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In
"Oedipus Rex", recurring, similar, parallel events play a
large part in the story, and help keep the audience 'on
edge' as the recurring events reveal more truths about King
Oedipus and his mysterious, unfortunate past, and King
Oedipus repeatedly fails to realize what these 'clues'
really mean. Parallel events, used in a slightly repetitive
manner, are well liked by the audience, because people,
especially Greek and Roman theatergoers, love to have the
feeling that they know more about what is going on than the
play's characters. One of the things about plays that the
Greeks and Romans, not to mention most other groups of
play-watchers through the ages and in modern times, like, is
to already know the outcome of a story, especially a
tragedy. And because of the practically constant repetition
of 'clues' which remind the audience of the inevitable,
terrible truth, it builds the audience's enjoyment by
stretching their feelings of knowledge out. Much of the
reason why Oedipus has been popular and evaded obscurity
throughout the years is because it keeps audiences 'on
edge', and wondering, in essence, "How many more clues does
Oedipus needs before he figures this out? He keeps learning
a little more at a time... this suspense is intense! How can
he not see what the truth is?... I can!" Recurring events,
such as the series of discoveries made by King Oedipus,
unify the story, place order and connection on different
ideas, and give the audience a sense of greater knowledge,
and therefore, superiority over the characters, which many
audiences greatly enjoy. Recurring
at many different steps during the story, King Oedipus
learns an additional little clue which builds onto his
knowledge base, eventually making him cognizant of the fact
that he himself was the person who murdered his father. The
first clue which Oedipus got was that King Laius was an old
man when he was murdered... just like the old man that
Oedipus killed while traveling to Thebes. Later Oedipus was
informed that King Laius was slain at the intersection of
two roads, just like the old man he killed... and so on and
so forth. (You get the point.) These clues just keep on
coming, including, towards the play's end, the information
from the seer, and the shepherd.The
recurring events in "Oedipus Rex" are Oedipus gaining an
important clue about who really killed King Laius (as well
as King Laius' true relation to Oedipus), and then Oedipus
disregarding that clue, considering it false because someone
else said something. For example, a person's testimony that
King Laius was alone when slain, which is different from how
Oedipus really witnessed it, so King Oedipus immediately
assumes that he is not the murderer, after all. What this
means is, Oedipus repeatedly learns a bit of information
about the murder, then shortly thereafter, disregards it,
thanks to outside encouragement from his wife, etc. This
play would be far less entertaining if it lacked the use of
recurring events which it so definitely has. Particularly in
plays that are tragedies, recurring events are a great
technique to keep audiences interested, and improve the
entertainment value of a story.
