Faith or Skill
Which is the Better Tragedy? Faith is a force that sometime cannot be avoided and results in things like bumping into someone you’ve never known before but happened to be someone you are related to. Oedipus the King was brought by faith to kill his biological father he had never met and married his mother who also he had never met. This destiny occurs by Oedipus being blind to the truth and not listening to what Tiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes, had foretold Oedipus. Oedipus lived in denial saying he did not believe in faith and what the prophecies had said, but in the end the prophecies came true and Oedipus’s destiny had been revealed. After reading the plays Oedipus Rex, by Sophacles, and comparing it with Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare, Oedipus Rex is the better tragedy because Oedipus endures uncommon suffering, experiences reversal of fortune, and the feeling of catharsis for the audience is much greater. Oedipus Rex’s suffering was far more uncommon than that of Romeo and Juliet’s. “I was doomed to lie with my mother” (Sophacles 6). It was destined that Oedipus would marry and sleep with his mother after taking his unknown fathers place of King of Thebes and had no idea that Queen Jocasta was his mother. To add to that it was told by a blind prophet name Tiresias that all these unfortunate events would occur making the suffering very uncommon. “…And for that offense immediately we do him exile hence” (Shakespeare 3.1.201-202). After Romeo killed Tybalt, he was exiled from the city of Verona which is parallel to to being sent to jail which is a very common thing in modern and ancient times. Deportation, prison, and boot camp are all common forms of exile which means Oedipus’s suffering is much more uncommon. “You are the murderer of the king” (Sophacles 4). Terisias also foretold that Oedipus would kill his biological father who is the king of Thebes which is also uncommon even though it was destiny that caused it to happen. Destiny leads