English - World Literature Oedipus Rex, Sophocles - Essay Example

In the case of Oedipus Rex it will be that of “pity” and “fear”, the classic components of tragedy as explicated in Aristotle’s Poetics. The task for the modern actor is to take an ancient story dealing with a society that has long since vanished and to make his character real to the audience. The tragedy of a man who unknowingly kills his own father, marries his mother and his children with her creates the kind of nightmarish situation that any audience member should be able to relate to.

The task of the actor, and of the director who guides him, is to portray this tragic situation in a manner that makes it real to a modern audience. It is this type of guidance that will be explored in the imaginary letter immediately following. First of all John I would like to thank you for agreeing to take on one of the greatest, and also most challenging roles in all of drama. I am sure that the two of us, together with the rest of the cast and crew, will be able to bring this timeless story to our contemporary audience in a new and exciting manner.

One of the challenges of this play, and of your role as Oedipus in particular, is that everyone knows the story in the audience. The audience all know that Oedipus has killed his father, not knowing what he has done, and everyone knows that he has subsequently married his own mother and had children with her. There is nothing “new” within this story. Our task will be to make the story new and as shocking as if the audience were seeing it for the first time without knowing what is about to occur.

As an experienced actor you know that this “making new” is one of the central tasks in all of drama, especially in a play with as well-known a story as this one. I would like to take you few a few points in the play in which the “newness” of the situation is vital. The first point is at the very beginning of the play when you, as a young king, are faced with a dying city