Oedipus the King2010 Reading Club

http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/sophocles/oedipustheking.htm

Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex • probably the most famous tragedy ever

written. • It is known by a variety of titles (the most

common being Oedipus Rex), including Oedipus the King and Oedipus Tyrannus.

• Sophocles first produced the play in Athens around 430 B.C. at the Great Dionysia, a religious and cultural festival held in honor of the god Dionysus, where it won second prize. In the play Oedipus, King of Thebes, upon

Translation (1)

• Thomas Francklin, 1759 – verse • Edward H. Plumptre, 1865 – verse: full text • Richard C. Jebb, 1904 – prose: full text • Gilbert Murray, 1911 – verse • Francis Storr, 1912 – verse: full text • William Butler Yeats, 1928 – mixed prose and verse • David Grene, 1942 (revised ed. 1991) – verse • E.F. Watling, 1947 – verse • Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, 1949 – verse

Translation (2)• Theodore Howard Banks, 1956 – verse • Albert Cook, 1957 – verse • Bernard Knox, 1959 – prose • H. D. F. Kitto, 1962 – verse • Stephen Berg and Diskin Clay – verse • Robert Bagg, 1982 (revised ed. 2004) – verse • Robert Fagles, 1984 – verse • Nick Bartel, 1999 – verse: abridged text • Kenneth McLeish, 2001 - Verse • George Theodoridis, 2005 – prose: full text • Luci Berkowitz and Theodore F. Brunner, 1970 – prose • Ian Johnston, 2004 – verse: full text

Ancient Greek Tragedy

• video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=kmSbqfy5Df0&feature=related

Ancient Greek Theatre.flv

• Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNAM3PzGcow&feature=related

Three Theban plays: Not a trilogy• Oedipus the King Oedipus at Colonus

Antigone.• Antigone was first performed in 442 BCE.• Oedipus the King was first performed c. 429

BCE.• Oedipus at Colonus was written shortly before

Sophocles' death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BCE.

People and places to know:

• Oedipus• Jocasta• Laius• Polybus• Merope

• Sphinx• Teiresias (Tiresias )• Apollo• Delphi• Cithaeron• Thebes (the House of

Cadamus)

a winged female monster in Greek mythology having a woman's head and a lion's body

and noted for killing anyone

unable to answer its riddle

an ancient Egyptian image in the form of a recumbent lion having a man's head, a ram's head, or a hawk's head

The structure of Greek Tragedy

• Prologue, 1-150

• Parodos, 151-215

• First Episode, 216-462

• First Stasimon, 463-512

• Second Episode, 513-862

• Second Stasimon, 863-910

• Third Episode, 911-1085

• Third Stasimon, 1086-1109

• Fourth Episode, 1110-1185

• Fourth Stasimon, 1186-1222

• Exodos, 1223-1530

Introduction

• The setting of the Oedipus the King as in the case of most Greek tragedies, does not require a change of scene. Throughout the play the skene with at least one door represents the facade of the royal palace of royal palace of ThebesThebes.

• http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/netshots/oedipus.htm

Prologue (1-150) - Oedipus, Priest and Creon

Read (1)Read (1)

Prologue, 1-150. (Priest, Oedipus, Creon)

• The priests of Thebes appear before Oedipus as suppliants, entreating him to find some end to the plague.

• Oedipus has already sent Creon to Delphi, who arrives to report that the killer of Laius must be sought out and banished.

• Oedipus vows to find the killer and summons the people of the city.

Prologue (1-150) - Oedipus, Priest and Creon

• What is the dramatic purpose of the prologue?

• How does Oedipus characterize himself (8)?

• What is his attitude toward the suppliants (13-14)?

Pollution/ miasma

• blood pollution that infects the family, and for a royal family the city itself • The Plague of Thebes, oil on

canvas,Charles François Jalabeat

(French, 1819-1901)

Oedipus

• "Oidi-pous“ in Greek means "swollen footed”• But we can also analyze Oedipus in at least

two other ways: – oidi- to a Greek sounds like oida, oide = "I know,

he knows" (a central theme in the play) – -dipous to a Greek means the "two-footed one,"

with obvious associations to the riddle of the Sphinx (another central theme)

Oedipus• Man of action, caring but haughty: 7ff, 71ff

etc. • Revealer of the truth: 150 • Solver of riddles: 443ff (e.g.)

Parodos , 151-215.

• The Chorus of Theban citizens offer prayers to Zeus, Apollo, Athena for release from the plague.

Parados (151-215)

• What is the reaction of the Chorus to the advice of Apollo ('the Delian Healer') to Thebes (154-157)?

• What conditions in Thebes does the Chorus describe (170-182)?

• Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=2wcqRm_loB0&feature=related

Delphi• The Pythia was

the priestess at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus.

Priestess of Delphi (1891) by John

Collier

chorus is an "act-dividing song":

–allows for entrances and exits –allows for the scene to change –marks the passage of time–chorus comments directlydirectly or indirectly or indirectly

on what is going on

First Episode , 216-462.

