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avidlyreading 's review for:
Oedipus Rex
by Sophocles
Having recently read [b:Kafka on the Shore|4929|Kafka on the Shore|Haruki Murakami|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348995813s/4929.jpg|6191072] by [a:Haruki Murakami|3354|Haruki Murakami|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1350230608p2/3354.jpg] which uses this tragedy to creative effect of its own I was drawn back to [b:Oedipus Rex|1554|Oedipus Rex|Sophocles|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1158284890s/1554.jpg|3098166] a play I had studied for a tragedies module at university. I was curious to see if this was still as potent a play as when I first studied this play.
Perhaps one of the more unusual aspects of this play is that due to its famous story of how Oedipus killed his father and slept with his mother is that for an audience it is about the anticipation of when the protagonist discovers the awful truth of his parentage; however, this did mean I was more inclined to be sympathetic to Oedipus from the start due to my foreknowledge of what he was about to experience. On this rereading I noticed more so the grandiose and confident language Oedipus speaks with when trying to discover the source of the plague on Thebes. Even at his lowest points in this play when he is at his most vulnerable and human the audience are reminded of the ruler he once was as his words point back to the position of power he had previously gained and his subjects had considered him godlike.
[b:Oedipus Rex|1554|Oedipus Rex|Sophocles|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1158284890s/1554.jpg|3098166] is a play of extremities in the emotions it provokes, in both the protagonist and audience, and the situation the title character finds himself in. The swiftness in which Oedipus discovers the truth is reflected in the unstoppable, compulsive, almost brutal, determination he demonstrates in trying to investigate what happened many years ago. This is not a play where if it is read that the reader is able to put down for any length of time. Conflict is evident at every stage as Oedipus tries to exonerate himself from the crime set by the prophecy yet with great horror realizes that the foretold may also be true. Part of my enduring fascination with this play is the recognition in Oedipus of that pull towards a truth that has terrible consequences once realized but to do so one must also sacrifice everything their own identity has been built on.
I'm not a particular fan of this ending of this play. Despite all that Oedipus had gone through, which I did feel for him for, I found the closing lines rather self-pitying. However, despite this it is a play that I urge you to read/watch as its universality lies in the cathartic journey it takes its readers/ audience through that once experienced is difficult to forget.
Perhaps one of the more unusual aspects of this play is that due to its famous story of how Oedipus killed his father and slept with his mother is that for an audience it is about the anticipation of when the protagonist discovers the awful truth of his parentage; however, this did mean I was more inclined to be sympathetic to Oedipus from the start due to my foreknowledge of what he was about to experience. On this rereading I noticed more so the grandiose and confident language Oedipus speaks with when trying to discover the source of the plague on Thebes. Even at his lowest points in this play when he is at his most vulnerable and human the audience are reminded of the ruler he once was as his words point back to the position of power he had previously gained and his subjects had considered him godlike.
[b:Oedipus Rex|1554|Oedipus Rex|Sophocles|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1158284890s/1554.jpg|3098166] is a play of extremities in the emotions it provokes, in both the protagonist and audience, and the situation the title character finds himself in. The swiftness in which Oedipus discovers the truth is reflected in the unstoppable, compulsive, almost brutal, determination he demonstrates in trying to investigate what happened many years ago. This is not a play where if it is read that the reader is able to put down for any length of time. Conflict is evident at every stage as Oedipus tries to exonerate himself from the crime set by the prophecy yet with great horror realizes that the foretold may also be true. Part of my enduring fascination with this play is the recognition in Oedipus of that pull towards a truth that has terrible consequences once realized but to do so one must also sacrifice everything their own identity has been built on.
I'm not a particular fan of this ending of this play. Despite all that Oedipus had gone through, which I did feel for him for, I found the closing lines rather self-pitying. However, despite this it is a play that I urge you to read/watch as its universality lies in the cathartic journey it takes its readers/ audience through that once experienced is difficult to forget.