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Oedipus The King Rhetorical Analysis

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While the play begins with Oedipus holding an assembly to discuss the plague which torments his people, his story begins many years prior. His tumultuous life is full of questions and ambiguity which no doubt shape him into the person he is when we are introduced to him. When he is a young man a sprout of doubt creeps into his mind, like a weed, pesky, bothersome, and impossible to kill. “One day at table, a fellow who had been drinking deeply Made bold to say I was not my father’s son.” (47 line 781-782) It was after this interaction that Oedipus began to feel distrust towards everything he thought he knew, he felt unsettled and uprooted and quite shocked. Until this point he felt relatively stable with who he was and where he …show more content…
They pose as a way to communicate to the audience what the other characters do not say explicitly and allow the audience to gain some insight into what the characters are unaware of, opening the door for the presence of dramatic irony within the play. Seemingly existing simultaneously in Oedipus’ world as well as that of the audience, the Chorus often breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to the audience. In times of confusion the characters are able to inquire upon the Chorus for a dose of the truth or advice. When Jocasta sees Creon and Oedipus arguing, for instance, the Chorus advises “Persuade, madam, persuade. The King to go awhile apart” (44 lines 678-679) They tell the truth with a cadence and rhythm that seems to add to their already prevalent wisdom. And their wisdom is not only directed at the characters, their most important advice is often directed at the audience, which can be seen in their last line “Then learn that mortal man must always look to his ending, And none can be happy until that day when he carries His happiness down to the grave in peace.” (68 lines 1527-1530). Their insight seems godly, in a way, as if they are more of an omniscient, all knowing group, rather than normal townspeople. While, old age may play a part in their wisdom, as they have had more life experience than others, they still seem to know a little too much for age to …show more content…
When Oedipus was young his life was nice, he had a loving family and he was in a high position in his city state, but as he came to realize his parents might not be his real parents, and he discovered the prophecy about him, he became paranoid and scared and fled the city, becoming a murderer along the way. As he cultivated his new life it seemed as if life might be improving until again he came to understand that he had killed his father and married his mother, driving him into a pit of shame. When he was young and dumb he was relatively carefree but as he gained knowledge, it “hurt me; but for the time I suffered in silence As well as I could.” (47 lines 783-784) and the more knowledge he gained the more it hurt him, eventually driving him to obtain physical pain as well as emotional pain, when he stabbed his eyes out. Similarly, Jocasta, though her first husband had died, seemed to be fairly content at the start of the play; she had a strong, young husband and had managed to thwart a prophecy given to her late husband many years prior. However, again, as the play progressed, she realized that not only had her husband killed her late husband, but he was her son, and she had actually failed to thwart the gods, leading her to become overwhelmed with emotion and guilt, hanging herself, to rid the shame from her mind. Even when the possession of knowledge seemed to be good, like in Theresias’

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