The play "Oedipus the King" was written by Sophocles in ancient Greece during the festival of Dionysus. With this context, the play was intentionally written for the Greek audience at that festival. Going off of that, outside information regarding well-known figures such as the multitude of gods, cities, and notable figures (such as Tiresias) is limited to the modern day reader. The interpretation of the play is very different for one who knows the background knowledge and one who doesn't.
For example, if a reader didn't understand the legend behind Tiresias and what curse he holds, then the story would project him as some crazy, absent-minded prophet. Therefore, the setting of Greece and its culture influence how the story, characters, and the themes are interpreted. Also, the ancient location gives a more barbaric tone towards the actions of characters and what emotions are evoked. In these tragedies, the emotions are very amplified in order to clearly convey the theme the playwright is conveying. Since there weren't many costumes, the masks used for facial expressions had to be complimented with great emotional portrayal.
The setting also plays a part onto the story because of the importance of borders, cities, and wars. City-states would fight all out wars for the small percentage of farmland available since most of Greece was mountainous and very steep. This shines a light on how vital crops were to the survival of the people. During the play, Oedipus is criticized for not attempting to help his people to recover from the plague and famine spreading. He chose to carry on his personal mission rather than take on the daunting task of feeding his people, thus adding to the prophecy's accuracy of his self destruction.
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