Oedipus Rex Context Essay

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The play Oedipus Rex had taken place in the in Ancient Greece, during this time period Greek mythology was extremely prevalent. When the scene opened Oedipus was in standing before all of the people in the town Thebes which was in Ancient Greece, Oedipus was asking the people why they were mourning. In just the opening scene itself I was able to see a lot of subtext among the people of Thebes. The priest had stated that the people were mourning because they were starving, famished, and had been faced with deaths. Oedipus had helped the people of Thebe previously and said he would help them once again. During this scene Oedipus uses dialogue among the people of Thebe to show how powerful and strong of leader he is. His subtext also portrays his belief in his leadership just …show more content…

The play portrays an overall theme of drama. Oedipus’ wife; Jacosta, tried to convince him not to kill or send away his father Creon. At this point within the play there is a lot of scandal as to how others within Thebes were killed and by who the whole scene is he said-she said wreaking havoc. At this time Oedipus true colors are beginning to flourish, he is not as confident as he once was about his amazing abilities to help out all of mankind. His gestures, subtexts and dialogue show doubtfulness and even a sense of forgetfulness within himself. Various sources have predicted that Oedipus would kill his father and sleep with his mother. Hearing such twisted news Oedipus ran away, during this scene the blocking was exceptional really keeping focus on Oedipus escaping what he did not want to her and the people showing subtext by looking at him strangely. From here on out Oedipus downward spirals; on his journey he ended up back to Thebes and was taunted by some people in an alley about what they heard of

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