Victory in Tragic Ending: Analysis of Sophocles’ "Oedipus The King (original) (raw)
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ANALYSIS OF SOPHOCLES' OEDIPUS THE KING AS AN ARISTOTELIAN TRAGEDY Sinde KURT
ABSTRACT Aristotle built the system of tragedy in his Poetics and gave examples from Sophocles’ play ‘Oedipus the King’ while describing the basic elements of tragedy. Based on this, it is possible to say that Sophocles' Oedipus the King is one of the ideal examples of the tragedy. Why does Aristotle, particularly, gives examples from Oedipus the King in Poetics while explaining the tragedy, what is the reason behind this situation and how did the basic tragedy elements of Aristotle take place in the text of Oedipus the King? The objective of this article is to analyze the structure and features of Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus the King, and to interpret why Aristotle particularly referred to this play while giving significant information about tragedy in Poetics. Accordingly, it is aimed to explain the tragedy elements in Aristotle’s Poetics, and to explain such elements within the structure of the play, Oedipus the King. Building a deeper understanding following topics will be examined as a result of this article; the general characteristics of Ancient Greek Theater, the emergence of tragedy, Aristotle’ basic elements of tragedy in Poetics, different views of Aristotle and Plato on tragedy, short biography of Sophocles, and his characteristics made him shine as a tragedy writer, the basic structure and characteristics of Oedipus the King. Key Words: Catharsis, Drama, Mythos, Mimesis, Tragedy, Theater
Le présent article cherche à établir les influences possibles sur la théorie aristotélicienne de la tragédie. Les études érudites des influences textuelles en poétique ont jusqu’ici essayé de mettre en lumière ce que les théories post-aristotéliciennes de l’art doivent à l’Art Poétique d’Aristote, comment elles s’en écartent ou lui résistent. Cependant, la question de savoir à qui/quoi la théorie d’Aristote pourrait être redevable est restée marginale jusqu’à ce jour. Ce travail tente de combler ce vide épistémologique et heuristique. Il soutient que, comme Aristote a écrit son ouvrage au moins deux siècles après l’institutionnalisation de la tragédie en Grèce, sa théorie formaliste doit avoir été influencée par la pratique des plus grands poètes tragiques de l’âge d’or de la tragédie classique grecque. Pour étayer cette opinion, l’article essaye de dépister et d’illustrer les principes aristotéliciens de la construction dramatique dans Œdipe Roi de Sophocle, une tragédie qui est ici considérée comme l’une des influences majeures probables sur l’Art Poétique d’Aristote.
The Use of Referentiality in Examining Selected Stage Directions in Sophocles “Oedipus the King”
International journal of literature studies, 2022
Oedipus the King' is an ancient tragic play that tells the story of King Oedipus of Thebes, who lived about a period before the proceedings of the Trojan War. Gradually, this King came to the realization that he had accidentally slaughtered Laius, his father, and married Jocasta, his biological mother. Fate, conflict, and free will (i.e. the inexorableness of oracular prophecies) are the main themes of the text. This paper examines selected stage directions in Oedipus the King, a text written by Sophocles. A purposive sample technique was used in selecting these stage directions. In linguistics, language, and literary criticism, 'referentiality' is usually deployed to describe the connotational and denotational sense of an entity to explicate the association between language and extralinguistic object. So, content analysis design, through referentiality, was deployed in critiquing and exhuming the hidden meanings of the selected stage directions. Thus, the use of the referentiality model coupled with definiteness and indefiniteness facilitated the unearthing of familiarity, identifiability, and uniqueness from the selected extracts. The paper is structured in four thematic areas: the introduction, methods, analysis and discussion, and conclusion.