Read (2): p.6, p.7-11

First Episode , 216-462.

• Oedipus appeals for information and pronounces his curse on the murderer.

• Teiresias is summoned: at first he refuses to tell what he knows, but aroused by Oedipus' taunts he declares Oedipus the murderer.

• Oedipus declares a conspiracy by Creon. Teiresias declares that the murderer is present, and will be found son and husband to his mother.

First Episode (216-462) - Oedipus, Chorus and Teiresias

• Explain the following ironies in Oedipus's speech (218-220; 236-248; 249-251; 259-265).

• Why does Oedipus summon Teiresias (278-287)? What is Teiresias's reaction to Oedipus's request for help (316-344)?

I must know. Know thyself!

• But knowing is itself problematized in the Oedipus the King: central to the text is not only what is known and by whom, but what it means to "know"-- what is "true" knowing.

• Insight and blindness

Apollo versus Oedipus: • divine versus human knowledge• Apollo– sun, day, clear, blazing, burning – fever, blazing, burning: sender of plague and

the Healer – intelligence, clear, seeing –brilliance, poetry – truth (knowledge), clear, seeing –divine prophecy, clear, seeing

Prophet/ Tiresias

• Teiresias, the seer of Oedipus the King: Sophocles’ and Seneca’s versions http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/lics/2003/200305.pdf

• South Italian Red-figure bowl. Detail: Tiresias seated holding sacrificial knife as Odysseus (left) stands by him

First Stasimon (463-512)

• What is the Chorus's view of Teiresias's accusations against Oedipus (483-495; 504-511)?

Suffering= pathos• What has Oedipus done to deserve

such awful suffering? Why must he suffer?

Tragedy=an aesthetic question mark

• The dramatic expression of an enquiry into suffering, an aesthetic question mark performed in enacted pain.

• While representing an instance of suffering in dramatic form, always asks why it has occurred.

• Pathology= the study of diseases• Etiology= the causes of diseases or a study of

causes

hubris

• "ungodly pride" (hubris) or "tragic flaw" (hamartia)

First Stasimon , 463-512.

• The Chorus are fearful of the pronouncement of the seer, but declare their loyalty to their king.

Second Episode , 513-862. (Creon, Oedipus, Chorus; Jocasta)

Read (3): p.17-18Read (3): p.17-18

Second Episode , 513-862. (Creon, Oedipus, Chorus; Jocasta)

• Creon is indignant at Oedipus' accusations. • They argue over the charge. Jocasta tries to

intervene. Kommos , 649-697. • The Chorus advise restraint and Oedipus lets

Creon go, though he declares him an enemy. Oedipus tells Jocasta the source of the dispute.

• Jocasta tells the story of Laius' death, and Oedipus recognizes many details: but he was a lone killer, whereas a band of killers was reported.

• Oedipus worries about the oracle; Jocasta denounces its veracity, adducing the prophesy about her son.

Second Stasimon , 863-910. (Chorus)

Read (4): p.20-21

Second Stasimon , 863-910. (Chorus)

• Ode to the sanctity of divine law. • The tyrant who ignores justice and reverence

for the gods will fall. • The oracles must be true.

Third Episode , 911-1085. (Jocasta, Messenger, Chorus; Oedipus)

• A messenger arrives from Corinth announcing the death of Polybus and Oedipus' ascension.

• He allays Oedipus' fear of the oracle (that he will marry his mother) by telling him of his true birth.

• Over Jocasta's objections Oedipus vows to continue his search for the truth. Jocasta runs into the palace.

Third Stasimon , 1086-1109. (Chorus)

• Ode to Mt. Cithaeron: we will soon know the parentage of Oedipus.

Fourth Episode , 1110-1185. (Oedipus, Shepherd, Chorus)

• The shepherd arrives who exposed the infant of Laius and escaped when Laius was killed. Oedipus' parentage becomes clear. Oedipus rushes into the palace.

Fourth Stasimon , 1186-1222. (Chorus)

• No man is blest: happiness is but an illusion, for even the great power and blessings of Oedipus have come to a fall.

Exodos , 1223-1530.

Read (5): p.27-32Read (5): p.27-32

Exodos , 1223-1530. (Messenger, Chorus; Oedipus, Creon)

• A messenger announcesannounces the suicide of Jocasta and the self-inflicted blinding of Oedipus. Oedipus appears to lament his fate. Creon appears.

• Oedipus begs him to take care of his children; Antigone and Ismene (mute) arrive to comfort their father. Creon persuades Oedipus to return to the palace, and assumes the kingship.

Recommended

• Greek Tragedyhttp://classics.uc.edu/~johnson/tragedy/ • http://memo.cgu.edu.tw/yu-yen/oedipus.htm • http://classics.uc.edu/~johnson/tragedy/

summaries/oedipusrex.html

Thank you!