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SOPHOCLES
AND
OEDIPUS THE KING
Sophocles ca. 496—406 BCE
 Time period:
-----Athens far advanced in power and prosperity;
-----The league of free cities had became an
empire, in which Athens taxed and coerced the
subject cities.
-----Died 2 years before Athens surrendered to Sparta
 Playing prominent part in the city’s affairs: treasurers,
general; member of special committee
Sophocles’s Career as
Dramatist
 468: won first prize at the Dionysia,
competing against Aeschylus
 Produced more than 120 plays over the next
62 years
 Won first prize no fewer than 24 times
 When he was not first, he came in second,
never third.
Achievements
 The Creator of the third actor to the Greek
drama
 The use of the third actor to create complex
triangular scenes
-----(Oedipus vs. messenger vs. a listening
Jocasta)
-----In comparison to Aeschylus: Agamemnon
vs. Clytemnestra vs. Cassandra (less dramatic
tension)
Historical Background
 Oedipus was probably staged during the early
years of the Peloponnesian War
(431-404 B.C.E.)
 Most of the plays date from the last half of
the fifth century B.C.E.; they were written in
and for an Athens that had undergone an
intellectual revolution.
Historical Background
 It was in a time of critical re-evaluation of
accepted standards and tradition that
Sophocles produced his masterpiece, Oedipus
the King, and the problems of the time are
reflected in the play.
Question for Discussion
 What kind of suitor will win your heart?
-----practical, down-to-the earth, engaged in
saving money for the future
-----romantic, generous, engaged in creating
love scenes
 What type of husband would you like to
marry?
Question for Discussion
 Do you take interest in fortune telling? What
might be people’s motives in so doing or not
so doing?
 If you are the mother of a wanted criminal,
will you notify the police of the criminal’s
whereabouts? Should the mother be
considered violating the law or even the
accomplice if she fails to do so?
After Reading
The Power of the Play
 Authority of history:
---The history of ages that leaves no
records is myth.
 Authority of religion: the relation between
humanity and gods
---Man should not try to or think he can exceed
gods in power.
 The power to arouse the irrational hopes and
fears that lie deep and secret in the human
conscious (incest desire).
Dramatic Ironies in the
Revelation of Truth
 Jocasta tells King Laius’s death at where
three roads intersect rather than at his son’s
hand. The information is meant for relieving
Oedipus of his anger about Tiresias’s
prophecy. This, however, causes Oedipus’s
suspicion of himself as the murderer.
Dramatic Ironies in the
Revelation of Truth
 The messenger from Corinth tells Oedipus he
is not the son of Polybus. The information is
meant for relieving Oedipus of his fear of
Apollo’s prophecy. This, however, further
discloses the truth of Oedipus’s birth.
The Contemporary
Significance
 Oedipus as a typical fifth-century Athenian
 Containing all their virtues and vices as well
The characteristics of the
Athenians
 The words by the Corinthian spokesman at
Sparta:
---“Athenians . . .are equally quick in the
conception and in the execution of every new
plan.”
---“They are bold beyond their strength; they
run risks that prudence would condemn.”
---“In the midst of misfortune they are full of
hope.”
The characteristics of the
Athenians
 Devotion to the city
 Quick rage:
---condemned and executed the generals who
had failed, in the stress of weather and battle,
to pick up the drowned bodies of their own
men killed in the naval engagement at
Arginusae.
Oedipus’s Character as a
Typical Athenian
 Quick in conception & execution:
---Oedipus has already sent to Delphi when the
priest advises him to do so and has already
sent for Tiresias when the chorus suggests
this course of action.
Oedipus’s Character as a
Typical Athenian
 Bold & Risk-Running
---Oedipus risked his life to answer the riddle of
Sphinx
---In spite of the oracle about his marriage,
accepted the hand of the queen.
Oedipus’s Character as a
Typical Athenian
 Full of hope even in the midst of misfortune
---Oedipus claims that he is “the child of
fortune” even when he is told that he is not
the son of Polybus and Merope and Jocasta
has already realized whose son he is.
Oedipus’s Character as a
Typical Athenian
 Devotion to the city
---His answer to the priest at the beginning of
the play shows that he is a conscientious and
patriotic ruler.
---His curse on the murderer of King Laius is due
to his civil concern.
Oedipus’s Character as a
Typical Athenian
 Quick rage
---the characteristic fault of Athenian
democracy
---He throws a tantrum when his search of the
murderer is frustrated at the first attempt.
---His anger bursts out again when his
interrogation of Tiresias gets no result.
Oedipus’s Character as a
Typical Athenian
 Confidence in the human intelligence,
especially his own
(Every step his intelligence prompted took him
one step nearer to disaster.)
1. pity & orthodoxy
2. taunting at oracles when he hears that
Polybus is dead
3. the despairing courage with which he accepts
the consequences, “And I am at the edge of
hearing horrors, yes, but I must hear.”
A Question to Explore
 What causes Oedipus’s tragedy?
A Question to Explore
 What causes Oedipus’s tragedy?
---He is the man he is, because of all aspects of
his character, good and bad alike.
What causes Oedipus’s
tragedy?
 His confidence in human intelligence
 His risk-running boldness
 His devotion to the city
 His quick conception and execution
 His quick rage
 His hopefulness as the situation darkens
 His passion for discovering the truth
The Revelation of Oedipus’s
Character: Present and Past
 Each action on stage shows us the mood in
which he committed some action in the past.
The Revelation of Oedipus’s
Character: Present and Past
1. Quick rage:
----His death sentence on Creon
he killed Laius because of an insult on the
high way
2. Action without forethought
----proclamation of total excommunication for
the unknown murderer 
accepting the hand of Jocasta
The Revelation of Oedipus’s
Character: Present and Past
3. intelligent, persistent search for truth
---Searching the murderer of Laius 
Solving the riddle of Sphinx
Oedipus’s coming to true
self-knowledge
Oedipus’s coming to full self-knowledge:
---He learns that the oracle he had first fought
against and then laughed at has been fulfilled,
that every step his intelligence prompted
took him one step nearer to disaster, that his
knowledge was ignorance and his clean vision
blindness.
The figure that arouses fear
& pity
 A man among the highly renowned and
prosperous, who is not pre-eminent in virtue
and justice, and yet on the other hand does
not fall into misfortune through vice or
depravity, but falls because of some mistake
(陰錯陽差).
Further Reflection on the
Questions
 A romantic lover might easily become an
irresponsible husband in the future.
 A practical lover would probably be a
responsible husband, who, however, might
bore you.
A Question to Explore
 Is Apollo the essential factor in the
tragedy?
A Question to Explore
 Is Apollo the essential factor in the
tragedy?
---Although Apollo has predicted what Oedipus
will do, he does not determine it. Oedipus
determines his own conduct, by being the
man he is.
Sophocles’s Reflection Upon
the Man and the World
 Oedipus suffers more than he deserves.
 He has served as an example of the
inadequacy of the human intellect and a
warning that there is a power in the universe
that humanity cannot control or even fully
understand. (敬天畏神)
 But Oedipus still has our sympathy and
Sophocles felt this too.
The Conflict in Antigone
 Antigone vs. Creon:
--representatives of two irreconcilable social
and religious positions
--Family loyalty vs. loyalty to the state
Further Reflection upon
Questions
 So, what will be your verdict (final judgment)
on the mother who fails to inform the police
of her son’s crime?
An Gender Issue
 The tension between household and civic
institution:
 The attempt of Athenian periodic legislature
to curtail public display at funerals, including
women’s laments.
 Athenians’s fear of disorder created by
women in the household