Closely read the two passages below in relation to each other from Oedipus the King and write a detailed
commentary on them. You should pay attention to the language used, images mentioned, and the
tone. To closely read the passages, you will need to place them into the larger context of the play and
explain how they relate to the polarity of destiny and freewill. Identify at least three examples of the
figures of speech (similes, metaphors, paradoxes, ironies, allusions, etc.) and discuss how they
contribute to the construction of meaning. Cite specific lines as evidence from the passages and
elaborate on these lines to discuss and support your view. Note that you should follow the MLA
citation format: e.g., (Oedipus 7: 28-30). Your commentary should be approximately 500 words.
points
Passage 1.
Let it burst! Whatever will, whatever must!
I must know my birth, no matter how common
It may beI must see my origins face-to-face.
She perhaps, she with her womans pride
May well be mortified by my birth,
But I, I count myself the son of Chance,
The great goddess, giver of all good things
Ill never see myself disgraced. She is my mother!
And the moons have marked me out, my blood-brothers,
One moon on the wane, the next moon great with power.
That is my blood, my natureI will never betray it,
Never fail to search and learn my birth!
Passage 2.
O the generations of men
The dying generationsadding the total
Of all your lives I find they come to nothing
Does there exist, is there a man on earth
Who seizes more joy than just a dream, a vision?
And the vision no sooner dawns than dies
Blazing into oblivion.
You are my great example, you, your life
Your destiny, Oedipus, man of misery
I count no man blest.
