Tracking

I am tracking the image of physical and emotional suffering in the plays.



In "Oedipus the King," there are many images of suffering. Oedipus suffers both emotionally and physically when he learns that the prophecy came true. Jocasta kills herself when she finds out that she married her son and Oedipus gouges out his eyes with the same knowledge. Oedipus gouges out his eyes because of the emotional pain caused by the prophecy. After gouging out his eyes he goes to live alone on the mountains, to live until the end of his days with the knowledge of what he did. He suffers physically from gouging out his eyes. Oedipus also is torn away from his daughters as they are "wrenched" from his hands. This causes him even more emotional suffering because he loved his daughters and was worried about what would happen to them once the city found about him.



In "The Wild Duck," there is a lot more emotional than physical suffering. Gregers suffers emotionally from his relationship with his father. Hjalmar suffers from the knowledge Gregers gives him about Gina and Haakon Werle. He then tries to separate from his family. He distances himself from his daughter, Hedvig. She loved him a lot, and it caused her a lot of pain. This eventually leads her to commit suicide. Hedvig suffered emotionally by her father distancing himself for no explicable reason to her. Hedvig's death causes Hjalmar and Gina both to suffer emotionally from their daughter's death. Gregers was horrified by this turn of events, because he thought she was going to shoot the wild duck. This also leads him to suffer emotionally, but not as much as Hjalmar.