A Comparative Tragedy Study of Fatalism and Determinism: Oedipus Rex and Thunderstorm Essay

The electrical storm and Oedipus Rex, the representatives of Chinese and determinateal sports musical composition, both tell tragical stories some incest and unheralded sine qua non. The 2 masterpieces reveal much about the writings patterns and philosophical implications of the disparate cultures. The exploration of the devil tends could help further understand the oneness of pitying race literature and the disaster of un interchangeable culture. This paper leave comp atomic number 18 two famous tragic funsOedipus Rex and The Thunderstorm to analyze the similarities and differences in terms of the tragic bagsfatalism and determinism.The process of textual analysis will be associated with the basic literature theory of tragedy and philosophy. Over the centuries, Oedipus Rex, which is a famous Greek drama compose by one of tierce ancient Greek tragedians Sophocles, has father to be regarded as the Greek tragedy par excellence. It chronicles the story of Oedipus, a man who be lifts the king of Thebes and was destined from birth to murder his father Laius and tie his m another(prenominal) Jocasta. The athletics is an example of a classic tragedy, noticeably containing an tenseness on the power of oracle on human destiny and how Oedipuss own flaws contribute to the tragic heros downf every(prenominal). The Thunderstorm is written by renowned Chinese boutwright Cao Yu, often regarded as chinawares intimately important play of the 20th century.The subject thing of The Thunderstorm is the complex relationships among the members of two households, centering on the chow chow familys psychological and physical destruction as a takings of incest, as perpetrated at the hands of its mor eithery depraved and corrupt patriarch. It is considered to be one of the most mature and usual plays in contemporary China. In this paper, the theory being used and the previous train of the two plays will be first presented in the literature review. In th e important activate of my analysis, I will compare the two plays from the perspective of the contraction surrounded by fatalism and determinism. From the analysis of two dramas, we could examine some similarities and differences in the tragic topics. two Oedipus Rex and The Thunderstorm concern the fatalism and determinism in the tragedy themes however, they lay different mental strain on the two topics. 2.BACKGROUND STUDY AND LITERATURE REVIEW iodine of the most important studies of tragedy is Aristotles Poetics. Aristotle states that A tragedy, then, is an artistic fake of an action that is serious, complete in itself, and of an adequate magnitude. (2) The magnificence of tragedy dope be revealed in different aspects, and the tragic theme that considers fatalism and determinism of protagonists is one of the most important elements. The dispute between fatalism and determinism has been longsighted farthesting in the teaching of tragedy study. Fatalism is one of the most eternal themes of tragedy in general. It is the precept that either reddents are predetermined and therefore inevit adapted in psyches life. Determinism is the whimsey that all actions and events result from other actions, events, or situations, so mass cannot in fact choose what to do, which is a creation of classic thought (Dodds 42).Homeric heroes book their predetermined portion of life and they must(prenominal) die for some predetermined reason, but it never occurs to the poet or his audition that this prevents them from being free agents. As Bernard Knox put it, the gods know the future, but they do not order it. (122) Concerning fatalism and determinism, previous scholars have done many researches on the two plays. Martin Kallich (1966), in his article Oedipus From Man to Archetype, interprets the philosophical theme of Sophocles play as a mild agnosticism or neutral fatalism. Oedipus, he declares, behaves normally, commits an error in ignorance, and brings suffering upon himself. However, he fails to include the religious smell in his essay to give a full view of the tragic spirit of Oedipus Rex.From another perspective, E. Lefvre and A. Schmitt (2007), in the article Interpretation of Oedipus Rex argues that the old and popular formula that Oedipus is guiltlessly guilty is untenable, and they propose instead that his fall results from his behaviorhis abuse behaviorbrought about by passion. However, they mainly discuss from their own taking into custody and fail to employ strong tragedy theory to support their viewpoints. conflicting scholars do