“Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is of stature and complete, with magnitude” – Aristotle.
Action in Oedipus the King is an investigation. It ironically both discloses the excellence that Oedipus has taken pride in throughout his entire life and thereby brings him to his downfall.
“O, o, o, they will all come,/ all come out clearly! Light of the sun, let me/ look upon you no more after today!” — these lines anticipate how Oedipus will blind himself (offstage) after his discovery of the truth.
What happens after the investigation has revealed the truth?
What does the ending show about action and its limits?
What does the blindness manipulation show about our status as readers or members of the audience, who have seen Oedipus and watched Oedipus?
What does it say about our seeing and blindness?
How does the audience undergo catharsis through pity and fear and learn something about what it means to act?
Please engage the Aristotle’s On Poetics and Plato’s Republic (both can be found online) and Arendt’s Human Condition: Action that I submitted in files.
