2003. According to critic Northrop Frye, "Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning." Select a novel or play in which a tragic figure functions as an instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.
To bring suffering accidentally upon others is a sad thing, but to do it while trying to ease their suffering is a tragic thing. This is what happens to Oedipus in Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex", the more he tries to ease the pain of the people of Thebes, the more he harms them, which makes the work significantly more tragic.
As Oedipus is told by the Oracle of Apollo, he must rid Thebes of the killer of the previous king to lift the current plague that they are living with. After hearing this, Oedipus begins his desperate attempt to help the people by finding the king's killer. This is when Oedipus's hamartia is first revealed. His hamartia is his pride, and here it is demonstrated by his believing that he can fix something that is being done by the gods.
Oedipus continues to live with his pride blocking his way, and thus he makes the people suffer more. This is shown when Oedipus is told that he is the one who killed the king, but Oedipus refuses to believe that any of the men he killed could have been the king. His hamartia continues to affect the Theban people until he finally sees the truth.
Sophocles uses Oedipus's hamartia to make the people of Thebes suffer more, which leads to the work being even more tragic. All Oedipus ever does is try to find the cure to their problems but he only creates more problems. Oedipus had just defeated the Sphinx and therefore stopped unnecessary slaughter, but then by living there he brought about plagues. Sophocles wanted to make the work as tragic as he could, for the more tragic it was, the more the Greeks would pay attention to it. This was something Sophocles wanted because the more people paid attention to it, the more people got his meaning out of it. His meaning throughout the play as a whole was largely not to defy the gods. This was a common theme in dramas of the time and it was something that most of the original audience would pick up on right away. A slightly more in depth meaning the Sophocles wanted people to see was not to have a hamartia. He used Oedipus's pride to show that.
Overall, Sophocles uses Oedipus's hamartia to show us not to defy the gods, and also to not have too much pride, or we will bring suffering on those whom we most desire to keep from suffering.
The first sentence provokes an immediate thoughtful engagement from the reader. The intro was very general, and the intro serves similar ends (thumbs up).
ReplyDeleteI would not have remembered to use specific vocabulary from past years as you have in your second paragraph; the correct use of this word would travel leagues for proving your understanding of the subject in the eyes of an AP examiner. This paragraph is then relevant and well established.
Unfortunately paragraph three has little purpose mixed in other than more support from the novel, which is good, but not complete in that it does not discuss meaning and is not nearly as significant as earlier paragraphs.
The fourth paragraph is very plot intensive, and could use some slimming down. It seemed that this work in particular posed the greatest challenge to you in sifting out the relevant information - there's a lot of it, clearly, but room must be appropriated in the future for meaning discussion integrated within discussion of the text, as opposed to a monologue in the concluding paragraph.
you did a great job answering this prompt and showing hoe oedipus acted as an instrument in the suffering of others. You gave background info as well without summarizing, You clear concise examples furthered your argument as well. The only thing i would suggest again is to make sure you are not using casual language.
ReplyDeleteNice use of our Drama literature! ;) Clear idea, some of the paragraphs are very small though, and don't let you get quite as in-depth with your analysis and come off more like plot summary. I see your intention, but this essay unfortunately seemed very much like a summary for me :(
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