The Universal Question of Four Universal Dramas

The dramas about to be discussed are world renowned as some of the best literature masterpieces on “Earth, the Universe, the mind of god.” The four dramas: King Lear, Oedipus, A Doll's House, and Our Town are completely different in almost all aspects in a literature sense. The story of each, dealing with different time eras, different settings, different writing styles, and almost completely different family situations; stretching from kings and queens, to store clerks and farmers. The language and tone used in each drama is also extremely different and unique to the time’s style. Yet despite being at different ends of the spectrum, the dramas all have one centralized theme, which is that of ignorance and greed. Throughout all four dramas greed or ignorance blinds the main character’s sight either figuratively or literally in one case. Staying with the theme of greed also brings up the fact that the universal question in the books is that of “Why do we want what we don’t need?”

Said by Tiresias, in scene two, “[The] blind, though now he sees - and poor, though now he's rich - he'll use a stick to guide his steps into another land.”(L454) this quote can be but in such a way to link all four books with two powerful themes, greed and ignorance. The quote it self is quite explanatory when it’s broken down. “[The] blind, though now he sees - and poor, though now he's rich” can be seen as both greedy and ignorant with the fact that the blind can now see different things that he is ignorant to. Also the ability to see has made that life fuller or “richer.” Further more the latter half of the quote shows that a now blind person will journey out of a know land into “another land” in which they are ignorant with the new surroundings in which they step. Moreover “[The] poor, though now he's rich shows an example of the urge or greed that people are always wanting more then what is needed.

The universal question or persona of “Wanting what we do not need” can be found in all of the stories in one form or another. Firstly in A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen the main character Torvald Can not handle the fact that Nora took out money in order to support Torvald. When Torvald finds