...Oedipus Rex is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles. In this play, he developed dramatic irony to a high level. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows the tragic truth before it disclose to the characters within the story. There are many examples of the irony in this play, which play the key role through the story. The main dramatic irony in this play is that everyone in the audience knows from the beginning of the play that Oedipus has killed his father and married his mother. In this play, Sophocles uses irony to create sense of sadness and agony in the audience. At the very beginning of the play, when Oedipus found out about the previous Thebes' king, Laios, he says, "I learned of him from others; I never saw him.” The very first irony that comes out to the audience is that Oedipus actually saw Laios when he killed him, and the worse feeling that audience experience is how sad it is that a son does not know anything about his father and knows a little from others. Another example of irony in this play comes when Oedipus announces, "Whoever killed King Laios might--who knows?--decide at any moment to kill me as well. By avenging the murdered king I protect myself." The irony is that Oedipus is the King killer, and now he wants to retaliate the king murderer to protect himself from the killer; how is that possible to kill the murderer and protect himself even though they are the same person. In that proclaim, he is very solicitous to find and punish the murderer...
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... Extract 4 (Sophocles, Oedipus the King) In Greek Tragedy the medium, as in all forms of poetry is language, to convey a story through an imitation of an action, or as Aristotle defines in S.H. Butcher’s translation of Poetics “Tragedy is a mimesis of a praxis.” (Jones, 2000). This translates to an imitation/ representation of an action. Oedipus the King is structured into five episodes with a prologue to begin, each scene is introduced by the Chorus (the citizens of Thebes) who depict the state of affairs within Thebes. The city is plagued, as a Priest describes to Oedipus “look around you, see with your own eyes- our ship pitches wildly, cannot lift her head from the depths, the red waves of death… Thebes is dying. A blight on the fresh crops and rich pastures, cattle sicken and die, and the women die in labor, children stillborn, and the plague, the fiery god of fever hurls down on the city.” (L 28 – 34) This shows us that Thebes is being punished, and Oedipus, as the King of Thebes is begged by his subjects to put an end to the curse. This shows a good use of dramatic irony, as in fact it was Oedipus who is responsible for the actions of the gods. Oedipus has two conflicts going on within him, the first is that he does not want to kill who he believes is his father, “the man who reared me” (L 916) and the second is he does not want to lay with his mother. These conflicts have followed Oedipus and his father Laius throughout the play...
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...Oedipus Rex, a classical tragic play portrays how the protagonist, Oedipus is outrun by fate alongside depicting the classical and historical setting of that era. It is a drama of self-discovery of a man on whom a hereditary curse is placed and thus has to suffer its tragic consequences. It depicts how a tragic hero, due to wrong judgment error has inevitably led to his destruction. The dramatic irony of the audience being a part of Oedipus’s secret leads one to assume that this play would inevitably end in a tragedy. Nevertheless, one is unaware of the consequences that would befall a great and well respected king- Oedipus. The intervention of high power, life and its challenges that a man faces with and attitudes that shape humankind are...
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...In his Poetics, Aristotle outlined the ingredients necessary for a good tragedy, and he based his formula on what he considered to be the perfect tragedy, Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. According to Aristotle, a tragedy must be an imitation of life in the form of a serious story that is complete in itself. A good tragedy will evoke pity and fear in its viewers, causing the viewers to experience a feeling of catharsis. Catharsis, in Greek, means "purgation" or "purification"; running through the gamut of these strong emotions will leave viewers feeling elated, in the same way we often claim that "a good cry" will make one feel better. Aristotle also outlined the characteristics of a good tragic hero. He must be "better than we are," a man who is superior to the average man in some way. In Oedipus's case, he is superior not only because of social standing, but also because he is smart ? he is the only person who could solve the Sphinx's riddle. At the same time, a tragic hero must evoke both pity and fear, and Aristotle claims that the best way to do this is if he is imperfect. A character with a mixture of good and evil is more compelling that a character who is merely good. And Oedipus is definitely not perfect; although a clever man, he is blind to the truth and refuses to believe Teiresias's warnings. Although he is a good father, he unwittingly fathered children in incest. A tragic hero suffers because of his hamartia, a Greek word that is often translated as "tragic flaw"...
