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.