Fluent Essays

Directions: Write a 3-4pg. essay on the following topic. Be persuasive in outlining your criticism/interpretation. One must incorporate 1-2 sources from scholarly journals. Must adhere to MLA guidelines.  Write an essay on Sophocles Oedipus Rex. Is Oedipus to blame? Using events from the play what can we say about free-will and responsibility? Lastly, how much does fate play a role in what transpires in the play? Be thorough in your responseFate, Chance, and Tragic Error Author(s): Roger A. Pack Source: The American Journal of Philology , 1939, Vol. 60, No. 3 (1939), pp. 350-356 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/291299 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected] Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The American Journal of Philology This content downloaded from �������������71.206.65.166 on Wed, 24 Mar 2021 00:46:16 UTC������������� All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms https://www.jstor.org/stable/291299 FATE, CHANCE, AND TRAGIC ERROR. In an earlier paper 1 I discussed the value of the commentator Alexanders treatise On Destiny for the Aristotelian theory of tragic error. I now wish to propose a means by which this and kindred ideas may be so further correlated as to suggest an answer to a question which was only touched upon before, namely: Is there such a thing as a tragedy of fate ? Let us begin by representing schematically the classification of harmful acts given in Aristotle, Rhetoric, I, 1374 B: rdue to AoX0np1a a wrong (MdKIKfla) lpredictable (i. e., not 7rap6Xoyov) an error (&aAdpT?7/a a) r not due to ,.oxOn7pIC a mischance ( dzr6xrna) L unpredictable By making certain valid substitutions we can illustrate the aapprta of Oedipus, and we can also add a classification of pur- posive acts, based upon Alexanders De Pato: 2 Purposive acts Harmful acts A. due to ante- cedent causes a. according to destiny rndeliberate patricide and incest (G) b. according -wrong wdeliberate homicide and marriage (R) to free will r error B. not due to *mischane [accidental patricide and incest (I) accidental homicide and marriage3 (NR) antecedent causes, but according to chance For the criteria involved I think it would be fair to adopt the words guilt (G) and innocence (I), and responsibility (R) and its opposite (NR), as indicated in the scheme, because the result so obtained squares exactly, as I shall show, not only with the ISee A.J.P., LVIII (1937), pp. 418-436. 2 For the complete outline, see A. J. P., LVIII, pp. 418-19. 3I realize that accidental marriage sounds somewhat anomalous, but it has at least a certain theoretical value. Responsibility means, of course, responsibility for patricide and incest, incurred through homicide and marriage. 350 This content downloaded from �������������71.206.65.166 on Wed, 24 Mar 2021 00:46:Oedipus Pharmakos? Alleged Scapegoating in Sophocles Oedipus the King Author(s): R. Drew Griffith Source: Phoenix , Summer, 1993, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Summer, 1993), pp. 95-114 Published by: Classical Association of Canada Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1088579 REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1088579?seq=1&cid=pdf- reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected] Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Classical Association of Canada is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Phoenix This content downloaded from �������������71.206.65.166 on Wed, 24 Mar 2021 01:21:55 UTC������������� All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms https://www.jstor.org/stable/1088579 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1088579?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents https://www.jstor.org/stable/1088579?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents OEDIPUS PHARMAKOS? ALLEGED SCAPEGOATING IN SOPHOCLES OEDIPUS THE KING R. DREW GRIFFITH IN HIS RECENT BOOK, Sophocles Oedipus: Evidence and Self-Conviction, Frederick Ahl argues that the text of Oedipus the King offers no proof for the conclusion, drawn by the protagonist himself, that he has killed his father and slept with his mother. Oedipus self-conviction, he argues, owes more to the clash of self-interested, half-true statements and false assumptions of Sophocles characters, that is to their rhetoric,2 than to any logic in the plays quasi-legal inquiry. The implicatiof of this argument is that the question posed by traditional interpreters of whether the play is a tragedy of fate or of free-will is wrong-headed and irrelevant. The present work critiques the argument of Ahl and of those who have anticipated his reading. It advocates the traditional idea that Oedipus did in fact do what he convicts himself of, suggesting that many of the plays inconsistencies upon which Ahl bases his argument are evidence not of the innocence of Oedipus but of the controlling power of Apollo. Ahl argues that in this play, no conclusive evidence is presented that Oedipus killed his father and married his mother.3 By this he does not sim- ply mean that Oedipus killed Laius under such extenuating circumstances as that he did not know his identity, he was provoked to kill against his will, he was fated by the gods to do so, and as a result he must be accounted innocent. This, I take it, isReferences Pack, Roger A. “Fate, Chance, and Tragic Error.” The American Journal of Philology, vol. 60, no. 3, 1939, pp. 350–356. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/291299. Accessed 24 Mar. 2021. Griffith, R. Drew. “Oedipus Pharmakos? Alleged Scapegoating in Sophocles ‘Oedipus the King.’” Phoenix, vol. 47, no. 2, 1993, pp. 95–114. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1088579. Accessed 24 Mar. 2021.