Compare And Contrast The Accountant Of Auschwitz Vs Oedipus

Although they are very different in both form and content, in The Accountant of Auschwitz and Oedipus Rex, the concepts of justice and punishment are developed extensively. Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus Rex, is a great Greek tragedy that tells the story of Oedipus, the king of Thebes, who is unknowingly fated to kill his father and marry his mother. In stark contrast, The Accountant of Auschwitz is a CBC documentary that details the prosecution of 93 year old Oskar Gröening, a former SS officer. In both, the concepts of justice and punishment are cornerstones of the overarching plot, but the means by which they are conveyed differ greatly. To truly examine how the concepts of justice and punishment are developed, the different means by which

In The Accountant of Auschwitz justice is delivered through the criminal court system, but its process for delivering justice is extremely difficult. To elucidate the difficulty of delivering justice in the criminal law system, the documentary uses expert testimony. An example is the interview with a professor from Princeton Law (NAME) in which he said “ if you punish this man 94 years after the crime was committed, are you still punishing the person who committed the crime” detailing the ethical issue that hindered the delivery of justice. This interview allows the reader to truly understand the ethical dilemma that was taking place directly from an expert which promotes trust in the information conveyed because the source can be deemed reliable. To summarize the delivery of justice after the war, the director uses a courtroom photo montage of the outcomes of the post-war Nazi trials (time stamp) to show the fact that the German justice system was incapable of trying its own perpetrators. Showing a further intricacy that hinders the delivery of justice through the court

Oedipus deems the acceptable punishment for the perpetrator to be “ let that man drag out his life in agony, step by painful step” (lines 283-5). This is true dramatic irony because the reader knows that he will become the victim of his own punishment, allowing the reader to understand Oedipus’ true opinion of a “just” punishment. This same punishment is received by the public as too severe with the chorus saying “better to die than be alive and blind” (line 1498). Given that the chorus plays a vital role in sharing the thoughts and opinions of the public directly with the audience, this quote allows the reader to understand that the punishment was not seen as “just” by the public. This contrast in opinion between the chorus and Oedipus accentuates the difficulty in delivering an agreed-upon, and “just” punishment, something that is developed extensively in both