Readers are attracted to moments of intensity in a writer's work. By what means and with what effect have writers in your study offered heightened emotional moments designed to arrest the reader's attention?
A moment of intensity in Sophocles' work is when Oedipus finally comes to the revelation that Apollo's prophecy was true, that he did kill his father and that he did make love to his mother. Oedipus says: O god -all come true, all burst to light! O light -now let me look my last on you! I stand revealed at last -cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage, cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands! After saying this, Oedipus rushed through the doors with a great cry. The effect that Sophocles offers by this heightened emotional moment, is one of deep remorse and empathy. The audience/reader is able to feel for the protagonist because (through the usage of words like "curse") Oedipus' actions do not seem like his own. Rather, it portrays his actions as if it is not his fault for what he had done. This moment arrests the reader's attention because it draws together the cumulation of events collected by the reader throughout the work. It ties previous actions together and gives the audience/reader an understanding of Greek dramas which concentrate a lot of energy and power onto the protagonist (Oedipus).
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