Oedipus The King Feminist Criticism Essay

Oedipus the King: A Feminist Criticism

Gender plays a fundamental role in the lives of people, and forever remains an indelible divisor throughout all societies (Gregory 216). When it comes to patriarchal societies, gender becomes a sensitive issue, with the feminine sex always in a constant battle to gain equal privileges as their masculine counterparts. In the ancient Greek tragedy “Oedipus Rex”, the playwright assertively upholds the patriarchal bias that was characteristic of Athens’s Golden age (Smith and Ferstman 33). Clearly, the play Oedipus Rex is built on a candidly staunch masculine outline, but in a way, the outcome of events is not as obvious as an ordinary chauvinistic play would make it. Thus, in unravelling the controversial

Sophocles intentionally restricts the females in the confines of gender, infrequently aligning their entitlements to life as males. For instance, women are sexually repressed. Taking a look at Jocasta, despite being the queen of Thebes, has no control over a basic and private right of choosing a marriage partner, after the death of King Laius.

Similarly, the objectification of women in the text ignominious, which direly redraws an ill fate that retraces the monarchy. If Jocasta was allowed to speak against the ill actions of men around her, it would have possible evaded the shame that coiled up towards the end of the play. Consider the incidence when her newly born baby was unwillingly take from her, but she had no say over it because of the socialized chauvinism (willner 63). Thus, women have been ultimately placed at the center of perilous dilemmas to earn a worse tag, and that further sinks the moral contribution of females to the

Despite all indications that the society infringes on their voice and mindset by default, it has not escaped the reader’s notice that they hold the fabric of the whole tragedy and that given opportunity, they would turn the tables. First, the fact that Jocasta is set to be the central character tells it all: A woman’s role in society is always conspicuous and the more it is concealed, the more it shows up (Smith and Fretsman 41). Above all, all the conspiracy is built upon her, making her the most significant character regarding both plot and theme.

Nonetheless, females, despite being unfairly constructed as the authors of shame, hit the forefront in leveraging against shameful scenarios. Gregory highlights that by Jocasta attempting to meditate in the dispute between Oedipus and Creon, she takes the heroic front to try and sort out things calmly (Gregory 212). Thus, in as much as the plot tricks us to believe that women are the cause of the mayhem, like for the aforementioned case, the underlying fact that they are the victims of circumstances is