Transcendence in the Plays Oedipus the King by Sophocles, and the Book of Job Makes the Plays More Tragic, Essay Example

Tragedy is an honorific illustration of human circumstances and according to Oscar Mandel, “A protagonist who commands our earnest good will is impelled in a given world by a purpose…necessarily and inevitably meets with great spiritual or physical suffering.”(etd.ohiolink.edu) Thus tragedy is multi folded apathy that is inflicted on the characters by forces of destiny or transcendence. It is a behavioral infliction without any concrete abstinence or reason; and much beyond human control or domination.

The story of King Oedipus (called Oedipus Tyrannus in Greek), one of the greatest mythological plays in Greek history. It was written by the playwright Sophocles and he won the second prize in Athens’ annual drama festival, the ‘City Dionysia’, in about 427 BC. The epic is set in the Greek city of Thebes, and portrays the life and experience of the king Oedipus. The play was close to the Greek hearts as it contained all the characteristics: like the epic story of murder, famous riddles, prophecy, incest, tragedy and transcendence. It was also a form of entertainment that tickled the Greek moral and religious values. In the fifth century B.C, the Greek considered theatre as a sacramental place; it was a sanctorum where the actors and the audience worship the almighty and his benevolence. Thus the drama were adorned with Godly presence and involvement; and made it easier for them to acknowledge the favor of Gods…that which would finally bring blessings to the city. The stage formed the platform, where the actors sang, dance and resonate long dialogues in praise of God…it develop an innate and emotional relationship with the divine power.

Oedipus is an ideal example of a tragedy. It contains a list of exhaustive factors that have added it to make the most melodramatic as well as tragic story of the era. Aristotle defines Oedipus as, “being a definite example of the form and the purpose of tragedy. It bring forth the moral dilemmas, the strong influence of celestial powers, their invocation and their influence which shadows the life of the protagonist.” According the prophet Tiresias, Oedipus will bring about ‘birth’ as well as ‘destruction’. He is born with a tragic impediment and unintentionally the proponent of his own failure and doom. The supernatural strength that had helped him to solve the riddle of sphinx has turned against him and announced his downfall. In the words of the priest; ‘you helped us stand, only to fall once more.” His weakness was his anger which leads him to kill his father though unintentionally. The tragedy aggravates when Gods turn their face on him…when they vacate his side and left to mourn alone as a blind beggar. His wife commits suicide, he becomes blind in shame…and his family life is shattered is shattered. His kingdom also suffers and he has to go to exile for penance.

Sophocles in his narration and dramatization in the plays, essentially carves the relationship with the God of fertility in Oedipus the King. The famine…the drought in Thebes, which plagued the country, the blight that lead to ruined crops and spelt a curse of miscarriage …manifests the close proximity of human beings and vegetative fertility. The potential threats and misery of the people were largely an indication of the wrath of Gods on the leader of the country. The king and his immorality had caused the divine intervention …to sweep his country into ruins and misery. Thus here the immorality of Oedipus and his sin –brought wrath to his countrymen and polluted the land. It was only appropriate punishment and penance of Oedipus, and his removal from the leadership could save Thebes and its people. Thus Sophocles offers the traditional belief of death and rebirth, and culminates in the prodigal culmination of tragedy in Oedipus.

Thus Sophocles highlights the transformation of Oedipus from an outcast to a superhero, from a man who unknowingly bore the grunt of God to a man whose grave would bring prosperity to a nation. Hence the divine touch… the superannuation by the almighty, and the articulate presence of superpowers is established…the lives of the people and the king were thus heavily dependent on God. It was to ascertain that Oedipus transcended into new life, into immortality and become a superhero…salvation and unquestionable faith could bring in the blessings of God. His destiny was to kill his father and sleep with his mother…he led a life of shame, guilt, misery and punishment. In spite of the riches and the noble inheritance, he had to spend his life as a beggar, banished from his country and children. Thus his life was a circumscribed tragedy unfolded and heightened by the non material self consciousness of guilt and shame that is dominated by unknown superficial powers. He was helpless before the overwhelming power of God…he chooses a winner and also a loser according to the deeds of the individual.

