In a large portion of tragedies, the main character’s downfall is due to their excessive pride, or hubris. In August Wilson’s Fences and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, the former statement holds true as both Troy Maxson and Oedipus meet their ultimate destruction due to their audacity. Their excessive pride also serves to drive the plot in both instances. In the end, they must both face the fact that because of their excessive vanity, they must face severe consequences. In Wilson’s renowned piece Fences, the protagonist in Troy Maxson is faced with many hardships. He starts the play off seeming like a personable man who only wants to ensure his family is safe and provided for. However, as the play moves on, he turns into a person who does everything …show more content…
for himself and lives in the past. The first instance of this is when he tells Bono about fighting off death. His pride gets in the way enough for him to exaggerate his stay in the hospital into a three day fight with the personification of Death. Another example of Troy’s hubris is how he never saw himself as doing anything wrong. When Bono tried to get him to stop seeing Alberta, he just waved him off. Even when he tells Rose about his affair, he cites how she makes him forget his real life, as if that is something that he should be proud of doing for himself. The final instance, and moment that drives the climax, is when he tells Cory that he cannot play football in college. It may seem as though Troy is looking out for his son; however, we know that times have changed tremendously and that Cory stands a good shot of making it in football. Troy lets his past experience and pretentiousness drive his thoughts and actions to prevent Cory for pursuing his dream. In Oedipus the King by Sophocles, the main character Oedipus takes on the role as the arrogant protagonist.
He is forced to face many tribulations throughout his life; however, he deals with them by using his pride instead of his intelligence. For example, as a child he runs away from his home after hearing a prophecy. He does this out of arrogance that he can escape the prophecy by simply running away, but we later find out that his running just served to set the events in motion to fulfill it. Another example, comes from when he meets the strangers at the crossroads. Instead of just parting ways like normal people, his cockiness tells him that he can beat them in a fight. Of course he does, and then he goes on to become the ruler of Thebes and take the recently widowed queen as a wife. However, we find out that the man he killed was his father and also the previous king. That means that Oedipus’s mother is his new wife. If Oedipus did not let his pride get the best of him at the crossroads, perhaps he would not have ended up having children with his own mother. By trying to avoid fate and outmaneuver the Gods, Oedipus ends up completely fulfilling the prophecy that the Oracle had laid out many years prior to his
actions. Despite the two plays being set and written millennia apart from each other, they hold many similarities. Both of the protagonists’ thoughts and actions are carried out with hubris, and, in both cases, it leads to the tragedy. For Troy, his pride causes him to oppress his son into exile, and have an affair that leaves him with a newborn child at an old age. In Oedipus’s case, his vanity causes him to flee his hometown only to successfully fulfill the prophecy that he was trying to avoid. Both situations are incredibly ironic as the very thing both characters were trying to avoid, ends up happening anyway because they try to out think their situations. To conclude, many tragedies' greatest character downfall comes from their excessive pride, or hubris. In both Fences by August Wilson and Oedipus the King by Sophocles, the main character is undermined by his overbearing confidence. The characters’ downfall due to pride is the main plot mover in both works as well. In the end, both Troy and Oedipus are faced with the reality that because they are overly prideful, they must face ramifications that are seldom good.
Fences is a play that deals with boundaries that hold people back and the trials and tribulations of those who try or wish to cross them. The characters are African-Americans in a time before the civil rights movement, living in an industrial city. The main character, Troy Manxson, is a talented baseball player who never had the chance to let his talent shine, with restrictions on race and his time in jail as the main obstacles that held him back. He is now hard working and loves his family. However, he tends to exaggerate and has his faults, most prevalent a wandering eye when it comes to women. His wife, Rose, is younger than him and loyal, but she may not have known about all of his faults when she married him. At the beginning of the play, Troy has a son from a previous marriage, Lyons, and a son with Rose, Cory. Also appearing are Bono, Troy’s drinking buddy, and Gabriel, his brother.
Conflicts and tensions between family members and friends are key elements in August Wilson's play, Fences. The main character, Troy Maxon, has struggled his whole life to be a responsible person and fulfill his duties in any role that he is meant to play. In turn, however, he has created conflict through his forbidding manner. The author illustrates how the effects of Troy's stern upbringing cause him to pass along a legacy of bitterness and anger which creates tension and conflict in his relationships with his family.
In the play Fences, August Wilson uses symbolism throughout the story to emphasis the physical and emotional barrier between the protagonist, Troy Maxon, and everyone around him. Troy loses his career as a professional baseball player because of his race. This causes him to be a bitter man and he eventually loses his friends and family because of it. Wilson uses both literal and figurative symbolism to express the themes in this play.
Throughout the play Fences, by August Wilson, we are introduced to several of the Troy Maxson's family members. We soon learn that because of Troy's personality traits, he is unable to sustain a healthy relationship. Troy is a father, a husband, and a brother, and unfortunately, he makes it impossible for any of those numerous relationships to thrive.
