Oedipus the King

Sophocles
Background
Sophocles and Oedipus the King
 Background
 The Author (Sophocles)
 Times and Milieu
 Movements and Trends
 Things about the text
 Key Facts
SOPHOCLES
 Who is Sophocles?
 An ancient Greek playwright.
 son of Sophillus
 lived for 90 years -treasurer of Athens
 one of the 10 stratēgoi
 a proboulos
 wrote over 100 plays
 one the three great greek tragedians (Aeschylus,
Sophocles, Euripides)
 was the first person to introduce a third actor in dramas.
 TIMES AND MILIEU

 428 B.C.E.
 Thebes and Athens were at war (Peloponnesian
War) with each other when the play was written.
 the city state of Athens was suffering from a
plague during those times.
The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought
by the Delian League led by Athens against the Peloponnesian League
led by Sparta.
 MOVEMENTS AND TRENDS

 Classical Period (5th and 4th B.C.E.)

 Tragedians
Aeschylus Euripides
 THINGS ABOUT THE TEXT
 it is a part of a trilogy (theban plays)
 the other two were "Antigone" and "Oedipus at Colonus"
 it was reffered to as "Sophocles' Oedipus" by Aristotle
 the Theban plays in chronological order of the story is
"Oedipus the King", "Oedipus at Colonus" and "Antigone"
 the Theban plays in chronological order in which the
plays were written is "Antigone", "Oedipus the King" and
"Oedipus at Colonus"
SUMMARY
Cast of Characters
 Oedipus
 Elder
 Chorus
 Creon
 Tiresias
 Jocasta
 Herdsman
 Corinthian
 Messenger
Setting:
 Setting (Time): set in the mythical past of
Ancient Greece
 Setting (Place): Thebes
 Before the play begins ..
 Introduction:
 Oedipus solves the
riddle of the Sphinx.
 He became King of
Thebes as a reward for
defeating the Sphinx
In the play . . .
Rising Action:
 Oedipus becomes king, marries Jocasta and has
children.
 Years later a plague infects the city of Thebes.
 Oedipus sends Creon to Apollo's shrine for help.
 Apollo wants Oedipus to find Laius's killer.
 Oedipus makes a decree that the murderer and those
who aid him will receive punishment.
In the play . .

 Oedipus consults the old prophet, Tiresias, for help.

 Tiresias says Oedipus killed Laius; Jocasta is his mother.
 Tiresias is accused of plotting treason along with Creon.
 Oedipus and Creon argue.
In the play . . .
 Jocasta and Oedipus swap stories about similar
prophecies and the story of the murder of Lauis:;
mentions the 3 roads and makes Oedipus
suspicious. They send for the herdsman.
 A messenger reveals who Oedipus's true parents
are.
 Laius's former servant confirms the story.
Climax
 Oedipus realizes Teiresias was right about
him.
Falling Action
 Jocasta realizes Oedipus is her son and
hangs herself.
 Falling Action
 Oedipus blinds himself.
 Oedipus requests exile.
Resolution
 Oedipus makes Creon king and asks him to
guard his children.
 Oedipus leaves Thebes in exile.
 End of the plague.
ANALYSIS
 Six Components of Tragedy
 Plot
 Character
 Thought
 Diction
 Song
 Spectacle
PLOT
The representation of human action
CHARACTER
Refers to the human beings represented in the drama.
 THOUGHT
The representation of the rational processes of the characters and of
the values and ideas articulated in the play.
“Drive out defilement nurtured in your land.
Cherish it no longer: it must be purged.”
 Apollo
“His cause is mine, and I will fight for him,
As if he were my very own father.”
 Oedipus
“What? Then hear me speak. Obey the edict
That you yourself proclaimed: No one here
Shall ever speak with you again.
You are this land’s defiler, you are the curse!”

“You ridicule me and call me blind,

Yet your eyes cannot see your own corruption.”

