Topic Tracking

The topic I chose to track was the theme of a persons sense of duty ultimately leading to their downfall.

In Oedipus this is shown very bluntly with Oedipus himself, for it is his duty to save Thebes from the plague and by doing so he discovers his terrible past and blinds himself. With Jocasta it is not so simple, however after Laius is murdered she becomes a widow. In ancient Greece it was very dishonorable to be a single women and so when Oedipus rescues Thebes and becomes king it is her duty to marry him. By marrying the new king she accidentally marries her own son, bringing shame to her name and causing her to commit suicide. For Creon it is his duty to serve the king and to follow orders and when he is sent to Delphi to discover the cure for the plague he begins the quest of murder mystery which brings the curse upon Oedipus. Now it would seem that Creon gaining the kingdom would be something good, however he stated that he did not want the worry of being king and so this brought about the downfall of his freedom and later in the trilogy he does indeed fall. Sophocles is not saying that by being obedient one will always fall, but he is warning against performing ones duty with hidden motives. For Oedipus wanted to peoples praise, and that is why he chose to try and save the people. Jocasta did not love Oedipus when she married him but she wanted his power and to maintain her glory. Creon did not have to accept the kingdom, however he chose to in order to remain powerful. Therefore we see that there is always a hidden intent and that is what causes someone to fall.
Ibsen also chooses to show how ones duty destroys the individual. However he uses the concept of conflicting duties. When an individual has to chose between two conflicting duties the struggle will be to immense and they will end without success. Hjalmar is the bread winner of the household, it is his responsibility to provide for his family and to work for their support. However he also has a duty to his father, he wishes to bring back his father's honor. With these two conflicting duties Hjalmar does not know how to act. He keeps up the facade that he is still working, doing photography and such, however it is his wife who takes all the pictures and deals with the entire business portion of his job. He takes little responsibility over the work but still claims to be the bread winner. Instead of working at a real job he continually pours over his invention, which will supposedly bring honor back to his father. However he never completes this project and in fact spends most of his time with his father in the loft. Hjalmar is unable to provide for his family and when Mr. Werle decides to help out he becomes furious and storms out. Claiming that Hedvig is truly not his and she ends by killing herself to show her love. This crushes Hjalmar and he no longer is the same.