PoV/Characters: From whose pov is the story told? Does this change? How reliable is the narrative voice?How well does the reader get to know the characters? How credible are they? How are they presented? How does the reader persuade us to like/sympathize with some characters and dislike others?
From whose pov is the story told? Since the format of the story is meant for an audience (being that it is a play), there is not a definitive "point of view". Rather, the only povs that the author elicts comes from presenting a scene and having the cognition of the audience run wild with their own understanding. Because Sophocles was meant for an audience who already knew the story of Oedipus that factors into the cognitive process.
Does this change? It does not change that (a) character(s) would act out a scene and the audience would view this process.
How reliable is the narrative voice? Currently, I do not think there is a narrative voice. Although, it any, it may be he chorus. And in terms of if the chorus is reliable, the chorus is the overall people of the community and so I don't believe they are that reliable because they have their own special bias to their community. Rather then what factually happened, there is a lot of focus on the "gods".
How well does the reader get to know the characters? I am under the impression that Sophocles wrote under the impression that the readers already knew the story of Odeipus(?) In terms of what I have read so far (using my knowlege from what I remember hearing in class) there is a LOT of irony/ blatant words that if taken literally actually mean what they say. Yet those blantant words (if one did not know the story) would be glossed over the first time reading through the play.
How credible are they? How are they presented? I will just focus on the characters: Oedipus, the king of Thebes & Tiresias, the blind prophet. Basically from pages 177-184, there is this scene with just the two of them where Oedipus wants to know who the murder of the last king is and Tiresias knows but intially does not want to say but then he does say but Oedipus does not believe the prophet anymore because he does not like the answer (that the prophet called him the murderer) If a reader already knew the conclusion of the play the reader would immediately catch on to the unreliablity of characters like Oedipus (who rejects the answer he does not understand) and the reliablilty of characters like Tiresias (who may be blind -though that blindness might enhance his credibility- but whose sole purpose to know truth and to speak truth)
How does the writter persuade us to like/sympathize with some characters and dislike others? Sophocles persuades the reader to sympathize with some characters by using others as a contrast. Such as with Odeipus and Tiresias, Oedipus is portrayed in this very powerful and almost ignorant manner; whereas Tiresias is portrayed also very resolute in his actions with this passive aggression. Both have very strong personalities, which serves to enhance and contrast certain qualities that each has. Depending on the audience, the reader may like or dislike a certain character for those reasons.
[Personally] I really enjoyed reading this poem. I like that I already knew what the conclusion was going to be, and so I was able to better pick up on topics that I would have generally glanced over.
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