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...Pity for Oedipus Rex. In Sophocles’ King Oedipus play, a series of misfortunate events led by fate and the word of the gods takes its course. Although many look down upon Oedipus for his prideful attitude and short temper, he is not to be blamed for the calamities that take place. He shows nothing but sheer determination throughout the entire play and acts almost always on good intentions. Oedipus elicits pity as his intentions were pure in his pursuit to save the people of Thebes, proving that accidental infractions will always overpower intentional good deeds. Determination, which is typically a positive human trait, ends up being Oedipus’ hamartia, his most tragic flaw. In an attempt to uncover his origin of birth, Oedipus receives a distressing prophecy: “he was destined one day to kill his father and become his own mother’s husband.” (Sophocles, The Theban Legend 23). He is determined to avoid this horrible fate so he decides to flee from Corinth and do whatever is necessary to keep him and his family safe. “But by chance he came to hear, again by the mouth of Apollo’s ministers, the terrible prediction concerning him…He fled from Corinth, resolved never again to set eyes on his supposed father and mother as long as they lived.” (Sophocles, 24). As the play progresses, Oedipus continues to show utter determination throughout his quest, not once, but twice. He solves the riddle of the Sphinx upon arrival at Thebes which is what merits him with kingship in the beginning of...
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...Sophocles' Oedipus is a perfect fit to Aristotle's Ideal Tragic Hero. Oedipus follows all of the rules, with a hamartia, an anagnorisis, and a peripeteia. The audience is introduced to the hamartia, or tragic flaw, of Oedipus early in the play. Oedipus believes he can dodge the oracle given to him at Delphi that he will kill his father and marry his mother. By leaving the city of Corinth and heading to Thebes, Oedipus thinks that he can outsmart the will that the gods have for him. However, the audience knows that one cannot run away from an oracle. The oracle will come true no matter what is done. Therefore, the hamartia of Oedipus is his belief that he can evade his oracle. Oedipus' anagnorisis, recognition, later comes when he is told that it was he who killed the former King Lauis and that he is, in fact, now married to his own mother. The city of Thebes had been searching for King Lauis' murderer in order to drive him out of Thebes to save the city from the plague. With this anagnorisis Oedipus is finally led to his peripeteia, or downfall. First of all, Oedipus is put to shame in front of his entire city because of his incestuous act of marrying his mother. But, more importantly, he realizes that he had not successfully avoided the oracle. In order to try to save himself he blinds himself. If he is not able to see the truth with his own eyes, he should not be able to enjoy the gift of sight. http://personal.monm.edu/ysample/aristotle.htm Oedipus follows ten of the points...
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...qualities. The most famous example in English is John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, in which the name of the central character, Pilgrim, epitomizes the book's allegorical nature. Kay Boyle's story "Astronomer's Wife" and Christina Rossetti's poem "Up-Hill" both contain allegorical elements. Alliteration The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words. Example: "Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood." Hopkins, "In the Valley of the Elwy." Antagonist A character or force against which another character struggles. Creon is Antigone's antagonist in Sophocles' play Antigone; Teiresias is the antagonist of Oedipus in Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Assonance The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry or prose, as in "I rose and told him of my woe." Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" contains assonantal "I's" in the following lines: "How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, / Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself." Character An imaginary person that inhabits a literary work. Literary characters may be major or minor, static (unchanging) or dynamic (capable of change). In Shakespeare's Othello, Desdemona is a major character, but one who is static, like the minor character Bianca. Othello is a major character who is dynamic, exhibiting an ability to change. Characterization The means by which writers present and reveal character. Although techniques of characterization are complex, writers...
