Reputation
Along with Seneca's other plays, Oedipus was regarded as a model of classical drama in Elizabethan England. The translator Alexander Neville regarded the play as a work of moral instruction. He said of the play "mark thou ... what is meant by the whole course of the History: and frame thy lyfe free from such mischiefes"
In recent times, A. J. Boyle in his 1997 book Tragic Seneca: An Essay in the Theatrical Tradition rejects the criticism of T. S. Eliot that Oedipus, like the other plays of Seneca, is simplistically peopled by stock characters. He says that "In the Oedipus, for example, it is hard to name any stock character except the messenger." The play, in its theme of powerlessness against stronger forces has been described as being as "relevant today in a world filled with repeated horrors against those who are innocent, as it was in ancient times"
Read more about this topic: Oedipus (Seneca)
Famous quotes containing the word reputation:
“Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity.”
—Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899)
“This one fact the world hates; that the soul becomes; for that forever degrades the past, turns all riches to poverty, all reputation to a shame, confounds the saint with the rogue, shoves Jesus and Judas equally aside.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“My reputation is a media creation.”
—John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten)