Preview

The Story of Oedipus: Book vs. Movie

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
348 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Story of Oedipus: Book vs. Movie
Oğuzhan Aydın
OEDIPUS
The adaption of the tragedy Oedipus The King to cinema is a big leap in the history of film making. However, there are certain aspects of the movie that could have been beter adapted. The main reason why these points have been missed may be due to the fact that Pier Paolo Pasolini meant to make a movie that carried a myth of the past to today and even tomorrow by starting the movie in Italy and carrying it to the past. What really bothered me while watching the movie was that Oedipus is too young compared to what we see in the tragedy and even more disturbing, he does not act like a king that he is presented to be in the tragedy. I am not criticizing the way how he acts before becoming a king because in my opinion that part of the tragedy is well adapted to the movie but the way how he behaves afterwards is not a good adoption of the text. The reason why I make this claim is because the king sounds more caring in the text. This change is not well demonstrated in the movie. Moreover, the costume that the king wears should not be presented that way. In my opinion Oedipus should have had a more glorifying costume than Creon but that was not the case. Another aspect of the tragedy that was not in the movie was the real reason why Oedipus was named after which is the club foot. It was missing in the movie. According to the tragedy Oedipus should have been nailed at his foot at birth and that is why he is given the name Oedipus which means swollen foot. Apart from these, I believe that the story was told in a way that it could not be told any better. Some may say that the story does not match the tragedy due to the lack of following the same storyline but in my opinion that is why it is a movie and not a demonstration of the tragedy

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities, defines a tragic hero. A young man known by the name Oedipus, died a tragic hero. Throughout his life, he was faced with situations that he just could not surpass which led to his gruesome destiny. He was born into a world where the future held nothing but lies and despair.…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Knox, Bernard M.W. "The Oedipus Legend" Readings On Sophocles 56.2 (Sep. 2008): 85-88. Gale. Niceville High School Lib., Niceville, FL. 14 Sept. 2008 <http://find.galenet.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>. In Bernard’s critical essay, he examines the multiple elements that make up the Oedipus legend (such as novelty, myths, and plot) throughout the whole story and provides a summary of the story as well. Novelty was the major attraction of audiences for Greek tragedies. This is why the story of Oedipus is so strange and rather unusual to attract a larger crowd. According to Knox, another element of Oedipus was that of the myths. Uses of gods such as Apollo were intertwined with Greek tragedies in order to influence the audience to recognize that their will isn’t the most powerful thing in existence. When the story first begins, the background is not instantly given. In fact, the majority of the background story isn’t given until later in the middle. Irony, a major theme in Oedipus, is witnessed in multiple segments of the story. One of those examples is when the blind sight seer has more sight than the fully capable eyes of Oedipus. The dramatic irony comes into play when the audience knows what the truth behind Oedipus’ story is, while the characters are still uninformed. The ignorance of Oedipus’ parentage is what causes the dramatic outbreak. (197)…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the study of Greek plays, one tries to recreate for an experience, to recapture something of what is meant to those for whom it was written. We know more about the life of Sophocles than we know do about the lives of any other Greek playwright, but this still is not a lot. Sophocles’ work has been said to be the pinnacle of Greek tragedy. Oedipus the King is something like the literary Mona Lisa of ancient Greece. It presents a nightmare vision of a world turned upside down; a decent man, Oedipus, becomes the king of Thebes, whilst in the process unknowingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. As scholars, we are bound to relate this story through history, to ask what the writer really meant, how…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The entire story of Oedipus is built around a central ironic theme. The king's world is one full of ironies, most of which are cruel. His life begins in exile, because his father fears a prophecy, one in which his son would kill him and marry his wife. It is this…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Oedipus the King” is a drama that portrays misfortune that dwells among mankind. The tragic sequence of events first starts with the birth of Oedipus. His biological parents are stricken with grief when they discover a secret that causes them to banish their son from the city of Thebes. Little did they know that, despite their actions, fate would still play out which would, in turn, cause the society of Thebes to be stricken by the plague. Although many people suffered from the unfortunate destiny of Oedipus, perhaps the person that suffered the most was Oedipus himself. Oedipus endured an unforgiving reality check after being blindsided by the current state of his life.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Living a life as a sovereign ruler is not always the peaceful, golden roads of glory one would think. In the tragic play of “Oedipus the King”, Oedipus completes a dreadful and long journey in which his respected and well-known position in the Greek city of Thebes crumbles because of his tragic flaw of ambition and hubris. The claws of the past are at the throat of the king and the audience begins to feel pity for Oedipus when his renowned name tragically falls down from grace.…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The thing that struck me about Oedipus was the changing emotions throughout the story. At the beginning of the story the overwhelming emotion is desolation and panic as the kingdom seems to be dyeing this turns to hope when they are provided with what seems to be a cure. They must find Laius's murderer to restore favor in the gods eyes. What follows is a sense of urgency as they try to right the wrong before all is lost. This pressure leads Oedipus to make some rash accusations against Tiresias and Creon which results in an angry dispute. However, after Jocasta calms the argument, the feeling of urgency is renewed as the wait for the shepard who holds the answer to not only who the murderer is but also who Oedipus' parents were. Once everything…

