Juvenilia ✔/ a Nonfiction Undergraduate University Collection

Irrationalities Compared on 'Oedipus Rex' and 'Le Cid'

ENGLISH 3863

Early Dramatic Theory

December 8th, 2021

Irrationalities Compared in Oedipus Rex and Le Cid

In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, there seems to be controversy over whether or not there are improbabilities contained within the play. 

According to Joseph Margin in, "Aristotle and the Irrational and Improbably Elements in Oedipus Rex", there are two instances of improbabilities regarding plot, and in Kurt Fosso's "Oedipus Crux: Reasonable Doubt in Oedipus the King", a solution is offered in which not only is the improbability solved, but the already tragic story is made even more tragic by a simple misunderstanding where Oedipus is not even guilty of the crime his life is ruined over. 

Meanwhile, in the case of Le Cid by Pierre Corneille, according to Aristotle's The Poetics, and corroborated through Bernard F Dukore's, "The Cid Controversy," there are examples of more than a couple of improbabilities where both plot and characters are concerned.

The Poetics by Aristotle, a chapter included in Allan. H. Gilbert's Literary Criticism – Plato to Dryden, is still a prolific work that endeavours to give parameters and explanations of what makes a good play good, and what can make them fall short. Concerning tragedy specifically, there are several significant details that must be stated. 

Under "[Length of plot. 51a6]", Aristotle does not give a definitive length and simply states it must be sufficiently long for the hero's fortune to go from good to bad (80). 

There are then three broad characteristics of 'tragedy' from the context of plot: peripety (an action that results in the opposite of what was intended), recognition (a change from ignorance to knowledge), and a tragic incident (84-5). 

Finally, there are four essential aspects to character: the characters must be good, they must be appropriate, they must possess resemblance (the footnote explains that this is a murky characteristic because Aristotle fails to say exactly what the characters are to resemble, but it is inferred that characters must resemble people in real life), and finally, must be consistent (89-90). Concerning 'irrationalities' they must only exist on the 'outside' of the play (91).

In Joseph S. Margon's, "Aristotle and the Irrational and Improbable Elements in Oedipus Rex", Margon seeks to address two instances in which the play, Oedipus Rex, is illogical, an element that by Aristotle's own words is a principle that should be avoided unless in very specific circumstances, two reasons of which are given: that illogical aspects are permitted outside of the play – which means that illogical events may occur before the plot commences and after the plot concludes – and if a poet must venture into the realm of impossibilities, that the events be, at the very least, probable. 

The critical problem Margon is addressing is Aristotle's apparent bias towards the play Oedipus Rex, a play that is referenced the most number of times in Poetics, and yet does not appear to hold up to Aristotle's idea of an ideal tragedy through Aristotle's own stipulations; Aristotle is hyper critical towards Aegus in Medea, but not critical of the messenger in Oedipus Rex. 

By Aristotle's own admission, he considered Oedipus not knowing how Laius died an irrationality. This is, however, excused by Aristotle since the event of Laius's death happened years before the play starts and is thus 'outside the play'.

Margon breaks apart Aristotle's argument, and from two statements, asserts that Oedipus Rex does not hold up to Aristotle's own logic where irrationality is concerned and questions whether irrationality should be permitted at all irrespective of if the irrationality occurs 'outside the play' or within.