A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PLAY: OEDIPUS REX OR KING OEDIPUS BY SOPHOCLES

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Characterization

The characters are consistent and well-motivated. Oedipus remains resolute and exhibits his bravery and arrogance throughout the play. This aspect of his character is manifested more at the end of the play when he gouges out his eyes. Only a brave man can inflict such pain on himself. Each character’s action helps to advance the theme and propel the plot. For instance, the insistence of the king on the search for the killer of the late king sustains the play from the beginning to the end. The chorus is used as a character.

However, it speaks in an impersonal way. It therefore does not participate in the action. It makes statements or comments on man and the forces against him which he cannot understand. Sometimes it thinks aloud as it expresses its fears on a particular issue. A good example is when the messenger from Corinth arrives with the news that Polybus is dead. The chorus is apprehensive and wondered aloud. It feels that if the gods have failed, then the whole system is destroyed. In the end, the gods did not fail. The truth is revealed and the chorus reviews the entire action. The chorus acts as the interpreter of events in the play.

Jocasta is an obedient wife. She obeys her husband as she agrees to hand over her son to be killed. She marries Oedipus apparently in obedience to the laws of the land. She is encountered briefly as she pleads with her husband to stop the search. Her husband refuses to stop the search and she does not confront him, instead she leaves quietly to hang herself.

Diction

The language is in verse. It is condensed but accessible. The language is used to delineate characters. For instance, Oedipus speaks with the authority and arrogance of a king. The words are well chosen to reveal both characters and incidents. The Blind Seer also speaks with the authority of someone who possesses some supernatural powers. Other characters speak in simple language as people speaking before their king.

Music

There is an alternation of dialogue and songs. The chorus sings part of its lines and dances in accompaniment of the song. The larger part of the play in which the chorus sings is called the choral song or the strophe. The practice is that as they sing the strophe, they dance. The movement from right to left is called the anti-strophe.

Spectacle

The stylized acting, the costume and make-up, and the dance of the chorus, all contribute to the spectacle of the play.

Tragic Hero/Tragic Flaw

Oedipus is a typical classical tragic hero. He is of a noble birth. Even when circumstance would have forced him to the lower class, he leaves Corinth, arrives at Thebes and is made the king. His tragic flaw is arrogance and irascibility. In arrogance, he decides to outwit the gods by running away from Corinth. In arrogance, he refuses to concede the right of way to king Lauis and his men. In arrogance, he challenges both Creon and Teiresias. In arrogance, he refuses to listen to a plea, to stop the quest, from Jocasta. In arrogance he refuses to ask for mercy or any other solution but gouges his eyes and leaves the city.

He is also temperamental which is why he kills King Lauis and his men. He also threatens to deal with Creon and Teiresias. He pursues the goal he believes in to its logical conclusion even to the detriment of his life

CONCLUSION

Oedipus Rex is a good example of an ideal classical play that is still relevant in our own times. It meets the Aristotelean postulations on tragedy. It contains a single integral plot which is presented in one single setting within a very short period of time. It presents the story of how Oedipus killed his father and married his mother. The setting is in front of the palace. To maintain this single setting, indoor actions and violence are reported. For instance Jocasta’s hanging of herself is reported and not presented on stage. Oedipus, the tragic hero, is a king who is not preeminently good, virtuous or vicious but he commits an error of judgment. Towards the end of the play, he discovers the truth about himself and his fortune reverses from good to bad. His catastrophe is caused by his tragic flaw which is arrogance.

You have seen in this article, through a study/ reading of Oedipus Rex, that man is helpless in the hands of the gods. For those who believe in destiny, this play will be very relevant. With it one can easily understand the Aristotelean postulations on tragedy. He opines that tragedy should treat a single subject that concerns a hero who must be of noble birth. The tragic hero has a flaw which makes him to commit an error of judgement that leads to his fall. The play must have a beginning, middle and an end. Can you identify them in the play?

 

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