Oedipus the King and Aristotle

621 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Aristotle theory of tragedy in relation to King Oedipus

In Poetics' by Aristotle, the author talks about what he feels are the conventions of any successful tragic play. With that in mind perhaps the greatest tragedy from his time period if not ever is Oedipus the King by Sophocles. It fits almost perfectly the majority of the criteria Aristotle sets and so has been considered by some scholars as the perfect tragedy.

The main criteria set by Aristotle involves the plot and the plays main character. According to Aristotle, for a tragedy to be both successful and effective there must be a reversal, a "change from one state of affairs to its exact opposite", and there must be recognition, "a change from ignorance to knowledge" on the part of the main character. The plot should not be simple, but complex, being able to garner feelings of fear and pity into the hearts of its audience. Finally the lead character must fall from "prosperity into misfortune" due to a mistake or mistakes on their part. Oedipus contain all these things

A good plot in Aristotle view is a complex one. `Oedipus The King" can be as complex as it gets, with so many twists and turns it can never be seen as simple. Some ways of gaining this complexity Aristotle argues is by making sure the play contains some sort of reversal ("change from one state of affairs to its exact opposite") with some sort of recognition ("a change from ignorance to knowledge") taking place as the story continues.

The examples that Aristotle himself uses from "Oedipus The King" show that the play contains both of these. When a messenger comes bringing reassuring news to Oedipus that the man he thinks is his father, has died, things start to look up again for Oedipus; but as the story continues this news leads to more...

... middle of paper ...

...rtain type of fear into them and thus make the tragedy much more effective. At the same token while the audience should feel fear, they should also feel pity, "aroused..." as Aristotle argues "by unmerited misfortune." Again "Oedipus The King" arouses that pity for while he makes mistakes. Oedipus is a good man at heart, he is clever, can be wise, compassionate with a genuine respect and love for his people. His misfortune is no question unmerited, he is bound by his fate and because there is really nothing he can do about it, the audience pities him.

In terms of the criteria set by Aristotle for a tragedy, "Oedipus The King" as explored earlier, is practically perfect. Its no surprise the story stands the test of time and stirs up as much passion and debate today as it no doubt did when the story was first passed down or when Sophocles first wrote it down.

Show More
Related

  • To What Extent are ‘Othello’ and 'Oedipus Rex' Perfect Examples of Tragedy

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    Classical tragedy is one of the most popular sorts of tragedy. The main ideas of classical tragedies include pity and fear for the victim; downfall from a high position for the main character. They usually end in the death of the protagonist, they start in harmony and end in chaos, and it is usually the innocent character that suffers. Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus Rex’ is probably the most famous classical tragedy ever written. Sophocles first produced the play in Athens around 430 B.C. at the Great Dionysian, a religious and cultural festival held in honour of the god Dionysus. The story of ‘Oedipus Rex’ is about a boy who is fated to kill his father, and marry his mother. One of the main features of classical tragedies is that whatever is ‘fated’ to happen, during the story, will always happen, and the characters cannot change it, it is an inevitable tragedy.

    Read More

  • Tragedy In Death Of A Salesman

    1132 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aristotle defines tragedy in his respected piece Poetics and many other forms of literature. Many tragic heroes such as Oedipus Rex and Romeo and Juliet fit well into this mold of a tragic hero as defined by Aristotle. For example, they were flawed but well intentioned and their lives ended in a catastrophic death. Those plays, and many others in the genre, had all the elements of a tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle. They were fantastic displays of misery that aroused pity and fear in the audience.

    Read More

  • Shakespeare's Tragic Mistake

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    Two lovers took their own lives to avoid the consequences, and in contrast while a man gouged his eyes out to deal with his flaw. Although Romeo and Juliet and Oedipus the King were great tragedies, Oedipus the King contains more of the tragic figures described in Aristotle’s definition. First, the protagonist endured uncommon suffering. Second, the tragic hero recognized the consequences of their actions and took responsibility for them. Third and lastly, the audience experienced catharsis. Ignorance and impulsiveness can cause one to stumble and it can ultimately lead to their fate.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    The ancient Greeks were famous for their tragedies. These dramas functioned to “ask questions about the nature of man, his position in the universe, and the powers that govern his life” (“Greek” 1). Brereton (1968) stated that tragedies typically “involved a final and impressive disaster due to an unforeseen or unrealized failure involving people who command respect and sympathy. It often entails an ironical change of fortune and usually conveys a strong impression of waste. It is always accompanied by misery and emotional distress” (20). The play, Oedipus the King, by Sophocles definitely demonstrated the characteristics of an impressive disaster unforeseen by the protagonist that involved a character of respect, included irony, and was accompanied by misery and emotional distress.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ainst Oedipus or an adversity of Oedipus’s inadvertent murder, have flaws. Sophocles left the play the way it is so that, regardless any effort of retranslating the play or changing the meaning, it would only show that assumptions have been made. Sophocles writes Oedipus the King allowing for many different perceptions to be made to show the reader his or her own vulnerability to a secret. Sophocles leaves the reader in the same boat as Oedipus, whose only answer to his problem is a mirror image of himself. Another form of revealing a secret is through interpretation and for that reason, what is revealed has no authentic meaning. However, because Oedipus the King is an illustrious play, the reader either knows the ending or can make assumptions to what is happening. This leaves only the characters inside the play stuck to the mystery Sophocles intentionally designed.

