actions create heavy and dramatic outcomes, which lead to many more complications. Both men try to resolve their problems different, so their fortunes become reversed. Oedipus and Hamlet are very different, yet almost have the same fates. Out of all the five characterizes, three of them describe and separate both men best as tragic heroes. The tragic flaws, which is defined as hamartia, both men have are the main reason they are heroes of tragedy, their recognitions of their situations, which is an anagnorisis, are at different points in their stories, and lastly both men meet an ending that is meant to be an irony of their fate.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: A Painful Path to Truth

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    The play "Oedipus Rex" is a very full and lively one to say the least. Everything a reader could ask for is included in this play. There is excitement, suspense, happiness, sorrow, and much more. Truth is the main theme of the play. Oedipus cannot accept the truth as it comes to him or even where it comes from. He is blinded in his own life, trying to ignore the truth of his life. Oedipus will find out that truth is rock solid. The story is mainly about a young man named Oedipus who is trying to find out more knowledge than he can handle. The story starts off by telling us that Oedipus has seen his moira, his fate, and finds out that in the future he will end up killing his father and marrying his mother. Thinking that his mother and father were Polybos and Merope, the only parents he knew, he ran away from home and went far away so he could change his fate and not end up harming his family. Oedipus will later find out that he cannot change fate because he has no control over it, only the God's can control what happens. Oedipus is a very healthy person with a strong willed mind who will never give up until he gets what he wants. Unfortunately, in this story these will not be good trait to have.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: The Guilt of Oedipus

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus is guilty because, despite knowing the prophecy that he will commit parricide and incest, he yet kills an elderly gentleman and sleeps with an elderly women. The choice was his, and this accounts for his guilt.

    Read More

  • Oedipus as a Tragic Hero

    353 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King and Aristotle's Poetics

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: A Tragic Hero

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tragedies have been written, told, and acted out for a number of years. Aristotle defined in his book, Poetics that a tragedy is to arouse the emotions of pity, fear, and finally a catharsis, or purging of emotions. A tragic play that perfectly completes this cycle of emotions is Oedipus the King by Sophocles. This play follows a king of the town of Thebes through his journey of the emotions of pity, fear, and finally a catharsis. It is a tale of a man who unknowingly kills his father and fathers the children of his mother as well. The audience is pulled into the play and experiences the plot along with Oedipus.

    Read More

  • The Perfect Aristotelian Tragedy: Oedipus the King

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Tragedy of “Oedipus the King”

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles is a tragedy of a man who unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother. Aristotles’ ideas of tragedy are tragic hero, hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and catharsis these ideas well demonstrated throughout Sophocles tragic drama of “Oedipus the King”.

    Read More

  • Tragedy In Oedipus The King, The Tragic Hero

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Suffering In Oedipus The King Essay

Open Document