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...instruments , and also includes the high and low points of the play giving it an overall melodic quality. Spectacle includes the visual elements of the play, anything that is observed by sight. Often in modern movies and plays spectacle can be overdone, especially if a reason for the spectacle cannot be found. Language is the dialog or speech that makes up the story, and is used by characters to present the play to the audience. Aristotle lays out a very specific definition of what a tragedy should include, and how each element should be presented. He tells us that the tragedy must include these six elements and that they must be laid out in a logical manner. Aristotle sets up the framework for a tragedy that is used with or without the playwright’s knowledge for innumerable classical and modern plays. 3. Along with giving us the six elements of a tragedy, Aristotle also gives us four parts that should be included in a tragic hero. Sophocles’ character Oedipus is considered to be the classic example of a tragic hero. This is attributed to...
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...Narrative A narrative is a sequence of events that a narrator tells in story form. A narrator is a storyteller of any kind, whether the authorial voice in a novel or a friend telling you about last night’s party. Point of View The point of view is the perspective that a narrative takes toward the events it describes. First-person narration: A narrative in which the narrator tells the story from his/her own point of view and refers to him/herself as “I.” The narrator may be an active participant in the story or just an observer. When the point of view represented is specifically the author’s, and not a fictional narrator’s, the story is autobiographical and may be nonfictional (see Common Literary Forms and Genres below). Third-person narration: The narrator remains outside the story and describes the characters in the story using proper names and the third-person pronouns “he,” “she,” “it,” and “they.” • Omniscient narration: The narrator knows all of the actions, feelings, and motivations of all of the characters. For example, the narrator of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina seems to know everything about all the characters and events in the story. • Limited omniscient narration: The narrator knows the actions, feelings, and motivations of only one or a handful of characters. For example, the narrator of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has full knowledge of only Alice. • Free indirect discourse: The narrator conveys a character’s inner thoughts...
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...Antigone vs Otheelo: women In the plays “Antigone” by Sophocles and the Shakespearean tragedy “Othello” written by William Shakespeare, the themes that’s being portrayed are honour and gender, through the play the audience if captivated by the characters choices and motives through the play. With the characters choices they help to make the play more understandable as the audience can recognise the tragic hero in both the plays. The relationships between men and women in Othello are remarked as lesser then men. Iago often refers to his wife as a prostitute - "A house wife that by selling her desires, Buys herself bread and clothes (iv.i.95)” showing what type of relationship women and men had during the late 16th century. Women were generally considered obedient, respectful, kind and warm. They were never outspoken nor were they meant to, for it could be seen as a lack of loyalty. When Othello accused Desdemona of cheating on him, he found himself in a position that he didn't want to face with. Othello was emasculated with the thought of a woman disobeying him. Men were easily manipulated into thinking the worst of woman because they were certain it would never happen. However, when the slightest things start to be pointed out the characters start to over analyse. Woman were not on the same level as men; men talked down to woman, they didn’t see them as equals nor think that they should be treated like one. This relates to Othello and Desdemona’s relationship – she “betrayed”...
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...Sophocles Oedipus the King Translated by Ian Johnston Malaspina University-College Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada Richer Resources Publications Arlington, Virginia USA Sophocles Oedipus the King copyright 2007 by Richer Resources Publications All rights reserved Cover Art by Ian Crowe. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without express permission from the publisher except for brief excerpts in review. Reprint requests and requests for additional copies of this book should be addressed to Richer Resources Publications 1926 N. Woodrow Street Arlington, Virginia 22207 or via our web site at www.RicherResourcesPublications.com ISBN 978-0-9797571-1-2 Library of Congress Control Number 2007931684 Published by Richer Resources Publications Arlington, Virginia Printed in the United States of America 3 Translator's Note In the following text the numbers in square brackets refer to the Greek text; the numbers without brackets refer to the English text. In the line numbering for the translated text a short indented line is normally included with the short line above it. The translator would like to acknowledge the valuable help provided by Sir Richard Jebb’s translation and commentary. Background Note Sophocles (495 BC-405 BC) was a famous and successful Athenian writer of tragedies in his own lifetime. Of his 120 plays, only 7 have survived. Oedipus the King, also called Oedipus Tyrannos or Oedipus Rex, written around 420 BC, has long been...
