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Austin Moyer

Ms. Johnson

APE Literature

19 September 2008

The Parallel between Oedipus Rex and Aristotle’s Elements of Tragedy

“For God hate utterly, the bray of bragging tones.” – Sophocles This sets the tone of Greek tragedies. The most arrogant man is the man who will always fall the hardest. In the Golden Age (500-400 BC) three great playwrights helped define plays for years to come, slowly evolving as each influential playwright changed the theater. These three, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides shaped the future of theater for future generations to tweak. George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Arthur Miller and William Shakespeare all have contributed to what theater was and will become. You can find elements of Greek Tragedy in all of their work. Luke recognized Darth Vader as his father, Romeo’s death was fate, and Frodo suffered by not being able to return to the shire he left. Each is an example of a trait of Greek tragedy. The change from ignorance to knowledge in Luke, the predestination of Romeo, and the hero, Frodo, who suffered even after his journey had ended. Each example is part of Aristotle’s interpretation of tragedy. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, is another good example of all of Aristotle tragedy’s traits, which shows that Sophocles strongly influenced Aristotle. Aristotle’s Poetics contains key principles of Greek tragedies extracted from the key elements in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex.

One Aristotle element that is found in Oedipus Rex is the definition of tragedy, which is a dramatic form that imitated a serious action, written in a lofty language. Sophocles is able to keep the scene of Oedipus Rex intense and dramatic. Sophocles keeps details blurred and unclear, which allows the story to unfold and hold the audience’s attention. After Oedipus stabs his eyes with his mother’s brooches, he avenges his father, which is parallel with Aristotle’s

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definition of a dramatic form imitating a serious action. The lofty language shows up after Oedipus is proved guilty and the chorus gets their chance to speak:

Child by Laios doomed to die,

Then doomed to lose that fortunate little death,

Would God you never took breath in this air

That with my wailing lips I take to cry: (69; II.2)

Near the end of the play the chorus is written so it shows how Oedipus defied Greek expectations by committing this crime, which just shows that Aristotle’s definition fits perfectly for Oedipus Rex.

The purpose of a Greek tragedy, according to Aristotle, is to entertain the audience by uplifting them, and occasionally teaching them. At the end of Oedipus Rex the audience feels uplifted and relatively lucky. Throughout the play the audience cannot help but to feel pity for poor Oedipus, who, though noble, was doomed through no fault of his own. The moral integrity of Oedipus evokes that pity from the audience, but also gives them a role model to live up to. This play teaches the audience to try to achieve Oedipus’s quest for righteousness in the world, but also to tells the audience to absorb the entire situation, instead of being blind, like Oedipus, to possibilities that they do not like. Aristotle also said that the unmerited suffering of a character best evokes pity, which is exactly the case of Oedipus. Oedipus was destined to murder his father and lay with his mother, and though he tried to avoid his horrible fate he ended up going down a road, which led to that dreadful destination. The fear in the play is fear for Oedipus. Though the audience already knows the story of Oedipus, his fate is what they fear for, and rightfully so. Oedipus ends up fulfilling the audience’s deepest fears for him, condemning himself to a life of suffering because he blinded himself. At the end of Oedipus Rex the audience is purged from

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feelings of pity and fear, and is able to leave the theater with those feelings drained from them, resulting in feeling uplifted and entertained, which is the sole purpose of Greek tragedies.

Oedipus Rex contains the four parts to a complex tragedy: a peripeteia, an anagnorisis, a tragic incident, and unity in place, time, and action. Oedipus begins the play as a father figure, with loyal subjects who love him and are eternally grateful for him. Oedipus is the luckiest man in Thebes, with his royalty and reputation, but his luck runs out very quickly. Specifically his luck turns when he forces Teiresias to tell him the truth, which reveals the option of Oedipus himself being the cause of all of Thebe’s misfortune. This scene where Teiresias reveals to the audience Oedipus’s destiny is called the peripeteia, or a reversal, and creates a downward spiral for Oedipus, as his honor seems to drop as each bit of evidence against Oedipus is revealed. The plot progresses to the anagnorisis, or the recognition point. This point is critical to being a complex tragedy, instead of a simple one. It is where Oedipus has a revelation, or an epiphany, about the truth that he has been blind to. This moment is where Oedipus, after consulting many people about his past, talks to an old shepherd who reveals that Oedipus’s life was spared, as the shepherd let Oedipus travel to safety, where he could grow and set out on a journey back to his original home. Finally the last ounce of doubt is removed from Oedipus’s mind and he cries out:

Ah God!

