6. "Viva la Vida" by: Coldplay

6. "Viva la Vida" by: Coldplay

            “Viva La Vida” shares similar ideas with both the play “Romeo and Juliet” and “Oedipus.   These lyrics highlight these ideas:

“I used to hold the key

Next the walls were closed on me

I discovered that my castle stands

Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand”

                  The song speaks of a king who fell from power and now is just a commoner.  These lyrics show how fast and abrupt it was.  In “Oedipus”, the character Oedipus experiences a similar fate.  He was once the honor king that had freed the people of an evil monster, but then a secret was unearthed, and it turns out that he was destined to kill his father and wed his mother.  Unable to escape his fate, the play follows him on his rapid fall from glory.  In the end he gauges out his eyes because he is unable to bear the sight of his life.  The character of this song also falls from a place of honor in a short time. 

                  The song also teaches about how fate can turn your world upside down.  It did for Oedipus, just as it does for Romeo and Juliet.  Over the course of just two days they fall in love get married, then Romeo kills her cousin, Juliet is betrothed to Count Paris, and Romeo is banished from Verona.  They were destined to be together, but not on this earth.  Because of poor timing, or fate, Romeo kills himself believing Juliet is dead, and Juliet then kills herself when she sees Romeo dead.  All of this could have been avoided at many crucial points throughout the play, but fate turned their lives upside down.