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These plots he considered complex and superior to simple plots without anagnorisis or peripeteia, such as when Medea resolves to kill her children, knows they are her children, and does so. Aristotle identified Oedipus Rex as the principal work demonstrating peripety. (See Aristotle's Poetics.)
King Oedipus, in his effort to find the cause of plague due to a patricide, revealed that he was told in his teen years that he was destined to murder his father, and sent a spy to Corinth to see who was currently on the throne. The news of Polybus' death by natural causes was announced by the messenger to Jocasta in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex ...
Anagnorisis (/ ˌ æ n ə ɡ ˈ n ɒr ɪ s ɪ s /; Ancient Greek: ἀναγνώρισις) is a moment in a play or other work when a character makes a critical discovery. Anagnorisis originally meant recognition in its Greek context, not only of a person but also of what that person stood for.
Through this technique, previously unforeseen character information is revealed. A notable example of anagnorisis occurs in Oedipus Rex: Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother in ignorance, learning the truth only toward the climax of the play. [7]
Oedipus Rex is widely regarded as one of the greatest plays, stories, and tragedies ever written. [21] [22] In 2015, when The Guardian ' s theatre critic Michael Billington, selected what he thinks are the 101 greatest plays ever written, Oedipus Rex was placed second, just after The Persians. [23]
Oedipus the King, the most famous of the three, was written around 429 BC at the midpoint of Sophocles's career. [Notes 1] Oedipus at Colonus, the second of the three plays chronologically, was actually Sophocles's last play and was performed in 401 BC, after Sophocles's death. [36] There are nineteen surviving plays attributed to Euripides.
Oedipus gradually established an image of superior intelligence. The Oedipodea may be a reference for the Oedipus Rex. The evolution of the image of Oedipus and Sphinx also reflects the face of Greek society at that time. To say, in the era of tragedy, civil society may put forward higher demands on the knowledge of the king rather than the force.
Phorbas, a shepherd of King Laius, who found the infant Oedipus on the hillside and ensured his survival to fulfill his destiny. [4] A number of sculptures, ranging from the 14th to the 19th century, memorialize Phorbas' rescue of Oedipus. He might be the same as Phorbas, attendant of Antigone. [5] Phorbas, listed as a king or archon of Athens [6]