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The legend of the myth of oedipus the king
The legend of the myth of oedipus the king
Importance of gothic themes in literature
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Romance, murder, superstition, ghosts, darkness, religion, and castles are some of the features of the paradigm of the Gothic genre in literature. Horace Warpole’s The Castle of Otranto was the first Gothic novel and the above aspects, which he used as tropes, defines the genre. The story of The Castle of Otranto follows the downfall of the protagonist, Manfred, beginning with him as a Prince, then having to sign his abdication and working at a convent. Prophecy, incest, irony, usurpation, dethroning, and murder are some of the themes that appear in both Horace Warpole’s The Castle of Otranto and Oedipus The King by Sophocles. The Castle of Otranto opens with the death of Conrad, the male heir and son of Prince Manfred, and thus begins Manfred’s blind tyranny to attempt to keep the throne. Within this narrative there are echoes and direct parallels to the story Oedipus The King, thus The Castle of Otranto a rewriting of the Oedipus story.
Dramatic irony is pivotal to the success of a tragedy, as it leaves the characters completely blind to the truth which the reader or audience already knows. In The Castle of Otranto, there are moments of dramatic irony, situational irony, and verbal irony. In the very beginning of the play the reader assumes that Conrad, Manfred’s son and future heir, will have a big part in the narrative. The twist is that Conrad dies before he even utters a word in a story that initially alludes to be about him. He does make it to the nuptials that Manfred has hastened upon and instead meets his doom. Another instance of dramatic irony is when he follows who he believes to be Isabella with Theodore. Manfred makes an ill-fated mistake when he decides to draw his dagger on someone who turns out to be ...
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...ing out of rage.
The parallels that run between The Castle of Otranto and Oedipus The King, point to perhaps to Warpole being inspired by the ancient Greek play. Warpole conveys close connections to Sophocles’ work, and the reader hears the echoes and similarities from Sophocles’ Greek play, Oedipus The King. Manfred and Oedipus’ actions cause their downfall due to their blind rage and tyranny. The men attempt to evade fate, but there is no escaping the fate that has been prophesized for Manfred and Oedipus. They are both left with nothing and carry a burden of guilt and shame for the rest of their lives.
Works Cited
Walpole, Horace. The Castle of Otranto. New York: Dover Publications, 1966. Epub.
Lawall, Sarah N. “Oedipus the King.” The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 612-652. Print.
Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Literature and it’s Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Stephen A. Scipione. Boston/New York: Bedford/ St.Martin’s, 2013. 1129- 1173.
Oedipus Rex (the King), written by Sophocles, is the tragic play depicting the disastrous existence to which Oedipus, an Athenian, is 'fated' to endure. With a little help from the gods and the 'fated' actions and decisions of Oedipus, an almost unthinkable misfortune unfolds. Athenian perfection can consist of intelligence, self-confidence, and a strong will. Oedipus, the embodiment of such perfection, and his tragedy are common place to Athenians. Ironically, the very same exact characteristics that bring about the ominous discovery of Oedipus' fate: to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus' 'fated' decisions entangle everyone whom is of any significance to him within a quagmire of spiraling tragedy. Sophocles uses the riddle of the Sphinx as a metaphor for the three phases of Oedipus' entangled life, the three phases of human life, and to describe how every life-changing action or decision can influence other lives.
Gardner, Helen. “Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from “The Noble Moor.” British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955.
Kernan, Alvin. “Othello: and Introduction.” Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Ed. Alfred Harbage. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1964.
Worthen, W. B. (2000). Oedipus the King. The Harcourt Brace anthology of drama (3rd ed., pp.
Gardner, Helen. “Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune.” Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from “The Noble Moor.” British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955.
Ehrenberg, Victor. “Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.” In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J.
Boston: Pearson, 2013. 1396-1506. Print. The. Sophocles. “Oedipus the King” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing.
Sophocles. "Oedipus the King." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. By Michael Meyer. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 1125-166. Print.
Verbal irony is showcased when the king is characterized as “semi-barbaric,” in which he was both cruel and civilized, when there is a fine line between each adjective. Being semi-barbaric illustrates, “This was the king's semi-barbaric method of administering justice. Its perfect fairness is obvious. The criminal could not know out of which door would come the lady; he opened either he pleased, without having the slightest idea whether, in the next instant, he was to be devoured or married.” (4) Someone who is barbaric and completely brutal would not set up a justice system where the accused also had the chance of being able to experience praise, as so would be likewise for someone who was civilized. An example of situational irony in the story is when the princess chooses the courier's fate. “The girl was lovely, but she had dared to raise her eyes to the loved one of the princess; and, with all the intensity of the savage blood transmitted to her through long lines of wholly barbaric ancestors, she hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind that silent door.” (8) The audience would not expect for two people who love each other very much, to question whether or not they would rather see them die or be with someone else, the entire product of this was solely because of jealousy, and the unexpectantly of the princess debating the courtier’s fate. All endings of fairy tales usually sum up the entire story, but what Stockton did was remarkable, and ended in being completely ironic in which it created a bundle of different possibilities through the reader’s mind. This
Sophocles. “Oedipus the King.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. 1289-1331.
When many people decided to sit down and read a book or a play it is because the title or summary entices them. As the story comes to an end it is decided whether or not the person related to or understood the point of the literature. Great authors and playwrights know this and set in place concepts. Many different concepts, to catch different audiences attention and to deepen the understanding of the literature. In order to understand Shakespeare’s play Othello, it is necessary to examine the emotions of jealousy, manipulation, being consumed by something, and gender.
Sophocles. "Oedipus the King" Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 9th ed. Kennedy, X.J. and Dana Gioia, New York: Pearson Longman, 2005. 1365- 1433
Sophocles. “Oedipus the King.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 5th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston. Bedford/St. Martin’s. 1999.
In the play Othello by William Shakespeare there are many great themes that can be seen. For instance, jealousy, hatred, marriage, love, manipulation and more. This book can be related to the movie The Count of Monte Cristo by Kevin Reynold because they both share many themes. In the film there are themes like revenge, perseverance, ambition, manipulation, hatred, jealousy and more. The main themes that both stories have in common are hatred, manipulation and jealousy, because in both stories there were many situations were all these themes could be seen.