Oedipus The King Suppressed Desire Analysis

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We have read 2 dramas:  a tragedy, “Oedipus the King,” and a comedy “Suppressed Desires.”  What similarities do you see between them, in spite of their different tones, time periods, and endings?  Quote from both works to show. After reading "Oedipus the King," and "Suppressed Desires," I realized there were a lot more similarities than what I thought. In both of these stories the moral of the story was that, "Too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing." In "Oedipus the King," King Oedipus is searching for the truth of his identity. He vows to get to the bottom of Laius homicide, in spite of his mother/wife's insistence on not to and other people's voice telling him not to. In the play Jocasta, his wife advises him as he inches closer …show more content…

Do not keep on investigating this. Then the truth came and it ended up costing his his throne. His thirst for the truth basically ruined him when he found out his wife was actually his mom and he killed Laius. It changed his whole life as he knew it. This is a common example of how too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing. I find that very similar to the ending of "Suppressed Desires." Henrietta is the protagonist in the play. She loves to interpret dreams and wants to interpret her husband, Steven and sister, Mabel's dreams really bad. Steven decides to go to doctor and get his dreams interpreted. When Henrietta finds out Steven visited the doctor her reaction was that she wanted to know. Steve then tried to downplay it but Henrietta insisted the doctor spoke the truth: STEVE. He said—of course he may be wrong in what he said. HENRIETTA. He isn't wrong. Tell me! Steven then tells her he found out his dreams mean he wants to be single. Mabel does the same and finds out hers meant she wanted to be with Steven. Henrietta was livid at first but eventually calmed down. She then questioned the significance of psychoanalysis which was ironic because she was the only one that believed how important knowing your subconscious mind was. This fits the moral, "too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing" because Henrietta's desire to interpret her husband and sisters dreams almost ruined her life as she knew it. Most likely now she will always have that in the back of her

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