It was true!

All the prophecies!

—Now,

O Light, may I look on you for the last time!

I, Oedipus,

Oedipus, damned in his birth, in his marriage

Damned,

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Damned in the blood he shed with his own hand! (64; IV)

Which leads us to the next landmark in our plot: the tragic incident. Oedipus then rushes into the castle, and while the chorus speaks, stabs his eyes out. This incident is the downfall of the character, and begins his suffering. Oedipus is now blinded, though ironically he can see the truth, and begins his life as a blind man, forever feeling the wrath of his fate. This tragic incident also adds to the purpose of the play, to produce the feeling of catharsis among the audience. This point is the climax of emotion for the audience, evoking their pity, anger, and fear, as well as relief that the late king and Oedipus’s father, Laius, is avenged and the city can become prosperous again. Oedipus does not share this tragic incident, true, him blinding himself is the tragic incident, Jocasta also has a sorry end to her happiness. She hangs herself, which causes significant grief and pity because she was not the one who needed to be punished, but since she isn’t the main character her death can be overshadowed by the true tragic incident. The last trait that completes a complex tragedy is using the same setting and timeframe throughout the play. The entire play takes place at Oedipus’ palace steps. Here, all of the action, with the exception of the violence, takes place. Not only does the action take place in one location, but also it takes place on the same day. A complex tragedy needs a peripeteia, an anagnorisis, a tragic incident, and all the action happening at one place in one small timeframe, all of which Oedipus Rex has.

Aristotle believed that there should be a protagonist instead of a cast of characters without any obvious main character. This protagonist should be a tragic hero, who is a good man and tries to do the right thing. When the protagonist falls it is because of an error in judgment, not any evil or wicked intentions. To the Greeks the biggest tragic flaw is excessive pride. This tragic flaw will usually not be the demise of the character, but the tragic hero will suffer. The tragic hero needs to be able to fall, which is why they are usually placed in a high, grand position. When a beggar loses his status, it is rarely considered a tragedy, but when a noble king

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falls from grace, that is a much more misfortune. The audience must also be able to sympathize with the protagonist, which is the entire purpose of the play. If the protagonist is too saint like, or fiendish, the audience will not be able to relate to him as well as if the protagonist was more humanlike, with flaws and decisions. Oedipus has all of these traits. He is king of Thebes, a large and once prosperous city, he is righteous and seeks out the murderer of Laius. He has human limitations, and he shows pride when he refuses to acknowledge Teiresias’s knowledge, which has built up to the point of excessiveness after he solved the sphinx’s riddle. His pride is downfall, when he says “Then once more I must bring what is dark to light.” (9) This is his pride of being a hero making a promise to become one again, though he doesn’t realize to be a hero again he must destroy himself. The chorus relates helps the audience relate to the play by pointing out how pride is a flaw, saying:

Pride is the germ of kings;

Pride, when puffed up, vainly, with many things

Unseasonable, unfitting, mounts the wall,

Only to hurry to that fatal fall. (47; I.2)

Oedipus is a prime example of what the main character in an Aristotle play should be. He is high in power, flawed, and a good person.

The last element Aristotle added was spectacle. He believed that violence was not to be shown on stage, but rather have it play out off stage, away from sight, and have a messenger or character be used as a framing device to tell what happened. Though this has obviously changed in modern times, it was successful in making a tragedy tragic, instead of terrifying. Instead of having the violence acted on stage, Sophocles uses a messenger to tell the tragic incidents of Jocasta and Oedipus to the audience:

He hurled his weight, as though wrenched out of himself,

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At the twin doors: the bolts gave, and he rushed in.

And there we saw her hanging, her body swaying

From the cruel cord she had noosed about her neck. (68-69; Exodos)

The audience feels a deeper sense of tragedy while hearing the tragic incidents instead of seeing them played out, in a most likely unrealistic, restricted violent scene. Aristotle follows Sophocles’ example in Oedipus Rex, which keeps violence off the stage and in the dialogue.

Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex has contributed to Aristotle’s elements of tragedy, and by extension, Shakespeare, TV shows, and blockbuster movies. The past influences the present, and shows the future. It teaches us about pride, and morals. It gives the present traditions that we can adapt and give to future generations. What was done over 2000 years ago still has a huge influence on today’s world. What is done today will define the next hundred years. What is given to future generations needs to be thought about and perfected, because that is what the past did for the present.

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Works cited

Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Trans Dudley Fitts and Roberts Fitzgerald. San Diego, New York,

London: Harcort Brac & Company, 1949, 1977. Pages 1-81

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