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Discuss King Oedipus as tragic hero. Ans. In tragedy a tragic hero is a character usually the protagonist who has great influence but makes an error in his or her actions for which he or she must suffer the consequences of those astions. Ariststle in Poeties proposes a "sort of man who is not conspicuous for virtye and justice, and whose fall into misery is not due to vice and depravity, but rather to some error, a man who enjoys prosperity and a high reputation" as an ideal tragic hero. He also suggests that a tragic hero must arouse pity and fear of the audiences -"pity for the undeserving sufferer and fear for the man like ourselves. Considering Aristotle's definition, Oedipus in Sophocles' King Oedipus has all the characteristics of an ideal tragic hero. Oedipus is a good natured person and has royal blood in his yeins. He becomes the king of Thebes for his wisdom and intelligent. But he has some flaws in his character which makes him suffer unequal misery. A...

'Fate rules supreme in the tragedy of King Oedipus Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer. Or, Fate and character conspire to bring about tragedy in King Oedipus.-Discuss. Ans. The concept of determinism or fate is a common theme I the workings of Greek literature, especially in tragedies. King Oedipus by Sophocles is an example of such a tragedy in which fat rules supreme and the attempt made to avoid it is the cause of tragic downfall of infamous Oedipus, the hero of the play. Fate plays a significant role in Oedipus' life. Even at his birth it cast spell on him. The Oracle told King Laius and Queen Jocasta, Oedipus's parents, that the child would shed blood of his father and marry his mother. To avoid this ominous decree Laius and Jocasta abandoned the infant to be killed. But fate came in the guise of a shepherd who rescued the child and gave it to Polybus, the heirless king of Corinth. Oedipus grew up manhood in the house of Polybus as his son.Then fate again struc...

Critically examine Sophocles's use of dramatic irony in King Oedipus. Ans. Dramatic irony is a literary device which reveals the contrast between what the audiences know and what the character thinks he knows. Usually the character is ignorant of the meaning of his utterance or of the situation he is in. But the audiences have the advantages of the future consequences of that utterance or situation as they are familiar with the story. Greek tragedians used this rhetorical device as they based their tragedies on the myths and legends which were familiar to the audiences. Sophocles, one of the three great tragedians of ancient Greece, masterly uses this dramatic technique in his grand tragedy King Oedipus. The play is based on the myth of Oedipus, which was well-known to the Greek audiences. Sophocles utilizes this foreknowledg of the speetators to create different situations in which irony plays an important role. Sophocles : Oedipus Rex The Chorus plays as a commentator in all the ...

Ans. King Oedipus by Sophocles is a triumph of Greek tragedy. Its structure is almost perfect and serves as a model for the writer of subsequent generation. Indeed, Aristotle praises its construction as a tragedy in his Poetics. Sophocles uses a complex plot, maintains all the three unities and improves the art of characterisations from the earlier Sophocles : Oedipus Rex The most important point in the structure of the tragedy is its well- made plot which Aristotle considered an ideal one. The plot of King Oedipus is complete in itself. That is, it has a beginning, a middle and The action is unified. There is nothing which does not come naturally. The action of the play is about the tragic fate of its protagonist, Oedipus. Oedipus, the king of Thebes, is a good man. He is honoured by his subjects. His reputation as a wise man goes afar. When the city suffers from a terrible plague, the citizens plead to the king to save them. Oedipus is quick to his act to save his country. He sends f...

Comment on the source of humour in As You Like It. Or, Comment on Shakespeare's comic art with special reference to As You Like It. [NU. 95] Or, Rosalind's healthy humour, examples of Give Touchstone's professional humour, Jaques cynical humour in A You Like It. Or, Bring out comic elements in As You Like It. Ans. As You Like It is one of Shakespeare's amusing comedies. It keeps us laughing most of the time because of the abundance of wit and humour presented by Rosalind, Touchstone and Jaques. Rosalind, the heroine of the play, represented natural and healthy type of humour in this play. We find her laughing over a secret joke with Celia, teasing Orlando and tantalizing Phebe and Silvius. The finest example of Rosalind's healthy sense of humour and wholesome wit are to be found in her encounter with Orlando and in the mock wooing. Disguised as a man Rosalind induces Orlando to make love to her and says; "Come, woo me, woo me; for now I am in a holiday humour...

