Tragedies are some of my favorite works of literature to read because of the depth that can be found in them. This past week, I’ve been thinking about things that I have found to exist in the tragedies that I have read. One thing that many of them have in common is a sense of denial. The characters do not want to see their sin, or the severity of their situation. For example, in the Shakespeare play, King Lear, the King is in denial that his daughters, Regan and Goneril are showing great betrayal and cruelty. This ultimately drives him insane. In Hamlet, his mother, Gertrude, is living in incest. She denies this, although she knows it is true. And, in my opinion, there is a sense of denial in my favorite Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet. I believe that the two main characters knew that their situation would not work out in the end, but this did not stop them from trying. I said all of this to say that in Oedipus, Jocasta is living in denial. I absolutely believe that she knows that she is married to her son. And this denial leads to her death, and much suffering for Oedipus.
I commented on Regis’s blog.
This is quite an interesting assertion. I agree completely...I think it also transfers into media and movies we all enjoy. As the viewers journey to the climax of the movie they find the main characters often do not want to admit to the truth of what has happened. In some instances this enhances the action. The main character decides to seek out truth because they simply cannot believe the "truth" someone has told them. We all have denial in us. We don't want to really believe the horrible truth of the worst circumstances. Thats why when someone gives us awful new we respond with, "are you serious?" "really?" "are you sure?" We don't want to believe the truth of tragedy.
ReplyDeleteAm I weird to say... oh, forget the formalities:
ReplyDeleteI do not know what it feels like to be in denial. There, said it, done.
But I won't go into details about that. However, I am putting it out there to say that I'm stuck with a strictly third-person viewpoint on this; I can't relate at all.
What drives a person to not want to believe a horrible truth like Jocasta's? If you believe it, you have to deal with the pain, guilt, and anguish of the truth, but the event relative to the truth really isn't doing any damage. It's just reflection that's causing the emotions. Now I will admit that Jocasta's position was rather sad, but admittance is certainly better than long-term denial... eh, maybe that's a bad example here, considering her outcome. Oh well, so much for supporting that idea. Curse you, incest.