Double Entendre in Sophocles’ “Oedipus”
The play script Oedipus the King by Sophocles incorporates unusual characteristics in its content. One in particular which we will discuss, is the double entendre. It means that a part of the story, may it be the characters or the speech lines, have two different meaning that is meant to to support the story and represent the reader’s involvement in the story or referring to two different subject matter that is related to the play in one way or another. This “double meaning” plot technique is written though out the script, covering the plot and its characters.
The title of the play itself is derived from two Greek words which is Oidi and pous which means “swollen footed”, translated in the English version as “Oedipus”. The title refers to Oedipus’s injured ankle in the story. Oedipus can also be broken up to Oe which roughly translates to suffering and pain and dipus which means two footed. All of this points to the irony of Oedipus’s pierced ankle which made requires him to walk limp.
The chorus represents the audience in Oedipus. Since it is a play, audience sits directly in front …show more content…
As he brings news that Oedipus is invited to be a king at Isthmus because his father, Polybus, has died, he also mentioned that Oedipus is adopted by King Polybus instead of being his real son. Jocasta realized that Oedipus is her son and that he also killed King Laius in the crossroads. She panics and told Oedipus to stop the search for the murder of Laius. Oedipus rejected her suggestion and eventually committed suicide by hanging herself because of the mental shock of discovering the truth. The messenger character in this scenario has a double role of being a plot device which brings demise to Oedipus, but simultaneously is his savior since he is the one shepherd who rescued Oedipus when he was abandoned by King
The play script Oedipus the King by Sophocles incorporates unusual characteristics in its content. One in particular which we will discuss, is the double entendre. It means that a part of the story, may it be the characters or the speech lines, have two different meaning that is meant to to support the story and represent the reader’s involvement in the story or referring to two different subject matter that is related to the play in one way or another. This “double meaning” plot technique is written though out the script, covering the plot and its characters.
The title of the play itself is derived from two Greek words which is Oidi and pous which means “swollen footed”, translated in the English version as “Oedipus”. The title refers to Oedipus’s injured ankle in the story. Oedipus can also be broken up to Oe which roughly translates to suffering and pain and dipus which means two footed. All of this points to the irony of Oedipus’s pierced ankle which made requires him to walk limp.
The chorus represents the audience in Oedipus. Since it is a play, audience sits directly in front …show more content…
As he brings news that Oedipus is invited to be a king at Isthmus because his father, Polybus, has died, he also mentioned that Oedipus is adopted by King Polybus instead of being his real son. Jocasta realized that Oedipus is her son and that he also killed King Laius in the crossroads. She panics and told Oedipus to stop the search for the murder of Laius. Oedipus rejected her suggestion and eventually committed suicide by hanging herself because of the mental shock of discovering the truth. The messenger character in this scenario has a double role of being a plot device which brings demise to Oedipus, but simultaneously is his savior since he is the one shepherd who rescued Oedipus when he was abandoned by King