Oedipus Study Guide Background Information 1.

Greek Drama only presented twice a year on religious festivals, both of which are associated with Dionysus 2. Purpose katharsis (according to Aristotle); theme was blindness and the truth, wisdom vs. ignorance (Teiresias vs. Oedipus) 3. Setting Thebes (ancient Greece); there is a plague traveling through the city that is killing people; no one knows how to stop it 4. Background of Oedipus due to prophesy concerning father, Oedipus bound as a baby and left to die in wilderness of Mount Cithaeron; adopted by King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth; Oedipus solved problem of sphinx, sending it to its death; became ruler of Thebes and married old kings wife [Laios Jocasta] Greek Literature and Philosophy 1. Socrates teacher of Plato and, indirectly, Aristotle; sentenced to death for questioning the status quo, chose to drink hemlock instead of trying to escape, etc.; appears as the main figure in Platos Socratic Dialogues 2. Plato wrote The Allegory of the Cave in The Dialogues; student of Socrates (who was the basis for the cave allegory) 3. Aristotle student of Plato; concept of tragedy: katharsis, recognition, reversal, see below 4. Aeschylus contemporary of Sophocles, Sophocles senior; considered one of three great ancient Greek tragedy writes 5. Aristophanes comic playwright in ancient Athens; father of comedy; most accurate recreations of Athenian life 6. Sophocles tragedy writer; author of Oedipus the King (along with Antigone and Oedipus at Colonus); lived through Athens Golden Age but also through Athens decline due to the Peloponnesian War 7. Euripides contemporary of Sophocles, Sophocles junior; considered one of three great ancient Greek tragedy writes; known for writing more realistic tragedy (lack of heightened nobility or honor) Mythic Allusions

1. Phoibos Apollo god of music, poetry, and prophecy; at his shrine near Thebes, the ashes of fires were used to divine the future; Phoibos refers to the sun god Phoebus Apollo (they are the same thing for all intents and purposes); son of Zeus 2. Helios personification of the Sun in Greek mythology; closely related to Phoebus Apollo 3. Pallas Athena title for Athena; goddess of wisdom 4. Dionysus god of wine and crops; god of ecstasy 5. Zeus Apollos father; rules Olympians (gods) of Mount Olympus 6. Delphi temple at foot of Mount Parnassus; location of the Oracle 7. The Oracle priestess of Dionysus; while in an ecstatic trance, would speak the wine gods words; also means a message from the gods 8. The Furies three horrific female spirits whose task was to seek out and punish evildoers 9. Pythian hearth the shrine at Delphi, whose priestess was famous for her prophecies 10. Kyllene a sacred mountain; birthplace of Hermes, the deities messenger; chorus assumes that the mountain was created in order to afford him birth Characters 1. Oedipus main character; current king of Thebes; prophesy surrounding him claiming that he would kill his father and marry his mother (could not escape this fate); Laios (his true father) threw him out as a baby but Oedipus was adopted by Polybus and Merope; in running away from Corinth (to run away from the prophesy), Oedipus ran to Thebes which was the beginning of the end (killed Laios on the way); solved the Sphinxs riddle and saved the Thebans given the Theban throne and Jocastas hand in marriage; prosperous and considered noble by the Thebans 2. Laios former king of Thebes; father of Oedipus by Jocasta 3. Jocasta Oedipus mom; marries Oedipus when he becomes the new king of Thebes; commits suicide by hanging after the recognition that Oedipus is her son 4. Polybus king of Corinth, adoptive father of Oedipus; dies of old age (causes a false sense of security for Oedipus) 5. Merope queen of Corinth, adoptive mother of Oedipus 6. Creon Jocastas brother; claims no desire for kingship; Oedipus accuses him of plotting against the throne early in the tragedy

