Theater at Epidaurus
Sophocles’ Oedipus the King 1
“Know Thyself!” — If you Dare!
Sophocles in old age
12-Mar 2
Critical Thinking Rubric
• Evidence-based argument?• Logic-based argument?• Open-minded argument?• Communicable argument?• Plausible argument?• Productive argument?
Delphi
“Know thyself!”
12-Mar 3
New Question
Do Sophocles’ “Theban Plays” (Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus) shift moral responsibility
from human beings to fate / the gods?
12-Mar 4
aitia responsibility/guilttukhē fortune/chancemoira fate
12-Mar 5
Agenda
• Play Facts• Aeschylean Tragedy
– Is Sophocles’ OK One So Far?
• Agōn 2: Oedipus v. Creon– Character, Thought, Speech, Action
Play Facts
12-Mar 7
Sophocles, “Theban Plays”
• Playwright– ca. 496-ca. 406 BCE– first victory 468
• “Theban Plays”– Antigone, ca. 441– Oedipus the King, ca. 429– Oedipus at Colonus, ca. 406
SophoclesSophocles
12-Mar 8
Oedipus Family, Backstory
• Tiresias• Chorus of Citizens
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Laius (deceased) = Jocasta = Oedipus Creon
Menoecius
Antigone Ismene Polynices Eteocles
?
OK Analysis(Penguin page numbers)
• prologue 15 ff.– Oed, priest, Creon. plague, oracle
• parodos 168 ff.– divine invocation. war on plague
• 1st episode 171 ff.– Oed, Tiresias. agōn 1
• 1st stasimon 186 f.– who the killer?
• 2nd episode 188 ff.– Cr, Oed. agōn 2– 1st kommos (197 ff.)
» Chorus, J, Oed
– Comparison of oracles• 2nd stasimon 209 f.
– pride breeds the tyrant
• 3rd episode 211 ff.– J, Corinthian messenger, Oed.
Polybus dead. Oed “child of fortune”
• 3rd stasimon 224– desperate optimism
• 4th episode 225 ff.– Oed, Shepherd, J. recognition
• 4th stasimon 233 f.– Oed man of sorrows
• exodos– Messenger, Oed. J’s suicide– 2nd kommos (240 ff.)
» Chorus, Oed., Oed’s grief
– Oed, Creon. final arrangements
12-Mar 10
Aeschylean Tragedy
Is Sophocles’ OK One So Far?
12-Mar 12
Aeschylean Tragedy Checklist…Analytical concepts• koros
– Laius as implicated in koros?
– Od• hubris
– Od disbelieves insults T• atē
– disabelief (Oed’s disbelief – e.g. w/ J)
• dikē• tragic cycle• tragic knowledge• tragic epiphany
Further thoughts?• [comment]
Agōn 2: Oedipus v. Creon
Character, Thought, Speech, Action
12-Mar 14
Why shouldn’t Oedipus suspect Creon?
12-Mar 15
Oedipus/Creon: Your Reactions• trying to make sense of
situation– not justified, but
understandable as emotional response
– creon does good• oed feel threatened
– human response– creon does good defense
• creon’s arg not believable– 2nd to king?? suspicious
• argument limited– human nature – ambition,
closeness to power
• creon makes a plausible argument– creon’s talking him – not
dialectic– should have waited
• oed may already be self-suspecting
• both getting heated– creon provocative in his
unsatisfactory responses to oed asking about earlier inveasigation
• cr and t is prime suspect circumstantially