Interactions with Divine Forces

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how "Angels in America" and "Oedipus Rex" both present a reflection of the troublesome relationship between human and deity in the form of drama. The paper shows how the human characters attempt to gain control over their lives through fighting with forces that could not be controlled. The paper looks at the Tao Te Ching, the principles of Chinese philosophy and uses these principles to explain how it would have been possible for the characters in these stories to gain power over what controlled them.

From the Paper:

"The Tao Te Ching is a document that describes many of the core principles of Chinese philosophy. It presents a pathway that the reader can follow, and through doing so the reader can begin to reconcile himself with many of the unique problems of life. Foremost among these is the nature of contradiction, wherein concepts that should not be able to function simultaneously are nevertheless quite abundant. Of note are the concepts of being, where the Tao Te Ching emphasizes the qualities of nothingness and non-existence and the nature of being and existence as two parts of the whole; things both exist and do not exist at the same time, and while it is not in the capacity of the human observer to affect these, it is within the capacity of the human observer to change these."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Kushner, Tony. Angels in America. New York: Theatre Communications Group, Inc., 1995.
• Lao-Tzu. Tao Te Ching. Trans. J. H. McDonald. 1996. 15 Aug. 2006<http://www.wam.umd.edu/~stwright/rel/tao/TaoTeChing.html>..
• Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Drama. Ed. Lee A Jacobus. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2005. INSERT PAGES HERE.

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