EKPOMA REVIEW

This paper dialectically examines the inexorability of external forces and man's alter defencelessness before fate and destiny. This is typical of Greek tragedy, hence, Sophocles, using his Oedipus Rex typifies this enigmatic predicament of man. In this tragedy, one beholds a man's (Oedipus) conscious attempt to escape his awful destiny, prophesied at his birth. This enigmatic scenario is further compounded by the ironic fact that the more he and every other person in the play connected with this awful prophesy try to walk against this predestined manifestation, the more they inadvertently hasten its fulfilment. The philosophical question; that; begs; for; an; answer; in; this ;fateful; scenario; (which; is believed to be the beginning of philosophy and the summit of religion) is, who is to be blamed, the gods or man?; Consequently, this paper attempts to offer an analytic excursus on the features of Greek tragedy in the play through the Aristotelian notion of tragedy as espoused in his Poetics. Hence, this paper argues that the Aristotelian paragon remains the inviolable parameter for evaluating a true tragic piece till date.

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