Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Let me be very clear: I did not want to be convinced by Aristotle here. I mean, forget about Poetics and the wonderful theory of art and mimesis. I was not going to be convinced. I was going to judge on my own. I review stuff for a living after all!

And then I read Oedipus Rex....


Catharsis, you say? Hahahahahahaha! I was bawling my eyes out at the same time as Oedipus stabbed his, and boy did I feel good once I was done shaking with grief and trembling with horror!


Aristotle, you smart, smart old man, you Father of Grammar and Anthropology and modern education as we see it! You knew exactly what you were saying, weren't you? No wonder Oedipus Rex was the perfect Tragedy for you!

It is a perfect Tragedy! It does exactly what you said it would do: it makes you want to jump inside the play and give Oedipus a big hug and tell him, "It was not your fault! You just didn't know! "

Literally, he's like a young man who goes to college and meets the perfect girl, who he hits it off with instantly. They finish off each other's sentences, they are like mirror images and so, they fall in love and get married. Perfect love story, right?

Many years and four kids later, the guy finds out he has a twin who was separated from him at birth. He looks up everywhere to reunite with that twin, finding out that they went to the same college and took the same classes and then...oh! OH! OH?

Read it, even though you know the story! Read it just to find out how well Sophocles executes it and what catharsis, as Aristotle defined it, is supposed to feel like! Why are you even waiting?

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