In the play Fences by August Wilson, we are introduced to the Maxsons. An African American family struggling to live in Pittsburgh during the 1950’s pre civil rights movement. This play was the sixth out of ten plays in Wilson's Pittsburgh cycle. Fences was also a pulitzer prize winner. At the beginning of the play we are introduced to Troy. He is the patriarch of the family and his problems and mistakes are what lead the Maxson family to be torn apart. Troy treats his wife, Rose, and his sons, Cory and Lyons, poorly. Troy, can be seen as a villain. Troy proves himself to be more of a villain than a hero thought the play. He takes advantage of his wife Rose, treats his sons, Cory and Lyons, poorly, was once a criminal, and is unsympathetic
There are many causes that molded Troy Maxson into the dishonest, cantankerous, hypocritical person that he is in August Wilson’s play, “Fences” (1985). Troy had an exceptionally unpleasant childhood. He grew up with a very abusive father that beat him on a daily basis. His mother even abandoned him when he was eight years old. In this play, Troy lies habitually and tries to cover himself up by accusing others of lying. He is a very astringent person in general. His dream of becoming a major league baseball player was crushed as a result of his time spent in jail. By the time he was released from jail, he was too old to play baseball efficiently.
He murders his father and marries his mother unknowingly. While it may seem to some that Oedipus was destined to carry out his fate, it is also true that Oedipus’ personality led him to his fate. It is clear to see that Oedipus is an impulsive and passionate man, which causes Oedipus to fulfill the prophecy that haunts him. He flees the kingdom of Corinthian in order to avoid his fate. Along his journey he comes to a crossroad that is blocked by a chariot, and “in a fit of anger” Oedipus kills the father he never knew (Meyer 1422).
August Wilson’s play Fences brings an introspective view of the world and of Troy Maxson’s family and friends. The title Fences displays many revelations on what the meaning and significance of the impending building of the fence in the Maxson yard represents. Wilson shows how the family and friends of Troy survive in a day to day scenario through good times and bad. Wilson utilizes his main characters as the interpreters of Fences, both literally and figuratively. Racism, confinement, and protection show what Wilson was conveying when he chose the title Fences.
Fences, a low-diction play by August Wilson, expresses the complex relationship between a father and his sons. Troy Maxson, once a baseball star in the Negro League, is now envious of his son Cory, who dreams of having a successful football career. Troy also worries that Cory will be treated with the same disrespect that he once was during his baseball career. Lyons, Troy's eldest son, is completely misunderstood by Troy, mostly because of his refusal to get a “real” job and his drive to become a musician. Wilson references stories from Troy's past to convey the reason behind Troy's frustration and actions toward his children.
In Fences, August Wilson introduces an African American family whose life is based around a fence. In the dirt yard of the Maxson’s house, many relationships come to blossom and wither here. The main character, Troy Maxson, prevents anyone from intruding into his life by surrounding himself around a literal and metaphorical fence that affects his relationships with his wife, son, and mortality.
The theme of August Wilson’s play “Fences” is the coming of age in the life of a broken black man. Wilson wrote about the black experience in different decades and the struggle that many blacks faced, and that is seen in “Fences” because there are two different generations portrayed in Troy and Cory. Troy plays the part of the protagonist who has been disillusioned throughout his life by everyone he has been close to. He was forced to leave home at an early age because his father beat him so dramatically. Troy never learned how to treat people close to him, and he never gave anyone a chance to prove themselves because he was selfish.
The play “Fences”, written by August Wilson, shows a detailed interpretation about the life of a typical African-American family living in the twentieth century. Troy Maxson, the main character and the man of the house, a strict man with the family, hardworking, and at the same time a pleasure seeker. Jim Bono is Troy’s best friend from thirty odd years, a very friendly fellow who works with Troy and is really close to him. They both enjoy the company of each other every Friday on a bottle of an alcoholic beverage. Both characters are characterized based on being typical African American men living in the twentieth century. Even though Troy and Bono are very close friends, their actions and personalities sometimes conflict each other; this essay will focus on similarities and differences between the two characters to prove that even though they are close friends and acquire similarities, they still have different believes and behaviors.
Oedipus is the main character in the play Oedipus the King. Oedipus is thought of as a tragic figure because he was doomed from birth. Tiresias, an old blind prophet, told Oedipus' parents about Oedipus' fate. He told them that Oedipus would kill his father and sleep with his mother. So, his parents decided to have him killed, only it did not happen that way. He was passed off by two shepherds and finally to the King and Queen of Corinth, Polybus and Merope to raise him as their own. Oedipus finds his way back to Thebes and on the way kills his father, but Oedipus did not know that one of the men he killed was his real father. This is the beginning of the prophecy coming true. In short Oedipus obtains the throne, Marries his mother and has kids with her. Oedipus' fate has come together without him even realizing what is going on. Eventually he is told what has happened and asks to be banished by his uncle/brother-in-law Creon. The tragedy in Oedipus' life began with his birth and the realization by his parents that his whole life was doomed.
Troy Maxson is portrayed as a big man with a very big personality and a lot of dignity. He is a bitter guy who believes that he owes his family absolutely everything, from his money down to even his own soul. He is the type of man who wants more than what he can get and that is what drives him but it is also that very “want” that leads him into a very tragic life. Writing on the idea of Troy being a tragic hero, Martin says “Troy’s strengths are found in his willingness to fulfill his duty at all times. He also speaks directly to his dignity regarding his position of work and his career in baseball) Martin, 2) “Fences” Troy has many
August Wilson created many themes throughout his famous play, Fences, but the most prominent one is the relationship between fathers and sons. The three father-son relationships introduced in this play seem to be complicated or difficult to understand. However, it is clear that the relationships built between Troy Maxson and his son Cory, Troy and his other son Lyons, and Troy and his own father are not love-driven. The parallelism of actions, events, and tension amongst each of the father-son relationships in the play illustrate how the sons try to break free from the constraints the father has set, yet in the end, these attempts seem to be pointless as the father leaves an everlasting effect on the sons, ultimately creating a cycle of actions