Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" has proven to be undoubtedly one of the most acclaimed tragedies of all time, having maintained its relevance in the literary canon since its composition and first performance around 429 BCE. Like most large-scale works of literature, this ancient Athenian tale no longer exists as the vision of a single playwright, but rather as a multitude of translations, each of which has put its own unique spin on the centuries-old story than any scholar now knows. so good. Among these translations are those of Thomas Gould, JE Thomas and Francis Storr: three seemingly similar stories which, upon closer reading line by line, reveal fascinating nuances in theme and characterization. Such nuances, in turn, reveal each translator's unique take on the original Greek text - and more particularly on the character of Oedipus, whose moral sense and general disposition have been (and continue to be) interpreted from different ways. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayThose who are familiar with "Oedipus Rex" will remember that much of the play consists of a long dialogue between Oedipus and the blind prophet Tiresias, who is called upon to reveal the murderer of Laius and the source of the plague (which , of course, is Oedipus). The prophet is kind by nature and initially reluctant to vilify Oedipus, but he soon loses his equanimity in the face of the king's arrogance and delivers the truth. A statement from Oedipus at this point, taken from Gould's translation, reads: "I, yes, I, Oedipus the ignorant, have stopped it [the Sphinx] using thought, and not the omens of birds./… You - and the inventor of the plot. [Creon]--go chase away/ the pollution for your sorrow: you look very old/ or you would be the victim of this plot! (401-406). Here, Gould's Oedipus adopts an immediate tone of sarcasm through the repetition of the personal pronoun "I" followed by a self-deprecating epithet totally unusual for the usually arrogant king. By describing himself as ignorant, he passively criticizes the apparently false wisdom of the seer and perhaps also the false nature of prophecy in general. Such criticism is particularly vile given that the gods and prophets were held in such high esteem among Sophocles' ancient Athenian audience. The king then reinforces his offense against the prophet by alluding to his own success with the Sphinx, the riddle of which he solved by a simple "thought" rather than an omen. His arrogance and lack of respect here are still unmistakable to those familiar with the customs of ancient Greece, identifying augury as a deeply respected practice in his time. In the next line of dialogue, he returns to the subject by making a false accusation against his uncle/brother-in-law Creon. Gould's choice of word here ("the inventor of the plot") portrays Oedipus in a negative, almost paranoid light, expressing the king's understanding of the prophecy as a premeditated ploy against him and thus establishing a very ironic victim complex . To further compound the reader's impression of the king, alongside this victim complex, Gould creates an equally negative vindictiveness in the next line when Oedipus exclaims that he would make Teiresias the "victim" if he wasn't that old. This attack on the seer's age concludes the monologue not only with a reinforcement of the protagonist's lack of respect, but also with a reminder of his own age as opposed to that of Teiresias; surely his relative youth could be equated with naivety? and the pride with which Gould hears therepresent. Thomas's translation constructs a different Oedipus - different enough that repeated analysis of the preceding lines can provide a new view of the character. Thomas's Oedipus recites: "I, the idiot Oedipus, stopped her, working from the intellect, not learning from the birds./…I think that you two – you and he who designed these things – you will regret your desire to cleanse the earth, but if you were not so old, you would learn by now what such words mean” (418-423). This Oedipus immediately appears gentler than Gould's and perhaps more sympathetic to readers. It opens with a similarly self-deprecating epithet but excludes the repetition of the pronoun, thus slightly toning down the sardonic tone. His account of the Sphinx then expresses a familiar arrogance and disrespect towards the prophecy, but does so in a less degrading manner, and the opening words of the next line ("I think") then continue to soften the tragic hero ; although they may seem insignificant at first glance, the verb "to think" lends a critical touch of humility to Thomas's Oedipus, suggesting a degree of uncertainty that unconsciously prompts readers to praise him for his unexpected malleability. For the most part, the rest of his monologue is quite simple and is devoid of much of the negative emotion and vengeful passion of Gould's Oedipus. Thomas's Oedipus speech is punctuated calmly – without any exclamations or interjections – and his descriptions are significantly less brash and direct. Creon, for example, does not become an explicit "concoctor" but rather a more ambiguous "one who designed these things", and the king does not wish to make Teiresias a "victim" but rather confer on him the consequence that his "words » [have] won[ed]. The threat here is just as present as in the last translation, but this idea of ​​“winning” evokes a sense of justice to soften its harshness. The reader, given his prior knowledge of the story, will probably find it difficult to like an Oedipus, but he will at least be able to feel greater sympathy for Thomas's tragic hero than for his counterparts in the translation. Storr's Oedipus, although it takes on a life of its own. own, could certainly be described as a sort of happy medium between the two that preceded it. The analogous extract from this final translation reads: "I, simple Oedipus, have closed his mouth with a mother's spirit, ignoring the omens./...I think that you and your accomplice will soon regret/ your plot to chase away the scapegoat./Thank you. gray hair that you have yet to learn what punishment such arrogance deserves” (399-404). This Oedipus opens on a more subtle note, choosing a relatively light descriptor ("simple") while adequately conveying a somewhat sarcastic tone. The arrogance and disrespect occurs as expected towards the Sphinx, but he now attributes his success to "his mother's spirit". The theme of motherhood here is a clever incorporation on Storr's part; Given that Oedipus' real mother brings him the opposite of success, the irony of his boast may elicit sympathy – or at the very least, laughter – among readers. Like Thomas's Oedipus, Storr's expresses an admirable element of uncertainty in his choice of verb ("it seems to me" being an archaic equivalent of "I think"). He also has a trace of the emotion and indignation most present in Gould's translation, saying that Creon and Teiresias should regret their "plot" (again indicating premeditation) and comparing himself to a " scapegoat.” His description of his opponents as "arrogant" is something unique in Storr's translation and..