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Euripides vs sophocles
Media and oedipus comparison
Compare and contrast euripides and sophocies BY ELECTRA
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It is hard to imagine a world without television, movie theaters, and Netflix. It also seems to be an impossible feat for the entertainment industry to create one work that can please the masses. In ancient Greece, these would be “blockbusters” were called Athenian Tragedies, and Sophocles and Euripides were masters of this craft. Through their careful interpretation of ancient stories told through oral tradition, they were able to create a legacy of emotional distress and puzzling logic in the best possible way. In “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles analyzes a series of decisions and fateful consequences that led to a king’s demise, or so we are to believe. On a different scale, Euripides’ “Medea” tells the story of a woman scorned, and a revenge that would put all other forms of revenge to shame. Although both Sophocles’ Oedipus and Euripides’ Medea meet the expectations set for an Athenian Tragedy, they stand apart from one another in influence and cultural significance.
Encompassing a wide variety of emotion, an Athenian tragedy can be described as a mixed bag of “compelling stories about human relationships, whose melodramatic plots invite us to think about profound issues…” according to the Norton Anthology of World Literature. (644) It is the ability to manipulate human circumstances in the most outlandish way that grabs an audience’s attention; while the articulation and careful consideration with plot structure and dialogue leaves an audience to ponder long after the story is over. Sophocles took this idea and ran with it when he wrote Oedipus the King, arguably one of the most popular Athenian tragedies ever written. The Norton Anthology of World Literature provides support to this claim by explaining that, “Aristotle descr...
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...y, we learn more about who we are as a society and what we value in entertainment and in life.
Works Cited
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Bassett, Samuel E. "Achilles’ Treatment of Hector’s Body." Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 64 (1933): 41-65. JSTOR. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Homer. "The Iliad." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. 3rd ed. Vol. A. New York: Norton, 2012. 230-331. Print.
Hume, Robert E. “Hinduism and War.” The American Journal of Theology 20.1 (1916): 31-44. JSTOR. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Dvaipayana, Krsna. "The Bhagavad-Gita." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. 3rd ed. Vol. A. New York: Norton, 2012. 1285-1301. Print.
Where will America be in a few thousand years; will we retain our current culture or continue to grow, thrive, and adapt to our surroundings? While these are important questions for our country’s future, many of the answers can already be found in one of the oldest civilizations on the planet, China. Chinese culture has been formed and reformed many times throughout its expansive history, and with changes in rule and structure, there have also been changes in philosophy and culture. Confucius emerged as a prominent figure in Chinese philosophy and managed to grow in popularity through time with his famous teachings, including those in his Analects. The philosophies of Daoism emerged later through many writings including the prominent Daodejing, written by philosopher Laozi. Although Confucius’ Analects and Laozi’s the Daodejing have both influenced Chinese culture, their primary goals for society differ in many ways.
The great Sophoclean play, Oedipus Rex is an amazing play, and one of the first of its time to accurately portray the common tragic hero. Written in the time of ancient Greece, Sophocles perfected the use of character flaws in Greek drama with Oedipus Rex. Using Oedipus as his tragic hero, Sophocles’ plays forced the audience to experience a catharsis of emotions. Sophocles showed the play-watchers Oedipus’s life in the beginning as a “privileged, exalted [person] who [earned his] high repute and status by…intelligence.” Then, the great playwright reached in and violently pulled out the audience’s most sorrowful emotions, pity and fear, in showing Oedipus’s “crushing fall” from greatness.
In Ancient Greek tragedy, the concepts of suffering, hubris and moral responsibility are all interrelated, as one simply wouldn 't exist without the other. Oedipus Rex, composed by Sophocles, illuminates this. Through being structured in a Mystery Play format, the audience then witnesses the characters unravel a truth known from the beginning, distancing actor from spectator which allows the audience to see the roles of these concepts. The political, social and cultural aspects from the era in which the play has been written are then also made determinable in the work, however the play still manages to be universal as apart from the storyline and plot, it deals with humanistic issue of confronting the truth.
With this in mind, many believe that King Oedipus in Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, is the perfect example of Aristotle’s tragic hero. Does he, however, truly fulfill all the “requirements” described in Poetics or is there something we miss in the depths of his fascinating and multi-faceted character that does not fit into Aristotle’s template? Without a doubt, Oe...
Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles around 430 BC, is one of, if not the most, important and influential tragedy ever written. It became the base for most of the tragedies written since. In spite of the fact that some of the story line may seem a little out of place now, parallels can be very easily drawn with the present time. Even though it was written over 2000 years ago, Oedipus the King is still fitting and applicable in today's society.
...and the contemporary political situation into the familiar mythological saga of Oedipus. He does this not in the form of a manifesto or a public speech, but in a stage play, widely viewed and enjoyed by Athenian citizens. These underlying themes allow audience members to deeply connect to what initially seems like an alien world and allows for a more enjoyable experience for those who perceived and understood these themes. He tailored the play to the age and the audience and managed to successfully create a popular text that is still studied today for its literary merit and historical importance.
Sophocles uses a mixture of both visual and emotional imagery to create the morally questioning, Greek tragedy ‘Oedipus Tyrannos’. He presents the audience with an intense drama, which addresses the reality and importance of the gods that the Greeks fervently believed in. The play also forces the audience to ask themselves if there is such a concept as fate.
Sophocles’ Oedipus is the tragedy of tragedies. An honorable king is deceived and manipulated by the gods to the point of his ruination. In the face of ugly consequences Oedipus pursues the truth for the good of his city, finally exiling himself to restore order. Sophocles establishes emotional attachment between the king and the audience, holding them in captivated sympathy as Oedipus draws near his catastrophic discovery. Oedipus draws the audience into a world between a rock and a hard place, where sacrifice must be made for the greater good.
The Greek playwright, Euripides, is considered one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens. His individuality is attributed to the way he “pushes to the limits of what an audience can stand”. His masterpiece Medea, a fascinating classic centered on the Greek goddess Medea, is a prime example of this. During his time, Euripides was unpopular since he defied the common themes of tragedies during the 430s B.C.E. he instead introduced a nihilistic and disturbing tragedy focused on women, slaves and persons from the lower class. His mastery shines through as he guides the audience to sympathize with Medea even when she commits filicide, a seemingly horrendous act.
Oedipus Rex, written by the Poet Sophocles in the Golden Age of Greek Theatre, was described by Aristotle to be the greatest tragedy of all time. It encapsulates the very essence of the Greek cultural milieu, and it is these ideologies which are translated into the play. The very essence of Greek society; the political democracy, a moral belief in the power of the Gods and social recognition of hierarchy, are portrayed when the society is pictured in a state of chaos.
According to Aristotle, a tragedy must be an imitation of life in the form of a serious story that is complete in itself among many other things. Oedipus is often portrayed as the perfect example of what a tragedy should be in terms of Aristotle’s Poetics. Reason being that Oedipus seems to include correctly all of the concepts that Aristotle describes as inherent to dramatic tragedy. These elements include: the importance of plot, reversal and recognition, unity of time, the cathartic purging and evocation of pity and fear, the presence of a fatal flaw in the “hero”, and the use of law of probability.
Realizing the heinous nature of his actions, Oedipus blinds himself in a fit of anger and remorse - now, as Tiresias, he can see. In an age where popular entertainment is apparently guided by the maxim "more is better" (see the body count in any popular "action thriller") and "special effects" dominate, Oedipus Rex achieves its climax in a refreshingly concise and intelligent manner.
A modern tragedy of today and a tragedy of ancient Greece are two very different concepts, but ironically, both are linked by many similarities. In “Poetics”, Aristotle defines and outlines tragedy for theatre in a way that displays his genius, but raises questions and creates controversy. Aristotle’s famous definition of tragedy states:
“Oedipus the King” by Sophocles is a tragedy of a man who unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother. Aristotles’ ideas of tragedy are tragic hero, hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and catharsis these ideas well demonstrated throughout Sophocles tragic drama of “Oedipus the King”.
Oedipus the King by Sophocles has the ingredients necessary for a good Aristotelian tragedy. The play has the essential parts that form the plot, consisting of the peripeteia, anagnorisis and a catastrophe; which are all necessary for a good tragedy according to the Aristotelian notion. Oedipus is the perfect tragic protagonist, for his happiness changes to misery due to hamartia (an error). Oedipus also evokes both pity and fear in its audience, causing the audience to experience catharsis or a purging of emotion, which is the true test for any tragedy according to Aristotle.