Oedipus Journal Four

Point of View/Characters: From whose point of view is the story told? Does this change? How reliable is that narritive voice? How well does the reader get to lnow the characters? How crebile are the? How are they presented? How does the author persuade us to like/sympathize with some of the characters and dislike others?

Sophocles writes his work, Oedipus the King in an omnicient point of view. The actions of all characters can be seen, as if from an outside party, but no characters thoughts and emotions are displayed. This point of view is kept up throughout the whole play. The narrative voice, the chorus, keeps a steady flow of information coming through the whole poem, inserting information where information is needed. The chorus fills in where the dialogue leaves want for more knowledge.

The reader gets to know the characters by watching them act and go on with their daily lives, especially in times of struggle. Watching the characters in times of struggle brings out their true personality, and makes this method of meeting the characters very reliable.

Different characters are introduced in different ways in order to indear or estrange them from the reader. Creon, in my opinion, was presented in a way that made him endearing. He seemed honest and just at our first meeting with him in the play. This sense about him is reaffirmed during the second time we see Creon in the play, when Oedipus is accusing him of attempting to overthrow him. Despite the false, crazy accusations, Creon keeps a level head and tries to work the dispute out with words and reason.

The character of Oedipus is not as clear as to whether he is endearing or repulsive. At the beginning of the story, Oedipus comes across as a fair leader, trying to protect his city from a horrible plague. However, shortly thereafter, this perception is proved wrong when he accuses Creon of attempting to overthrow him without any evidence but his own paranoia. He takes this so far, in fact, the he banishes Creon from the castle. It appears to the reader as though Oedipus' large ego clouds his judgement from time to time, like when the man who sees with the eyes of Apollo came to tell him what he needed to know. Oedipus did not listen to the man because he was not telling him what he wanted to hear. The depiction of the struggles Oedipus has faced throughout his life in the book are meant to endear the reader to him further and to help them have some sympathy for the way he is. The hardships he has suffered have had a large impact on him and this might be why he is the way he is.

This method of introducing the characters and who they are to the readers is very effective because it lets the reader know just what he or she is getting from this story and it's characters.