The Fourth National Conference on English Studies and Linguistics, 2018
The word 'fate' has been one of the oldest concepts dominating the minds of all philosophers and thinkers with different interpretations. Given that ancient Greece played a leading role as a center of art and philosophy, the meaning of fate became an undetectable part in people's belief. This article follows a descriptive and analytical method and in the beginning takes a look at the philosophers' idea about fate. Afterwards, the meaning of fate in tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles is surveyed. At last, the trilogies of these two playwrights as well as the characteristics of Gods and heroes in their tragedies are addressed. The basic goal of this essay is to identify the source of God's will in the mentioned tragedies. Although in ancient Greece ideology, Gods are the ruler of universe who dominate human being and his life, tragedy is a ground of conflicts of wills (from God's side or hero's side) revealing actions and reactions in the field of fate believed to be a mysterious and powerful force controlling even Gods.
Implicature within Script Play of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
Proceedings of the Eleventh Conference on Applied Linguistics (CONAPLIN 2018)
Oedipus Rex as has been analyzed from many points of view such as psychoanalysis, literature or even theology. In this research, the Oedipus Rex will be analyzed from the eye of stylistic pragmatics which is implicature. The objective of this research is to reveal the real meaning lying inside the language as the pedagogical purpose. The focus of the analysis is implicature and the sub focus are types of implicature and maxim Grice. The source of data is dialogues within the script play which is collected by library method. Data is then analyzed using descriptive qualitative method to solve factual issues despite of testing hypothesis. The last stage is to present the result using informal method which means presenting result by using words instead of numbers and statistic. The result of analysis shows if there are two kinds of implicature which are implicature conventional and conversational and maxim cooperative, quantitative, qualitative, way and relevancy.
Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex: A Deconstructive Study
Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) is the most prominent figure in contemporary philosophical and literary debate. He originates a trend-breaking theory of deconstruction. He opines the persistence in west European philosophical tradition of what he labels is logocentric metaphysics of presence. He argues that the different theories of philosophy, from Plato until structuralism are versions of a single or authoritative system. Though we cannot hope to escape this system we can at least identify the conditions of thought it imposes by attending to that which it seek to impress. Derridean deconstruction may present a new perspective to Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex”, which has always been a research target for world researchers. The researchers studied it from different angles, but the present study tries to reveal different facets of the play on Derridean deconstructive bedrock. Applying Derrida’s deconstruction to the text of the play, the study tries to present it in a new and innovative way. The study will discuss how Western logocentric tradition of the metaphysics of presence and its compelling repercussions ground human thought in stable and pre-determined meaning. In its concluding mode, the study analyses preventive stumbling aporic blocks of fossilized logocentric structure of the minds of characters in the play.
Ethical Attachments and the End of Sophocles' Oedipus the King
I propose a new approach to one problem in the study of Greek tragedy, namely plays that seem to end at the wrong point, either because an apparent end (such as the death of Ajax) comes early in the drama, or because the text of the epilogue is contested. Attention to what I shall call “ethical closure” provides an alternative to formal and aesthetic approaches. In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, coming to grips with the reversal of his authority over Creon, embracing and accepting the children of his monstrous union, and trying to salvage some self-esteem by arguing with his brother-in-law, are crucial to establishing ethical connections after Oedipus’ fall. Indeed, without these re-attachments the drama would arguably remain incomplete.
