Prompt: Readers are attracted to moments of intensity in a writer’s work. By what means and with what effect have writers in your study offered heightened emotional moments designed to arrest the reader’s attention?
Both Sophocles and Ibsen use heightened moments of intensity during their tragic plays. Their methods of revealing this intensity to the author is near identical. Throughout both Oedipus the King and The Wild Duck, family relationships are exploited to create the ultimate tragedy and intensity.
Oedipus the King
Sophocles attracts his readers/observers to his plays through his use of tension. This is amplified during the play as emotion is clearly shown versus simply text, but the literary technique is present in both. Foreshadowing through the form of prophecies in the play heighten the tension and leave the observer wondering when and who will fulfill it. The high levels of intensity in the play occur when the prophecy is revealed by the character Tiresias to Oedipus and the following argument between the two. The intensity of the play is parallel to the emotions of Oedipus; as Oedipus rages and loses sight of himself when speaking to his wife, Tiresias, and Creon, it is reflected with the intensity.
The Wild Duck
Ibsen's play has its moments of intensity, though minute in comparison to those of Sophocles. A primary reason for this is the social standing of the characters. In Oedipus the King, you have Oedipus the King, Tiresias, Apollo, Oracles, and the general population. The point is that many of his characters are either divine or royal, making it significantly easier to create intensity. Because of the smaller tools Ibsen has to work with, he uses foreshadowing rather than conflicts between characters to create intensity. Examples included his frequent references to hunting and the loaded gun, and the symbolism of the wild duck. By keeping his observer out of the know, Ibsen draws them in just as well as Sophocles, simply through a different method.
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