Beginning with a consideration of the Sophoclean play in its original historical and philosophical context, this work compares the Greek drama with the first two English dramatic versions of the Oedipus Tyrannus. In order to dispel the common misconception that the Oedipus is about sin and punishment, the play is analyzed as a demonstration of the fifth century notion that the protagonist's ultimate destiny is an outgrowth of his character. A cultural examination of the play is followed by a compendium of critical works. The criticism is divided into two schools: the fatalist, which interprets the play deterministically; and the humanist, which interprets the play according to more appropriate fifth-century aesthetics and philosophies. / The second chapter is concerned with the first English version of the play, the Dryden and Lee adaptation of 1678. The British drama is examined according to contemporary criticism and compared to Sophocles' play, to Seneca's Oedipus Rex, and to Alexander Neville's Oedipus. These comparisons reveal that the Dryden and Lee version exhibits late seventeenth century dramatic techniques and is closer, thematically and tonally, to Seneca's play than to the original Greek work. / Lewis Theobald's translation of 1715 is treated in a similar manner. Although Theobald's work is ostensibly structured after the Greek play, it, too, was influenced significantly by various Latin-inspired interpretations of the Oedipus Tyrannus. Important themes in the Sophoclean play were obscured considerably by eighteenth century religious and philosophical concepts. The primary aims of the dissertation are to explore the British plays as representations of the ethos of late seventeenth and early eighteenth century England, and to compare the themes expressed in them to those developed in the Sophoclean original. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-01, Section: A, page: 0159. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75489 |
| Contributors | RIERSON, DON., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 283 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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