The Play Oedipus and My Work
The play Oedipus and my work have some basic form of similarities in reasoning and ideas. Although you tend to focus and emphasize on the importance of developing excellence by virtue of character as a way to achieve what is finally more important excellent conduct, the play Oedipus contains many forms of symbolism used to describe the illusions of the world. My idea is that the truth is subject to each character as seen on the shadows while in the play the king is subjected to the illusion of looking for the real killer of the father. The shadows as seen in my work, cast on the walls of the cave represent the superficial truth, which is the truth of the king that he killed his father. The cave represents the superficial world for the prisoner who was the king. He was imprisoned with the fact. My case and Oedipus play illustrate man's pursuit of truth and what that means to humankind. This is the king's quest of knowing who killed the father who was the former king and the prisoner's pursuit of understanding the real objects.
Symbolism of the Chains and the Truth
The chains that prevented the prisoners from leaving the cave represent ignorance of the king not knowing the real killer and taking the mother as his wife hence the chains were stopping him from learning the truth. In both my work and Oedipus, both men had to realize their ignorance before they acquire knowledge and correct understanding of the complexities of the human condition. When the truth finally comes out with the fact of telling the truth that he was the one who killed the father and the prisoner seeing the real object when subjected to light, the freed prisoner represents the king who understands the physical world for the illusion that it is. The prisoner gazing at the sun is seeing the truth of the actual objects while the king knows the truth of the murder. After the king is brought into the light of reality, he longs for the time he was not burdened with the misery of existence where he proceeds to measure his own eyes out of disbelief.
Analogy of the Cave and The Matrix
The art of work that can be illustrated and is similar to my job of an analogy of the cave is the matrix movie where both works on what is real and what are illusions. In the Matrix, the main character, Neo, is trapped in a false reality created by a computer program. In both works of art, there is the acceptance of truth about themselves that Neo and the freed prisoner must face. They must accept this truth before they can acquire more profound knowledge about fundamental truths. Machines that took over the planet created the program. While in Plato's Allegory of the Cave, is trapped by a false reality of the shadows which are the illusions that he sees from the cave. The prisoner is able to comprehend the reality of the cave and the real one outside the cave. They are both controlled in a different world where the matrix is in a computer and Plato in a cave.
Interpreting Art and Tragedy
I believe that you would interpret this piece of art based on the fact that a tragedy must be an impression of life in the form of a serious story that is comprehensive in itself; in other words, the story must be sensible and confined in focus. In the play, the story is real and serious as it starts. The tragedy which should be good I believe should evoke pity and fear among the audience causing the audience to have strong emotions towards the play and the character should be imperfect. In this play, the king and the mother evoked strong feelings of pity where the mother decided to kill herself when she discovered the truth. The king who is in the quest of the real killer yet he is the one who killed the father. Throughout the play, I believe there was the mixture of good and evil where the right of the king was to look for the real killer of the father and the bad is the real killer was him and that he committed incest. The king is therefore far from being perfect a brilliant example of your theory.
Art as Imitation and Representation
In my view, art imitates the objects and events of ordinary life. It is a replica of perfection, and so even more of an illusion than an average experience. Works of art are at best entertainment and at worst a dangerous delusion. Art is imitation, which was known as mimesis; this relates to the classical Greek notions of balance and perfection.
The Search for Unity and Balance
Art is often seen as a way of representing the inner significance of something; it offers unity, and its form should be complete in itself. Art as imitation involves the use of mathematical ideas such as symmetry, proportion, and perspective in the search for the perfect, the timeless and contrasting object. This brings the relationship with Greek notions of balance and perfection.
