¶ … Myth" by Muriel Rukeyser is a poem that discusses the issue of sexism in Sophocles' "Oedipus the King." The poem starts with a continuation of Oedipus suffering as a blind man after he had blinded himself upon learning the he had killed his father Laius and marrying his mother Jocasta. Rukeyser used Oedipus' story as her way of emphasizing the treatment of women during those times, that is, as an object of possession or commodity. In Sophocles' famous play, Oedipus' mother, Jocasta, is clearly portrayed as a woman who has been 'handed down' to Oedipus after her husband's death;...
True enough, what happened after Oedipus became the King of Thebes and his marriage to Jocasta was his ultimate downfall. Rukeyser points out one critical mistake on Oedipus' part regarding the tragedy that he met at Thebes: he underestimated the woman who was to be the cause of his downfall (Jocasta, his mother). The poem continues Oedipus' story with Oedipus asking the Sphinx why did he not recognize his mother, and the Sphinx answering the error in…
Macbeth had resisted temptation, befriended Duncan, and (for good measure) divorced his wife. Wouldn't he be the King of Scotland, in due course? Why didn't the Bard create a model of patient merit, instead of a form of vaulting ambition? Why not make Macbeth a hero, instead of a loathsome villain? In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, the playwright tells of a man whose ambition, not to mention the prodding of his
Human Suffering in the Works of W. Faulkner, S. Plath, T. Roethke, and W. Shakespeare Literature is considered as one of humanity's powerful medium of expression. Different forms of expression are used in literature, such as poetry, plays, novels, and short stories. As a medium of expression, literature becomes the primary vehicle in expressing the human experience. Take as an example the theme of human suffering in literature. Numerous poems