Essay | Polarities in Oedipus Rex

Today's Western society inherits much from the Greeks, including architecture, music, math, science, and, most notably, democracy. It therefore comes as no surprise that the less tangible Greek philosophical ideals also permeate through the Western world. Among these concepts, balance played a significant role in ancient Greek life and was reflected in the most prominent of Greek plays. The great Greek philosophers all taught the same mantra, "everything in moderation, nothing in excess." Just as the people of the ancient Greek civilization strived for a balanced life, plays exemplified the ideal of balance, manifested in the form of polarities in which each extreme has a counterpart of equal importance. In writing Oedipus Rex, Sophocles clearly spells out the polarities for his audience, among them, fame and shame, sight and blindness, and ignorance and insight.

With regard to the narrative curve, Oedipus starts off the play accompanied by his fame, which...
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