Seeing Eye-to-Eye: Shared Catharsis in Oedipus Rex

Harold Kushner, an American rabbi, once said, “I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense” (Harold Kushner Quotes). The goal of any great tragedy is to produce a cleansing or purging of feelings known as catharsis, which serves as an emotional release for viewers. The Greek Tragedy Oedipus Rex was written to be a play styled so that the reader is blindfolded, spun around several times, and tossed head-first into the middle of a plot. The drama begins in medias res, which is Latin for “in the midst of things,” and interestingly enough, Oedipus, the main character, also cannot metaphorically see the truth at the beginning. Oedipus’s kingdom of Thebes opens under an abhorrent curse and Oedipus finds out that the only way for the city to be exonerated is for the murderer of the former King Laius to be found and banished from the city. Oedipus resolves to find the killer and punish him in the harshest way possible. The audience follows Oedipus on his winding investigation of the case and shares his moments of discovery. By beginning his tragedy in medias res, Sophocles has his audience experience all of Oedipus’s revelations alongside him, thus producing an intensified feeling of sympathetic catharsis and a strengthened connection with the main character.

As each shocking discovery is made, the audience not only relates to Oedipus’s trauma, but also experiences an astounding paralysis of its own. Although advised numerous times against it, Oedipus stubbornly insists on pursuing the case and will not rest until the murderer is found. When he calls Teiresias for more information, the first horrifying notification is revealed when the blind prophet states to Oedipus, “...you are the murd...

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...emotions. Through a variety of techniques, such as portioned disclosure and simple sentences, Sophocles successfully creates a magnificent tragedy by maximizing the impact of his piece. He forces the viewers to see the situation from Oedipus’s point of view by literally providing them with the same amount knowledge of the truth that Oedipus has: none. It is said that true appreciation for a story only comes when the listener is one with the main character; Oedipus Rex makes doing that easy, and could be the reason why it is one of the most highly revered tragedies of all time.

Works Cited

"Harold Kushner Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. .

Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. The Bedford Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Paul Davis, et al. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004. 899-951. Print.