'Ignorance Is Bliss\r'

'Ignorance is Bliss In Sophocles’ â€Å"Oedipus Rex” and Athol Fugard’s â€Å" overpower Har previous(a) and the Boys” we go step up the protagonists prep atomic number 18 from ignorance to experience in some(prenominal) incompatible ways. As we watch this evolution we behold two characters start at ignorance in very similar ways and part both catch very different routes they overthrow their expeditions with similar complex consequences resulted from the experience they gain on the way. In â€Å"Oedipus Rex” the protagonist, Oedipus, starts from his hex in the story at a place of ignorance.He is naive to the loyalty near his action and the terrificction it is heading. Oedipus is unaw atomic number 18 that he is King Laios’ parole and he entrust ultimately fulfill his destiny to shovel in his stupefy and follow his set out, no take what steps he or his pargonnts take it is a tidy sum they can non run from. Oedipusâ⠂¬â„¢ friendship comes only later when he realizes the truth, that he is in fact King Laios’ son and when he murdered the king along the road where the three highways meet he did in fact kill his father and go on to marry his mother (Anti 2. 192).The knowledge of the prophesier’s forecasting coming on-key leads to Oedipus’ ruin. In â€Å"Master Harold and the Boys” the protagonist is Hally the seventeen year old shop receiveers son. The reader is carryn Hally’s ignorance by how he acts with surface-to-air missile and Willie. Hally treats these men as friends, particularly with surface-to-air missile, the two are to a greater extent the likes of companions thus a gaberdine boy and black hired help. Instances of this ignorance are seen in the way they spent their snip together. Hally naively believes that him and Sam can be friends despite the place and time they are in and how is father treats them.Hally believes that since progress is seen in the world that he can hedge his fathers beliefs and that despite Sam’s none that some throng are adult and that’s just the way it is: â€Å"Hally: It doesn’t swallow to be that way. There is something called progress, you know. We befool’t assumely burn people at the stake anyto a greater extent” (482). desire Oedipus, Hally is try outing his best to fight his unavoidableness but he is only contemptible himself closer to it. Hally’s knowledge sincerely comes when he and Sam begin fighting. When Hally is disturbance he takes that out on Sam because he can.He talks to Sam in a way only previously done by his father. This entire exposure shows the realisation that Hally truly is more like his father and then he treasured to admit. Both Hally and Oedipus discover truths to the highest degree themselves that they did not like and tried to run from, and they were unable to escape their fate and last succumbed to it. Oedipu s’ truths are similar to Hally’s in some(prenominal) ways. First Hally realizes he is more like his father then he wanted to admit and in the end he just started the cycle of his fathers blackball beliefs and attitudes all over again.Oedipus like Hally is besides destined to become like his father, he follows in his fathers footsteps first by streamlet from a prophecy then ultimately following him to his own ruin. While Oedipus’ knowledge is more real(a) then Hally’s both men pluck actions that have awful consequences leading them to the truths they uncover nearly themselves. Hally’s actions of taking his anger and thwarting out on Sam causes his true ideals to come out. When he begins to act out the audience is shown just how much he really thinks like his father.patronage his best efforts to show that he believes things can change in the dynamics between neats and blacks, it is really not a strongly held idea as the beliefs of his fath er, that he as a white man is superior to his black help. The talking to he says to Sam can never be taken back and evermore shifts the relationship between him and Sam, no lasting friends they are now master and servant. Oedipus likewise deals with a similar problem. He overly commits actions that completely change the shape of his manners and can never be taken back. Like Hally Oedipus wants to change is fate.Where Hally does so by trying to be friends with Sam and Willie, Oedipus does this by leaving home putting as much distance as he can between himself and the man he believed to be his father. However like Hally, Oedipus in the end realizes that consequences for his actions. Killing King Laios and then marrying his queen are actions that have dire consequences for Oedipus and like Hally’s they can never be undone. While both Hally and Oedipus try to fight their fate and both commit actions that forever alter their futures, they come well-nigh in very different wa ys.Oedipus deals with his fate in a more literal way. Oedipus visualizes the prophecy he had feared his whole life was actually true by the acknowledgment that he did murder is father and marry his mother. These physical actions lead to Oedipus’ downfall and are permanent. Hally, on the other hand, comes to learn the truth about himself, that he is like his father, by his actions toward Sam. While no less severe they are more emotionally prejudicial and speak to the relationship Sam and he tried to have but infract up losing because of the fight.This is damaging but not quite as physical as what Oedipus went through. Throughout each story we see the evolution of the characters from their naive beginnings to the galled realization of who they truly are. Both characters come to several truths about themselves during their respective stories, in both cases their truths have significant feelings. Oedipus’ knowledge leads him to his own downfall in order to write his kingdom from certain death. Hally’s truths about himself has a more hidden topic that is very significant and the true heart and soul behind the pass.Hally’s actions during his fight with Sam causes a divide between them that is irreparable, it is the effect of this rift that is most significant. Throughout the play we see several instances of imagery utilize to describe the world the characters are maintenance in and here is no different. The line of credit between Hally and Sam causes the same â€Å" leap” to pass on. This dance is a symbol for the beliefs held by Hally’s father and the world they stick out in. By acting the way he did toward Sam, Hally is causing the imperfect dance to continue on.The effect of Hally’s actions causes him to start adequate more like his father then he wanted but cannot avoid. In both â€Å"Oedipus Rex” and â€Å"Master Harold and the Boys” we see several instances of the main characters mo ving from ignorance to knowledge. While they gained sagacity into themselves it came at a price. For Harold it was the loss of his artlessness and a bleak look at his future with Sam and Willie, with Oedipus it was the loss of everything he thought he had and his own painful exile.Each character tried to fight their fate, Oedipus literally by trying to flee the seer’s prophecy and Hally by doing the exact opposite of his father and befriending Sam and Willie. No matter the path they took each ultimately succumb to their destiny and was forced to learn more about themselves then they wanted. Despite the painful ending it was a journey they were meant to be on. Works Cited Fugard, Athol. â€Å"’Master Harold’…and the Boys”. capital of Massachusetts: McGraw Hill, 2006. Print. Sophocles. â€Å"Oedipus Rex”. Trans. Fitts, Dudley & Fitzgerald, Robert. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print.\r\n'