The Stages of Fear In Oedipus Rex

1. The Stages of Fear In Oedipus Rex Dr. Green

2. Stages of Fear • Confidence • Fear • Alarm • Relief • Panic • Despair

3. Confidence • Basis of confidence in • Knowledge • He thought he Knew who his parents were • He thought he knew he had escaped the predictions of the Delphi oracle • Skills • Had solved the riddle of the sphinx • Resources • Had the help of Creon and Apollo • Power • Was the ruler of Thebes

4. Aristotle On Fear • Fear • expectation that something destructive, i.e., something causing great pain, will happen to person in the near future

5. Aquinas On Fear • Fear is • a painful feeling arising from • a future evil • that difficult • irresistible--impossible or difficult to avoid • surpasses the power of him that fears • repelled only with difficulty • greatness of the dangervs. weakness of the person • certain contraction • Physiologically • Psychologically

6. Aquinas • Two types of fear • corruptive evil causes natural fear • Fear for one’s existence • Economic conditions are a significant source of fear because one’s existence depends upon one’s livelihood • painful evil causes learned fears • arise as desires arise through experience

7. Alarm • Alarm is a painful feeling caused when one first becomes conscious of the possibility of harm from imminent danger • It is an awakening to danger

8. Alarm • Knowledge • He claims to be a stranger to the crime • He vows to maintain the cause of the god and the murdered man • Pursue the matter as though he was my father • Hypothesis formed • Teiresias did it • Others are plotting against him

9. Alarm • Resources at his disposal • Augury • Skills • “My mother wit, untaught of auguries, solved the riddle of the Sphinx” • He is good at solving riddles • Power • Will bring all the power of the state to the solution of the problem

10. Alarm • Teiresias sets off the alarm • All are lacking in knowledge. • He accuses Oedipus of murder and incest. • He claims that Oedipus is ignorant of his lineage.

11. Alarm • Alarm is further reinforced by Teiresias’ riddles • The murderer is both native and alien • Oedipus will had his birthday and go to his grave • Oedipus can see but is blind • Oedipus is rich and poor • Oedipus is brother and father to his children • Oedipus is son and husband to his wife • Oedipus is assassin and replacement of father

12. Alarm • The Chorus—set the stage for the Relief Stage • Wonders whether the charges well founded. • Neither the present nor the future is clear. • Proved himself good as gold with Sphinx

13. Relief • Alleviation, ease, or deliverance through the removal of pain, distress, oppression, etc. • A feeling of cheerfulness or optimism that follows the removal of anxiety, pain, or distress: • “I breathed a sigh of relief .” • Deliverance from or alleviation of anxiety, pain, distress, etc

14. Relief in Episode 2 • Relief arises when a threat is gone • Oedipus thought Creon was a threat to him • Creon argues that the charges are baseless • A secure repose is preferred to ruling • He has never had any desire for throne • Oedipus should check by seeking a prophecy at Delphi • Oedipus should investigate to see if there is indeed Teiresias is plotting against him • Jocasta supports Creon's innocence • The Chorus supports Creon's innocence

15. Panic • Jocasta tells Oedipus about the Delphic predictions for Laius • Jocastatells Oedipus that Laius was killed where three roads meet • Oedipus’s panic: • What memories, what wild tumult of the soul Came o'er me, lady, as I heard thee speak! • Jocasta describes Laius, and the description matches the man Oedipus killed • Jocasta describes Laius’ retinue and mode of travel, and these match the what was present when Oedipus killed a man

16. Panic • Oedipus demands that the surviving slave appear before him • What is at issue • Oedipus’ parentage is in question • The truthfulness of the Delphic oracle which said Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother • Oedipus killed someone in a cart similar to the one described by Jocasta where the three roads meet

17. Panic • The only ray of hope arises from the fact that it is unclear whether there were many robbers, as the survivor claimed, or only one.

18. Aquinas Hope • Hope • approach toward • something good • in the future • arduous and difficult to obtain, so an element of uncertainty • possible to obtain

19. False Hope • Messenger tells Oedipus that Polybus is dead • Oedipus declares that the oracles are dead • This turns out to be false hope because Polybus is not his father • Oedipus came to Corinth from a shepherd on Mt Cithaeron • The only hope now is that he is “base born.”

20. Despair • Despair • Consternation • Dismay • Hopelessness • Fatalism

21. Aquinas Despair • Despair • is the opposite of hope • Is the withdrawal from • something good • in the future • that is impossible to obtain

22. Despair • