Oedipus the King is Greek tragedy by Sophocles and was initially performed 429 BC whereas Death of a Salesman 1949 is issues play by Arthur Millar. The two plays can compare in several ways despite being written in different historical times. Despite the fact that Oedipus is not formally divided into scenes and acts it evidently occurs in six phases, with transition between episodes marked by an ode sung by the chorus or stasimon while Miller's play is divided into two acts, with a requiem at the end.
On the type part, both have tragic protagonist. Oedipus is the tragic in Sophocles case while Willy Loman the sales person is the tragic hero in death of the salesman. Oedipus is the protagonist and the tragic here. After his father Laius from an oracle that his own son would kill him, he goes own to bind the feet of his infant son, Oedipus and order the mother, Jocasta to kill him. However Oedipus is rescued from by the Shepard and taken to Corinth where he is raised by polypus, the king of Corinth as his own. Oedipus within an try to avoid his fate of eventually killing his father and marrying his mother, which he learns from an oracle, leaves Corinth to be able to spare his parents the harm he's destined to met to them. In the same light Willy Loman is the tragic protagonist as seen in the last area of the play, requiem. What of Charley serves to remove blame on Willey, and places it on the necessity of American society to chase the American dream at the trouble of a individuals emotional and spiritual well-being. He highlights the actual fact that nobody deserves the kind of returns that Willey was getting at his grueling salesman job. Willy as the salesmen bought the sales pitch that utilized by the American society to advertise itself and payed for it with his own life. The play talks of mortgages, brand names and big multinationals. By the end of the day, is as in a position to afford his family a residence and decent living and even believes that he'd be worth more dead than alive. He believes that Biff, his son would benefit from his insurance compensation following his death.
Willy, the protagonist speaks the language of the consumers and then for him the cut throat competition is maddening. He represents the American middle income that emerged in post war America. When Linda, his wife, reminds him of the due payment for the refrigerator, Willy says: "I told you we should have bought a proper advertised machine. Charley bought a General Electric and it's twenty years old and it's still new, that son of your bitch" Miller 1949: 56-57
Structurally, both plays intertwine scenes from the past and present. However death of your salesman depicts events in a sequent that are at odd with their chronological progression. The most known chronological structure of a play has a liner structure characterized by a pyramidal pattern in its plot, i. e. , Rising action, climax, crisis, falling action and resolution. When this happens the crisis scene, appearing late in the storyplot is one able to redirect the drama by enacting a decisive causal event for which someone is responsible. Yet, in death of your salesman the eventual dramatization of the Willy cheating that occurs in Boston comes late in scene two. This isn't a fresh event as it generally does not turn the action in a fresh direction and it is also not recently revealed occurrence for just about any of the type as both Willey and Biff are already aware it, it occurred when biff was only seventeen, and Linda and Happy do not learn about it when its finally dramatized on stage (Bloom 144-156). On the other hand Sophocles's Oedipus has in its structure a pyramidal pattern. The crisis scene happen when it finally dawns on Oedipus that indeed it could have been him who could have killed his father following Jocasta's revelation about her oracle about her son killing his father and the mention about Laius murder at the cross road. This rings a bell in Oedipus mind as he previously killed a man in similar circumstance. Sophocles Oedipus is a Greek tragedy whereas the Death of your Salesman is an issue play. The former passes for a Geek tragedy since Oedipus, the tragic hero suffers misfortunes which are foretold by an oracle and which lead to his eventual downfall. He is fated to kill his father and sleep with his mother. Though tries to run away from it, it somehow catches up with him. He eventually blinds himself within an try to escape from reality.
Part II. (25 points)
Both plays have in themselves important literally techniques such as underlying themes, character choice as well as use of dramatic irony.
In term of themes, the American dream is one of the primary themes which come forth in Millar's play. Willey knowledge of American dream is an attractive and popular personality running a business is a certain way to acquire material comforts that modern American life offers. However his fascination with the superficial qualities of likeability and attractiveness reaches odds with a more rewarding and deep understanding of American dream that recognizes hard work as central to success. His interpretation of being likable is superficial, for instance he dislike Bernard as he considers him a nerd. His blind faith in the American dream causes him psychological trauma to the idea that he's unable to find out between the dream and his own life (Miller 122-130)
On the other hand a major them in Oedipus Tragedy is the fact that it stresses the vulnerable nature inherent in individual, and whose suffering is because an array of factors including human and divine actions. In regards to Oedipus, we see that error and disaster can occur to all, that individual is powerless put from the gods or fate. In addition, a cautious humility is the preferable attitude towards life. By the end of the play when Oedipus blind himself, the chorus highlights that even the noblest of men cannot escape fate. Oedipus is noble in position and moral in desire to rid the town of the murderer. His character suggests a person of certain intellectual and moral capabilities. Oedipus is noble constantly in place, as king of Thebes, and moral in his wish for the town to be rid of the evil that has resulted in the plague. His intelligence is apparent in his when he's able answers Sphinx's riddle. In scene 1, a group of priest involves Oedipus the king asking for help against Thebes's plague. Fortunately, given Oedipus quick nature in taking action, has recently sent Creon to Delphi to ask the gods about the cause and just how forward. He comes with the news headlines that the catastrophes befallen Thebes is because of this of the murder of Laius, the former Thebe's king. Oedipus vows to track down the killer and bring justice for the king's murder. He makes this judgement unacquainted with the fact that he is indeed the murderer. The second scene presents Oedipus searching for the reality. He seeks the help of Teressia the blind seer. He is hesitant to reveal the reality for he is aware of the actual fact that it would lead to the downfall of the king. The tragedy thus happens because in spite of such high values, Oedipus unintentionally fulfills the prophecy based on the god and as such brought destruction after himself (Brunner 67-75)
In both there characters are willing to ignore the truth when it suits them. When both Oedipus and Jocasta get started getting closer to the truth concerning Laiu's murder, Oedipus is quick to exonerate himself. Neither of these feel compelled to touch upon the coincidence in their prophesies. Oedipus listens to Jocasta's story about how she bound her son's ankles but fails to think about his swollen ones, while the conversation is largely meant to make the audience alert to the tragic irony, it also emphasizes the desperation in Oedipus and Jocasta unwillingness to speak the truth: they look at the reality of very day life and assume not to see them. On a single note, Willy myopic view of the American dream contributes to his eventual psychological trauma. At 68 years of age, he hasn't yet accumulated enough wealth to make him lead a comfortable life. His notion that American dream dwelt on a person attractiveness and likeability becomes his downfall when by the end of your day he find himself abandoned, unhappy and poor. Another instance, where Willy is willing to stay deluded is when Linda comment on the fact that some mothers fear Biff therefore of his being rough with their daughters, where Willy is enraged by the reality of his son's unglamorous behavior, and as such distracts himself by shouting at them to shut up.
Millar portrays Charley as obscurely gendered just like Tiresia's in Oedipus plays. Consequently Charley's prognosis of the situation at had is logical as he recognizes Willy's financial failure and his job offer takes its commonsense means to fix Willy's woes. Tiresia also highlights to metaphorical blindness in human being in his referral to the king's blindness to the reality.
Work cited:
Hochman, Stanley. McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of world drama: an international reference work in 5 vol, Volume 1. VNR AG, 1984
Miller, Arthur. Death of your Salesman. Pearson Education India, 2007. Print.
Bloom, Harold. Arthur Miller's Death of an salesman. Infobase Publishing, 2007. Print
Brunner, M. King Oedipus Retried. London: Rosenberger & Krauze London, 2000. Print
"Irony in the Requiem of Arthur Miller's play, Death of your Salesman". 123helpme. com. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. Print.
