Oedipus The King: The Irony Of Guilt
Aristotle : The Irony of Guilt
The foundation upon which Aristotle rests his fundamental element of anagnorisis, in the Greek Tragedy, seems to always come back to human guilt, and the chosen actions by the hero forms the consequences of that guilt, which thereby determines the resolution. This sets an empathetic hook between audience and hero. It is the emotion that sets forth every action that will determine the hero's endgame. Aristotle, in his formula for Greek Tragedy, sets up the central hero as an almost mythic figure, where a fall from their steadfast and exemplary morality is that much longer of a descent. In the characteristics given to the central hero's of your classic tragedy, Aristotle is bringing to the forefront how …show more content…
Often perceived by the characters as acts stricken upon them by malevolent gods. We can see this no more clearly, in what may have been Socrates most tragic figures, in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus, throughout the play, is portrayed as a just and noble human being. Making decisions based upon the situation at hand. No question is posed as to challenge the morality of his decisions, as they appear to all involved as motivations in line to Oedipus's character type. A leader. Noble. Ingenious. Trusted. You do not doubt the clarity of character that Oedipus is when we begin the play. We are treated to a display of bravado from Oedipus when he declares to The Chorus "You pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers."(1) In "The Guilt of Oedipus" P.H. Velacott states "In none of these do we find what we are looking for-what Sophocles must surely have looked for-some sin, some fault in Oedipus's character which would justify to me the seemingly cruel and immporal ways of Zeus or of Apollo or of Fate." (Vellacott) Only as the play unfolds is the audience allowed to displace there perception to that of Oedipus's gods. Plans are in motion. Plans within plans. Plots within plots. We begin to see over, and past, the precipice of Oedipus's understanding. We the audience, like a shared collective of gods, begin to see the decisions made by Oedipus for what they
The foundation upon which Aristotle rests his fundamental element of anagnorisis, in the Greek Tragedy, seems to always come back to human guilt, and the chosen actions by the hero forms the consequences of that guilt, which thereby determines the resolution. This sets an empathetic hook between audience and hero. It is the emotion that sets forth every action that will determine the hero's endgame. Aristotle, in his formula for Greek Tragedy, sets up the central hero as an almost mythic figure, where a fall from their steadfast and exemplary morality is that much longer of a descent. In the characteristics given to the central hero's of your classic tragedy, Aristotle is bringing to the forefront how …show more content…
Often perceived by the characters as acts stricken upon them by malevolent gods. We can see this no more clearly, in what may have been Socrates most tragic figures, in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus, throughout the play, is portrayed as a just and noble human being. Making decisions based upon the situation at hand. No question is posed as to challenge the morality of his decisions, as they appear to all involved as motivations in line to Oedipus's character type. A leader. Noble. Ingenious. Trusted. You do not doubt the clarity of character that Oedipus is when we begin the play. We are treated to a display of bravado from Oedipus when he declares to The Chorus "You pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers."(1) In "The Guilt of Oedipus" P.H. Velacott states "In none of these do we find what we are looking for-what Sophocles must surely have looked for-some sin, some fault in Oedipus's character which would justify to me the seemingly cruel and immporal ways of Zeus or of Apollo or of Fate." (Vellacott) Only as the play unfolds is the audience allowed to displace there perception to that of Oedipus's gods. Plans are in motion. Plans within plans. Plots within plots. We begin to see over, and past, the precipice of Oedipus's understanding. We the audience, like a shared collective of gods, begin to see the decisions made by Oedipus for what they