Coming into class on Wednesday and seeing Oedipus Rex on my desk brought a variety of thoughts. On one hand, I was happy that we were taking a break from poetry, but on the other, I thought that doing a play would be relatively boring, with the old text using confusing language that would make the story hard to relax and enjoy.
But then Papa Sophocles saves the freaking day. It ended up being pretty cool (read: fucking awesome), and it was probably the most enjoyment that I've had reading a play out loud in class. The dual use of deep and hilarious language makes it both enjoyable and thought-provoking. In regards to tragedy specifically, Sophocles does a good job of setting up a sudden turn of events, and a fall from grace. The shift in tone is apparent as Jocasta begins to understand what is going on. Over all, this really does feel like it epitomizes what Miller states in his argument, and it does so without seeming super sad (well it is sad, but it's almost more...tragic than sad. I don't know I guess I kind of found a new definition for tragedy in terms of the emotion associated with it). The way the Oedipus went about handling the situation also added to the tragic feeling that the story provided. Even though it was super obvious what happened, I think that Oedipus was at least partially suppressing the truth from himself, and him desperately going to more people to try to get a different answer really showcased that. As as side note, I'm pretty sure a lot of my enjoyment that came from this story came from the translation. It was extremely well done, and I'm really glad to have read it.
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