The wrathful rhetoric in Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

Abstract

In this article, we propose a reading of the confrontation between Oedipus and Tiresias in Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus Rex, through the lens of Aristotle’s Rhetoric and the semiotic theory of passions (Fontanille; Ditche; Lombardo, 2005; Greimas, 2014), in order to demonstrate that passions —specifically anger — are not merely rhetorical strategies, but semiotic phenomena that shape the construction of meaning within the text. In this revisitation of the narrative staged between 429 B.C. and 425 B.C., we aim to show that the Theban community associates Oedipus’s wrathful argumentation with the same semantic field as the other afflictions plaguing Thebes. This interrelation suggests that: (i) Oedipus’s anger, expressed through a proud and authoritarian discourse, becomes an extension of the very imbalances that torment the city; (ii) argumentation grounded in ethos and logos, rather than pathos, holds euphoric value within a context marked by disorder.