Tragedy in Oedipus the King and Doll's House

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Recommended: Analyse Aristotle,s elents of tragedy

Only Peace in Death

Tragedy has been apart of human history since the dawning of civilization. Man has been plunged into terrible tragedies for ages. But not until the Greeks and prominent playwrights such as Sophocles did tragedy take on into its own on the stage. Out of this rebirth of tragedy came what has been considered, even by Aristotle himself, the greatest tragedy ever written, Oedipus the King. He delves into the human psyche: bringing forth the notion of predestination, a supposition desperately believed in by humans, betraying the fatal flaws of his hero and manifesting the suffering brought upon the hero by his tragic downfall. Though it was written more than a millennium ago, its basis and structure for tragedy has held strong, showing true in the modern tragedy of A Doll’s House. Written by Henrik Ibsen, it is a more down to earth tragedy on a level and situation that almost anyone can relate to. Though the heroine of the tragedy is almost no different than Oedipus, she has a form of personal nobility and pride that leads her to actions that eventually bring about her downfall. She suffers, she feels emotion. Both Oedipus the King and A Doll’s House set forth a range of human emotions that allows the audience to connect and feel for the tragedy, given to one to reflect upon human nature.

Both ignorance and pride are closely related to the tragic hero and heroine of Oedipus the King and A Doll’s House. It is substantially the leading factor in the downfall of the characters, starting almost from the beginning of the tragedy, gradually building until the bliss, the fool’s folly, is wiped clean by a realization, a gatherance of knowledge that leads them to their suffering. Oedipus knows not of his herit...

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...ng does not end as well. Having lived during a patriarchal, she would not be able to sustain herself adequately outside of a household with a man. Her suffering would then become both extroversive and introversive. Her live would become a hell on earth as she struggled just to survive everyday, with peace only in death.

Sophocles and Ibsen were masterful playwrights that could bring forth the elements needed for a tragedy. They could play upon the wealth of human emotions, engrossing the audiences in empathy and disbelief. Their tragedies, Oedipus the King and A Doll’s House has been revered and studied because of their inclusion of the basic structure of the tragedy, as well as their display of the complexities of the human psyche. They are stories to be reflected upon, and their true value can only be acknowledged by taking a look of the world around us.

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