not conduct many researches on The Thunderstorm. Nevertheless, Chinese scholars have looked tardilyly into this drama. Both Xin Xianxi (1981) and Wang Linlin (2009) argue that Cao Yu is strongly influenced by the traditional Greek tragedy and Christianity religious belief so that the play has mystical humor of fate, which adds to the impressiveness of the play. However, they fail to take the gen ial background into account when analyzing the tragic spirit of The Thunderstorm.Wan Ping (2010) classifies the tragic spirit of The Thunderstorm into three different categories the tragedy of get laid, fate and soulfulnessality and all the tree aspects of the play make it an intense plot and dramatic artistic effect. Also, he doesnt consider the affectionate background, which is important tell apart of the play. From the above, we could see that the two plays are well studied by westbound and eastern scholars. Yet, not so many researchers discuss the similarities and differences between this specific two plays or even the Greek and Chinese drama in general. 3. ANALYSIS OF TRAGIC THEMES FATALISM AND DETERMINISMThe conflicts between fatalism and determinism are fully presented in the two plays, which can also be called the god-made tragedy and human-made tragedy. However, the two holds different proportion of two elementsOedipus Rex putting more than emphasis on fate, while The Thunderstorm underlining the importance of human factors. 3.1 abstract on Oedipus Rex3.1.1 The Voice of FateOedipus Rex has been almost universally regarded as the classic example of the tragedy of fate. Sir Maurice Bowras idea that the gods force on Oedipus the experience of what he has done strongly supports the idea of fatalism (390).Through his priests at Delphi, Apollo told Laius that he would be killed by his own son, and later told Oedipus that he would kill his father and tie his mother. At the beginning of the play Apollo tells Creon that Thebes will be saved from the blighter only when the murderer of Laius is found and expelled. Although everyone in this play try to do something to rid of the realization of the oracle, in the end, everything comes true. Its power was based on a widespread, indeed in early times universal belief in the efficacy of divine prophecy. Sophocles himself also believes in this point Unless these prophecies all come truefor all mankind to po int toward in adoreThey are dying, the old oracles sent to Laius,Now our masters strike them shoot the rolls.Nowhere Apollos golden glory nowThe gods, the gods go down. (Sophocles 989-97)When chose as the subject of his story about a man who tried to fend off the fulfillment of a prophecy of Apollo, Oedipus believes he had succeeded and casts scorn on all the oracles, only to find out that he had fulfilled that prophecy long ago. The voice of destiny in the play is the oracle of Apollo and Oedipus, to some extent, is the clear victim of a doom which he cannot avoid. 3.1.2 Hamartia and LoyaltyTo the rationalist critics of the eighteenth century and still more to the firm believers in human progress of the nineteenth, this aspect of the play was a historical curiosity, to be discounted in Oedipus Rex, although the fate is God-made to a great degree, it must be clarified that he has his own free will and he is not mere a puppet in the hands of the gods who pull the strings that ma ke him dance.This is a crucial idea of further development of determinism, on which we could give two varied explanationshamartia and loyalty. The single Greek word, hamartia, lays the emphasis upon the want of penetration within a man. The human frailty which is said to bring sufferings beyond the ordinary lot of men is represented in translation by blindness of heart. The conception in the Poetics of an ideal tragic person with his imperfect insight, proper for tragedy, can be constructed in the personality of Oedipus (39). He turns upon a certain blindness of impulse, which at length is recognized the man himselfwhereupon he puts out his own eyes.On the other hand, Oedipus loyalty to truth and to Thebes leads him to seek the truth tirelessly. Even though Creon, Jocasta, and the prophet try to erupt him all the way, Oedipus, who is struggling in the pursuit of truth, insists on reading the last riddle, the riddle of his own life. The immediate cause of Oedipus ruin is not yet Fateno oracle said that he must go out the truthand still less does it lie in his own flunk sometimes it is suggested that Oedipus would not have avoided his misery by having been a let out man, but he could have remained prosperous and happy if he had been a less good man. What cause his ruin are his own force play and courage, his loyalty to Thebes, and his loyalty to truth. 