Describe the role of Chorus in King Oedipus. Ans. Originally the word "chorus" means a place for dancing and singing and it was associated with the festival of Dionysus in ancien Greece. In fact, Greek tragedy originated with choral songs in which actors were included. Therefore, it is an integral part of Greek tragedy. As Aristotle in Poetics postulates, "The chorus too should be regarded as one of the actors, it should be an integral part of the whole and take a share in the action. As an essential part of the Greek tragedy, the chorus played a vital role fulfilling a number of functions. It acted as a commentator by unfolding the past, commenting on the present and foreshadowing the future. Through its songs and dance it also added colour. Again, it sometimes took part in the action like a character. Moreover, as the stage in ancient Greece had no curtain and the plays had no act divisions, the choral songs were also used to represent the passage of time and to mark t...

Bring out the significance of the sub-plots in As You Like It. Or, Comment on the varieties of love introduced by Shakespeare in As You Like It. Ans. As Shakespeare is a romantic dramatist, he is distinguished from those who followed the classical or neo classical principles of writing plays. He violated all the three dramatic unities in this plays, including the unity of action. In most of his dramas, Shakespeare includes one or more sub-plots in addition to the main plot. The main plot of As You Like It describes the ultimate happy fate of Rosalind and Orlando, after passing through some struggles and difficulties. Besides this main plot, there are three sub-plots. Among the sub-plots, there is first, the Silvius-Phebe-Rosalind tangle. Silvius is a shepherd who has madly fallen in love with a shepherdess named Phebe. But Phebe does not respond to his love. On the other hand. she falls in love with Ganymede. When Phebe discovers that Ganymede is actually a woman, Rosalind, she agrees ...

In This post I will discuss about........ Rosalind is a brilliant woman character- Do you agree? Give reason. Or, Show how Shakespeare blends the qualities of head and hearty in Rosalind in As You Like It? Ans. Rosalind in one of the most unforgettable and most lovable heroines in the entire range of Shakespearean drama, of all the characters in As You Like It. She is the most elaborately and vividly drawn. Rosalind, the heroine of the play is sympathetic by nature. When Orlando is going to enter into a wrestling contest against Charles, she thinks that Orlando will be defeated by Charles and she feels sympathy for him and tries to dissuade him from fighting against Charles. Orlando wins the wrestling match, and she falls in love with him and gives him her chain as a token of her love.Being banished by her uncle Duke Frederick, she came to them. forest of Arden disguised as a man by the name of Ganymede. Here she meets Orlando writing verses in praise of her beauty. Beine disguised as...

In This post I will discuss about........ How does Celia act as a foil to Rosalind? Ans. Celia is the cousin of Rosalind, the heroine of the play. The most striking facet of Celia's character is her deep attachment to Rosalind. The indication of this attachment is given to us in the course of the play. When Celia's father Duke Frederick passes the sentence of banishment against Rosalind, she protests against her father's decision and reminds him that she and Rosalind have slept together, risen at the same time, learned together, played together, eaten together, and like Juno's swans, have gone everywhere together. When Duke Frederick repeats his decision to banish Rosalind, Celia says to her father: "Pronounce that sentence then on me, liege. I cannot live out of her company. Like her cousin Rosalind, Celia has a deeply sympathetic nature. The sight of young Orlando about to enter into a wrestling contest ith Charles moves Celia's heart as much as it moves Ros...

In This post I will discuss about........ Comment on the character of Jaques . Ans. The most outstanding traits of the character of Jaques are is melancholy and his cynicism. His role in the play is that of an observer of persons and happenings, and also that of critic, commentator, and censor of people's vices and follies. He does not Play any part in the action of the drama but his absence would certainly diminish the philosophical and moral value of the play.Jaques is by nature a melancholy man. He describes the nature of his melancholy to Celia in the following way: "I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician's, which is fantastical; nor the courtier's, which is proud; nor the soldier's which is ambitious; nor the lawyers, which is politic; nor the lady's which is nice; nor the lover's which is all these." His melancholy is of his own composed of many ingredients extracted from observation and experiences duri...

