Meditations on Oedipos Tyrannos

Subjects on this week's meditation:

Last week we discussed certain differences in the approaches of Euripides, Aeschylus, and Sophocles in their construction of character, their use of setting and dialogue, and their emphasis in dramatic action. We also considered how each playwright constructed his plays: where the climax was positioned, how tension was built, maintained, or intensified, and how each character's action became a part of the action of the play as a whole.

Consider the structure of Sophocles best-known tragedy, Oedipos Tyrannos, typically translated as "Oedipus Rex" or "Oedipus the King". How is this play put together? Concentrate specifically on what we have come to refer to as the plot: how does one character's actions drive the action of the play? In a play clearly concerned with the concept of Fate, how has the playwright provided a sense of implacable consequences? More importantly, how has incident been used and how are character entrances and exits deployed to provide a coherent, centralized action that provides a beginning, middle, and end?