3. 2. Analysis on The Thunderstorm3.2.1 Destiny or CoincidencesSimilarly, in traditional Chinese literature, destiny, which often translated into Tian , also has a deep implication in the formation of tragedy. Famous critic Li Jiangwu said, This play has the most potent but invisible powerdestiny, which we feel all the time. (48) And Cao Yu writes in the preface of The Thunderstorm, I am a spiritually little man, but I invited my audiences to be god of my play to look sympathetically on those moving creatures on the stage, to look how they argue with each other blindly, how they helplessly struggle in th e battle of love. (2) Two families destinies fall into tragedy because of some unexpected coincidences. If Sifeng does not go to the chow chows family to take to the woods as a servant or if Lu Dahai does not come to visit Zhou Puyuan, or if any detail in the play changes, the square story may not happen. The fate plays an important part in the development of the plot and contributes much to the tragic effect. 3.2.2 Social cataclysmAlthough there is the fate that works in the play, what the characters have done is the main pusher of the plot. Cao Yu also states that this play is not about retribution or karma (3). While, in The Thunderstorm, the determinism presents in a different direction. Zhou Pin cannot bide the suppression of his father, but he does not show it and bear it inside. He feels repent and wants to get out of the secret relationship with his stepmother, but he only chooses to escape the reality, so that he falls in love with Sifeng, which is also a person that he cannot love. Similar as Oedipus, what he tries to avoid finally leads him to destruction. From what the play presents, Zhou Pin is more like a coward escaping the tragic results of his life. His evasion contributes to the tragic ending. Zhou Fanyi, who is also a tragic character in the play, marries Zhou Puyuan, but she is not able to feel love until she loses her heart to Zhou Pin.What is more tragic is that Zhou Pin cannot love her wholeheartedly either. She mistakenly put the happiness of her whole life to a person that cannot company and care for her aboveboard. Her tragedy is the kindly tragedy, at which time womens social status is low and they do not have the ability to pursue their felicities on their own. Fanyis personal flaws and the social environment lead to the tragedy of herself. While writing this play, Cao Yu underlines the social background, in order to further reveal the social problems, which offer people no freedom of selection. Thats why everyones wrong choice results in the destruction of the whole family. 5. ConclusionDifferent from the previous study, as we could examine from the analysis, this paper regards the tragedy as a combination of fatalism and determinism. What is similar between Oedipus Rex and The Thunderstorm is that they both stress the necessity the factor of destiny in the plot of a tragedy. Destiny is a universal theme of all tragedies in the history and all around the world. What is different about the two plays is that the determinism is presented in distinct way. Oedipus Rex embeds the tragic elements into the tragic flaws of Oedipus.Through construct the downfall of Oedipus as a hero but somewhat coarse person, readers may feel more regret and grieved. While in The Thunderstorm, the social background, in which the story was carried on and which people who are unable to avoid and revolt, contributes more to the happening of tragedy. This difference shows the different concerns in Chinese and occidental culture Ch inese literature works tend to focus on the social problems through revealing the personal life, while the western literature puts the emphasis on the image of the whole person. (Word Counting 2190 words)Works CitedAristotle. Poetics. Trans. avenue Cooper. bare-ass York Cornell University Press, 1947. Print. Bowra, Maurice. Dance, Drama, and the Spoken Word The Royal Society Philosophical proceedings of the Royal Society of London 251.772, (1966) 390. ProQuest. Web. 15 whitethorn 2013. Cao Yu. The Thunderstorm. Beijing quite a littles Literature Publishing House, 1994. Print. Dodds, E.R. On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex.Cambridge University Press Greece & Rome, atomic number 16 Series13.1 (1966) 42. Jstor. Web. 26 April 2012. E. Lefvre and A. Schmitt. Interpretation of Oedipus RexDie Suche nach der Schuld. 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