OEDIPUS

greek tragedy

plot

characters

literary device

the mes fate

Aristotle's tragedy

greek contest

Oedipus

Jocasta

Tiresias

chorus

structure

Tiresias is physically blind

Tiresias is asked by Oedipus to come and tell who killed king Laius

He refused tell oedipus the truth, knowing it would end in his and his family ruin

inspires Oedipus to find our about his past

He is a static character

Creon

Jocastas brother and Oedipus's bother in law

tries to help Oedipus figure our how to end the plague but is accused by Oedipus of conspiring against him

Oedipus the king

son of the king and queen of Thebes but Is given away and grows up with king Polybus and queen Merope

When he gets to Thebes he becomes king of Thebes and he becomes arrogant and very confident

He is motivated to get to the bottom of things; he wants to find out wh killed king Laius, who his parents are and

because of this he kills his father, marries his mother, who later commits suicide and his children will be shunned by society

Oedipus's Wife and mother

Had 4 children with Oedipus

Dramatic Irony

"Do you know from whom you are? Yea, you are ignorant that to your own you are an enemy, whether on earth, alive or under it"(p.14)

Conflict

Foreshadowing

Creon knows that Oedipus killed his own father, the King , but yes not say this in one way and so every time he foreshadows a bit of information

Tragedy

Themes

Vision/Blindness

Tiresias is physically blind but he know and sees that Oedipus is the on who really killed the king

BUT Oedipus himself does not know this even though he physically can see

The oracle of Delphi

Nature of innocence and guilt

Necessity of truth

The Chorus is the voice of the people

they already knew that Jocasta was Oedipus's mother

The oracle impacted Oedipus him by forcing his doubt and his dubious past

His intention was to escape his fate by staying away from his parents so he wouldn't kill his father or marry his mother

By doing this he actually unknowingly killed his father and married his mother (a sphinx said that this would happen)

If Oedipus wouldn't be so violent he wouldn't have ended up killing his father

EXTRA LINKS

Oedipus’ story, beginning with a crisis in Thebes. Oedipus, in an attempt to dispel the crisis, finds out the truth about his birth, leading to Jocasta’s suicide and his blinding of himself.

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Originally written in Greek, around 442 BC

By Sophocles, one of the great tragedians

Considered to be the perfect tragedy

Also called Oedipus Rex (Latin), or Oedipus the King

Tyrannus: means (probably, to the Greek mind of the time) a man who wielded absolute power, a power not necessarily sancitoned by the state

"the imitation of an action that is serious and also as having magnitude, complete in itself." He continues, "Tragedy is a form of drama exciting the emotions of pity and fear.

how does it link with Oedipus

Tragedy dealt with the big themes of love, loss, pride, the abuse of power and the fraught relationships between men and gods. Typically the main protagonist of a tragedy commits some terrible crime without realizing how foolish and arrogant he has been. Then, as he slowly realizes his error, the world crumbles around him.

Stung by rumours that he was not the biological son of the king, Oedipus consulted an oracle which foretold that he would marry his own mother and kill his own father.

In final despair, Oedipus takes two long gold pins from her dress, and plunges them into his own eyes.