Why Oedipus Rex? There are numerous great reasons for looking at Sophocles' masterpiece. Though some people wonder why a play full of incest and murder can be considered a famous work, a centerpiece of the canon, there are diverse elements of the play that make it remarkable.
First, the play has had a tremendous influence on how literature has evolved over nearly three millennia in the West. Aristotle, likely the most famous and influential philosopher ever - and certainly one of them - used Oedipus Rex as a model for what an excellent play should be. What did he like about it? He liked that it maintained the Unities of Time, Action, and Place - the action happened in one day, was centered around only one plot, and occurred in one place, the palace steps in Thebes. He also like that Oedipus figured out and resolved his own conflict, rather than waiting for a greater power to come to save him. Aristotle called such an ending - when a god saves the day - a deus ex machina, god in the machine. This meant that some of the plays of Aristotle's time ended with a god or goddess coming in to save the characters. For example, Athena would be lowered onto the stage by a crane, or Hades would appear from below the stage through a trap door. Today, movies or books that end with the cliché "Oh, it was only a dream" ending are technically deus ex machina endings. Rather than solving their own dilemmas, the characters are saved by the dream scenario. The Wizard of Oz film also resolves in a deus ex machina when Dorothy is saved by the Good Witch of the North.
What else did Aristotle like? The play was a perfect example of tragedy. The word "tragedy" comes from the ancient roots for "goat-song," which is emblematic of a time when sacrifices were performed to satisfy the gods. What makes a good tragedy by Aristotle's definition? A powerful human, usually of a high rank, experiences a series of events that eventually bring him to epiphanies - realizations about himself - and reversals of fortune that lead to his downfall. To Aristotle, a comedy is the exact opposite of this - a low or poor man experiences a series of events that bring him to epiphanies and reversals of fortune, which in turn lead him to higher power or increased rank. Since Oedipus went from being a trusted, respected and powerful king to a blind pauper who could only wander about the land with the assistance of his equally disgraced daughter, Antigone, he is the epitome (perfect example) of a tragic hero.
On top of that, Oedipus had what Aristotle called a hamartia - a tragic or fatal flaw. Hamartia is word that refers to an archery phrase. It means, loosely translated, "to miss the mark," referring to the area of one's life in which that person misses the target. In what area did Oedipus "miss the mark"? Oedipus had many excellent qualities, but his downfall was his hubris. He had so much pride that he refused to listen to anyone, even the wise Tiresias. Unfortunately for him and for his father, Laius, this was a family trait. That is why, when the two men met at the triple crossroads, something had to give. Neither man would move so one of them had to die. Thus, Oedipus the stubborn fulfilled the first part of the terrible prophecy and struck down his own father at the triple crossroads. Aristotle said, that the true beauty of such a play, whether it is a comedy or a tragedy is when it evokes a catharsis from its audience, a powerful emotional release. Consider why the motion picture industry is a multi-billion dollar enterprise - we go to movies so we can laugh, cry, be frightened or intrigued. In fact, we pay as much as ten dollars or more for the privilege. (One might ask why our own lives do not provide that same level of catharsis).
One more belief held by Aristotle that few modern movie goers share is the idea that plays should not include an overwhelming dose of spectacle, which today is called special effects. Sophocles made sure that all of the most terrible events of the play - Jocasta hanging herself, Oedipus poking out his own eyes - occurred off stage. Aristotle believed that special effects took attention off the plot, and in fact, special effects, today, are often used to cover up a terrible story-line, so in a way, I can see what Aristotle was getting at.
So, why is this information important? Sophocles' play, propelled in part by Aristotle's review of it, impacted the way plays were written for thousands of years, and indeed, it impacts to this day how films and even novels are written. It took people like Chaucer, Marlowe and Shakespeare to start challenging these notions two millennia after Aristotle and Sophocles perished.
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