Oedipus Rex

1. Oedipus Rex Today, we begin a new unit centering around a play called Oedipus Rex, which translates from the ancient Greek as Oedipus the King. The play is rather short, but the language is difficult because it was written a long, long time ago (about 450 BCE).

2. OBJECTIVES: • To gain an introductory knowledge of Greek Drama, especially Greek tragedy • To understand the concept of the Tragic Hero

3. A SPECIAL NOTE: • please understand that this play and this unit are foundational, which means that we will constantly be referring to the ideas that come up, and to the main events of this play. You must understand the ideas and events in this unit. If you are ever confused, please contact me and I will gladly help. As you know, my two emails are:… • So here we go…

4. Oedipus Rex is a tragedy.

5. Let’s begin like this: suppose that a fortune-teller, who has never been wrong, predicts that you will murder your father. What do you do? Think about that for a minute….

6. Do you accept it, walk into pop’s bedroom, and knock him over the head with an axe? • Or do you defy the fortune-teller, and the gods he supposedly listens to, and run away to a distant country where you could never possibly see your father again? • The latter solution is the one that Oedipus comes up with.

7. The story begins with two prophecies… • Both prophecies were made by The Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle was a woman, granted supernatural knowledge by the god, Apollo (or Phoebus, as he is often referred to in the play). • Her first prophecy was to the king of Thebes, named Laius. She predicted that his son would murder him, and marry his wife. You can imagine how he reacted. He had the child strangled and buried far from the city.

8. The second prophecy… • The Oracle’s second prophecy was made to Oedipus when he was a young man, and it was the one suggested above: that he would murder his father. He reacted by never returning home from the Oracle. His parents were the king and queen of Corinth, and he could expect to inherit their throne, but he gave all that up in order to run away from the prophecy.

9. Understanding the Places • Corinth and Thebes are the two important cities. By modern standards, they are near each other, but to the ancient Greeks, they were a dangerous journey apart. This website has a brief description of each: • http://www.areopagus.net/grkmap.htm

10. After he runs away… • Oedipus, the young man (let’s say, eighteen), travels the world, seeking some fortune. One day, he comes to a narrow place in the road at the same time as a proud, rich man in a horse-drawn carriage. The two men insult each other, each wanting to pass the narrow place first, until eventually they come to blows. Oedipus kills the older man and all of his guards, thus establishing himself as a warrior of heroic status.

11. The Sphinx Shortly after the encounter with the old man on the road, Oedipus arrives at the gates of Thebes. There, he finds the city is in terrible danger. A monster, called a sphinx, has forbidden all traffic into or out of the city until someone can answer its riddle. The city is starving because no one can answer the riddle correctly.

12. The sphinx’s riddle went like this: “What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs at night?”

13. What do you think was the answer?

14. Oedipus Becomes the Hero of Thebes • Oedipus answered the Sphinx correctly: “a man,” he said. “A man walks on four legs until he learns to walk, then two legs as an adult, and uses a cane as his third leg in old age.” • The Sphinx lifted the siege and Thebes was saved. As luck would have it, the town had recently lost its king, and they asked Oedipus to fill the position. He agreed, and sealed the deal by marrying old King Laius’ wife, Jocasta. Jocasta was older than him, but still beautiful, and she bore him four children…

15. And that brings you up to speed… Our play begins many years later. Oedipus has ruled Thebes well, and the city has become prosperous. Even though he wasn’t raised there, he has come to love the city, and the city has come to love him. He has never contacted his parents, the rulers of Corinth, for fear that he will come into conflict with them (don’t forget his original prophecy). But he has reason to be proud: not only is he a fine king, but he has outsmarted the gods themselves who decreed that he should murder his parents.

16. A few things to understand… • This is an old play. The Greeks didn’t do theater quite the way we do today. They wore huge masks, for one thing. Check out Oedipus’ costume in the next slide…

17. Here, we see Oedipus, the king, with a tremendous crown befitting his greatness, and a beard, showing his experience and wisdom. We also see his people (the Chorus) begging him to listen to them. Behind him, to the right, is the blind prophet, Teiresias, telling him what he does NOT want to hear…

18. The Chorus • In Greek plays, an important character was always The Chorus. The Chorus represents the common man, in this case, the people of Thebes, who love their king. You may find their lines the most confusing because they are sung. Generally, you need only get the gist of what the chorus means – that is, you only need to understand the basic idea of their words

19. Teiresias A very important character will be Teiresias. He is a prophet, and he has never been wrong. He’s also blind, which is common in these types of stories; the idea being that he has sacrificed sight in the corporeal world for insight into the spiritual world.

20. Jocasta (or Iocasta) • Jocasta is Oedipus’ wife. She will provide one of the first clues into the mystery Oedipus must solve…

21. Creon • Creon is Oedipus’ brother-in-law (Jocasta’s brother). He and Oedipus sometimes have a rocky relationship. Oedipus doesn’t really think much of the way Creon handled Thebes before Oedipus showed up (when King Laius disappeared, Creon ran the city for a while, and he did it essentially under martial law, which means that the military was in charge…)

22. The Crisis • The basic problem in the play is that Thebes has a new crisis. Once again, the city is starving, and even the great King Oedipus can’t solve it. The famine seems to be of supernatural origin, and so Oedipus sends to The Oracle to find out what the solution is. • The report back: Thebes must discover the murderer of the old King Laius before the famine will be resolved. • Oedipus is determined to save his city again.

23. Where to find the play… • Go to the following website and commence reading the play. Your first assignment is to read through line 285. • http://www.enotes.com/oedipus-rex-text/oedipus-rex?start=1