Journal 1: Literary Topics

Discussion on Literary Topics

Point of View/Characters: From whose point of view is the story told? Does this change? How reliable is the narrative voice? How well does the reader get to know the characters? How credible are they? How are they presented? How does the writer persuade us to like/sympathize with some characters and dislike others?

Oedipus the King is written from the 3rd person point of view. Because it was written as a play, it remains solely in 3rd person. There is no explicit "narrative voice," aside from the stage directions, which are fairly accurate. I must point out the fact that the stage directions were added back in in modern times, since the originals were lost over time. Aside from the stage directions, the closest thing to a narrator is the chorus, which is not always accurate, because it or they are actively involved in the story, which makes them susceptible to dramatic irony and other literary or plot devices that can cause them to be inaccurate. This is explicitly demonstrated when the chorus has no knowledge of Oedipus' past.

The reader/audience gets to know the characters of the play through the stage directions, dialogue and entrances. The reader/audience gets to know the character of Oedipus very well, as they get to see him in public, as well as in private during his conversations with Jocasta. Greek audiences probably knew the characters of the play from their knowledge of Greek mythology. Most characters in the play are of typical Greek play/myth stock. I believe Sophocles molded Oedipus and his supporting cast of characters to conform to the ideals of Greek society, or more specifically, Athenian ideals. Oedipus always generally plans things ahead of time, like send Creon to the Oracle before the priests asks him to do something, which is one trait Athenians valued. Oedipus is presented as the protagonist. Sophocles presents him in a favorable light by displaying Oedipus's gentlemanly characteristics through his dialogue with the priests of Thebes. Creon is portrayed in a bad light because of Oedipus's dialogue with Tiresias and his argument with Oedipus later. Tiresias is cast as a boy who cried wolf, as Oedipus doesn't believe the incredible story that he killed Laius. Jocasta is portrayed as the loyal wife and queen of Thebes. Sophocles does this by having her settle differences between Oedipus and Creon. She also shown to be very supportive and loving of Oedipus.