Engl 2330
Krantz, Fall 2002
Drama Response

Length: 2 pp (500 words)

Due Date: Start of class 9/27

Choose one of the following topics for your essay. Be sure to form a well-thought out thesis, narrower in focus than the topic given. Keep in mind that good essays always seek to solve some problem or answer some question about the text. Note: you must devise a thesis by limiting the topic.

1. Aristotle notes that the tragic hero is a man who is "eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about, not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty [a 'tragic flaw' within the person]." Oedipus' killing Laïos and his stubbornness in seeking his father's murderer indicate a tragic flaw. But his actions in fleeing Corinth to avoid killing his father and in pursuing truth to rid Thebes of the plague show he is good and just. Moreover that the tragedy is foretold and occurs despite all anyone can do to avert it suggests that fate or the gods have determined Oedipus' future. Write an essay in which you demonstrate that Oedipus' fall is exclusively because of his "tragic flaw" (Aristotle) or that it is caused by unavoidable "fate"? If you wish to take a middle stance, that both fate and free will determine the outcome of the play, you may do so.
2. Harry Levin says: "sometimes a key word, which invites careful scrutiny, illuminates the basic idea of a play." In a well organized essay, trace the words related to sight in Oedipus Rex and show how Sophocles' use of a word carries the theme of his drama.
3. Sophocles was concerned with civic responsibility, a virtue as needed today as it was in his time. In terms of such responsibility, or using another virtue that the play exemplifies, show how its message is relevant today. You may argue in terms of the larger society or even in terms of your own life.
4. Choose a suggestion from the web link to Oedipus the King at http://wps.ablongman.com/long_gwynn_pocketanth_1/0,1818,44667-,00.html

Reminder of paper Format: Papers must be wordprocessed. You may submit a clean photocopy if you wish but a draft must always accompany an essay. Please keep an extra copy or disk copy of each paper that you submit. Use 1-inch margins, double space, and indent, do not leave an extra space between paragraphs. Put my name, the class, and the date at the top of the first page. Put your name on the reverse side of the last page. Please staple the pages of the final copy together and attach these to the draft with a paper clip. For questions about how to use quotations and other mechanics, please see the examples on pp. 33-36 of your text.