In this post I will discuss about  Comment on the use and significance of the songs in the play As You Like It. Ans. There are more songs in As YoL Like It than in any other play by Shakespeare. The songs in As You Like It have a definite and tangible dramatic significance. Most of the songs are integral to the action of the play or, to the atmosphere of the play, or to both the action and the atmosphere. The first song sung by Amiens beginning with "Under the greenwood tree" is an invitation to people to come and live in the natural surrounding, where the sweet bird sings tunefully, and there Is no enemy except winter and rough weather. The greenwood tree contributes to the setting of the play. It symbolizes the forest of Arden. This is a song in praise of pastoral or rural life. The second song "Blow, blow thou winter wind," is also sung by Amiens. In this song Amiens recognizes the cruelty of the icy winter winds but points out that human ingratitude and the hyp...

In this post I will discuss about Forest of Arden. Ans. The atmosphere of As You Like It is rural and pastoral. Early in the play we find that the atmosphere of the court and the city is vitiated by jealousies, rivalries and antagonisms. But the atmosphere of the forest of Arden is entirely different. In the forest Duke Senior realizes that the uses of adversity are sweet. He finds the life of the forest to be more acceptable than the life of the court. The atmosphere of the forest of Arden becomes changed with romance. Here in the forest of Arden, Rosalind, being disguised as Ganymede feels no shame even inviting Orlando to woo her. Now Orlando is free to write verses to express the ardour of his passion. The romantic quality of the forest of Arden is heightened by the presence of pastoral characters - Corin, Silvius and Phebe. Corin is an old shepherd; Silvius is a young shepherd. and Phebe is young and pretty shepherdess. Silvius is passionately in love with Phebe but she foes n...

In this post I will discuss about  Shakespeare's use of disguise in As You Like It. Ans. Shakespeare was a master craftsman. He has displayed his great skill in the technique of the use of disguise. In the Elizabethan age, women were not allowed to act on the public stage. The parts of women were played by boys or young men. This absence of actresses had a restricting influence on Shakespeare's art. Shakespeare tried to overcome that obstacle by disguising many of the heroines of his comedies as boys. Shakespeare uses the technique of disguise to reinforce the irony, develop theme enhance subtle comic innuendo op make the plot advance. After Duke Frederick banishes his niece, Rosalind, for the crime of being her father's daughter, Rosalind and Celia decide to exile themselves to the Forest of Arden. However, the question remains as to how they will travel to the forest, considering that, "beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold." In order to conceal herself fro...

In this post I will discuss about romantic elements in As You Like It. Ans. Shakespeare's As You Like It is a finest kind of romantic comedy. A romantic comedy is a play in which romantic elements a mingled with comic elements. It is a marvellous kind of play which appeals to our emotion, imagination, fancy and to our faculty of laughter. The mingling of comic and tragic incidents in As You Like It is romantic. In this play the banishment of Duke Senior and Rosalind. Oliver's plan to set fire to Orlando's lodging are sad happenings. But the play in its total effect is a comedy which provides much brim amusement and mirth to us. As You Like It is a romantic comedy in the sense that it does not follow the assical three unities of time, place and The action of the play occurs over a period of at least ten days instead of 24 hours; the scene of this play shifts from the city to the forest of Arden, from the forest of Arden back to the city, and then again to the forest of Arden...

