Compare and Cotrast Oedipus the King

Greek or Attic tragedy was an inherent part of the culture of ancient Athens. The form, originating from earlier ritualistic traditions was considered to be the most superior of dramatic forms. Apart from tragedy, the other forms of dramatic productions were comedy and satyr-plays but these were considered to be of lesser import. The city celebrated a five day annual festival in late March to honor Dionysius Eleuthereus, the god of wine and theatre. In this festival, three acclaimed writers each of whom presented a trilogy of tragic plays and a satyr drama competed for the prize. Earlier, all four plays were thematically tied and constituted a tetralogy but later Sophocles and Euripedes espoused a single play format. As for the subject, the playwrights used to modify and creatively present different versions of myths that were widely accepted.

This paper argues that psychoanalysts must revisit Oedipus Rex to extract its deeper lessons. Although Oedipus does demonstrate genuinely oedipal desires, his tragedy stems not so much from them as from a narcissistic rage over his original mutilation and abandonment by his parents. But Oedipus is not only the object of our analysis; he is a prototype of the psychoanalyst, as Freud himself recognized. Sophocles thus appears to diagnose the dangers of psychoanalysis. Whatever hope exists in the midst of these dangers is then inferred from his prophetic sequel, Oedipus at Colonus.

Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) is the most prominent figure in contemporary philosophical and literary debate. He originates a trend-breaking theory of deconstruction. He opines the persistence in west European philosophical tradition of what he labels is logocentric metaphysics of presence. He argues that the different theories of philosophy, from Plato until structuralism are versions of a single or authoritative system. Though we cannot hope to escape this system we can at least identify the conditions of thought it imposes by attending to that which it seek to impress. Derridean deconstruction may present a new perspective to Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex”, which has always been a research target for world researchers. The researchers studied it from different angles, but the present study tries to reveal different facets of the play on Derridean deconstructive bedrock. Applying Derrida’s deconstruction to the text of the play, the study tries to present it in a new and innovative way. The study will discuss how Western logocentric tradition of the metaphysics of presence and its compelling repercussions ground human thought in stable and pre-determined meaning. In its concluding mode, the study analyses preventive stumbling aporic blocks of fossilized logocentric structure of the minds of characters in the play.

The myth of Sophocles's Oedipus Rex is revolved on the three interactive perspectives of fate, truth and self-will, making the play a most remarkable one in the fifth century Greece when all the plays focused on the manifestation of God's will under which man's behavior was undoubtedly directed. What gives the play its tragic intensity is not the horror it arouses of patricide or incest but the meaning of fate that God bestows to Oedipus in his endeavor of truth seeking. What's most important, it is the sentimental self-will of Oedipus that makes the play distinguished from other plays during the age of Sophocles' and makes him an outstanding figure in the fifth century Greek. Though Sophocles' plays could not detach themselves from the influence of religious requirement, namely, the divine will, a theme prevailing during his age, he endeavors to present a comparatively different approach of morality, a refusal to compromise of the hero's fate confined by god in literary works of the fifth century Greece. It seems that Sophocles employs the oracles not for the sake of worshipping the Gods, but rather, for the presentation of man's inner strength seeking truths about the conditions of life or about human character based on truth. Résumé: Le mystère d'Oedipus Rex de Sophocles réside dans les trois perspectives interactives : destin,vérité et entêtement, qui rendent ce drame l'un des plus remarquables du XVe siècle de la Grèce où toutes les pièces se consacraient à manifester la volonté de Dieu par laquelle le comportement de l'homme était incontestablement guidé. Ce qui donne à cette pièce son intensité tragique, ce n'est pas la horreur de parricide ou d'inceste, mais le sens du destin que Dieu accorde à Oedipus dans sa recherche de vérité. Ce qui est le plus important, c'est l'entêtement sentimental d'Oedipus qui distingue cette pièce des autre de l'époque de Sophocles et le rend la plus célèbre figure du XVe siècle de la Grèce. Bien que les pièces de Sophocles ne puissent se détacher de l'influence de la demande religieuse, à savoir la volonté divine-un thème prédominant de l'époque, le dramaturge a cherché à présenter une approche relatively différente de la morale, un refus de faire le compromis sur le destin du héros déterminé par Dieu dans les ouvrages littéraires grecs du XVe siècle. Il semble que Sophocles emploie l'oracle non pour vénérer Dieu, mais pour montrer la force intérieure de l'homme dans la recherche de la vérité sur les conditions de vie ou sur les caractères humains basés sur la vérité. Mots-Clés: destin, recherche de la vérité, entêtement, oracle

Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) is the most prominent figure in contemporary philosophical and literary debate. He originates a trend-breaking theory of deconstruction. He opines the persistence in west European philosophical tradition of what he labels is logocentric metaphysics of presence. He argues that the different theories of philosophy, from Plato until structuralism are versions of a single or authoritative system. Though we cannot hope to escape this system we can at least identify the conditions of thought it imposes by attending to that which it seek to impress. Derridean deconstruction may present a new perspective to Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex", which has always been a research target for world researchers. The researchers studied it from different angles, but the present study tries to reveal different facets of the play on Derridean deconstructive bedrock. Applying Derrida's deconstruction to the text of the play, the study tries to present it in a new and innovative way. The study will discuss how Western logocentric tradition of the metaphysics of presence and its compelling repercussions ground human thought in stable and predetermined meaning. In its concluding mode, the study analyses preventive stumbling aporic blocks of fossilized logocentric structure of the minds of characters in the play.

Arion, 1966

Pixeum, 2024

Ṣūrat Baḥr al-Rūm صورة بحر الروم , which translates to the “Image of the Sea of the Romans” (i.e. the Byzantines) comes from a twelfth-century Norman-Sicilian copy of the Book of Routes and Realms, attributed to the early tenth-century geographer al-Iṣṭakhrī. I abbreviate this type of book to KMMS based on its Arabic title: Kitāb al-masālik wa-al-mamālik. It represents a snapshot back in time to the caliphal age of the eighth-through-tenth centuries. This map is special. It comes from the earliest extant KMMS manuscript housed at one of the best and most generous medieval manuscript libraries in the world. In addition, an unusual colophonic reader signature and a trademark Siculo-Norman ‘alāma (or formal signature) suggest this copy was owned by a young Frederick II before he became the famous conquering Holy Roman emperor