Myth turns into drama

K S SIVAKUMARAN

Students of western literature, particularly those studying Western Classical Culture would be familiar with the name of Sophocles, one of the great dramatists of all time. Perhaps the most famous of this Greek’s plays is Oedipus, the King. This tragedy was based on a myth in ancient Greek Literature. Critics consider that this play is comparable with Shakespeare’s King Lear and the Book of Job. Human suffering and Divine Providence seem to be the crux of the theme in Oedipus Rex or King.

Its story is about man’s struggle against Fate determined by the Gods. The Fate is due to a human folly – incest. We learn that the great Greek philosopher Aristotle proclaimed his famous Theory of Tragedy basing it on this particular play. Since the 4th century BC, western drama critics consider this theory seriously. And it is interesting to note that the famous psycho-analyst, Sigmund Freud put forward the concept or diagnosis known as the ‘Oedipus Complex’.

The plot of the play can be summed up as simple as this: Oedipus not knowing his parents kills his own father and marries his mother, all unknowing. But the impact it created was great as it involves Gods and Men.

To us readers Oedipus is blameless for the incest, having sex within one’s own family. But he is guilty of ‘Hubris’ - arrogant pride in the face of the Gods. The prophesy was that the king will kill his father and marry his mother.

To understand and enjoy the play we must place it against the prevailing Greek Civilization of yonder. The kind of life the ancient Greeks had. We must understand the world view of the tragedians. When the play was written between 426 and 429 BC, the Greeks were rooted in primitive customs and beliefs. The feeling, thought and social organization were yet to develop despite the marvellous achievement of the Classical Greek Civilization. Private and public life were governed by traditional sanctions and certainties. This was true even during this period in Thamilian Society in southern India.

Brian Stone and Pat Scorer in a talk over the BBC explained this in an authentic manner. They said: “Under the Rule of the Gods, which people somehow expected to be just but found arbitrary, there were common assumptions about the bonds and duties of kingship relations between husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, and about the social order - the relation between man and master and man and the Gods. In the drama, individual passions, generally more intense than those met in modern plays, fought for expression within these high principles but inflexible scheme of things.”

In analysing the play, we in the 21st century, could find Greek Justice found Oedipus and his mother Jocasta guilty and not simply betrayed by the Gods. But we must not forget the period in which the play was written. The impact of Oedipus Rex depends on faithful representation of its central idea.

We could sympathize with the fate of King Oedipus, because even with the arrogance that led him to crime and self banishment in guilt and self loathing, he showed himself capable of statesmanship and ennobling love.

“A Tragedy by means of pity and fear brings about the purgation of emotions” said Aristotle. Accordingly we certainly feel pity and Oedipus retires into the palace weighed down with pain, and with guilt and horror at his life of incest. The dramatic treatment of the play by Sophocles is admirable.

Students should not depend only on what the teacher explains of the text. They must do their own research and read widely on all related subjects. Surfing the Internet only does not suffice. Students learning literature in higher forms should acquaint themselves first with the specific meanings of the literary terms used. There are a few dictionaries of literary terms available in the market. This is essential, because the terms used in literary criticism are a little different from those used in literature and literary studies. Much information could also be obtained from websites like www.litencyc.com.

Even if you are not learning Greek and Roman Classics, it would be advisable even to have at least some knowledge of Western Classical Culture because allusions from these are also frequently drawn into literatures in English.

To understand Drama, we must read plays by great dramatists even after Shakespeare. Poetic or verse drama gives us additional pleasure of enjoying theatre in our minds and enjoying the pleasures of poetry reading bedsides other pleasures of literature.