A tragedy requires that the protagonist bring ill fate to himself. However, the Book of Job portrays a character, and is a ploy to transcendence of God. His ill fate is governed by the wish of God only to serve better and nobler purposes in his insight. The book is filled with tragic elements but the most important attribution is the intervention of God. The life of Job, a good man, is haunted by tragic incidents. He was a righteous man who was put to test by God; and his spiritual genre, honesty and faithfulness for God were scrutinized and validated. Job was not Jewish, “Job was not a Jewish man, but he was a righteous one. There was a man named Job, living in the land of Uz, who worshiped God and was faithful to Him. He was a good man, careful not to do anything evil.” (Job 1:1) He was also gifted with a rich and affluent life..He believed in the fact that his righteousness and his faithfulness in God had fetched him a complete and happy life. “God is immanent in the movement of events: each is an aspect of him, each reveals him, yet he transcends each and all as such…that is only occasionally a shaping providence, but always an all-generating and all destroying Power. Even his making for righteousness is natural, here. For in the business of living, from day to day, good and evil actions meet their due in the course of events; conduct and destiny are correlated as cause and effect; there is nothing intervening, nothing judicial, personal, and voluntary: the regulation of conduct is continuous, automatic, and natural.” This was the proverb which Job believed until he faced the disasters in his life. God was all in praise of Job, for his unquestionable obedience and allegiance to God. Satan, the accuser, said that Job had to be devoted to God as he is vested with all the happiness and prosperity in life; “Would Job worship you if he got nothing out of it?

You have always protected him and his family and everything he owns. You bless everything he does, and you have given him enough cattle to fill the whole country.” (Job 1: 9,10) God gave Saturn the authority to test Job and put his life under Satan’s influence. As a consequence, the Sabeans attacked and killed the servants, stole the oxen and lion. Lightning had struck and killed his sheep, and a storm blew the house of his eldest son and killed his three daughters. These events happened suddenly on a single day and Job was mad in contempt, “I was born with nothing, and I will die with nothing. The LORD gave and now he has taken away. May his name be praised!” (Job 1: 21) However, now Satan wanted to hurt Job physically so that he finally starts detesting God. Job is affected with boils and sores all over his body and his wife advice him to curse God:  “Why don’t you curse God and die?” (Job 2: 9) The three friends of Job tr to console him, that it was some hideous sin or crime that has brought in the anger of God. The only way of elusion from such turmoil is to accept the sins he committed and ask for forgiveness from God. However, Joe is adamant and says that he has never committed any crimes intentionally or in an conscious state. Since he has no committed any crimes, why would he repent? The pain and the suffering increases; and he moans and quiver…how could such apathy fall upon a righteous man? How could God for no reason whatsoever punish him with such infliction and torment? There were multiple questions in his mind as to the sudden change in God over Job. However, such elusive thoughts seemed to undermine the sovereignty of God. Finally, God came to the rescue of Job, and reprimanded his attitude as decretory and quite unlike the Job, who is an ardent follower of God. He punished the friends of Job for their infidelity; Job was forgiven because he had never for once abused or cursed God for his condition. He was made prosperous…the story an elicit commentary on the virtue of divine power and grace. The transcendence of God, in the live of Job could be the real reason that had made the life of Job so appalling and tragic. So God acts as a mercenary, who inflict voracious pain and suffering in the context of not being righteous or prompting or engaging in wrongful deeds. The story thus reveals that God has one human attribute; his power of justice and Job is an ardent example that shows justice of God in the light of human misery…which is also termed as theodicy. Job is an authentic reflection of the tragedy of an individual who has been for some time abandoned from the grace of God. The spatial separation inflicted such torment and tragedy in his life…it shows a genuine urge to resort and be in close proximity to the almighty, because he gives us pain and he is the person who understand and alleviates the pain and the apathy. It is his own will according to the pattern of ethos that an individual prescribe.

While Oedipus and The Book of Job are historical tragic epics, presented in the dominance of fate, super natural influence and aesthetic perturb…it has a more intensified level of tragic influence, because pain and sorrow is a mere infliction of their destiny or transience…while Shakespeare paints Othello as a man who blames his actions and manoeuvres are the reason for the tragedy in his life.  He was not born with a prophecy or curse, over which he has no control. He was a master of his own fate and a tragic hero for his own actions. It does not make us feel, that we wish Oedipus had not been born with the prophecy then he could have lived a congenial and peaceful life.

References

Trns. S. H. Butcher Aristotle. Poetics. (2008). The Internet Classics Archive

Bloom, Harold.(2002) Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Minds.

Kaufman, (1992) Walter. Tragedy and Philosophy. King James Bible

James Smith,(1993) What the Bible Teaches about the Promised Messiah John L. McKenzie, (1965) Dictionary of the Bible, Simon & Schuster, 1965