Comparing Medea and Oedipus (Journal 8)

Even though Medea and Oedipus are both tragic stories they differ in many different ways. The use of catharsis still remains through out both of the plays and more noticeably at the end of the plays. Showing that tragic situations can occur in many different places.

Oedipus

In Oedipus we see him as the savior of Thebes and that he can solve the case of the murdered king (Laius). Later in the book we find out that he has been destined to a cursed life. We notice foreshadowing done by Tiresias and the Chorus to show how Oedipus avoided this fate of his but it was still fulfilled by the very actions he took. It is tragic how we see a person of such prestige and knowledge, who saved the city of Thebes before transformed into a blind beggar exiled from the city he once ruled. As stated in the thesis statement this feeling of pity and sorrow is evoked near the end of the story. This is when we learn about Oedipus and his actions and how they tie into the prophecy. We pity his children, his dead wife and mother, and the tragic fate of his own life.

Medea

Medea has many differences with Oedipus; we tend to take pity more on Oedipus than on Medea because we see Oedipus as a person locked in by destiny. We consider Medea a person of free-will. Never the less Medea's story is still tragic. She once was a princess related to the God of the sun (Helios). In the beginning she betrays her native land by killing her brother. As we move on in the story we feel pity for Medea because of her husband's actions. Even though this may seem tragic we still see Medea in a negative light because of all of her scheming thoughts against her sons. Near the end of the story we feel pity and sorrow for Medea, she kills her own two sons and then leaves the land. Medea's inability to care for her sons show how treacherous of a women she is. The audience frowns upon her actions and looks on her negatively.

In both tragedies we notice the catharsis element in the end of the story; showing that the audience must first be able to relate to the tragic hero before they can feel sympathetic and sorry for them.