Oedipus Rex????

Question

I just finished reading the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. In an attempt to not have missed any valuable information- What is your oppinion on the play and what did you find to be the most important aspects of the play?

Answer 1

This play is an important story that teaches the dangers of ambition & the tragic irony the fates have a tendancy to deal to us, mortals. It also bears a moral about the importance of understanding both the partriarchal & maternel aspects of the archetypes of conscioussness. It can also teach us a bit about trying to go against our own destiny and how doing so can often lead to dire consequences. A very important aspect to be understood is that blind, hot-blooded passion can lead to tragedy without using our faculties of reason to understand our circumstances before we leaping into action. I find it interesting that when Oedipus finds that the prophecies have come true, instead of ridding himself of life, he blinds himself, as if to say he has seen enough.

To me the most important aspect of the play is the Sphinx's riddle. The riddle is the key to understanding all the symbolic significance that underlies the entire play.

Answer 2

The thing that I've always found interesting about Oedipus Rex is the late point of attack, which was typical of Greek Drama. Instead of starting the play at the start of the story, Sophocles chooses to start the story within an hour of the climax.

Indeed, Oedipus is a model of the Greek theatre tradition of telling the story, as opposed to showing the story.

In light of the fact that Aristotle's "Poetics" employ the work of Sophocles as a main source of examples - and in light of the fact that centuries worth of playwrights based their work on Aristotle - Oedipus serves as one of the models on which hundreds of years of theatre was based.

Because of this, it has survived and is still being performed over two millenium later, That, I think, is the most important aspect of the play.

Answer 3

Oedipus myths skill a narrative with an analogous plot to the Oedipus Rex fable. actual any tale some newborn that kills one parent and marries the different. i think of I study one some female who killed her mom to get together with her dad, and that i understand there's a action picture some guy who falls for his step-mom and plots to get his dad out of how. Can keep in mind the two identify yet i understand they are accessible

Answer 4

Other than the obvious that it is a great classic, Oedipus Rex was the springboard for Freud's theory on human sexuality and psyche. It is from this play that Freud explained the Oedipal complex (ie falling in love with his own mother). It broke boundaries in literature at the time, and is so brilliant that it still holds its own today.