AbstractsLanguage, Literature & Linguistics

The Riddle of Oedipus: Complex, Myth, and History

by Jessie L. Stephens




Institution: North Texas State University
Department:
Year: 1971
Keywords: Oedipus myth; Sophocles
Record ID: 1488517
Full text PDF: http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc131449/


Abstract

There are two general approaches to myth, the literal and the symbolic. The literal method considers myth a record of man's responses to factors external to himself, while the symbolic approach evaluates myth as the externalization of internal conflicts. The purpose of this paper is to examine several examples of each type of scholarship and to show the efficacy of both in gaining a complete understanding of the Oedipus myths.