 Tiresias
“Oh, what wretched breed
We mortals are:
Our lives add up to nothing.
Does anyone, anyone at all
Harvest more happiness
Than a vacant image,
And from that image fall away?
You are my pattern,
Your fortune is mine,
You, Oedipus, your misery teaches me
To call no mortal blessed.”
- Chorus
“Why should I have eyes
When there is nothing
sweet to see?”
- Oedipus
 DICTION
the way the language of the play is delivered by the actors.
 The play is written in free verse with the
meter of the play alternating between lyric
and iambic trimeters. There are also a few
instances of rhyme, appearing only in the
beginning and final scenes, and usually
only by Oedipus and the chorus.
 SONG
makes up one of the media of tragedy
 SPECTACLE
includes all aspects of the tragedy that contribute to its sensory
effects: costumes, scenery, the gestures of the actors, the sound of
the music and the resonance of the actors' voices.
 THEMES
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a
literary work.
Themes
 Light and darkness
 Sight and blindness
 Origins and children
 The One and the Many (also Doubles/Twos)
 Plague and health
 Prophecy, oracles, and predestination
 Youth and age
 The Limits of Free Will
 The concept of Irony
 SYMBOLS
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to
represent abstract ideas or concepts.
 Oedipus’s Swollen Foot
 The Three-way Crossroads
 MOTIFS
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that
can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
 Suicide
 Sight and blindness
INTERPRETATIONS
 Tragedy of Character
 Tragedy of Destiny
 Tragedy of Complexity
 DRAMATIC
CONVENTIONS
Characterization
 When the shepherd who was sent for to say whether one or
several robbers had attacked Lauis arrives, the original
question has been forgotten and he must answer a much
weightier one – who gave him the infant to be exposed?
Inherent improbabilities are made to seem natural by
skillful characterization. Only the impetuosity of Oedipus
can make Tiresias speak, and only his quick temper can
make him ignore Tiresias’ revelation. Only the big-city
glibness of the Corinthian messenger makes the reluctant
shepherd speak out.
Dramatic Irony
 the people of Thebes come to Oedipus at the start of the
play, asking him to rid the city of the plague, when in
reality, it is he who is the cause; Oedipus curses the
murderer of Laius out of a deep anger at not being able to
find him, actually cursing himself in he process; he insults 
Tiresias’ blindness when he is the one who actually lacks
vision, and will soon himself be blind; and he rejoices in
the news of the death of King Polybus of Corinth, when
this new information is what actually brings the tragic
prophecy to light.about what is happening.
Foreshadowing
 Oedipus’s name, which literally means “swollen
foot,” foreshadows his discovery of his own
identity. Tiresias, the blind prophet, appears in
both Oedipus the King announces what will
happen to Oedipus , only to be completely ignored
by both. The truth that comes from Tiresias’s
blindness foreshadows the revelation that inspires
Oedipus to blind himself.
Monologue
 When Oedipus finally discovers the truth
and his own blindness. He cant help but
speak and impart the pain he was feeling.
Talking about his misfortune and the then
last words to his beloved children.
Tragic Flaw
 Oedipus
 Oedipus is hasty, arrogant, suspicious of the motives of his true
friends; and his downfall is often explained as retribution for
these flaws of character. But to interpret Oedipus’ fall as
punishment is to assume an unjust moral order (he had
committed his sins unwittingly and had done his best to avoid
them) and to mistake the nature of tragedy. Oedipus is a true
hero because he pursued the truth relentlessly, even after it had
become manifestly dangerous to do so. Only a hasty and
impatient man – one who would kill in a traffic dispute – could
so conduct himself.
Tragic Hero
 Oedipus
 Oedipus has behaved well as a man and merited
heroism; he is a winner, despite the horrors that
befall him. When a man behaving admirably is
nevertheless tripped up by forces beyond his
understanding, we have tragedy. Oedipus then is a
perfect example of the tragic hero.
Pun
 Oedipus has a name which resonates many strange
meanings. “Swollen foot” brings to mind the sign that
Oedipus bears with him of his past, the evidence of his
wounded feet. His name combines the two most prominent
features of human species: we are intelligent and we walk
on two feet. At the end of his name we hear dipous,, “two-
footed,” a word from the riddle, while the beginning of his
name sounds the root of the word for eyewitness
knowledge (oid-) , a theme that echoes throughout the
play. (Meineck, P. & Woodruff P., 2000.)
Simile
 Oedipus: your ears and your mind are
as blind as your eyes.