Sophocles (ca. 496-406 B.C.E.) Oedipus Rex (ca. 430 B.C.E.)
Things to Consider :
Roles of Gods/Roles of Humans in Fate
Roles of Prophets
Relation of Character to Plot
Images of Vision
Oedipus vs. Gilgamesh/Sundiata/Soumaoro
Dramatic Irony (see p. 484)
Roles of Women: Iliad vs. Oedipus
Role of Chorus
Sigmund Freud
Interesting Essay on Oedipus and Sphinx
** Homework Questions **
Background: (See Oedipus Rex Q's )
"The Greeks":
9:
Describe the Greek city-states system.
10-11:
Explain the difference in government between Sparta and
Attica (See also p. 12).
11:
Describe the position of women in Athens and Sparta at this
time.
13:
Describe the Sophists. How was Socrates like and/or unlike
them?
"Athenian Drama":
475:
Describe the contexts surrounding the performances of Greek
drama in the ancient world.
479-80:
Describe the composition of the chorus.
Sophocles:
481:
What general themes, according to the editors, are
associated with the works of Sophocles?
483:
Explain: Oedipus the King "is a drama not of
surprise, but of suspense" (483).
484:
What two essential plot patterns did Aristotle identify in
this play?
Define dramatic irony.
Other Discussion Questions: 9:
Describe the Dark Ages of Greece.
Describe the Greek writing system in the 7th c. B.C.E.
10:
Describe life in the Persian Empire.
Describe the importance of the events in Marathon and
Salamis in the 5th c. B.C.E.
12:
Describe the difference between direct and representational
democracy.
Describe the Peloponnesian War (See also 14-15).
13:
Describe the important cultural and intellectual changes in
the 5th c. B.C.E.
15:
Describe the figures of Philip and Alexander.
What was the Hellenistic age?
18:
In what language were the first accounts of Jesus of
Nazareth written?
475:
Who is Dionysus?
476:
When and by whom was tragedy invented? What did this
invention involve?
478:
Describe the construction of the Athenian theater.
479:
What two major structural devices do the editors describe?
What purposes did they serve?
Explain the importance of the deus ex machina.
Describe the actors who participated in Athenian plays.
Describe the effect of masks on the performance of the
actors.
Identify and describe the two important dialogue techniques
employed by the Athenian dramatists.
Describe iambic hexameter and iambic pentameter.
480:
Describe the purpose of the messenger speech.
Describe the composition of the plots of Greek tragedy.
482:
Describe the importance of Pericles to the development of
the Athenian theater.
What innovations did Sophocles bring to the theater?
How many plays did Sophocles write? How many survive?
483:
Describe the practice of exposure.
484:
In what ways, according to the editors, can Oedipus be seen
as a typical fifth-century Athenian?
Define hamartia.
Explain Freud's concept of the Oedipus Complex.
Oedipus the King
How has Oedipus come to rule Thebes?
What kind of king is Oedipus?
2:
What is the cause of the plague?
6:
What does Oedipus think is the reason that Creon urges
Teiresias to blame Oedipus?
8:
Explain:
Truly Zeus and Apollo are wise and in human things all knowing; but amongst men there is no distinct judgement, between the prophet and me—which of us is right. (578-82)
11:
How does Jocasta initially react to Oedipus's claims?
13:
Why has Oedipus killed Laios? Is he
justified? Explain.
20:
Why does Oedipus blind himself? Is it indeed an act of
"free will and heroism," as Michael Bayton suggests in another
edition of the play?
20-21:
Explain: "It was Apollo, friends, Apollo,/that
brought this bitter bitterness, my sorrows to completion"
(1517-18).
Concluding Question:
Is Oedipus's suffering really undeserved, as Michael
Bayton suggests?
Other Discussion Questions: 1:
Why do the citizens come to Oedipus's palace?
Who is the Sphinx?
5:
Who is Teiresias?
8:
How does Creon respond to Oedipus's claims?
13:
Why, at first, can't Oedipus be sure that he has killed
Laius?
14:
Why does the messenger from Corinth believe that the news
of Polybus's death will bring joy to Oedipus and Jocasta?
15:
Explain: "Why should man fear since chance is all
in all/for him, and he can clearly foreknow nothing?"
(1100-1).
Explain: "Before this, in dreams too, as well as
oracles,/many a man has lain with his own mother" (1105-6).
17:
Why does Oedipus call himself the "child of Fortune"
(1236)? What does that mean?
19:
Why does the servant say that the palace can't be washed
clean by either the Phasis or the Ister (1391)? What
does he mean?
20:
Why does Oedipus ask for a sword when he is looking for
Jocasta?
21:
Explain: "Come--it is unfit to say what is unfit/to
do" (1585-86).
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