Oedipus Journal 1

      This play is written from a third person point of view because it is a play!  This is consistent throughout the work.  Because of this third person point of view (not really a narrator), the play and the themes are really open to interpretation.  This is because the reader does not get specific motivations for the characters' actions.  The only thing the reader or viewer gets is dialogue, and so we do not get to understand the characters as well because we do not know their thoughts or feelings, unless they are explicitly expressed.  The narrative voice is reliable, I guess, because there really is not a singular "voice".  It is simply dialogue.  However, this dialogue may be interpreted in many ways.  As I said before, this limited point of view does not allow readers or listeners/watchers of the play to get to know the characters personally like they would in a novel.  Yet in this play the characters do express their specific feelings so the reader does not feel lost or out of the loop.  This would be especially helpful if one were watching this as a play.  The characters are presented with distinct personalities and senses of humor, but again, their qualities would be greatly enhanced onstage.  Because I am reading this play and not watching it, the author has to manipulate the dialogue for that type of situation.  In order to make readers sympathize with some characters, I think the author made them speak longer and with more emotion.  This allows readers to understand them better and therefore like them more.  However, with other, less likable characters, the author writes dialogue to make them more crass and blunt instead of eloquent and emotional.  The humor that the characters use is important to audience relatability.  If the characters have a good sense of humor and make many jokes, the audience or reader will like them more and be more willing to sympathize with them.  In this way, characters that are rivals of these funny, clever characters are less well-liked.