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Oedipus Rex
Oedipus Rex
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First performed around 429 BC
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Won second place at the feast of Dionysus
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Cited by Aristotle in Poetics as the highest
achievement in Greek tragedy
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Setting:
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Time: unknown
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Place: in front of the
palace of Thebes,
ancient Greece
Themes
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Fate vs. free will
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Attempting to avoid one’s fate causes the
prophesied event to occur.
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Could Oedipus have chosen to act differently, and
if so, would things have happened differently?
Sight vs. blindness
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Oedipus, who can see, is mentally “blind” to his
horrible mistake, while the blind prophet Tiresias
can see Oedipus’s actions clearly.
The Sphinx’s Riddle
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What is the creature that walks on four legs in
the morning, two legs at noon, and three in
the evening?"
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Man (who crawls on all fours as an infant,
walks upright later, and needs a walking stick
in old age)
Sophocles c. 497-405 BC
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Born in Colonus and died in
Athens
From a wealthy family
Believed to have written 123
plays, but only 7 have
survived
Competed in around 30
competitions, won 24, and
never got lower than 2nd
Tragedy
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“Tragedy is, then, an enactment of a deed that
is important and complete, and of a certain
magnitude, by means of language enriched
with ornaments, each used separately in the
different parts of the play: it is enacted, not
merely recited, and through pity and fear it
effects relief (catharsis) to such and similar
emotions.” Aristotle, Poetics, VI 1449b 2-3
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enactment
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deed that is important
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complete
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of a certain magnitude
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language enriched with ornaments
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recited
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through pity and fear it effects relief
Structure
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Prologue: preliminary speech introducing the
drama and background of the story
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Parodos: first song sung by the chorus
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Episodes: the main action of the play
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Stasimon: songs from the chorus that explain
or comment on the action of the play
Exodus: the conclusion of the play
Elements of a Tragedy
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Three unities:
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action: a play should have one main action that it
follows, with no or few subplots.
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place: the action in a play should take place in
only one setting.
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time: the action in a play should take place over
no more than 24 hours.
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Main characters of noble rank
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Several of the main characters along with the
Tragic hero
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The protagonist of a tragedy.
The audience feels pity or sympathy towards
him.
Shows hubris—pride or arrogance, the
presumption that one’s mind alone can
distinguish good and evil.
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Has a tragic flaw—error in judgment.
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Experiences a reversal of fortune.
Examples
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Oedipus in Sophocles' Oedipus the King (429
BC).
Brutus in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
(1599).
Hamlet in Shakespeare's Hamlet (1601).
Lear in Shakespeare's King Lear (c. 16031606).
Macbeth in Shakespeare's Macbeth (c. 1603-