I have only read two plays so far which is Oedipus and The Wild Duck so far, therefore i will explore these two plays to see what extent this statement applies to these two plays. In the play Oedipus by Sophocles, it centers around Oedipus's life as ruler of his city and his people and how he rose to that position. Oedipus, not knowing that the prophecy predicted about his fate would one day come true: "He would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother" traveled to the city of Thebes to find out the identity of his true parents. This play centers around his cockiness, his unwillingness to accept the thoughts of the lower class. Greek and Roman plays always depict characters that are of higher status, the rich. The idea of wealth is an ideal for the poor, it is portrayed as a wondrous, must have thing. I remember in class when we discussed about how people would often go see these plays to escape from their troubles, and have a moment of freedom. Dramatic plays like this one here, Oedipus allows the audience to experience the excitement in life, love, pain, agony all played before their eyes.
In The Wild Duck by Ibsen this statement can be applied to the Ekdel and Werle families. Between the members of these two families we see conflicts between father and son, mainly spurred from comunication barriers and also jealousy perhaps. Gregors Werle is jealous of his father for providing and caring for Hjalmar Ekdel. Perhaps he feels as if his own father, blood relative does not care for him as much as a stranger. He is not as important nor is he worthy enough to recieve his father's affection. The audience is shown family conflict, not too exaggerated nor too fake. It is realistic and provides a sense of relief to be able to divert themselves from their own problems in life and instead focus on someone else's.
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