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The Concept of Complication in the Play, Oedipus by Sophocles

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March, 2013

Concept of Complication in the Play ‘Oedipus’

Complication is a dramatic term used to define the part of the play where the main

character encounters obstacles that keep him from achieving his or her dramatic needs. In ‘Three

Act’ Plays, complication is usually experienced in the second act commonly referred to as ‘Act

Two’; right after the exposition and before the resolution. The complication brings the character

to his lowest point in the play such that his dramatic need seems unachievable.

The complication in Oedipus begins when the God’s send a plague upon Thebes

(Sophocles, 2012). The complication fall under cause, complication it is caused by a god. The

King Oedipus is faced with a challenge, as the citizens are all looking up to him for help. This

sees Oedipus sending his In-law, Creon to the Oracle. The plague sent by the God’s in itself is a

complication. The plague set off the mishaps and tragedies soon to follow; all complications.

Another complication seen in the play is a fortuitous complication. This type of

complication exacts itself when an accidental event pushes the character further away from

achieving his dramatic goal. In this case, Teresias confront Oedipus as being the murderer of

King Laius (Sophocles, 2012). His wife Jocasta chances upon this conversation and comforts her

husband by explaining how her former husband died. This causes Oedipus to realize that he is

the probable killer after Jocasta mentions the three –way crossroads where the King was killed.

The rising action in the play also serves as a complication. The play starts at a low note

when Oedipus seeks to rid Thebes of its plague. The oracle’s reply was for the citizens to rid

Thebes of former King’s killer. The action rises to a point where the oracle claims the killer to be

within the walls of Thebes and ask for his banishment. Oedipus realizes he is the supposed killer

and the only survivor of the King’s attack confirms this. In addition, Oedipus married the King’s

widow only to later realize he is King Laius’s son and that Jocasta is his mother.

Concept of Complication in the Play ‘Oedipus’

A complication can also be brought out by a crisis moment in the play. A crisis is the

point in the play where the character is compelled to make or take a decisive action. Oedipus

blinds himself after confirming that he was indeed his father’s killer and finding Jocasta hanging

with a noose at her neck (Sophocles, 2012). He also begs to be exiled as a way to keep Thebes

free of the plague. He decides to give himself up for the good of Thebes’s citizens.

The resolution also becomes the falling action of the play and can be termed as

complication by falling action. After having a revelation of what he had done, and a solution to

the Plague having been established, he cuts out his eyes and asks to be exiled.

Concept of Complication in the Play ‘Oedipus’

References

Sophocles, (2012), ed. David Grenes, ‘Oedipus the King’, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Concept of Complication in the Play ‘Oedipus’

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