Sophocles knowing that his audience is aware of the outcome of the play utilizes that knowledge to create various situations in which dramatic irony play key roles.

University Degree Linguistics, Classics and related subjects

Chris Pearson ENG FO3

Consider the relationship between dramatic form and dramatic function in a play you have studied.

Sophocles knowing that his audience is aware of the outcome of the play utilizes that knowledge to create various situations in which dramatic irony play key roles. Dramatic irony is when the audience knows the tragic truth before the characters do. Through his use of irony Sophocles manages to avoid retelling an old tale, though the audience is aware of the story's end they are intrigued by the irony present in the story. Sophocles makes liberal use of irony. By doing this he tantalises the viewer into wanting to see how the events that occurred later would mentally affect the main character, in this case Oedipus. Oedipus is self-confident, intelligent, and strong willed. Ironically these are the very traits which bring about his tragic discovery and eventually his doom. Despite their views about his personal humanity, they do not see his wisdom as originating from human means. (.org)

The people of Thebes blame the destroying of their city upon the gods, but do they credit Oedipus's foresight and counsel as being of godly origin. Oedipus himself chooses to ignore this popular conception of his power. He responds to this call for godly aid with an account of his own personal attempts to unravel the problem, never once even making an allusion to immortals. He tells them, "my spirit groans for city and myself and you at once", thereby signifying that he has personally taken the problems of Thebes upon himself to solve, disregarding the usefulness of the gods. (.org)

Oedipus, who happily tells the uncooperative Teiresias "I came, I Oedipus, who knew nothing, and I stopped her I solved the riddle by my wit alone" For Oedipus, to chase truth was to destroy his world: his power, accomplishments, and family name are all lost. (.org)

Oedipus utilises his personal power as an individual for his own gain, his quick temper a visible flaw along with the limp he sustained at birth represents a sign of

weakness and doom. However through this visual impact the plot has the immense advantage of providing a deed in the past which explains the hero’s self - horror

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Oedipus utilises his personal power as an individual for his own gain, his quick temper a visible flaw along with the limp he sustained at birth represents a sign of

weakness and doom. However through this visual impact the plot has the immense advantage of providing a deed in the past which explains the hero’s self - horror

without us losing our sympathy. Aside from this, his determination to have truth at any cost with an utter disregard of his own sufferings is heroic in its self (Kallich.1968:279). Here we can see the fortunes of an individual in an intensely dramatic form, it raises questions about the justice of the gods, who treat Oedipus as a means of enforcing a lesson onto others. If the gods force him to break their own laws, as he does by killing his father Bowra states:

“they should provide means of reconciliation by which he, polluted as he is, can make his Peace with them and restore the breach in the divine order which he has made”.

( Kallich.1968:283).

Sophocles has a way of suggesting that his characters have acted wrongly and then proceeds to tell us that they are right through the chorus and Antigone through dramatic form. This intern gives us the dramatic function as we as the audience are effected in that we can relate the events to our own experiences of life.

Oedipus blinds himself because of his curse. He does it both deliberately and by divine prompting. The Greeks would make no real distinction between the two and would certainly praise Oedipus for acting as the god’s desire and see that the daimon’s pressure on him was part of their scheme. As a parricide and incestuous he will exile himself from Thebes which he pollutes and from human society with which he can have no normal relations. To carry out his curse he inflicts a fearful injury on himself. The curse has still to finish its course. Oedipus knows this, makes no attempt to resist it, he rather does his best to help it. (Kallich.1968:289)

There is no question of guilt and its punishment, but once pollution has been incurred, once the powers of heaven have been invoked with such solemnity, they cannot be countermanded. There is much to pity when Oedipus blinds himself, but much also to admire. This creates catharsis from the audience as we can see that Oedipus has no real control over his destiny, although from the dramatic form of this scene we can relate to it. We all purge ourselves in some form, although I think that we might

struggle to conduct ourselves with such dignity, if we were faced with such dilemmas, and we feel a great deal of pathos towards Oedipus even if the rashness of his actions

is Oedipus’s own doom. Here again we can see the relationship between form and function.

In his angry scenes with Teiresias and Creon he has lost some of our sympathy and revealed dangerous tendencies in his character, but once he knows who he really is, he throws aside his faults and acts with inspired resolution in his fearful sacrifice. He is not to be condemned for resisting his destiny, but to be admired for accepting it in all its horror and for being ready to work with the god to see that he makes his full amends. He who has been the victim and the sufferer regains the initiative and takes his destiny into his own hands. The play ends in the anguish of humiliation and the anticipation of more to come. But at last the truth is out, and the gods have had their way. The gods humble Oedipus as a lesson to men not to trust in their happiness or their knowledge. The horror of his fate and his fall is for-ordained that others may learn from it. In the eyes of the gods what matters is that he should know who and what he really is. (Kallich.1968:289)

Oedipus is a classic tragic hero. According to Aristotle's definition, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is a king whose life falls apart when he finds out his life story. There are a number of characteristics described by Aristotle that identify a tragic hero. For example, a tragic hero must cause his own downfall; his fate is not deserved, and his punishment exceeds the crime; he also must be of noble stature and have greatness. Oedipus is in love with his idealised self. All of the above characteristics make Oedipus a tragic hero according to Aristotle's ideas about tragedy. Using Oedipus as an ideal model, Aristotle says that a tragic hero must be an important or influential man who makes an error in judgement, and who must then suffer the consequences of his actions. ()

I can relate to Aristotle’s ideology, as we all know if we make a mistake through our actions, which can be seen as dramatic form in our lives, then we too would have to suffer the consequences even if our intentions were good. Like Oedipus, this would have a dramatic function on other people because they could identify emotionally with the events that occurred to you. From a dramatic point of view, the use of plots and characters already familiar to the audience gave the poets many opportunities for the use of irony and subtle allusions that are not available to the modern playwright.

The catastrophe of Oedipus is that he discovers his own identity; all that Oedipus learns is that he was ignorant, all his self-discovery is self-destruction. A purely intellectual interpretation is given isolating knowledge from ethics and feelings. At line 118 we are told Oedipus sees clearly for the first time in the play but his eyes cannot bear the clarity his intelligence has created and he rushes off to put them off. His “critical intelligence” works its way through to the absolutely clear vision, which once found it, cannot bear to face. Finally the purely cognitive reading is elevated to an allegorical, universal statement about mankind. Oedipus’ new knowledge at the end of the play is a “recognition of man’s ignorance. (www.yale.edu)

These final scenes are designed primarily to impress the full import of the tragedy. They suggest the miserable future of Oedipus and his children. The young girls add pathos to his downfall by their very presence, and by bringing out the more kindly aspects of his character. Thus after the catastrophe Sophocles presents his main character in the most favourable light. (www.yale.edu)

Conclusion

Perhaps Oedipus's unique departure from the world signifies a godly recognition of his achievement, and the resurrection of his individual power and scope in his corpse homage to yet another Daedalus whose wings were burnt from flying too close to the sun. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is portrayed as a character of social conscience.

The Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex is an excellent example of how an author can use literary techniques and personality traits to teach a certain moral or theme. In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles communicates his themes and morals to the reader through the character flaws of Oedipus, a tragic hero. The most prominent character flaw that Oedipus possesses is his excessive arrogance.

We must bear in mind that Sophocles builds his effects on the audience’s presumed knowledge of the outcome. He has therefore constructed these early scenes also to get the most out of the ironic contrast between appearance and reality. The effect of this is that Sophocles through the dramatic form of the play creates an effect on the audience, which is the dramatic function of the play, so here we have the relationship between dramatic form and dramatic function.