Transcript Oedipus-A Greek Tragedy

Oedipus-A Greek Tragedy
By Sophocles
Tragedy
“goat song”
 Experts believe the tragedy came from
some sort of ritual sacrifice accompanied
by a choral song that honors Dionysus,
the god of fields, vineyards and mirth.
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Aristotle
In literature, tragedy imitates the actions
of people of a station above the norm
 Comedy imitates the actions of people
below the norm
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Aristotles 6 Necessary Elements of a
True Tragedy
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Fable (plot)-structure of events where
consequences are necessary or probable results
of the antecedents
Character-the factor that defines the quality of
people
Thought-rhetoric (speech) indicates social
morality
Language-semantics, dictions
Melody (song)- the sensuous effect of the
Chorus which arouses emotion (Sophocles’
Chorus is a commentator of action).
Spectacle-the elements on stage
Plot or Fable
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Irony-unexpected reversal of the course of
events
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Dramatic/verbal/cosmic
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Dramatic-Audience and author have knowledge the
characters don’t have
Verbal-the meaning that a speaker implies differs sharply
from the meaning expressed
Cosmic-a deity or fate deliberately manipulates events
Disclosure-a change from ignorance to
knowledge
 Crisis of feeling-a harmful or painful experience
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Pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune.
Tragic Hero
Catharsis is achieved through an error in
judgment (often hubris), not through
moral depravity or vice.
 The hero is representative or symbolic of
those who go through a disaster in an
intense form. The greater the person, the
more acute his tragedy.
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First Oracle
Laius and Jocasta are told their son will kill
his father and marry his mother
 They arrange for wild animals to “off” the
kid
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Second Oracle
Oedipus is confronted with a taunt of his
uncertain parentage
 He seeks advice from the Oracle at Delphi
 Same forecast-kill dad; marry mom
 Opposite direction away from Corinth
 Big oops! At the place where 3 roads meet
 Road rage
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Riddle of the Sphinx
Body of lioness; head of a woman; wings
who destroys all who cannot answer the
riddle
 Sphinx really has it in for Thebes
 “Which animal has one voice, but two,
three, or four feet being slowest of three?”
 Hurray for Oedipus! Long live the King;
how would like to marry the Queen?
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Third Oracle
4 kids and years later, another plague in
Thebes—children, animals, crops dying
 Caused by the sin of harboring a murderer
whose crime is unpunished
 Oedipus places a horrible curse on the
killer and determines to seek the truth
 Teiresias-blind prophet identified the killer
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Enduring Ideas
Sight vs blindness
 Who’s in charge?
 Truth at all costs
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