    • 186 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A tragic hero is defined as “a [great] man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake” (“Aristotle”, n.d.). Therefore, a tragic hero has some sort of tragedy that surrounds their life. A tragic hero also makes dramas more interesting and makes readers think. Dramas sometimes either exemplify or refute Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. Oedipus by Sophocles exemplifies Aristotle’s definition in four different aspects. The first aspect involves both Oedipus’ ignorance and knowledge of his life situations, the second involves his hamartia, the third involves the actual plot itself, and the fourth involves the characterization of…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I saw Oedipus with likeable motives, but his choices purged my emotions for Oedipus. He craves knowledge until he is so disgusted that he sees Jocasta’s suicide and gouges out his own eyes. In the beginning, Oedipus was full of potential but destined to commit evil. The play spirals downwards as Oedipus learns more of his history. Oedipus the King is a moving tragedy. The play follows all concepts written in The Poetics concerning tragedy. The audience is brought to a holistic catharsis, a spiritual revelation, that will help he/she be honorable, more useful and responsible citizens. Like the sudden flip of the face-down card, the audience abruptly disregard their hope for Oedipus realizing his doomed…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the tragic hero and the reader gets to witness all of the disastrous events coming down on him. He is then revealed to be more tragic than anyone imagined and to be pitied instead of worshipped. Oedipus’ tale is a prime example of a…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the children address Oedipus with remarks such as “You are not one of the immortal gods, we know; Yet we have come to you to make our prayer as to the man surest in mortal ways and wisest in the ways of God.” (1. Prologue. 35. 43.), the audience can understand Oedipus's role as king and the respect to his power, as with an irony on the fate bestowed upon our hero. As the fate of Oedipus is that of the tragic hero, Aristotle's descriptions of simple and complex plots within a tragedy lead to such “events that are fearful and pathetic" (Aristotle. 70). As Aristotle said that a tragedy should evoke two emotions: terror and pity, such that the audience is aroused with these feelings with the fate of Oedipus, but can relate and understand logically how such events took place.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play Oedipus the King, translated by Robert Fagles, is a story of drama and tragedy. Oedipus’ pride and morals cause him to take fate into his own hands and it ends up blowing up in his face. He was abandoned as a baby and was raised by the king and queen of Corinth. When he reached manhood, he was informed by an oracle that he would one day kill his father and marry his mother. He left Corinth forever and along his way he came to cart carrying his real father. Out of rage, he killed everyone including his father. In Thebes, he defeated the Sphinx. His reward was kingship and the dead king’s wife, his mother. Oedipus tried to change his future but eventually fate caught up with him.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus is the main character in the play Oedipus the King. Oedipus is thought of as a tragic figure because he was doomed from birth. Tiresias, an old blind prophet, told Oedipus' parents about Oedipus' fate. He told them that Oedipus would kill his father and sleep with his mother. So, his parents decided to have him killed, only it did not happen that way. He was passed off by two shepherds and finally to the King and Queen of Corinth, Polybus and Merope to raise him as their own. Oedipus finds his way back to Thebes and on the way kills his father, but Oedipus did not know that one of the men he killed was his real father. This is the beginning of the prophecy coming true. In short Oedipus obtains the throne, Marries his mother and has kids with her. Oedipus' fate has come together without him even realizing what is going on. Eventually he is told what has happened and asks to be banished by his uncle/brother-in-law Creon. The tragedy in Oedipus' life began with his birth and the realization by his parents that his whole life was doomed.…

    • 620 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The main concentration of Oedipus was preventing his downfall in the story, but due to his inner blindness and the rest of his character flaws he was unsuccessful in this journey, which is the reason that Oedipus was a static character throughout the whole story. He has various flaws, which always started multiple conflicts in the story, all of which gradually directed him to his downfall in the plot of the play. All of the shortcomings of Oedipus are the reason for his quick, horrific downfall from his kingliness into poor, ever-wandering blind man he has become by the conclusion of the story.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If one thing is for certain throughout the play Oedipus The King, it is that Oedipus has many good qualities to go along with his few flaws. These good traits, such as his generosity, selflessness, quest for truth, and kind nature prove that Oedipus is very noble, which means that he possesses high ideals or excellent moral character. This nobility is a major reason as to why Oedipus’ downfall is majestic, or large and impressive in extent or conception. Oedipus goes from being a “child of luck”-as he refers to himself in one translation of the play-and King of Thebes, to being blind and exiled from his land by the end of the play.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays