THE TRAGEDY OF OEDIPUS
Tragedy, in English, is a word used to indicate other words such as misfortune, calamity, disaster and many more such words. However, this word has another dramatic meaning, not far from its original meaning in English. In Western theatre it is a genre that presents a heroic or moral struggle of an individual that leads to his or her ultimate defeat or misfortune. When the audience and reader share the playwright's particular social perception and social values they easily empathize and relate with the fall of the protagonist (main character) from a prominent and high position into a state of misery or total destruction. On the other hand, Aristotle defined the term ‘tragedy' as "a man not preeminently virtuous and …show more content…
In Sophocles' play, the subject is ‘Oedipus' while the underlying theme is that one's free will exists within the will of fate. Throughout the play, the mood keeps on changing to suit the situation in that moment. For example, the play starts with a mood of suffering and mourning over the city's suffering and immediately turns to hope as Creon approaches with knowledge about the cause of the plague. This mood changes to anger, frustration and betrayal when Oedipus accuses Tiresias of conspiring against him. Soon the mood is that of shock and gloom as Oedipus learns the truth about himself. The main plot centers on his mission to escape his destiny
Irony is the major theme in Oedipus the King. This is the idea that the universe is often unfair and mysterious and that unseen powerful forces are at work in the life of a human. These forces include fate, the gods, good or bad fortune, and circumstances. To a human being, these circumstances do not even make sense. For example, irony would be when a good deed produces suffering as seen in the Greek tragedy of ‘Oedipus the King.' A good deed that Oedipus did is saving the city of Thebes as he "unbound the tax [the people] had to pay to the harsh singer" or the Sphinx, a monster with a woman's head, a lion's body, and the wings. The destruction of all young men who failed to solve the Sphinx's riddle and as a result were devoured was the "tax" that Oedipus freed Thebes from. He discovered the