Sophocles, Oedipus The King

Informal

Is knowing the truth always a good thing? Why is it helpful to know the truth in the first place, and when is knowing the truth more trouble than it’s worth?

Throughout the play, Oedipus seems to simultaneously seek out the causes of disorder in Thebes, but also deny the truth when he hears it. Describe one context in which you both desired to know the truth and feared or resisted it at the same time.

Construct a 4-column chart comparing Oedipus, Tieresias, Creon and Iocasta. List the ways each character responds to conflict, the skills each brings to the challenges they face, and any other comparisons that stand out for you.

Oedipus is told to consult oracles multiple times throughout the text. While we don’t have Greek oracles in today’s society, some contemporary parallels may exist. What might an “oracle” be in today’s society? Why do people consult them, and what are the consequences of doing so?

Short Answer

Choose 3 major characters, and name one thing those characters learn in the course of this play. What are the consequences of their knowledge?

In everyday life, we use the word “tragedy” to mean something big and terrible, like a car accident. But in literature, “tragedy” often has a more specific meaning, referring to a narrative in which the characters are propelled toward a bad end by a flawed personality or circumstance, often in spite of their best efforts. Pick a scene from Oedipus Rex, and describe how the narrative manages to achieve a sense of literary tragedy.

The five senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing) are often linked with knowledge in the Western tradition, and Oedipus Rex provides a classic example of this trope. Find 3 examples where the senses are mentioned, and describe how they are linked with knowledge in the text.

In-class Activities

Tragedy survey: Tragedy raises big issues about human life. One is, what governs (rules, guides, influences) human life? Give brief answers to each of the following usual powers that might influence our lives. Then rank them, in degree of influence, and we’ll put the answers on the board.

• Free will (choice, work ethic, morals)
• The divine (God(s)—either in little things or big-picture visions
• Larger historical circumstances—money, politics, nationality, culture
• More local circumstances—family, ethnicity, friends, sex
• Can you think of any other big influences? Compare with what others say.

Drama presentations: You’re up—get in groups, and be ready to lead a 3-minute discussion. Do a little research on your amazing phones, and be able to post helpful elements on the whiteboard, and explain one of the following topics for your colleagues.

• The physical theater/staging
• What the actors wore: describe the masks and shoes
• Aristotle on tragedy
• hamartia and hubris
• Anagnorisis
• Peripety
• Katharsis

Small group discussions:

1. There is a chance that one of you may have been adopted, not the biological son or daughter of the parents you thought you had. Do you choose to verify this information?
2. One of you may be an heir to a large fortune that was obtained through activity that you find unethical. Do you choose to find out?
3. One of you has a serious illness that may be cured or managed effectively by a treatment not yet government-approved. But the treatment may also be lethal. Do you do it?
4. Your group is planning to take a road trip. One person in the group says that s/he knows the car is destined to crash and claims to have a source proving this. However, they don’t want to reveal what that source is. Do you take the trip?

Essay

Compare the ways Odysseus and Oedipus seem to shape their fates in the Odyssey and Oedipus Rex, respectively. How is “the hero” modeled differently in each text, and how does each respond to the conditions imposed on him by the gods?

Imagine you are mounting a production of this play today in a contemporary setting—how would you do it? You can imagine your version of Oedpius Rex as a stage production, film, or YouTube series (your choice). How would you make themes of fate, knowledge, and truth resonate with today’s audience? Consider setting, backstory, and characters you would use.

Imagine you are Iocasta, and write a journal entry about the events in the play from her perspective. How does she understand the motivations and actions of the other characters, and how does she understand her own position in the tragic affair?

Imagine you are Oedipus’ therapist: what would you have this guy reflect on? What is the greater source of emotional torment for Oedipus—that the events transpired in the first place, or the fact that society views them as taboo?

In what way is Oedipus Rex a political drama? In other words, what ideal of the city does the play advocate, implicitly or explicitly? Do we take steps to achieve this ideal by the end of the play?

Quiz

As we’ve learned in class, Oedipus means “lame foot”—how does this name connect to Oedipus’ backstory?

What is a chorus, and what function does it serve in Greek drama?

Identify speaker, addressee and context in three of the following passages:

• “How terrible—to see the truth / when the truth is only pain to him who sees! / I knew it well, but I put it from my mind, / else I never would have come.” (176)
• “Come here, you pious fraud. Tell me / when did you ever prove yourself a prophet? / When the Sphynx, that chanting Fury kept her deathwatch here, / why silent then, not a word to set our people free? / There was a riddle, not for some passer-by to solve– / it cried out for a prophet. Where were you?” (182)
• “Look at it this way first: / who in his right mind would rather rule / and live in anxiety than sleep in peace? / Particularly if he enjoys the same authority. / Not I, I’m not the man to yearn for kinship, / not with a king’s power in my hands.” (193)
• “What should a man fear? It’s all chance, / chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth / can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. / Better to live at random, best we can.” (215)
• “I, with my eyes / how could I look my father in the eyes / when I go down to death? Or mother, so abused… / I have done such things to the two of them, / crimes too huge for hanging. Worse yet, / the sight of my children, born as they were born, / how could I long to look into their eyes? / No, not with these eyes of mine, never.” (243)