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Oedipus the King

Oedipus the King. I. Background. The Labdacids (great Theban dynasty 1. Labdacus (his mother’s father is one of Cadmus’ “sown men”) a. carries off Pelops’ son while driving a chariot—kidnapping and assault b. Pelops gives “The Curse of the House of Labdacus”. Background.

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Oedipus the King

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  1. Oedipus the King

  2. I. Background • The Labdacids (great Theban dynasty 1. Labdacus (his mother’s father is one of Cadmus’ “sown men”) a. carries off Pelops’ son while driving a chariot—kidnapping and assault b. Pelops gives “The Curse of the House of Labdacus”

  3. Background • Oedipus Family Tree

  4. II. Major Themes • Psychological • Search for identity • Archetypal theme— • What is man? – riddle of the Sphynx (solved the first time, but not the second) • Price of self knowledge • The monster within

  5. II. Major Themes A Psychological (continued) 2. child pays for the sins of the father 3. Pride

  6. II. Major Themes • Social Level 1. duty to the society 2. the search for the truth a. The truth—all is suffering b. Blindness—sight imagery

  7. 2. Search for Truth (continued) b. Blindness (con’t) = ignorance, the ignorance of all humans (Oedipus = all of us) That’s what it was to be alive. To move about in a cloud of ignorance: to go up and down trampling on the feelings of those…of those about you. To spend and waste time as though you had a million years. To be always at the mercy of one self-centered passion or another. Now you know—that’s the happy existence…ignorance and blindness. Thorton Wilder

  8. II. Major Themes • Universal Level • Respect for the gods • What the gods are or represent • Pride—greatest sin against the gods 4. Fate vs. Free Will--

  9. III. Characters • Oedipus • Jocasta • Creon

  10. III. Characters • Tieresius E. Chorous F. Messenger G. Shepherd/Soldier

  11. IV. Style • Formal tragic form—Define: • Prologue • Parados • Five dramatic scenes • Exodus B. Contagion imagery—don’t forget the plague!

  12. IV. Style • Eyes—sight—blindness symbolism D. Use of Irony 1. symmetrical— 2. structural-- (see list)

  13. IV. Style • Symbolism mountain • Setting – Thebes Corinth • Crossroads 3. Sphynx 4. Tiresias 5. Swollen feet

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