Essay Example on Oedipus the King in Aristotle's Views

Oedipus the King in Aristotle's Views Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist He created a list of elements of tragedy and these elements are used in performances to bring the emotion of tragedy to life Aristotle believed that tragedy is a dramatic way of expressing a serious issue that should be easy to read and cause emotion Aristotle 2 Through Aristotle s elements Sophocles was able to create an amazing rendition of Aristotle s ideas producing Oedipus the King Sophocle s Oedipus the king is the perfect story to represent Aristotle s elements of tragedy from it s emotional to spiritual presence Aristotle s elements are a guideline to write tragedies from the emotional to the mood of the performance One of the most important elements embedded in Oedipus the King is a plot Aristotle portrayed the plot of tragedies as using human emotion to create dramatic acts and grow the quality of the plot Aristotle 2 Oedipus the King s plot is a classic who done it mystery trying to find the killer of king Laius As Oedipus is trying to find the killer of Laius Tiresias accuses Oedipus of killing the king through the entire play the audience finds out that Oedipus is the son of the king and Oedipus s wife As the play continues the audience is informed that Oedipus is the killer of his father and he waits to see if Oedipus is banished forever Oedipus the King With Aristotle s elements Sophocles created a series of plot twists of incest and tragedy 

Characters are one of the key elements in Aristotle s list from the emotions the characters show to their actions can have an effect on how well the show is written and performed Picking the right person to portray a character is one of the important parts of producing a well put together performance In Oedipus the King Oedipus is a driven revengeful man that sets out to find the killer of the king and avenge his death and this emotion brings a style to the performance Sophocles 1573 Every emotion being portrayed in a performance gives the show a specific mood Playwrights use Aristotle's elements to check the emotion from how the character talks and acts Characters thoughts at a specific moment can have an effect on the actions of the character or the mood of the scene Aristotle 2 Aristotle believed that thoughts are what should be said in a specific time to help the performance set the mood for the rest of the show Aristotle 2 Thoughts deal with what is being said but on the other hand one of Aristotle's elements diction deals with how the lines are being said to affect the overall moral of the performance Aristotle 2 When Oedipus is arguing with Tiresias the combination of words creates a sense of tension that captures the reader into explaining that the men are mad at each other Sophocles 1572 Additionally when Oedipus discovers he is the killer of his father the king he is devastated and the emotion from the words brings to life the pain and sorrow of Oedipus Sophocles 1588 Characters thoughts and dictions in Sophicle s Oedipus the King bring the moral and mood of the scenes to life Aristotle assumed that tragedy desired melody and spectacle the accessories needed to blend the performance Aristotle

 2 Melody is the use of music to blend the emotion and mood of a scene or performance The chorus in Sophicle s Oedipus the King was used as different opinions and guidance in hard times The chorus gave opinions of Oedipus s heroism to save the town from the plague by searching for the murderer of the king Sophocles 1568 Melodies bring music and emotion to the performance an outstanding performance as well has spectacles or visual impact in the presentation The staging of Sophicle s Oedipus the King was set in a sorrowful town of a murdered king and the beginning of the plague Oedipus the King The staging of these scenes produces the mood and the visual impact of the performance Melody and spectacles bring out the musical and visual impacts of the performance and create the mood throughout the presentation Additionally Sophocles uses Aristotle s element of tragedy to produce a perfect representation of the elements with Oedipus the King Aristotle proclaims that in a tragedy a wild plot can introduce the emotion to the performance Aristotle 2 The characters draw the audience to comprehend and feel the emotion throughout the show Aristotle 2 The ideas and thoughts of the characters bring the pain and aspect of tragedy to life on the other hand the diction or how the character says lines impacts the emotion being received to the audience during a performance Aristotle 2 Many play writers use melody and spectacles in a performance to establish musical and visual impacts throughout the play Play writers today still use Aristotle's elements to convey the necessary illusions of tragedy to draw attention to the audience