Oedipus Rex

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• Oedipus Rex
• Written by Sophocles

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• Oedipus Rex is considered one of the worlds
  greatest tragedies

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Sophocles

• Sophocles was born around 496 B.C.
• He was one of Greeces greatest playwrights and
  won prizes for his tragedies 24 times
• Born into wealth, Sophocles lived during Athens
  Golden Age of achievement and wrote 123 plays
• We still have 7 of those plays today.

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Oedipus Rex Notes

• Tragedy-
• serious drama featuring a main character, often
  of noble birth, who strives to achieve something
  and is ultimately defeated.
• Tragic flaw-
• the inborn character flaw or weakness that causes
  the main characters downfall

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Structure of Greek Tragedies

• Prologue Sets forth the subject and provides the
  mythological background necessary for
  understanding the events of the play
• Parados song sung by the chorus as it first
  enters- named for the corridors at the front of
  the stage of a Greek theater
• Episode a scene of dialogue in which one or
  more actors take part

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Structure of Greek Tragedies, cont.

• Exodus a processional song sung by the chorus
  at the end of the play, offering words of wisdom
  related to the actions and outcome of the play
• Chorus a group that serves as a nameless
  onlooker and commentator- Sophocles uses the
  Chorus as an actual character
• Choral Odes the choruss lyric songs

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Oedipus Rex

• The Theban Plays- three tragedies by Sophocles
  about King Oedipus of Thebes
• written over a period of 36 years
• Antigone (442 BC)
• Oedipus Rex (429 BC)
• Oedipus at Colonus (406 BC)

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Oedipus Rex

• Themes
• The quest for identity
• The nature of innocence and guilt
• The nature of moral responsibility
• The limitations of human will versus fate
• The abuse of power

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Oedipus Rex

• Dramatic irony-
• When the reader or audience knows something
  important that a character in a story or drama
  does not know

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Dramatic Irony, cont.

• The fundamental irony in the play stems from the
  audiences knowledge of Oedipus true identity
  (of which Oedipus is completely unaware)

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• What do we (the audience) know that Oedipus
  doesnt know? Well

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THEBES King Laius Queen Jocasta
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THEBES King Laius Queen Jocasta
baby
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THEBES King Laius Queen Jocasta
baby
Oracleservant/ shepherd
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THEBES King Laius Queen Jocasta
baby
Oracleservant/ shepherd
Mt. Cithaeron
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THEBES King Laius Queen Jocasta
baby
Oracleservant/ shepherd
Shepherd finds baby with ankles bound
Mt. Cithaeron
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THEBES King Laius Queen Jocasta
CORINTH King Polybus Queen Merope
baby
Oracleservant/ shepherd
Shepherd finds baby with ankles bound
Mt. Cithaeron
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Oedipus hears prophecy
THEBES King Laius Queen Jocasta
CORINTH King Polybus Queen Merope
baby
Oracleservant/ shepherd
Shepherd finds baby with ankles bound
Mt. Cithaeron
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Crossroads scufflekills Laius
Oedipus hears prophecy
THEBES King Laius Queen Jocasta
CORINTH King Polybus Queen Merope
baby
Oracleservant/ shepherd
Shepherd finds baby with ankles bound
Mt. Cithaeron
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Crossroads scufflekills Laius
Solves riddle,
Oedipus hears prophecy
THEBES King Laius Queen Jocasta
CORINTH King Polybus Queen Merope
baby
Oracleservant/ shepherd
Shepherd finds baby with ankles bound
Mt. Cithaeron
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Riddle of the Sphinx

• Sphinxhead of woman, body of lion, wings of
  eagle
• Riddle What goes on four legs in the morning,
  on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the
  evening?

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Answer

• A man! He crawls on all fours as a baby, walks
  on two legs as an adult, and walks with a cane
  during old age

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Sphinx cond

• Oedipus solved the riddle, and the Sphinx
  destroyed herself.
• Of course morning, noon, and night are metaphors
  for the times in a man's (person's) life. Such
  metaphors are common in riddles.

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Crossroads scufflekills Laius
Solves riddle, saves town, marries Queen
Oedipus hears prophecy
THEBES King Laius Queen Jocasta
CORINTH King Polybus Queen Merope
baby
Oracleservant/ shepherd
Shepherd finds baby with ankles bound
Mt. Cithaeron
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Crossroads scufflekills Laius
Solves riddle, saves town, marries Queen
Oedipus hears prophecy
Play begins 20 years later
THEBES King Laius Queen Jocasta
CORINTH King Polybus Queen Merope
baby
Oracleservant/ shepherd
Shepherd finds baby with ankles bound
Mt. Cithaeron