The Textualization of Oedipus in Vittorio Alfieri

Abstract

THE TEXTUALIZATION OF OEDIPUS IN VITTORIO ALFIERI JULIANA SCHIESARI Vittorio Alfieri's tragedy Antigone is not simply a work of art com- i.e., pleting the teleologica! process of gente fulfillment, the tragedy, but rather a poetic statement of the author's own personal anarchistic temperament. The origins of such a temperament can he discerned through a psychological interpretation of Alfieri's Vita, keeping in mind, however, that the autobiography tained in too, when considered as a gente presents an instance of wtiting unique for the degree of ambiguity con- its purported sincerity. Nevertheless, the inter-relationship of author, text and reader creates certain dynamics which are the focus of this paper. Antigone deals with universal and analysis of the various ethical problems, and a historical Antigones would reveal that each author con- in ceived his work in relation to the social, politicai and moral problems which concerned him during the time at which he lived. If one glances the differences between Sophocles' character Antigone and Alfieri's, is one struck by the ideologica! considerations principal play. The argument in Sophocles' which differentiate each work is the question of laws. That which appears to be an act of lawless rebellion by the Sophoclean Antigone proves in the end to be guided by a superior law to which she gives unswerving allegience. She is inspired, not by a passionate hatred for Creon but by an impassioned desire to obey the laws which