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Comparing Oedipus Tyrannus And Clouds

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In the Western world of literature, Aristotle is ingrained within the consciousness of the literally tradition. In fact, the philosophy based on Aristotle’s writings is known as Aristotelianism. An example of such influence comes from the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe who stated “Live and die in Aristotle’s works” (BrainyQuote). Aristotle’s beliefs in the essentials of tragedy and comedy can be found in Poetics. So how would an ancient Greek tragedy and comedy hold up to his standard? Sophocles’s Oedipus Tyrannus and Aristophanes’s Clouds are both great plays but which is the superior work? Whereas both Oedipus Tyrannus and Clouds are fantastic works in their adherence to Poetics in terms of the similarity of their characters …show more content…

In tragedy, Aristotle states that the protagonist’s fortune must be good at the beginning but then collapse into bad fortune (Aristotle 22). An example of this is in Oedipus Tyrannus in which Oedipus goes from the king of Thebes into gouging out his own eyes for his crimes against nation and god (Line 1297). Conversely, the opposite is true for comedies; however Clouds doesn’t follow this rule, but instead Strepsiades remains in debt and goes on to lose control of his son and ends up attempting to burn down the Thinkery (Lines 1901-1906). By violating this tradition, Clouds is the inferior play as it completely disregards the concept of Aristotelian fortune. Oedipus’s fall from fortune is superior because it follows the correct method of the fall from grace. Oedipus doesn’t simply fail for the sake of failing but it is Oedipus’s hubris that ends up being the main root of his downfall. Strepsiades on the other hand simply remains as ignorant and bitter as he was in the beginning and even resorts to violent acts which means he sinks even lower than previously. Oedipus Tyrannus is the superior Aristotelian play in comparison to

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