Part one of term paper
Sophocles's Oedipus the King is indeed a tragedy. We can tell what a doomed life Oedipus is leading, but it is hard to pin down a direct antagonist, or force in conflict with the main character. Yet when I looked hard enough I found the two culprits behind all of Oedipus's misery. Oedipus's fate and hubris prove to play the roles of the a ...

Part two of term paper
... use of dramatic irony becomes clear. Before we look at exactly how fate and hubris play the antagonists we must look at Sophocles's purpose in writing this play. He wrote his plays to be performed at religious festivals such as the Festival of Dionysus. The plays were serious events performed for audiences of all classes. Many audience members couldn't read or write, so Sophocles used well known stories as plots. The audience didn't have to focus on understanding the plot. They already knew t ...