Oedipus the King Western Literature Greek Tragedy 2008

Oedipus the King 國立中山大學 【通識博雅核心課程】 中外文學 Western Literature Greek Tragedy 講授日期： 2008年 10月3日

Sophocles ¡ca. 496 -406 B. C. E. ¡the three most prominent ancient Greek tragedians: Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles ¡ 7 out of more than 100 plays

Sophocles (ca. 496 -406 B. C. E. )

The Theater of Dionysus at Athens

Performance Space ¡Ochestra (dancing space) ¡Skene (stage house)

Structure of Greek Tragedy ¡ No more than 3 actors allowed on stage at any one time ¡ A chorus of 15 ¡ Spoken monologues and dialogues ¡ The chorus’ singing and dancing ¡ Prologue, a preparatory scene ¡ Párados, the song for the entrance of the chorus ¡ Episodes, the acts or scenes in modern plays ¡ Éxodos, the last scene

The Oedipus Cycle ¡Oedipus the King ¡Oedipus at Colonus ¡Antigone

Aristotle’s Concept of Tragedy ¡Tragic hero, a person of “high estate” ¡Tragic flaw (harmartia) ¡Extreme pride (hubris) overconfidence ¡Tear and fear, purgation (katharsis) ¡Reversal, peripety (peripeteia)

Oedipus the King -- Oedipus Rex -- Oedipus Tyrannus Creon: Still the king, the master of all things? No more: here your power ends. None of your power follows you through life.

Lines 1 – 525 New Characters ¡ Oedipus: the King of Thebes ¡ Priest: a priest of Zeus, the king of the gods ¡ Creon: the brother of Jocasta ¡ Chorus: a group of Theban elders and their Leader ¡ Tiresias: the blind prophet who sees the future

Summary of lines 1 -525 ¡ 1. ¡ 2. ¡ 3. ¡ 4. The plague years in Thebes Oedipus feels the pain of his people. Creon to the Oracle at Delphi for advice The Oracle: the murder of the previous king, Laius, must be avenged. Q & A: What does Oedipus promise to his people?

Summary of lines 1 -525 ¡ 5. The Leader of the Chorus ¡ 6. the blind prophet Tiresias ¡ 7. Oedipus vs. Tiresias ¡ 8. conspiracy? Q & A: What is the interplay of sight and blindness?

340 -525 OEDIPUS: Teiresias, seer who comprehendest all, Lore of the wise and hidden mysteries, High things of heaven and low things of the earth, Thou knowest, though thy blinded eyes see naught, What plague infects our city; and we turn To thee, O seer, our one defense and shield.

TEIRESIAS: Alas, alas, what misery to be wise When wisdom profits nothing! This old lore I had forgotten; else I were not here. OEDIPUS: What ails thee? Why this melancholy mood?

TEIRESIAS: Let me go home; prevent me not; 'twere best That thou shouldst bear thy burden and I mine. OEDIPUS: For shame! no true-born Theban patriot Would thus withhold the word of prophecy. TEIRESIAS: Thy words, O king, are wide of the mark, and I For fear lest I too trip like thee. . .

TEIRESIAS: I have no more to say; storm as thou willst, And give the rein to all thy pent-up rage. OEDIPUS: Yea, I am wroth, and will not stint my words, But speak my whole mind. Thou methinks thou art he, Who planned the crime, aye, and performed it too, All save the assassination; and if thou Hadst not been blind, I had been sworn to boot That thou alone didst do the bloody deed.

TEIRESIAS: Is it so? Then I charge thee to abide By thine own proclamation; from this day Speak not to these or me. Thou art the man, Thou the accursed polluter of this land. OEDIPUS: Vile slanderer, thou blurtest forth these taunts, And think'st forsooth as seer to go scot free.

OEDIPUS I but half caught thy meaning; say it again. TEIRESIAS I say thou art the murderer of the man Whose murderer thou pursuest. OEDIPUS Thou shalt rue it Twice to repeat so gross a calumny. TEIRESIAS Must I say more to aggravate thy rage?

OEDIPUS With other men, but not with thee, for thou In ear, wit, eye, in everything art blind. TEIRESIAS Poor fool to utter gibes at me which all Here present will cast back on thee ere long.

OEDIPUS Is this a plot of Creon, or thine own? TEIRESIAS Not Creon, thou thyself art thine own bane. OEDIPUS O wealth and empiry and skill by skill Outwitted in the battlefield of life, What spite and envy follow in your train! See, for this crown the State conferred on me.

