Oedipus Rex

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Oedipus Rex

• What you didnt know you needed to know about
  Oedipus et al.

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Athens 5th Century BCE

• exclusionary democracy- run by elected
  officials in the form of open assembly.
• Only 10 of population could participate
• Women, slaves, and non-citizens excluded

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Sophocles

• Born in Athens, Greece, in 496 BC
• Best-known of Greek playwrights
• Aware of inequalities in Athenian society
• His plays warned fellow Greeks of divine
  retribution as a result of prejudices and
  injustices to the poor.

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Religious Ideas

• Greek pantheon consisted of hundreds of deities
  in a complex hierarchy.
• While immortal and powerful, gods were not
  all-powerful (like modern concepts of God).
• Gods subject to Fate and each others will
• Greeks believed, to some extent, in Free Will,
  though FW was not more powerful than Destiny.

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Origins of Greek Drama

• Sixth century BCE
• According to legend and recorded by Aristotle,
  Thespis essentially invented acting by stepping
  in front of the chorus and performing solo.
  (Thespis ? Thespian ? Actor)

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Origins of Greek Drama

• Fifth century BCE
• Athens made tremendous advances in philosophy,
  rhetoric, literature, science, architecture, and
  visual arts. Tragedies were performed in
  competition as part of the Great Dionysia, in
  honor of the god Dionysus.
• Sophocles won 20 competitions (Aeschylus 13 and
  Euripedes 4).

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Conventions of Greek Theater

• The Three Unities described by Aristotle
• Unity of time- all the action of the place took
  place within 24-hours, in continuous time
  dialogue and Chorus provided background info.
• Unity of place- all of the action was limited to
  a single setting.
• Unity of subject- one single main plot focused on
  the main character. There were no sub-plots.

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Conventions of Greek Theater

• Dramatic irony- audiences were already familiar
  with plots, thus suspense was in how the events
  would transpire in real time.
• Plays were acted in daytime with minimal sets and
  props.
• Actors were male. They wore masks, wigs, and
  high-heeled boots which increased visibility.
• No violence was shown on stage.

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Conventions of Greek Theater

• Chorus was used to present exposition and
  commentary. Performed in song with a highly
  formal and stylized back-and-forth movement
• Strophe- the first part of a choral ode or
  kommos, during which the Chorus moves from left
  to right, or east to west, across the stage.
• Antistrophe- the part of a choral ode (kommos)
  that follows the strophe and during which the
  Chorus performs its return steps from right to
  left (or west to east)
• Epode- the third part of a choral ode, following
  the strophe and antistrophe and completing the
  Choruss movement.

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Tragedy

• Greek tragedy focuses on reversal of fortune
  (peripeteia), downfall of the tragic hero, and
  the events leading to that downfall.
• Both fate (destiny) and free will (tragic flaw)
  play a role in the tragedy of Oedipus Rex.
• As the hero accepts the consequences of this
  errors, the audience has a catharsis (feeling
  purged or drained of emotions), and is better
  able to understand life.

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Tragic Hero

• The tragic condition was often the result of the
  tragic heros hamartia (or, simply, the tragic
  flaw).
• One common trait associated with hamartia is
  hubrisexcessive pride or self-confidence.
• Ex Achilles dragging Hectors corpse around
  the wall of Troy in Homers Iliad.

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Oedipus Backstory

• Long before the play opens Laius, Oedipus'
  father, kidnaps the young boy Chrysippus and is
  then cursed by Chrysippus' father, Pelops. The
  weight of this curse bears down onto Oedipus
  himself.
• An oracle foretells that Laius son will kill his
  father and marry his mother. When Oedipus is
  born, Laius has the infant's ankles pierced with
  a brooch and placed in the wilderness to die. His
  servant, however, cannot carry out Laius' order
  and hands the boy to a shepherd who presents the
  child to King Polybus and Queen Merope of
  Corinth, who raise him as their own son.
• At a party, a drunk guest calls Oedipus a
  bastard. Seeking to confirm his lineage, Oedipus
  seeks out the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle
  relates the prophecy that he will kill his father
  and marry his mother.

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Oedipus Backstory

• After descending the mountain, on a road where
  three roads meet, he meets a man with a staff,
  riding a chariot. The man in the chariot demands
  that Oedipus stand aside so he can pass, finally
  hitting Oedipus with his staff. Oedipus, as the
  times permitted, kills the stranger and all but
  one of his entourage. The man he kills was King
  Laius, Oedipus' real father.
• Oedipus decides not to return home in order to
  avoid Polybus. As he travels, Oedipus encounters
  a mythical creature that terrorizes Thebes.
  Oedipus saves the city by answering the riddle of
  the Sphinx. Q "What walks on four legs in the
  morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three
  legs in the evening?" Since Oedipus answers the
  Sphinx's riddle correctly, he is offered the
  now-vacant throne of Thebes and the now-widowed
  queen's hand in marriage. Oedipus accepts both.
• Within a short time, divine signs of misfortune
  and pollution descend on Thebes. The people of
  Thebes beg the new king for help. Oedipus swears
  to find the person responsible for the pestilence
  and execute him.

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Themes

• people have a great desire to discover and to
  know the truth
• the truth is often painful
• human greatness lies within capacity to suffer,
  in one's readiness to accept the truth no matter
  how painful, in being responsible for all of
  one's actions, in the nobility of self-sacrifice.
  . .
• gods exist and must be revered, despite our
  inability to know and understand everything about
  them
• Humans are not equal to the gods (in knowledge,
  understanding, strength, authority), but he is
  not helpless, either
• (for example, man is not in complete control of
  his own destiny, nor can he hope to know all he
  needs to know in order to make the "right"
  decision, but he is capable of great and noble
  actions)
• man's humanity to man (Oed.'s concern for the
  people of Thebes, for his daughters)
• sight vs. blindness- work out your own wording
  for this one

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Oedipal Complex(compliments of Freud)

• Freud coined The Oedipal complex to explain the
  origin of a common childhood neuroses.
• Male child's unconscious desire for the exclusive
  love of his mother. This desire includes jealousy
  towards the father and the unconscious wish for
  that parent's death.
• This complex DOES NOT mean boys want to have sex
  with their moms.
• Oedipus himself, as portrayed in the myth, did in
  no way suffer from this neurosis - at least, not
  towards Jocasta, whom he only met as an adult.
  However, Freud reasoned that the ancient Greek
  audience, which heard the story told or saw the
  plays based on it, did know that Oedipus was
  actually killing his father and marrying his
  mother the story being continually told and
  played therefore reflected a preoccupation with
  the theme.