Oedipus the King

Ms. Lucas – English II

Sophocles• 496-406 B.C.• Athens, Greece (Golden Age of Athens– center for democracy)• He won 24 times out of 30 tries at a story-telling competition honoring Greek god Dionysus• Focused on the fates of individual characters and their

struggle for self-knowledge• Wrote 123 plays• Worshipped as a hero after his death• First Tragedy writer to use scene painting

Greek Theater

• Theatron: literally, the “watching place”• Orchestra: the “dancing place”• Skene: scene or backdrop

-Plays were performed in an amphitheatre, with a chorus describing most of the action, and with masks.

-Greek theater was part of a religious festival.-Every citizen attended.

What is drama?

• Drama – a literary composition written to be performed by actors

*drama is from the Greek word for doing, rather than telling

• Central character – tragic hero who suffers from serious misfortune

• This misfortune is connected to the character’s actions

How important was Drama?• In Ancient Greece, theater

flourished between 550-220 B.C.

• Athens, Greece was the center• It was part of a festival called

the Dionysia, which honored the god Dionysus (god of wine and revelry – lively festivals)

• Dionysia was contest for dramatists (3 dramatists presented their plays in 3 days)

• Tragedy literally means “goat song” relating to the Dionysian sacrificial ritual

Different types of Greek Drama

• Comedy• Satyr (short plays played between acts of

tragedies making fun of characters in tragedy)• Tragedy

*Comedy and tragedy were the most popular types of plays in ancient Greece

The “Chorus”• About 15 people *ONLY MEN* (in Oedipus they are citizens

and a Theban elder – town leader)• Trained and costumed at the expense of a wealthy citizen

who chose this job as his way of paying taxes and gaining respect of his community

• Chosen out of the general population as unpaid volunteers• Intensify the emotion and establish a lyric mood through

rhythmic chanting and dance• Their job: to bridge the gap between the audience and the

actors (provide background and commentary)

Masks• Why masks? -enable actors to play several different

roles -help the audience to distinguish the

sex, age, social status, and change in character’s emotions or appearance

-use megaphones to amplify their voices-exaggerated facial features made it

easier for viewers to identify characters

Made of cloth, leather, and wood with animal hair

Famous actors had bejeweled masks

Oedipus the King• Main themes:Fate vs. Free WillSight vs. Blindness

• Play• Tragedy – examines the consequences of an

individual’s actions, the relationship of the people to the gods, and the role fate plays in life

• Main characters:Oedipus (king of Thebes)Creon (brother of Jocasta)ChorusTiresias (blind prophet)Jocasta (queen, wife of Oedipus)

Dramatic Irony

• Oedipus the King revolves around two different unsuccessful attempts to change the course of fate

• Dramatic Irony: occurs when the reader or audience knows something important that a character does not know

• Why?-adds to enjoyment to literary work, much as one

might enjoy knowing a secret in real life