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/lit/ - Literature

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4865770 No.4865770[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

hey, /b/, i'm doing a paper on Oedipus Rex, how he had a identity crisis, typical shit

I mean, I pretty much think its a case of tragic circumstances, problems that arise from factors outside of his control. not so much a problem of fate as it is an issue of "plan accordingly, motherfucker". what do you guys think about this perverted piece of shit?

>> No.4865813

>/b/

>> No.4865825

Not helping with your highschool homework m8

Anyways I got a 65% on my OR essay.

>> No.4865832

>>4865770
Fuck off.

>> No.4865841

>>4865770
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96umP9MVz5I

>> No.4865853

>>4865770
Faggot. OR is great.

>> No.4866008

>>4865853
faggot detected

>> No.4866091

Is this for a college course? A good paper should not just be "typical shit."

The play is considered a tragedy, so you're definitely right in describing the events as tragic.

If the problems that Oedipus encounters are from "factors outside of his control," then how could he plan accordingly? Your description, in fact, points more to an issue of fate, even though you claim that the play is not about fate. How would you explain the oracle's foretelling of Oedipus killing his father and sleeping with his mother? Does free will play a role in this? Can free-will and fate co-exist?

Literary criticism, in general, doesn't really take into consideration "what the character should have done" or "what would have happened if a character did something differently." Essays on the craft of writing, meaning essays on "how-to-write," might deal with this issue, but criticism is focused on different areas.

Try to find a very specific topic to discuss; don't just offer a general "evaluation" or an opinion on "how good" the text is.

Things to consider: Is there an image repeated in the play? Are there similarities between characters?

What is the relationship between fate and justice?

>> No.4866125

What do you mean
>how he had an identity crisis

I don't think he ever has an identity crisis.

>> No.4867054

If this is a college course, just write that he's the victim of a judgemental society and how the picture of morality and ideals of normative behaviour can even topple the greatest of kings (since he was a good king). That man is not slave to power, religion, that we are slave only to ourselves.

Your professor will literally cream in his pants and you'll get top marks.

>> No.4867074

>>4866125
He had somewhat of an identity crisis in Antigone, but I'm not sure if OP is using all three of the plays for his essay or just the first.

>> No.4868044

>>4865770
Hey OP, try writing your paper with the following idea in mind:

What if the oracle's message wasn't really a prophecy in the sense you normally think of the word (i.e., a vision of the future), but instead was a DESCRIPTION of Oedipus and a warning.

Maybe he's just the kind of guy who's gonna end up killing his father and fucking his mother.

Does that do anything to change your reading of the text?

>> No.4868053

>>4868044
Yeah. The whole point of his going to the oracle in the first place was to verify who his parents were, because he doesn't know. After getting his first oracle, instead of following up with the right question ("who are my parents?") he runs away. Why? If you're told you're gonna kill your father, doesn't that make it all the more important to know who you father is?

And this is the same guy who solved the riddle of the sphynx. He's a smart, clever guy. What's the difference between a riddle that makes it so that being good at solving them doesn't, apparently, do anything for knowing yourself?

>> No.4868470

>>4865770
its ok
what you're supposed to know about it is that its dictated by fatum (fate/destiny/word of god) and that oedipus (in this setting where everything is predetermined) has no control over anything, he's a pawn in a grand scheme of things.

then again i did this when i was 16 in highschool and i forgot most of the more deeper stuff.
>>4866091
>>4868053
bring up some valid points, so listen to them.

>> No.4870692

>>4865770
>Completely missing the depictions of the five stages of loss
>failing to see how it is an awesome detective story
>hating the Oedipus Cycle at all.

>> No.4870729

>>4866091
the play isn't a tragedy you dumbass

>> No.4871287

>>4870729
You're plain wrong.

>> No.4872214

>>4871287

how is it a tragedy

>> No.4872218

>>4872214
It's is by definition a tragedy? Do you know what a tragedy is?

>> No.4872292

>>4872218

Tragedy requires:

>A tragic hero, who falls as a result of his tragic flaw
>Order is restored once hero falls

Oedipus did not fall as a result of any flaw of his own, he was destined to do so. Therefore, it's not a tragedy, in the strictest sense of the word, and Aristotle was wrong when he defined the play as such.

>> No.4872324

>>4872292
reality is the hero

>> No.4873350

>>4872292
>Oedipus did not fall as a result of any flaw of his own

Why didn't he follow up with the oracle and insist on knowing who his parents were? Why did he flip shit at Tiresias? Why does he keep on insisting on going forward with solving the mystery despite all the warnings he gets to not go on?

He's got flaws, man.

>> No.4873362

>>4872292
Auden has a cool quote regarding the differences between Classical and Shakespearean Tragedy:

>Auden distinguished Christian and pagan tragedy: “Greek tragedy is the tragedy of necessity, i.e., the felling aroused in the spectators is ‘What a pity it had to be this way’: Christian tragedy is the tragedy of possibility, ‘What a pity it was this way when it might have been otherwise.’”

>> No.4874714

>>4873350
You missed an important one bro: Why did he kill his father? Because of his short temper, a flaw. A layman would argue it's his own fault, which it is, but in the grander scheme of the play, it was destined to happen. His fall was determined from before he was even born. You're missing the point here. Tragedy relies on a tragic flaw(s) that leads to fall of the hero. Although Oedipus seems like he fell because of his flaws (main one: his short temper resulting in the death of his father), his flaws (and also his regrets) mean nothing when he is just a plaything for the gods.

>>4873362

Shakespeare's Othello follows perfectly the conventions of tragedy. Lear, on the other hand, a pagan play, elaborates on the absurdity of the order that society followed at that time, BECAUSE there is nothing after death. A life lived to attain glory/legacy/honour after death (e.g. beowulf) is a meaningless life, according to Shakespeare, due to the absurdity of the temporal order upon which such concepts rely on. The Wanderer's life is meaningless, whereas the Seafarer's life is meaningful still.

>> No.4874843

>>4872292
>Therefore, it's not a tragedy, in the strictest sense of the word, and Aristotle was wrong when he defined the play as such.

Aristotle wrote in his work Poetics that tragedy is characterized by seriousness and involves a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune (Peripeteia).

>> No.4874860

>>4872292

A flaw doesn't have to be a personal flaw, I know what you're saying but Oedipus Rex was definitely a tragedy acted by tragic actors and received everywhere by everybody as a tragedy (until you made that post, that is).