Transcript Born in 495 B.C. outside of Athens Son of an armor manufacturer Schooled in poetry, music, and dancing Won first prize at the Dionysian at age 28

Born in 495 B.C. outside
of Athens
Son of an armor
manufacturer
Schooled in poetry,
music, and dancing
Won first prize at the
Dionysian at age 28 years
old
Won first prize 24 times
and second place 7 times
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Wrote over 120 plays,
but only seven still exist
in their entirety
Innovator of theater:
painted background
scenery and 3 actors
Concerned with the
individual’s struggle with
Fate
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Served as a general under pericles in the
army.
He was a key negotiator in the
Peloponnesian War.
As a priest, Sophocles was concerned with
the individual’s need to find his/her own
place in the moral and cosmic order of the
universe.
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His plays contain moral
lessons that usually
pertain to man’s duty to
the gods and avoidance of
excessive pride.
Sophocles was highly
revered in his society at
the time of his death in
406 B.C.
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Sophocles made even more changes. He added a third actor and reduced the
chorus from 18 to 15.
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In Oedipus Rex, the chorus had 15 members, all teenage boys. They represent the
elderly citizens of Athens.
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Part of the chorus would be sung and danced with the accompaniment of musical
instruments like the double flute, drums, tambourine, and sometimes the kithara
(something like a guitar).
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Only men would be actors, no women.
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There were only three actors with speaking parts.
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Masks were worn by the actors. When an actor went off stage, he would come back
on in another role wearing a different mask. There could only be three actors at a
time delivering lines, plus the chorus (which often functioned as an additional
character).
Oedipus- “Pierced feet”- Current King of
Thebes
 Jocasta- Oedipus’ wife, widow of murdered
King Laius
 Polybus and Merope- Oedipus’ adoptive
parents, king and queen of Corinth
 Creon-Jocasta’s brother
 Teiresias- blind prophet/soothsayer
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An oracle was a person considered to be a
source of wise counsel or prophetic
opinion, predictions, or precognition of the
future, inspired by the gods.
Oracles were thought to be portals through
which the gods spoke directly to man
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Laius, king of thebes, is told in an oracle
that his son will kill him. This lead Laius
and his wife Jocasta to have the baby’s feet
pinioned and given to a slave to be
“exposed” on nearby Mt. Cithaeron.
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Oedipus goes to the pythia
(Apollo’s oracle in Delphi)
for confirmation about his
parentage.
However, the oracle gives
Oedipus a horrible
prediction instead: he will
kill his father and sleep with
his mother.
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A sphinx is a creature with
the head of a woman, claws
or a lion, tail of a serpent,
and the wings of a bird.
On his way back from
Delphi, outside of thebes, he
encounters the Sphinx,
which slays all of those who
cannot answer her riddle.
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The riddle:
What goes on four
legs in the morning,
two legs at noon, and
three legs in he
evening?
Oedipus correctly
answers the riddle:
MAN.
The Sphinx kills
herself and Thebes is
free of this monster.
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Years after Oedipus becomes king of Thebes
and has married Jocasta, he seeks the help
of the Pythia (Delphic oracle) once more.
She reveals that the plague in thebes is
caused by the unpunished murder of King
Laius.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Dramatic Irony-- a situation of a drama and
is understood by the audience but not
grasped by the characters in the play.
Concept of Fate vs. Free Will
Characterization of Oedipus
Blindness, knowledge, & truth
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dialogue- conversation b/w two or more
characters
scene- a stage setting
orchestra-the semicircular space in front of
the stage used by the chorus
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choragos- the leader of the chorus
chorus- a company of performers whose
singing, dancing, and narration provides
explanation and elaboration of the main
action
prologue- the opening scene
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parados- the entrance song of the main
chorus
strophe- song sung by the chorus as it turns
from one side of the orchestra to the other
antistrophe- song sung while the chorus
moves in the direction opposite from that of
the strophe
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ode- song chanted by the chorus that
separates one scene from the next
exodus- the concluding scene
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Sigmund Freud famously based his theory of
the “Oedipal Complex” on this story, claiming
that every boy has a latent desire to kill his
father and sleep with his mother.
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Freud was interested in the affections of children for the
parent of the opposite sex
He observed that men tend to spoil their daughters and
women their sons
He cited sayings of children – “Mummy can go
away…Daddy will marry me and I will be his wife!”
He compared it to the gripping power of the Greek legend
Oedipus Rex – that it is recognised in all of us
For Freud this complex was “The central phenomenon of
the sexual period of early childhood
The child resolves the subsequent conflict by
identification with the same sex parent
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