Sophocles and KING OEDIPUS Sophocles 496 B C

Sophocles and KING OEDIPUS

Sophocles � 496 B. C. -406 B. C. � Greek playwright � Wrote tragedies � Poet � Wrote Theban plays (The Oedipus Cycle) � Introduced third actor

Thebes � Ancient city in Greece � Setting for many tragedies, including Sophocles’

Festival of Dionysus � Dionysus was god of wine and fertility � Only male actors � Playwrights competed against each other in categories of comedy and tragedy � Sophocles competed here

Three Unities � Unity of action- play has one main action it follows � Unity of time- play takes place within 24 hours � Unity of place- play takes place within one physical space, geography is not compressed

Terms � Hubris- can mean an exaggerated self-pride; in Ancient Greece Hubris referred to actions taken against a victim to shame and humiliate him, making the aggressor seem superior. � Catharsis- purification or cleansing; a cathartic experience � Hamartia- error in judgment; sin

Themes � Blindness vs. sight � Self-knowledge � Pride � Truth � Responsibility � Fate/destiny vs. choice � The Matrix, Stranger Than Fiction, Deja Vu, any more?

Tragic Hero � Noble birth � Hamartia- Tragic flaw leads to downfall-hero dies � Peripeteia-Reversal of fortune � Self-awareness/self-knowledge-moment of recognition � Audience fears and pities characterpunishment does not fit crime � Middling character-

Oedipus fits this characterization of a tragic hero… Take a few guesses as to what he will do after you have read the introduction to the play.