Journal #7

Disguise and deceit is a common theme throughout all of the three plays. In Oedipus The King the disguise is what the prophet knows and what Oedipus doesn’t know. In The Wild Duck it is what Gina knows that Hjalmar doesn’t know, and in Blood Wedding it seems to be what the Bride knows that the Bridegroom doesn’t know. This repeated theme involves relationships and lies. The lies demonstrated in these books are not so much lies as they are deceits. The characters who are hiding something don’t flat out lie, but they do avoid the truth.

In Oedipus the King, Oedipus doesn’t know that he did anything wrong. He never knew that his wife was his mother. Sophocles explores a different kind of disguise in Oedipus’ story because no one in particular is lying to Oedipus. However his life was a lie. The prophet who talked to Oedipus didn’t lie to him he just didn’t tell him the truth.

In the Wild Duck, Ibsen presents us with a whole family with a bunch of secrets. They all pretend that everything is alright. When Gregers tries to uncover the truth to Hjalmar, everything goes wrong. In this play there are a few actual liars, Old Werle and Gina. This contrasts with Oedipus The King because a few people who actually caused the mess are the people who are avoiding the truth.

In Blood Wedding, Lorca is very ambiguous. In the beginning it seems that the Bride is having a lot of doubts and the antagonist seems to be Leonardo. I don’t know what is going to happen next but I don’t think that the Bride ran away with Leonardo. I feel like he took her away. So in that case I think Leonardo is the liar. For example his wife wanted him to ride on the cart to the wedding but he refused and rode his horse instead. Later he and the Bride ran away on that horse. I have a feeling he planned to escape. He never told a lie though. He was never asked directly if he was doing anything like that. He deceived everyone to make it seem like they ran off together. However, if the bride was in on it then she was the one who deceived her family and the Bridegroom.

Journal #6

In "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles, Sophocles creates an underlying question in the play. Is the prophecy true? Did Oedipus really kill his dad and sleep with his mom? To answer this question Sophocles uses the metaphor of blindness, both literally and metaphorically. This is also used in "The Wild Duck" by Ibsen. But the question in Ibsen's play is what is the big secret that Gina is hiding and who is Hedvig's real dad? Both of the authors use characterization to answer these questions.

In "Oedipus the King", the prophet is the character that helps open Oedipus' eyes. In "The Wild Duck", Gregers is the character that opens the eyes of the family. Both stories have families that are built on lies causes by the father figure (who often loves power, and is blind to the lies in the family). Both Sophocles and Ibsen answer these questions with characters that expose the truth to the fathers.

The connection between the two plays is the blindness of the fathers and the two characters that try to give them vision. In "Oedipus the King", the chorus says, "How can I say you've chosen for the best? Better to die than be alive and blind". This quote shows how the characters in both books seek the truth even if it brings them unhappiness. Like that saying goes, ignorance is bliss. That would have been the other option if it wasn't for the prophet and Gregers.

Journal #5

"Although doubt is not a pleasant condition, certainty is an absurd one."

There is doubt and uncertaity in both Ibsen and Sophocles' plays. The doubt comes from Hjalmer in Ibsen's play and in Oedipus in Sophocles' play. The doubt is created by the situations they are in. They are both in unstable social conditions. They both doubt there marriages and the truth. There knowledge is tested and they become curious. Since they are both assertive and powerful, they pursue this knowledge. Yet they are uncertain because they don't want the truth to hurt them. Even if it sets them free of doubt.

Oedipus doubts the fact that his wife is not his mom and that the man he killed was not his dad. He is so curious to know the truth but he is also uncertain about what that truth might bring his future. No one would want to find out that their wife was there mom, or that they had killed there dad. Especially if that person thought of himself as a great and amazing leader. Oedipus proves that he is uncertain when he says, "Always, terrified Apollo's oracle might come true-" (217). This quote also illustrates how he doubted his marriage all of the time. He was constantly trying to find something to prove that his wife was not his mom. He talks about how he ran away from his parents so that that could never happen.

Gregers doubts the happiness of the Ekdal family. He wanted to reveal the truth about Werle to Hjalmer so he doesn't have to endure what his dad went through. "[...] Hjalmar I can free from all the lies and evasions that are smothering him here" (176). Gregers is trying to make up for what has been done wrong in this family. Gina also seems to be uncertain about a lot of things. She is always hesitant to let people hear things or do things. She seems to be worried about appearances and keeping things from people.