CHORUS: To us it seems that both the seer and thou, O Oedipus, have spoken angry words. This is no time to wrangle but consult How best we may fulfill the oracle. TEIRESIAS: King as thou art, free speech at least is mine To make reply; in this I am thy peer.

OEDIPUS I know not thou wouldst utter folly, else Long hadst thou waited to be summoned here. TEIRESIAS Such am I--as it seems to thee a fool, But to the parents who begat thee, wise. OEDIPUS What sayest thou--"parents"? Who begat me, speak? TEIRESIAS This day shall be thy birth-day, and thy grave.

TEIRESIAS I go, but first will tell thee why I came. Thy frown I dread not, for thou canst not harm me. Hear then: this man whom thou hast sought to arrest With threats and warrants this long while, the wretch Who murdered Laius--that man is here. And yet his fortune brings him little joy; For blind of seeing, clad in beggar's weeds, For purple robes, and leaning on his staff, To a strange land he soon shall grope his way.

And of the children, inmates of his home, He shall be proved the brother and the sire, Of her who bare him son and husband both, Co-partner, and assassin of his sire. He passes for an alien in the land But soon shall prove a Theban, native born. Go in and ponder this, and if thou find That I have missed the mark, henceforth declare I have no wit nor skill in prophecy. Exeunt TEIRESIAS and OEDIPUS.

Is this a detective story? ¡Who is the murderer? ¡Who is the murdered ¡Am I the murderer? ¡Who am I? ¡How do I know what to know?

Lines 526 – 1, 165 New Characters ¡Jocasta: the Queen of Thebes ¡A Messenger: a messenger from Corinth

¡ 1. the chorus demands proof: Teiresias and Oedipus ¡ 2. Creon=prestige + wealth- responsibilities ¡ 3. Jocasta stops the fight between O & C. ¡ 4. Jocasta/Laius vs. gods/prophets ¡ 5. Jocasta: details of Laius’s murder ¡ 6. Oedipus begins to suspect that he murdered Laius.

the son of the Corinthian king? ¡ 5. Jocasta: details of Laius’s murder ¡ 6. Oedipus begins to suspect that he murdered Laius. ¡ 7. a long, soul-searching speech

¡ 8. a dim memory of a drunken reveler at a banquet ¡ 9. Oedipus’s visit to the Oracle at Delphi ¡ 10. Wandering, Oedipus soon meets and kills an old man and the escorts accompanying him. ¡ 11. Oedipus is just beginning to figure out who the old man was.

¡ 12. Oedipus sees now for the first time that he killed the stranger at the same crossroads where Laius was murdered. ¡ 13. A Messenger from Corinth appears. He announces that Polybus, the King of Corinth is dead, and that the people want Oedipus to be their king. ¡ 14. Jocasta shares his pride in thwarting fate.

¡ 15. Foster parents--King Polybus and Merope--are no blood relation to Oedipus, the Messenger says. ¡ 16. Oedipus is a foundling, rescued from a hillside where he was abandoned to starvation, his ankles bound together. ¡ 17. Determined to know the whole story, Oedipus asks if anyone in the Chorus knows this shepherd. ¡ 18. She begs Oedipus to call off this quest.

Lines 1, 166 – 1, 680 New Characters ¡ A Shepherd: the shepherd saves Oedipus ¡ A Messenger from the palace sees ¡ Antigone: the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta ¡ Ismene: Antigone’s sister

¡ 1. Jocasta asks Oedipus to drop the idea of locating the shepherd who saved him from abandonment. ¡ 2. The Shepherd tries to avoid answering the questions Oedipus asks him. ¡ 3. Oedipus quickly realizes the horror of what he has been told, and he rushes offstage to nurse his sorrow.

¡ 4. A Messenger from the palace comes onstage to announce that Jocasta has taken her own life. ¡ 5. “The king pulled pins from her clothes and blinded himself. ” ¡ 6. He will not have to see his father’s eyes when they meet in death, he says. He also cannot bear to look at his children, his kinsmen or the people of Thebes, he says. ¡ 7. Oedipus begs Creon for banishment, requests a decent burial for Jocasta, and asks that his daughters be looked after.

Questions for Assignment 1 ¡ 1. Oedipus is not a tragic hero. Why? ¡ 2. If you were Oedipus, what would you do after you see the truth? ¡ 3. Write a letter from Oedipus to Antigone after 20 years of exile. Please refer to the text.