7. Teiresias blind soothsayer of Thebes, prophesies that Oedipus is the killer of Laios; rejected by Oedipus 8. Antigone daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta; says goodbye to father at end of the tragedy; focus of third novel in tragic trilogy 9. Ismene daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta; says goodbye to father at end of the tragedy 10. Shepherd reveals to Oedipus that he [the Shepherd] had been charged with deserting the bound Oedipus in the wilderness as a baby; instead passed the baby on to the first messenger out of pity (who delivered him to Corinth); central figure in the recognition of Oedipus 11. Priest introduces the tragedy; explains to Oedipus of the plague of Thebes in the beginning of the play and the despair of the Theban citizenry 12. First Messenger brings message that Polybus has died in Corinth of natural causes; also informs Oedipus that Polybus was not his actual father; originally delivered Oedipus (as a baby) to Polybus who adopted him as his own 13. Second Messenger after the recognition of Oedipus true identity, recalls the memory of what happened; narrates the flashback of Jocastas hanging and Oedipus subsequent self-induced eye gouging and self-exile 14. Choragos spokesperson for the chorus Plot Structure and Performance 1. Satyr Play an obscene parody of a mythic story; followed the performance of a tragic trilogy 2. Parados the song for the entrance of the chorus; sung by chorus upon entering stage 3. Episodes action of a drama enacted in episodes (like acts or scenes in modern plays); each episode separated by danced choral songs or odes 4. Orchestra level circular dancing space; located at base of the amphitheater 5. Skene stage house; contained a slightly raised stage built right in front of it 6. Prologue preparatory scene at the beginning of a tragedy 7. Exodos the last scene; the characters and chorus conclude the action and depart 8. Ode danced choral songs 9. Masks covered actors entire head; helped spectators recognize chief characters; some had elongated mouthpieces, possibly to project speech

10. Cothurni high, thick-soled elevator shoes; made actors appear taller than ordinary men Greek Terms and Concepts 1. Hamartia crime or transgression; a defilement or pollution that requires ritual purification 2. Hubris ego, arrogance, and excessive self-worth; usually an aspect of the strong, proud, or exceptional; the person afflicted with hubris lacks reverence for divinity 3. Katharsis the experience of purging emotion by watching tragedy; purification 4. Anagnorisis recognition, which presupposes an ambiguity or deception in the meaning of persons, things, events, and words, which is dramatized by the disclosure of its contrary and the reversal of dramatic action 5. Peripeteia reversal, which helps dramatize the pivotal moment of recognition 6. Polis city-state; a town and its surrounding countryside 7. Ethos the known force of the self that drives man; ones character as understood to others 8. Daimon the enigmatic, compulsory, unknown force of the self that drives us and makes us unlike ourselves 9. Sophrosune moderation, temperance, modesty, beauty, orderliness, balance of conduct and speech; opposed to ate and hubris as conditions of excess, disproportion, and disorder 10. Enkrateia self-control 11. Dike equity and justice, giving each person what is due 12. Megalopsychos the proud or high-minded man 13. Muthos storytelling, legend, plot 14. Tragic flaw fatal weakness of a tragic hero that brings him to a bad end; result of his hamartia Critics on Sophocles 1. Robert Fitzgerald Sophocles has a very smooth, flowing style; every word is chosen deliberately (attempted to translate the same way that Sophocles wrote it); many Greek allusions will be meaningless, especially in the odes (lost over translation) 2. Aristotle tragedy is about a respectable, prosperous man who comes to grief on account of some error; plot itself should be tragic (not fancy stage acting); plot must be realistic in its proceedings; tragedy should cause a purge in emotions (katharsis)

3. Sigmund Freud Oedipus is an allegory for every mans sexual desire for his mother; our first sexual impulse is to our mom while our first hatred is to our dad; we have succeeded in hiding this impulse where Oedipus did not 4. E. R. Dodds Oedipus is about human greatness: strength to pursue truth no matter what the cost and taking responsibility for all his acts; acts as symbol for human intelligence that is curious and restless 5. A. E. Haigh tragic irony is a mark of Greek tragedy (especially of Sophocles); conscious irony speaker foresees calamity that is about to fall on others; unconscious irony speaker is blind to the impending doom, his words have an ominous suggestiveness to them; considers Oedipus to be greatest example of tragic irony (curses himself unknowingly in beginning) 6. Nietzsche duality of the Apollonian (represents reason and logic) and the Dionysian (represents passion and emotion)