Sophocles in the Age of Goethe: An Analysis of Sophoclean Influence in the Klassik-Romantik Era
1972
, •den nachdem Aristotles so oft nachc,esproohen hat; es sei der Zweck des Trauerspiels die Leidenschaften zu reinigen oder die Sitte zu bilden, Er iat;i wo nlcht falsch, dooh wenigstens nicht allgemein 1 und Schuld daran, daB Viele deutsche Trauersplele so Schlecht sind. Ich setze also den Zwack des Trauerspiels in die Erregung der Leidenache.ften und sage: de.s best~;~ Tz•auerspiel ist das, welches die Le.idenschaften~ am~b:efj;.f.gsirens erregt, nicht das, welches geschickt 1st, die Leidenschaften zu reinigen. 11 7 Nicolai obviously takes a more mundane approach to tragic 8. drama than does Aristotle. The purpose of trag¢dy is not as eso• teric as a pergation of existing emotions or as noble as proper formation of mot•als; it is SiiJ1PlY the strong arousal of these emo• tions which occur in everyday life. The value of tragic drama lies in its ability to depict life in as "true 11 or "natural" a sta:t;e as possible, while elevating it to a high level of emotional intensity and abstract reflection. Following Ar1stotles1 outline, !Ueolai further develops the concept of arousal of emotions in the light of dramatic action! one of the three unities. He considers action a crucial instrUir,ent for exciting the proper emotion at the right time. Three essential qualities of dramatic action which are necessary for arousal are ttGr8sse, die Fortdauer und die Einfalt". Nicolai, in his epistle to Lessing elaborates further on these three aspects of action. First; he says, actions are great and tragic not because they are performed by great people, but because they arouse deep emotion; secondly 1 dramatic action has "Fortdauern (continuity) if it is not interrupted by another action; and finally, it possesses slmplicity if it is never complicated by incidental actions which divert the attention 8 of the audience. The unity of action, as described in continuity and simplicity by Nicolai, is a quality pertaining to the whole drama. :o OtherWise, emotions will be aroused but. never sustained long enough to ach~.eve the desired effect. Nicolai also categorizes aiff'erent traged.ies according to their action and the emotions• they evoke in the same ws:y as Aristotle. First, there is the "ri1hrende 11 or "moving" tragedy "t1ttieh excites the audience with f'r:i.ght and compassion, 11 Schrecken und Mitleid 11 • Next is the 11 heroiscb.e" di>ama in which i'l•ight and compassion help to evoke admiration. The third or 11 mb:ed" type • of tragedy occUJ:>s wben admiration, f'right ana•• compassion are of" equal importance. A fourth type of tragedy is one in which ad-• • • o'l•:miration is aroused w:'l.thout the help of' the usual fright or compassion assion. NicoJ.ai observes that this type of' tragedy is not practical because the hero 11 :l.m Unglil.ck, die gr8Bte Bewunderung, aber aueh zugleieh Metleiden el'!'ege~ 11 9 Ntcolai seelllS to ha1re been rather, indif:rarent to the moral and pedagogical aspects of tragedy whicP. ' Aristotle recognized~ Re attdbutes the downfall of the tragic 1 hero to a "mistake" which he ool1llllits as a result of frailty. Th~s :t>esults in a conflict between the hero's desires and the objective oJiaer which cannot be reconciled. Thus; regarding Oedipus: • '• so 1st z.B. in des Soghokles Oedipus der Fehler des : Oedipus nicht der l"iord des Laios, weloher auBer Handlung(ist • sondern die Neugier, .w.s l4'elcher die Aufl8sung i flieBt. 10 • Uioolai feels that • within the limits of the play's action, the ~• tragedy of Oedipus arises out of his curiosity-his longing f'or r ;.;. self-identity, For Nicolai it is this unfortunate emotional urgJ, and not the guilt incurl'ed from the murde1• of his fatb.er which \ supplies the impetus for the Oedipus 1 s eventual tragedy. Thus, j ,, the moral and pedagogical elements of the tragedy are di:ffused ~~ 11. t:ra~~o char&chl". fib pt>S.-d• .and &.-t&l'lilt1rutti.<Hl ewb t~d:Lngt: <>f ¥Ul.VJ nt;ho.l" than r,>i'llyo !n. tSmr.tdn.g u:p the O@t.iot!~ ~J.$iiltl!lll c.nu$ed b:y pity u'l'U.U~!d" 1 I.e:tdn!t tJ&f8 s. ~P1e .a:r,iltl:~ 4ev 'ff'f,.~tillJ.t~ itl d.i~#>IH ~!e. aoll urus~e-. !"ittl tt!.t:~1 h ll'l:lt:.