KanyaAP Literature

Oedipus Rex Background Info

Objectivesfor this unit

➢ To gain introductory knowledge of Greek drama, especially Greek tragedy

➢ To understand the concept of the tragic hero

A Special Note

➢ Please understand that this play and this unit are foundational, which means that we will constantly be referring to the ideas that come up, and to the main events of this play.

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➢ You must understand the ideas and events in this unit. If you are ever confused, please contact me, and I will gladly help.

So about that title...

➢ Titled Oedipus Rex, which translates from the ancient Greek as Oedipus the King.

➢ The play is rather short, but the language is difficult because it was written a long, long time ago (about 450 BCE).

Sophocles the Playwright

➢ From: Athens, Greece ➢➢ Produced: 100+ plays, seven of which survive today (all of

which are deeply troubling)➢➢ Greek culture believed that anything was possible through

human effort and reason – Sophocles presented the opposite in Oedipus Rex.

➢➢ This play involves characters that are caught up in

unsolvable dilemmas causing them to challenge their faith in the gods as well as humanity.

➢➢ Oedipus Rex is one of the world’s greatest tragedies.

Given the form of the play,what is it telling us about the culture and point in history in which it was performed?

➢ The play was performed as a celebration to Dionysus (the god of fertility, sex, and theater).

➢ The event was a three-day celebration where three playwrights presented tragedies...

➢ Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus were three of the most celebrated and successful playwrights…everyone went.

Also keep in mind the importance of myth in the Greek culture.

Gods, heroes, and storytelling dominated their world and most of it was oral.

The Stage

Skene (skay-nay) scene hut located on stage

Periaktoi (pear-ee-ack-toy) triangular prisms or scenery – country/city/other

How would actors tackle a work like Oedipus Rex today?

➢ This Greek text is extremely demanding on modern actors.

➢ Actors were very skilled and trained 2,500 years ago.

➢ Some audiences were 20,000 -60,000 strong!

➢ They would need to have well trained voices and bodies in order to effectively communicate.

That’s like performing to a sold out crowd at Yankee Stadium...without a microphone.

The Chorus

➢ In Greek plays, an important character was always The Chorus.

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➢ The Chorus represents the common man, in this case, the people of Thebes, who love their king.

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➢ You may find their lines the most confusing because they are sung.

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➢ Generally, you need only get the gist of what the chorus means.

The Chorus Continued...

➢ Two groups called Strophe and Antistrophe. ➢

➢ Their chants recap what has happened and ask questions to the characters that have not been answered.

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➢ Often it sounds like they are speaking their thoughts aloud.

Can you explainthe strophe and antistrophe a little bit more?

➢ Literally, the strophe and antistrophe are poetic stanzas.

➢ With regards to dramatic movement within them, the chorus would have moved to contrast one another.

➢ The antistrophe was an answer or a response to the strophe and therefore the movement would have mirrored and supported that concept.

What is difficultabout directing this play?

➢ It lacks a lot of what we call dramatic action.

➢ The Greeks didn’t show you much. They TALK about what has just happened but show you very little.

➢ For example: You don’t see Oedipus …, you hear about the aftermath.

Terms to Recap

Dithyramb (dith-eh-ramb): synchronized chanting (think iambic pentameter)

Dramatic Irony: when an audience watching a play understands what’s going on in a situation while the characters are unaware of what is happening.

Tragedy: a serious drama with a protagonist who struggles to achieve one thing and is ultimately unable to attain it, failing deeply

Tragic Flaw: a weakness that the protagonist has, leading to his or her downfall.

In Greek tragedy this is referred to as Hamartia – (ha-mar-tia) meaning “to miss the mark” the tragic flaw causing the down fall.

Hubris: extreme pride and arrogance shown by a character, which ultimately brings about his downfall

Oedipus Rex is a tragedy.

Let’s begin like this…Suppose that a fortune-teller, who has never been wrong, predicts that you will murder your father.

What do you do?

Do you accept it, walk into pop’s bedroom, and knock him over the head with an axe?

Or do you defy the fortune-teller, and the gods he supposedly listens to, and run away to a distant country where you could never possibly see your father again?

The latter is the solution that Oedipus comes up with.

The story begins with two prophecies…

● Both prophecies were made by The Oracle at Delphi. ●● The Oracle was a woman, granted supernatural

knowledge by the god, Apollo (or Phoebus, as he is often referred to in the play).

●● Her first prophecy was to the King of Thebes, named

Laius. She predicted that his son would murder him, and marry his wife.

●● You can imagine how he reacted. He had the child

strangled and buried far from the city.

The second prophecy…

● The Oracle’s second prophecy was made to Oedipus when he was a young man, and it was the one suggested above: that he would murder his father.

●● He reacted by never returning home from the Oracle. ●● His parents were the King and Queen of Corinth, and

he could expect to inherit their throne, but he gave all that up in order to run away from the prophecy.

Understanding the PlacesCorinth & Thebes

➢ Corinth and Thebes are the two important cities.

➢ By modern standards, they are near each other, but to the ancient Greeks, they were a dangerous journey apart.

After he runs away…

● Oedipus, the young man (let’s say, eighteen), travels the world, seeking some fortune.

●● One day, he comes to a narrow place in the road at the same

time as a proud, rich man in a horse-drawn carriage. ●● The two men insult each other, each wanting to pass the

narrow place first, until eventually they come to blows. ●

Oedipus kills the older man and all of his guards, thus establishing himself as a warrior of heroic status.

The Sphinx

Shortly after the encounter with the old man on the road, Oedipus arrives at the gates of Thebes.

There, he finds the city is in terrible danger.

A monster, called the Sphinx, has forbidden all traffic into or out of the city until someone can answer its riddle.

The city is starving because no one can answer the riddle correctly.

The Sphinx riddle went like this...“What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs at night?”

Any guesses?

Oedipus Becomes the Hero of Thebes

● Oedipus answered the Sphinx correctly: “a man,” he said. ●● “A man walks on four legs until he learns to walk, then two legs as an adult, and

uses a cane as his third leg in old age.”●● The Sphinx lifted the siege, and Thebes was saved. ●● As luck would have it, the town had recently lost its king, and they asked

Oedipus to fill the position. ●● He agreed, and sealed the deal by marrying old King Laius’ wife, Jocasta. ●● Jocasta was older than him, but still beautiful, and she bore him four children…

And that brings you up to speed…

Our play begins many years later. Oedipus has ruled Thebes well, and the city has become prosperous.

He has never contacted his parents, the rulers of Corinth, for fear that he will come into conflict with them (don’t forget his original prophecy).

But he has reason to be proud: not only is he a fine king, but he has outsmarted the gods themselves who decreed that he should murder his parents.

The Crisis

● The basic problem in the play is that Thebes has a new crisis. Once again, the city is starving, and even the great King Oedipus can’t solve it.

●● The famine seems to be of supernatural origin, and so

Oedipus sends to The Oracle to find out what the solution is. ●● The report back: Thebes must discover the murderer of the

old King Laius before the famine will be resolved.

Charactersto know

➢ Teiresias: A blind prophet

➢ Jocasta: Oedipus’s wife

➢ Creon: Oedipus’s brother-in-law

Annotation Focus:Things to look out for while you read

➢ Fate vs. Free Will

➢ Hubris

➢ Dramatic Irony