Oedipus the King: Journal #1

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

This drama seems to be written from Oedipus' point of view. So far he has been in the scene for the whole thing except for the end when Tiresias is speaking. This is the only time that it seems to change. The reader gets to know a few of the characters pretty well, but not all of them yet.

1. Oedipus is the king of Thebes. He is seen as a hero and many people look up to him in great reverence. They see him as almost a god but not quite as good "You cannot equal the gods, your children know that, bending at your alter. but we do rate you first in men" (39-41). They look to him for help therefore he must be fairly impactful and liked throughout his country. He is smart, "Ah, but aren't you the best man alive at solving riddles?" (501). He is also brave "Now you have me to fight for you, you'll see: I am the land's avenger by all rights" (153-154).

Oedipus' character is presented through how he talks to the other characters. He speaks of himself and his accomplishments a few times. His character is also presented through other characters talking about him or to him.

2. Creon is his wife's brother. He is sent to talk to gods for the good of the country. Creon does not show up much in this scene so the reader cannot tell much about his character.

3. Tiresias is a blind man that is said to have the eyes of Apollo "Lord Tiresias sees with the eyes of Lord Apollo" (323). This is good because Apollo is a god that gives out wisdom and helps the people. Therefore Tiresias must have great knowledge and truth. He is also brave, the reader can see this in the way he stands up to Oedipus: "You won't talk? Nothing moves you?" (382). In this line Oedipus is scolding him for not doing as he ordered. Also: "I will never shrink from the anger in you eyes - you can't destroy me" (509-510). One can see that he is brave through this passage because he is willing to stand up to anything, even the anger of a king that has a lot of power.

There were a couple characters introduced but the reader cannot tell much about the way they are.

The writer persuades the reader to sympathize with Tiresias in the way we as the reader has more information than the characters do. This happens when Oedipus leaves and he is still talking about what he knows. The reader feels sympathy for Tiresias through the way that Oedipus gets very angry with him and as a reader we know that he does not deserve any of it.