Friday, March 6, 2015

Sophokles in the New Millenium: Oidipous and Fuller's Hannibal

One of the main trademarks of Sophoklean drama (and a testament to Sophokles' genius) is his penchant for riddles and deception. In no other play is this more well-defined than in Oidipous Tyrannos (known better by its Latin title Oedipus Rex).

The drama is so constantly acute yet can persist so chronically over many hours or many weeks because we the audience know important information which the characters in the drama don't. We know from the outset that Hannibal is a cannibal - it's made clear from the first installment - just as the Athenians knew that the accursed man whom Oidipous seeks is Oidipous himself. The horror and suspense comes from us waiting for the characters to figure out what we already know. In order to up the ante in season two, the writers showed us, the audience, from the outset that Jack Crawford fights with Hannibal - when that scene finally played out in full at the end, we the audience found out the truth at the same time as the characters: the characters' shock and horror now mirrors our own.

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