Endgame Vs Oedipus

With millions of plays available just at one’s fingertips, modern society has the unique opportunity of being able to read any form of text that could date back thousands of years. Many times, because of the different dialects and time periods, the style of writing can confuse modern audiences and the main message authors wanted their audience to understand may not get across. Oedipus Rex and Endgame are two completely different types of plays that were written more than 2000 years apart. While many people may not see a correlation between the two types of plays, they both have one thing in common- the importance of understanding the time period. Knowing background knowledge about when plays were written can help future audiences comprehend
During the 400’s BC, Athens was considered the center of the Greek world as they had the most power over any other city. Writers such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes produced many literary masterpieces that are still being read today that fall into the categories of drama, tragedy, and comedy (Silberman, 1996). More specifically, with Sophocles, when he wrote Oedipus Rex, he was influenced by the Greek philosophy that surrounded the idea of trying to understand the world around them. Within the tragic play, fate is a theme (just like in many of the other tragedies) that questions the idea of the order of nature. The whole play is filled with ironies such as verbal, tragic, and situational ironies that emphasize the twist of fate around the protagonist (Dems, 2012). Also, looking at the text itself, it is obvious that what was occurring around Sophocles had an impact on his literature. Furthermore, there was a rivalry between Athens and Sparta that lead to the Peloponnesian War in 431. During this time period, a severe plague hit Athens killing not only their leader, Pericles, but also one third of the population in Athens (Hellenic Adventures, 2003). Similarly, the story of Oedipus Rex revolves around the fact that the city of Thebes is hit by a plague which leads Oedipus into researching a way to save his city.
Many times, modern audiences look at it as Oedipus being controlled by the fate that is laid out before him. In actuality, Sophocles wanted to emphasize that the oracle is a self-fulfilling prophecy- the prophecy doesn’t make him do what is predicted but he causes the events to occur to fulfill it. Similarity, according to E.R. Dodds in his article “On the Misunderstandings of Oedipus Rex”, he argues that, “the immediate cause of Oedipus’ ruin is not ‘Fate’ or ‘the gods’- no oracle said that he must discover the truth… it lie in his own weakness; what causes his ruin is his own strength and courage” (Dodds, 1966, p.183). The whole idea about fate is revolved around the time period that it was written. Writers and philosophers sought out to understand how nature worked and the relationship with the people and the gods. This gave the idea that the gods didn’t completely control everyone’s life but they had a say in their own destiny. Additionally, by understanding the complete tragedy in the specific time period, this inspired the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud, to come up with his theory of the Oedipus Complex. This theory explains that when a human is young, they have a strong urge to kill the same gender parent and want to be with the opposite gender parent. In his book, Interpretation of Dreams, he states that, “Oedipus Rex is capable of moving a modern reader or playgoer no less powerfully