Oedipus Rex By Sophocles
Two different readers can interpret any text completely differently. This may be due to their age, background, quality of education and social status. On the other hand even a males and a females understanding may differ. Similarly with art, the author of any piece creates it with the intention of evoking a rare and unusual emotion in every person to create an effect. In this case, it is more about what the audience receives from this play and how they construe the act themselves. All of this applies to the tragic play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. I would like to focus on audience viewing Oedipus as a powerless man when it comes to handling the tragic fate he has been prescribed from a young age and a malediction that is waiting to come true.
Or as a monarch, with power and intelligence to rule people and give orders. Each person in the audience has the ability to make their own opinion on how they see the situation and the characters. Some my say Jocasta was an unfortunate woman with a terrible fate, who had to abandon her only child for the sake of safety in her family. Appearing towards the end of the play, Jocasta suffers from hiding the truth to herself, making her a tragic here. However, some may argue that she was actually heartless, a woman that left her child with the intention to murder it. This opinion may be based on the creativity of the audience. The background of each audience, can make them relate at least a little to the inconvenient situations that appear in this play. “I’m blind, you say; you mock at that! I say you see and still are blind-appallingly: blind to your origins.”
Under many circumstances it is clear that Oedipus is not thinking rationally. He is blinded by the desire to move forward and seek what the world has to offer to him. It is noticeable that the urge, this tragic hero is feeling gets him on the edge of foolishness, as he does such inhuman act as killing a stranger on his journey. As a regular resident of Thebes, he is family oriented, educated, excellent at unraveling mysteries and dominant with an unfortunate future ahead of him. His intelligence was proven when he solved and conquered the Sphinx's riddle. The audience may even share pity with his character as he is not responsible for any of this trouble but he is still suffering from it.
As a monarch he must be rectified at the cost of his own self-sacrifice, which he does. He is also under a lot of pressure not only to save his family but also the whole of Thebes. The main theme of the Oedipus the king play is an irreversible fate. Even though the tragic hero is trying to prevent this damnation from happening, through peripeteia, meaning the reversal of intention, there is no possible way for Oedipus to prevent it from happening. This takes place when the messenger from Corinth arrives. On the other hand as a puppet, with no power or motivation to try and liberate him from the future the oracle has prepared for him. Even thought Jocasta firstly questions and then denies the possibility of oracles damnation coming true, in the end every single bit of the predictions becomes reality. After unintentionally killing his father on the crossway, he marries his own mother and has incest children named Antigone, Polynices and Ismene. A twist on the fate appears when Jocasta commits suicide and Oedipus is pushed into such a misery and suffering he would rather be blind. It is recognizable that fate is more powerful than anything a human being can do. Oedipus's tragic end is not his fault; he is simply a mortal with an unearthly fate waiting to fulfill. As the Chorus says, "Time sees all;"
Or as a monarch, with power and intelligence to rule people and give orders. Each person in the audience has the ability to make their own opinion on how they see the situation and the characters. Some my say Jocasta was an unfortunate woman with a terrible fate, who had to abandon her only child for the sake of safety in her family. Appearing towards the end of the play, Jocasta suffers from hiding the truth to herself, making her a tragic here. However, some may argue that she was actually heartless, a woman that left her child with the intention to murder it. This opinion may be based on the creativity of the audience. The background of each audience, can make them relate at least a little to the inconvenient situations that appear in this play. “I’m blind, you say; you mock at that! I say you see and still are blind-appallingly: blind to your origins.”
Under many circumstances it is clear that Oedipus is not thinking rationally. He is blinded by the desire to move forward and seek what the world has to offer to him. It is noticeable that the urge, this tragic hero is feeling gets him on the edge of foolishness, as he does such inhuman act as killing a stranger on his journey. As a regular resident of Thebes, he is family oriented, educated, excellent at unraveling mysteries and dominant with an unfortunate future ahead of him. His intelligence was proven when he solved and conquered the Sphinx's riddle. The audience may even share pity with his character as he is not responsible for any of this trouble but he is still suffering from it.
As a monarch he must be rectified at the cost of his own self-sacrifice, which he does. He is also under a lot of pressure not only to save his family but also the whole of Thebes. The main theme of the Oedipus the king play is an irreversible fate. Even though the tragic hero is trying to prevent this damnation from happening, through peripeteia, meaning the reversal of intention, there is no possible way for Oedipus to prevent it from happening. This takes place when the messenger from Corinth arrives. On the other hand as a puppet, with no power or motivation to try and liberate him from the future the oracle has prepared for him. Even thought Jocasta firstly questions and then denies the possibility of oracles damnation coming true, in the end every single bit of the predictions becomes reality. After unintentionally killing his father on the crossway, he marries his own mother and has incest children named Antigone, Polynices and Ismene. A twist on the fate appears when Jocasta commits suicide and Oedipus is pushed into such a misery and suffering he would rather be blind. It is recognizable that fate is more powerful than anything a human being can do. Oedipus's tragic end is not his fault; he is simply a mortal with an unearthly fate waiting to fulfill. As the Chorus says, "Time sees all;"