Oedipus’s Adaptation and Myth (Essay Sample)

Oedipus’s Adaptation and Myth Name Affiliation Course Professor Date Oedipus's Adaptation and Myth Having been written over two thousand years, Oedipus Rex has been progressively explored, adapted, and reimagined in various contexts and mediums. The theatrical adaptation performance is reimagined in texts to address the endurance of the different themes of the play. It is a famous Greek tragedy that resonates from the attention and masterfulness that help people understand it and reinterpret it through performance. Hence, evaluating the different adaptations of Oedipus Rex and how it responds to different cultures is important. The play was adapted to a stage play named “The Darker Face of the Earth” by Rita Dove. Oedipus is portrayed as the son of a slave. Dove’s Oedipus Front runs a revolt. He also associated himself with a taboo relationship as he married his mother (Ervin-Eickhoff, 2019). Also, it pinpoints the cultural integration of interracial during the Antebellum era. Thus, applying the contextualization to the tragedy serves as the motif of struggling against all odds of preordained fate. Its performance underscores the play’s adaptability due to the inclusion of inevitable cultural aspects that connect the past and the present. Furthermore, Bob Johnson's adaptation of Oedipus to Oedipus! A New Musical Comedy, the scene and culture is placed in rural West Virginia. It shows that upon the discovery of the midwife’s prophecy fulfilment Oedipus (“Eddie”) and Jocasta (“Jo”) trade the sensational story for money and fame (Villagomez, 2019). In this adaptation, the play disregards the complexity of Oedipus as it reduces Oedipus and his kin to an exaggerated crude Southern family’s caricature that embraces folly as a profitable material rather than scorn. It reduced the play's retrospection to provide more action to complement the music. The musical adaptation also contextualizes Oedipus in modern society and culture. Similarly, it is adapted in classical music in Oedipus ROX, which featured the 1980s rocker Oedipus (Villagomez, 2019). The performance provides a completely dramatic glittery and eyeliner apparel. It portrays a self-aware comedic approach which appeals to the audience familiar with the play and those with an understanding or glimpse of the infamous Oedipus Complex. Thus, each group has the opportunity and understanding, which helps them identify with the satire and be engaged with its adaptation. The exaggeration habit of ...