    Read More

  • Philosophy: Oedipus and Aristotle

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through Aristotle’s specific definition of a tragic hero, it can be concluded that Oedipus is a tragic hero. Oedipus The King was written by a well-known tragic dramatist named Sophocles. This story is considered to be one of the greatest tragedies of all time. In fact, the Marjorie Barstow of the Classical Weekly says that it “fulfills the function of a tragedy, and arouses fear and pity in the highest degree” (Barstow). It is also very controversial because of the relationship that Oedipus has with his mother, although it was unknown at the time that they were related. The qualifications of a tragic hero, according to Aristotle, include coming from a royal family and falling from power due to actions that only the protagonist can take responsibility for. The main character must also have a tragic flaw, which is defined as a “weakness in character” (Gioia). There have been many protagonists in other plays that represent a tragic hero, but none exemplify Aristotle’s tragic hero traits quite as well as Oedipus does because of many reasons including his royal history, his tragic flaw, his hamartia, and his his fall from power.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King as a Tragedy

    536 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus Rex qualifies as a tragedy. It fits all the characteristics as defined by Aristotle. The tragic hero of a play is a man of some social standing and personal reputation, but sufficiently like ourselves in terms of his weaknesses that we feel fear and pity when a tragic flaw, rather than an associate, causes his downfall. Oedipus is the tragic hero in this play for many reasons. Even though he does not know it, he fulfills the oracle's prophecy by killing his father, Laius, and then sleeping with his mother, Jocasta. His father was just a tragic mistake. Oedipus thought that the person he killed was just a random person that was harassing him.

    Read More

  • Oedipus The King

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    Over two-thousand years ago, Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote Poetics describing the necessary elements of a tragedy. Aristotle highlighted several aspects of a tragedy, but he emphasized six key elements: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle. With the integration of these six main points, a work of literature could be defined as a tragedy. Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex fits Aristotle’s definition of tragedy perfectly. In 1967, Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini created Edipo Re, a modern day interpretation of Oedipus Rex.

    Read More

  • Self-Discovery and the Pursuit of Truth in Sophocles' Oedipus

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sophocles’ Oedipus is the tragedy of tragedies. An honorable king is deceived and manipulated by the gods to the point of his ruination. In the face of ugly consequences Oedipus pursues the truth for the good of his city, finally exiling himself to restore order. Sophocles establishes emotional attachment between the king and the audience, holding them in captivated sympathy as Oedipus draws near his catastrophic discovery. Oedipus draws the audience into a world between a rock and a hard place, where sacrifice must be made for the greater good.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King and Aristotle's Poetics

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Aristotle, a tragedy must be an imitation of life in the form of a serious story that is complete in itself among many other things. Oedipus is often portrayed as the perfect example of what a tragedy should be in terms of Aristotle’s Poetics. Reason being that Oedipus seems to include correctly all of the concepts that Aristotle describes as inherent to dramatic tragedy. These elements include: the importance of plot, reversal and recognition, unity of time, the cathartic purging and evocation of pity and fear, the presence of a fatal flaw in the “hero”, and the use of law of probability.

    Read More

  • Oedipus The King Tragedy Analysis

    1733 Words  | 4 Pages

    Greek Drama had three main categories The Comedy, Satyr Plays, and The Tragedy. The most popular of the three is The Tragedy, its themes are often such as loss of love, complex relationships between men and the gods, and corruption of power. These dramas taught the people of the city the difference between good and bad behavior and the ramifications of going against the gods. According to Aristotle, the perfect tragedy consisted of the downfall of the hero through a great misunderstanding, causing suffering and awareness for the protagonist meanwhile making the audience feel pity and fear. The prominent writer who Aristotle based his perfect tragedy theory was Sophocles, his drama Oedipus the King had all the elements of a perfect tragedy.

    Read More

  • Aristotle’s Elements of Tragedy

    1479 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Aristotle’s book, Poetics, he defines tragedy as, “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and possessing magnitude; in embellished language, each kind of which is used separately in the different parts; in the mode of action and not narrated; and effecting through pity and fear” (Aristotle 1149). Tragedy creates a cause and effect chain of actions that clearly gives the audience ideas of possible events. The six parts to Aristotle’s elements of tragedy are: Plot, character, language, thought, spectacle, and melody. According to Aristotle, the most important element is the plot. Aristotle writes in Poetics that, “It is not for the purpose of presenting their characters that the agents engage in action, but rather it is for the sake of their actions that they take on the characters they have” (Aristotle 1150). Plots should have a beginning, middle, and end that have a unity of actions throughout the play making it complete. In addition, the plot should be complex making it an effective tragedy. The second most important element is character. Characters...

    Read More

  • Elements of Tragedy in Hamlet

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 350 B.C.E., a great philosopher wrote out what he thought was the definition of a tragedy. As translated by S.H. Butcher, Aristotle wrote; “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. . . . Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Characters, Thought, Diction, Spectacle, Melody. (http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html)” Later in history, William Shakespeare wrote tragedies that epitomized Aristotle’s outline of a tragedy. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one such tragedy.

    Read More

  • The Perfect Aristotelian Tragedy: Oedipus the King

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus the King by Sophocles has the ingredients necessary for a good Aristotelian tragedy. The play has the essential parts that form the plot, consisting of the peripeteia, anagnorisis and a catastrophe; which are all necessary for a good tragedy according to the Aristotelian notion. Oedipus is the perfect tragic protagonist, for his happiness changes to misery due to hamartia (an error). Oedipus also evokes both pity and fear in its audience, causing the audience to experience catharsis or a purging of emotion, which is the true test for any tragedy according to Aristotle.

    Read More

  • The Tragedy of “Oedipus the King”

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the end Oedipus is left with nothing. He is a blind man that is troubled for his actions and exiled from Thebes. His good fortune turns good to bad. He wishes he had died on the mountain and never been born. Aristotle concept of theory did comply with the tragedy of “Oedipus the King” of a tragic hero, hamarita, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and catharsis.

    Read More

More about Oedipus the King and Aristotle

Open Document