Oedipus (Dryden play) and decorative poetic language, the audience's strong lust for stage action, visual effects, intensive conflicts and complex plots, all changed Greek tragedy in the Restoration era. Oedipus (Dryden play) The heroic drama Oedipus: A Tragedy, is an adaption of Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex", written by John Dryden and Nathaniel Lee. After being licensed in 1678 and published in 1679, it became a huge success on stage during the Restoration period. "Oedipus, a Tragedy" may today have an unintended comic effect, given the bloodthirsty ending of the drama. In past centuries, however, there was a wide range of views, ranging from enthusiasm
Oedipus Rex childhood. … he can no longer ignore a feeling of uncertainty about his parentage. However, after consulting the Oracle this uncertainty disappears, strangely enough, and is replaced by a totally unjustified certainty that he is the son of Merope and Polybus. We have said that this irrational behaviour - his hamartia in Aristotle's sense - is due to the repression of a whole series of thoughts in his consciousness, in fact everything that referred to his earlier doubts about his parentage. The exploration of this theme in "Oedipus Rex" is paralleled by the examination of the conflict between the individual