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Oedipus Tyrannus

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Title: Oedipus Tyrannus


1
Oedipus Tyrannus
  • The Human Plague

2
  • A plague has stricken Thebes. The citizens gather
    outside the palace of their king, Oedipus, asking
    him to take action. Oedipus replies that he
    already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the
    Oracle at Delphi to learn how to help the city.
    Creon returns with a message from the Oracle the
    plague will end when the murderer of Laius,
    former king of Thebes, is caught and expelled
    the murderer is within the city ...

3
  • ... Oedipus sends for Tiresias, the blind
    prophet, and asks him what he knows about the
    murder. Tiresias responds cryptically, lamenting
    his ability to see the truth when the truth
    brings nothing but pain. At first he refuses to
    tell Oedipus what he knows, but eventually gives
    in ...

4
  • ... Realizing who he is and who his parents are,
    Oedipus screams that he sees the truth and flees
    back into the palace. Jocasta has hanged herself,
    and Oedipus, finding her dead, has pulled the
    pins from her robe and stabbed out his own eyes.
    Oedipus now emerges from the palace, bleeding and
    begging to be exiled. He asks Creon to send him
    away from Thebes.

5
The Metaphors
  • Thebes The Human Body
  • The Citizens The Human Cells
  • Oedipus The Disease

6
Thebes The Human Body
  • We have metaphors such as my body is a temple,
    if this is the case, then why cant our body be
    a city?
  • City Human Body
  • Houses People Houses Cells
  • The city is personified and given human
    qualities, in this case illness.
  • When describing the plague within the city, the
    citizens are not described as ill, but rather the
    city itself.
  • e.g. City is Plagued, Purge the city of its
    illness, driving out this infection from the
    city, etc.

7
The Citizens The Human Cells
  • A city is made up of its citizens A body is made
    of cells
  • Pain, Misery beyond reckoning
  • My people, all my people, sick with plague.
  • I search my mind for defence . (Line 168)
  • It is the cells and organs that are affected by
    illness and causes the body to be sick.
  • The people are the plagued, not the city.
  • The city is ill due the people, much like the
    body sick as a result of irregularities within
    the body, e.g. Cancer cells.

8
Oedipus The Disease
  • Oedipus is the cause of the illness in the city
  • A disease is the cause of illness in the body
  • When confronted by Oedipus, Tiresias declared
    Oedipus is in fact the cause of the plague
    Oedipus is the murderer of the King.
  • Tiresias tells Oedipus, the murderer you seek is
    you.
  • Tiresias takes on the role of the Doctor, and he
    detects the cause of the illness.
  • Oedipus evidently becomes the cause of the
    illness to the city.

9
Construction
  • Line 156 Thebes is struck down with a plague.
  • The symptoms are described by the Chorus.
  • Line 57-101 Creon come back from seeing the
    oracle at Delphi with the new of a cure.
  • Line 103-131 The hunt for the murderer of King
    Laius begins. It is the cure for the plague
    that is desolating the city.

10
  • Line 132-296 The investigation begins, and
    Oedipus is determined to find the Murderer
    and save the city.
  • Line 297-462 Tiresias is brought in to help solve
    the mystery, and Oedipus is implicated.
  • Line 463-1054 Oedipus and Jocasta both try to
    discredit Tiresiass Claim.
  • Line 1055-1179 Tiresias's clam becomes
    undisputable when both the Shepherd and
    Herdsman tells Oedipus of his Origins.

11
  • Line 1180-END Oedipus is finally recognises the
    truth, and gouges out his eyes. He is then
    banished from Thebes, taking with him the
    plague.

12
The BODY A Journey from Illness to Well-being
  • Symptom
  • Diagnosis
  • Treatment

13
Symptom
  • Telltale Signs of Cancer include  A lump or
    thickening in the breast or testicles a change
    in a wart or mole a skin sore or a persistent
    sore throat that doesn't heal a change in bowel
    or bladder habits a persistent cough or coughing
    blood constant indigestion or trouble
    swallowing unusual bleeding and vaginal
    discharge.
  • Desolation wastes away the harvest, destroys our
    herds grazing in the field, blights the women and
    makes them barren. (Line 25)

14
Diagnosis
  • If Cancer is suspected based on a person's
    symptoms, the results of a physical examination,
    and sometimes the results of screening tests will
    determine it.
  • I have already sent Creon, my own wifes
    brother, to the oracle, Apollo's shrine at
    Delphi. There he will learn the will of the gods
    ... (Line 69)

15
Treatment
  • Chemotherapy is the use to treat cancer.
    Chemotherapy affects cell division. Tumours with
    high growth fractions are more sensitive to
    chemotherapy. Large portions of the targeted cell
    can be eradicated by chemo.
  • Then hear the words I heard from the god. Lord
    Apollo has made his will clear drive out
    defilement nurtured in your land. Cherish it no
    longer it must be purged. (Line 95)

16
Conclusion
  • Not only is Sophocles's Oedipus Tyrannus a
    metaphor for the human body in dealing with
    illness (cancer), but the play itself becomes a
    metaphor for the journey of the human body from
    illness to well-being.

17
Works Cited
  • Sontag, Susan. Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and
    its Metaphors. New York Picador- Farrar, Straus
    and Giroux, 1990.
  • Sophocles. Oedipus Tyrannus Theban plays
    translated, with introduction and notes, by Peter
    Meineck and Paul Woodruff. Indianapolis Hackett
    Pub., c2003.
  • The Cancer Cure Foundation http//www.cancure.org
    /
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