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...Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Bloom's Classic Critical Views alfred, lord Tennyson Benjamin Franklin The Brontës Charles Dickens edgar allan poe Geoffrey Chaucer George eliot George Gordon, lord Byron henry David Thoreau herman melville Jane austen John Donne and the metaphysical poets John milton Jonathan Swift mark Twain mary Shelley Nathaniel hawthorne Oscar Wilde percy Shelley ralph Waldo emerson robert Browning Samuel Taylor Coleridge Stephen Crane Walt Whitman William Blake William Shakespeare William Wordsworth Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Edited and with an Introduction by Sterling professor of the humanities Yale University harold Bloom Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: William Shakespeare Copyright © 2010 Infobase Publishing Introduction © 2010 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information contact: Bloom’s Literary Criticism An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data William Shakespeare / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom : Neil Heims, volume editor. p. cm. — (Bloom’s classic critical views) Includes bibliographical references...
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...Министерство образования и науки Республики Казахстан Кокшетауский государственный университет им. Ш. Уалиханова An Outline of British Literature (from tradition to post modernism) Кокшетау 2011 УДК 802.0 – 5:20 ББК 81:432.1-923 № 39 Рекомендовано к печати кафедрой английского языка и МП КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, Ученым Советом филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, УМС КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова. Рецензенты: Баяндина С.Ж. доктор филологических наук, профессор, декан филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова Батаева Ф.А. кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры «Переводческое дело» Кокшетауского университета им. А. Мырзахметова Кожанова К.Т. преподаватель английского языка кафедры гуманитарного цикла ИПК и ПРО Акмолинской области An Outline of British Literature from tradition to post modernism (on specialties 050119 – “Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages”, 050205 – “Foreign Philology” and 050207 – “Translation”): Учебное пособие / Сост. Немченко Н.Ф. – Кокшетау: Типография КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, 2010 – 170 с. ISBN 9965-19-350-9 Пособие представляет собой краткие очерки, характеризующие английскую литературу Великобритании, ее основные направления и тенденции. Все известные направления в литературе иллюстрированы примерами жизни и творчества авторов, вошедших в мировую литературу благодаря...
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...but since then a profounder understanding of the neuroses has contributed towards the comprehension of the dream. The doctrine of dream-interpretation itself has evolved in a direction which was insufficiently emphasized in the first edition of this book. From my own experience, and the works of Stekel and other writers, [1] I have since learned to appreciate more accurately the significance of symbolism in dreams (or rather, in unconscious thought). In the course of years, a mass of data has accumulated which demands consideration. I have endeavored to deal with these innovations by interpolations in the text and footnotes. If these additions do not always quite adjust themselves to the framework of the treatise, or if the earlier text does not everywhere come up to the standard of our present knowledge, I must beg indulgence for this deficiency, since it is only the result and indication of the increasingly rapid advance of our science. I will even venture to predict the directions in which further editions of this book - should there...
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...critical theory today critical theory today A Us e r - F r i e n d l y G u i d e S E C O N D E D I T I O N L O I S T Y S O N New York London Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN © 2006 by Lois Tyson Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business Printed in the United States of America on acid‑free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number‑10: 0‑415‑97410‑0 (Softcover) 0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑0‑415‑97410‑3 (Softcover) 978‑0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Tyson, Lois, 1950‑ Critical theory today : a user‑friendly guide / Lois Tyson.‑‑ 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0‑415‑97409‑7 (hb) ‑‑ ISBN 0‑415‑97410‑0 (pb) 1. Criticism...
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