Journal Topic

1
Journal Topic

• Let the punishment fit the crime

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Essential Question

• What makes Oedipus Rex
• a tragedy?

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What is a tragedy?

• Definition
• A serious drama
• main character of noble birth
• character is not all good or all evil
• strives to achieve something worthwhile/noble
• ultimately defeated
• defeat caused by error in judgment

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Exodos

• Read the Exodos
• As you read, jot down the following
• The sequence of key events of this section of the
  story
• At least 1 key quote that you believe is
  meaningful in terms of our discussion of the
  story
• Your reaction (1-2 sentences)

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Exodos

• Jocasta has killed herself
• Oedipus, enraged, seemed bent on killing her when
  he found her hanging
• He takes the brooches from her gown and gouges
  out his own eyes
• Wants to be led out of the city so that the curse
  may be lifted
• Acknowledges his role/responsibility for his fate

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Exodos

• Curses the shepherd who saved him
• Creon comes along and shows Oedipus mercy
• Oedipus begs Creon to let him live as a cast-off
  of society on Cithaeron
• Asks that his children be taken care of (realizes
  his daughters will live lives of misery)
• Oedipus is led into the palace (will he then be
  led out of Thebes?)

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Key Quotations from Exodos

• The greatest griefs are those we cause
  ourselves l. 1185
• Live where you can, be as happy as you can. (l.
  1455)
• Let every man in mankinds frailty consider his
  last day and let none presume on his good fortune
  until he find life, at his death, a memory
  without pain. (ll. 1472-1475)

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Journal Topic

• What can a person learn from reading
• Oedipus Rex?

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Symbolism (revisited)

• Oedipus Swollen Foot
• A literal flaw
• Limitations of power and strength
• Fate - marked at birth
• Failure to understand check his name!

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Symbolism (revisited)

• Blindness
• Limitations of human knowledge and
  understanding
• Insight shown with defeating Sphinx
  blindness to his identity
• Gouges out his own eyes
• In the end a man stumbling blindly through
  life

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Symbolism (revisited)

• The place where 3 roads meet
• decision
• direction of ones life
• 3 roads 3 parts to the riddle
• 3 headed god (Hecate) is the goddess of the
  crossroads

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Themes

• The willingness to ignore truth leads to tragic
  outcomes
• Teiresias Oedipus is seeing but will end up
  blind
• Oedipus was unable to see the truthThe moment
  he saw it, he blinded himself
• Oedipus ignores all the warning signs (Which
  ones?)

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Themes (cont.)

• The limitations of free-will We cannot control
  all of what happens to us and so we must learn to
  do what we can and accept what we must
• Free Will Fate

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Themes (cont.)

• The cause and nature of human suffering can, at
  times, be traced to our own thought, actions,
  desires, weakness
• The greatest griefs are those we cause
  ourselves
• To perceive is to suffer. - Aristotle

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Catharsis

• Definition a purification or cleansing of the
  emotions that brings about a spiritual renewal
• How might the tragedy of Oedipus bring about such
  a condition for the audience?

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Key questions about the play

• Do you agree that Oedipus' tragedy happens
  because of a 'tragic flaw'?
• How does Oedipus come to embody the riddle of the
  Sphinx?
• In what sense is Oedipus, though a king, also an
  "everyman" figure? In other words, how might this
  play be said to explore something fundamental
  about the limitations involved in being human?

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Key questions about the play

• Did Teiresias really believe that it would be
  better for everyone if truth were to remain
  undisclosed?
• Is truth always best known. Always best shared?
  Is it always best for guilt to be made public? In
  government? In marriage? In the church?
• Is ignorance bliss? Is bliss the greatest good?

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Key questions about the play

• Why did Oedipus blind himself? Do you believe his
  explanation for why he blinded himself?
• When did Jocasta realize Oedipus was her son?
• What lessons about being a king might Creon take
  away from this sad story?

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Key questions about the play

• What does the play teach about public life?
• What does the play teach about private life?