Dramatic literature - Essay Example

? Dramatic Literature Paper The two plays “Sophocles: Oedipus the King” and “Shakespeare: A Comedy of Errors” are two of the most celebrated literary works. Both the plays share similar themes and they pursue those themes from completely different aspects. Where Sophocles highlights the work of fate in determining the course of life, Shakespeare highlights the significance of one tragedy in life and its rippling impacts that go on to influence the lives to multiple individuals. The plays exhibit the idea that sins are dealt with sooner or later in an individual’s life. The extent of the sin is reflected by the severity of the resultant fate. Both the plays explore the genre of tragedy in a very plausible manner. Following is a sequential comparison of both the plays. Sophocles: Oedipus the King In Oedipus the Kind, Sophocles emphasizes upon the inevitability of fate. A man cannot escape his fate notwithstanding his struggles. Even if a man sets out on a path to escape his fate, it may later be disclosed that the path was actually leading him to his fate. Same may be the theme in this play. The play represents that the lives of humans depend upon the choices they make in their lifetimes. If the choices are good, they will be rewarded with good fate; and if the choices are evil, they will be given a similar fate. However, in case of Oedipus, his fate was decided at the time of his inception (Frank, 5). He was never given an option to change his path. A prophecy was disclosed at the time of Oedipus’s conception and it was this fate that determined an uneven life for Oedipus with tragic consequences. The way the role of fate has been emphasized in this play is highly plausible. All the successes and failures of Oedipus’s life depended upon his underlying fate. The prophecy disclosed that he was bound to kill his own father and then marry his own mother, and his whole life led him to that one inevitable moment when he fulfills his destiny. Upon hearing the prophecy, his father attempted to get the infant Oedipus killed and he had several narrow escapes from death. His mother was supposed to kill him but due to her motherly love, she was unable to do so. She assigns this task to a servant instead. The servant, instead of killing him by hand, decides to leave the infant at mountain top to die due to exposure to severe weather. After escaping death once already, Oedipus does it again when a shepherd finds him and saves him from the mountain top. This is where the actual tragedy of life decided by his fate starts to unfold. The shepherd takes Oedipus to Corinth where he is taken by King Polybus. Oedipus is raised believing that King Polybus and his wife Merope are his actual parents. He remains unaware of this fact throughout his life. This is one of the ways of fate through which he is led towards his ultimate destiny of killing his own father and marrying his own mother. The way every single event of Oedipus’s life has been depicted in the play emanates his underlying fate. No matter how far he gets from his actual parents, he comes across them in the most unlikely of circumstances and fulfills his destiny without even realizing the truth. He ultimately kills his own father on his way to Thebes and takes over the throne. He marries the King’s widow who was his own mother and he bears several children. He remains satiated until the truth unfolds. He comes across the truth when he is teased by the following riddle:                         Revealed at last, brother and father both                         to the children he embraces, to his mother                         son and husband both- he sowed the loins                         his father sowed, he spilled his father’s blood. (1313). The full force of the underlying tragedy hits when truth is revealed. There is a mix of pain, grief, and loathing. The play touches the boundaries of tragic storytelling by gripping the audience with the smallest of details. Each character is described in detail and the audience is able to engage with the characters. This is what makes this play one of the most engaging plays. The depth of this play can be evidenced from the fact that Sophocles comprehensively described the path Oedipus takes till he ultimately comes across his fate. Every step of his way led him towards the actions and circumstances that had been laid down for him by his fate long before he was born. Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors In comparison with Sophocles “Oedipus the King”, Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors” weighs greatly in the genre of tragedy. The events of the play are confined within a single day, unlike “Oedipus the King” which spans multiple lifetimes. This play also has a humorous feel which is also in contrast with the other play which maintains a serious tone throughout. The similarity of both the plays can be found in one aspect i.e. tragedy. Both the plays approach tragedy from different aspects. Sophocles approaches it with serious tone and his play ends in grief; while on the other hand, Shakespeare’s play unfolds the tragedy with a humorous tone and it does not end in grief, but satisfaction. Both the plays maintain their respective themes in a very plausible manner. In “The Comedy of Errors”, Shakespeare delves deeper into the characters every now and then but mostly the play remains in its actual premise i.e. the day in which the story takes place (Hunt, 32). The tragedy in this play originates when the characters are mistaken for one another. The twins in the play are mistaken for one another by their respective social counterparts and the acts of one character define the course of life for another character. One of the biggest tragedies highlighted in the play is the threat of execution of one character for an act of another character. Although none of the characters indulged in any criminal activity, the misconception resulted in severe consequences. When one character refuses to pay for a gold chain which was actually ordered by his twin he is accused and threatened with execution. His execution becomes inevitable when the society also fails to recognize him and he is trapped amidst the wave of tragedy. However, the underlying theme of the play is comedy therefore anything that changes the tone of the play is eliminated before the audience starts to feel gripped by the tragedy and grief. The play provides a satisfying end when all the confusion that was the source of the tragedy clears up and the twins are ultimately united. The following quote depicts the light tone that is maintained towards the play’s end: "Methinks you are my glass, and not my brother: I see by you I am a sweet-fac'd youth;" (Act 5, scene 1, lines 417-8) Conclusion It can be concluded that both the plays have a similar theme but the way they approach it is completely different. Where Sophocles unfolds the tragedy in his play with a serious tone and gives fate the central determinant of the circumstances; Shakespeare presents the tragedy in a comic manner which keeps the audience away from the seriousness of the circumstances. Works Cited Frank, Bernhard. "Sophocles' Oedipus the King." The Explicator 51.1 (1992): 5-6. Hunt, Maurice. "Slavery, English Servitude, and The Comedy of Errors." English Literary Renaissance 27.1 (1997): 31-56. Shakespeare, William. The comedy of errors. Echo Library, 2006. Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Simon & Schuster, 2005. Read More