In this post I will discuss about the role of Touchstone in As You Like It. Ans. Touchstone is a professional jester who enjoys unlimited freedom of speech to make satirical remarks about anybody not crossing the bounds of decency. As he wore motley or parti-colored clothes, Jaques called him a motley-fool. Sometimes Touchstone makes jokes for the fun of it. When Celia, in the forest of Arden, feels tired and says that Rosalind and Touchstone should, "bear with" her, meaning that they should have patience with her, Touchstone remarks that he would not mind bearing with her as long as he does not have to bear her (or to carry her on his back). Here he is playing on the word "bear". "To bear with" somebody means "to have patience with that somebody; while the word "bear" alone means "to carry". Thus, in Touchstone's remark there is a pun upon the word "bear". Touchstone has an anti-romantic attitude towards love and lif...

In This post I will discuss about What is Tragedy. Tragedy is the kind of drama in which the protagonist is an admirable person who meets his doom. Unlike a hero in the comedy he cannot tackle the situation and meets tragic catastrophe. To be a true tragic hero or heroine one needs to have human qualities and weaknėsses. He must be like other people so that we can feel pity for his sufferings. In other words, the tragic protagonist must be human with certain weakness in his character that eventually brings his downfall. And this weakness in the hero's character is called "tragic flaw". Aristotle in his Poetics claims that tragedy is the best of all imitating arts since it represents "men in action". In Poetics he pronounces that "Tragedy, then, is a representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself, and of some amplitude; in language enriched by a।variety of artistic devices appropriate to the several parts of the play; present...

In This post I will discuss about What is Conflict. Conflict problems and hence goes through conflict. Conflict is the most essential element of a drama that makes it life-like. At times the exposition of the drama hints at the background that is in conflict and we learn the reasons for the hero's conflict. But the drama reaches its climax when this conflict becomes extermal and thus comes out in to the open. In other words whatever problems, the conflicting ideas the hero faced come into open towards the end of the drama and this is called "denouement" or "resolution". to a play is regarded as its soul. The protagonist faces

In This post I will discuss about What is encounter between Oedipus and Teiresias, and its dramatic significance. Answer : King Oedipus by Sophocles opens before the royal padace with the supplication of the plague trodden people of Thebes. Oedipus the king hears their prayer and informs them that he has already sent Creon, his trusted kinsman, to the Pythian house of Apollo to seek deliverance from the pestilence. Creon returns from the Delphic Oracle with news that "an unclean thing", the killer of late King Laius is the cause of the plague. So, the murderer should be brought to light and executed or banished from the city. Oedipus who is keen to get rid of the curse starts his search to identify the polluter. So, he seeks the help of the blind prophet of Thebes, Teiresias, "In whom, of all men, lives the incarnate truth. Oedipus at first welcomes Teiresias with reverent and tells him to help them find the killer of Laius. But Teiresias who knows the truth his temper q...

In This post I will discuss about What is Dialogue. Dialogue is preponderant in a play. When we watch a play, we pay attention to the words spoken by the performers. To appreciate a play one needs to be a good listener. Dialogue acts as a give and take medium. Dramatists use dialogues to tell us indirectly the events through his narrator but a novelist tells us directly. Listening to the actor, we not only learn the facts but also what goes in his mind. The important facts and background that are told at the beginning of the play is called "exposition" and the "exposition" introduces us to the situation, history of a person, a family or a community. Gradually, another major problem comes into fo :us and the main action of the play takes place. At times, minor cha acters in a drama focus on the important traits of the major characters. Sometime a messenger may bring news of things that happened somewhere else and his news may change the course of events.

In This post I will discuss about King Oedipus as a classical tragedy. Answer : In Poetics Aristotle defines tragedy as "a representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself, and of some amplitude; in language enriched by a variety of artistic devices appropriate to the several parts of the play; presented in the form of action, not narration; by means of pity and fear bringing about the purgation of such emotions." Judged by this standard, King Oedipus by Sophocles has all characteristics to be a classical tragedy. First, the action of King Oedipus is a serious one. The play is about the tragic predicament of a man, Oedipus. Oedipus was destined to commit patricide and incest. He tried to defy his fate. He did everything to save his plague-stricken subjects. He was true to find out the cause of the pestilence, a murder of Laius. But at last truth came out that Oedipus himself was the killer. To his horror he also learnt that his effort to avoid t...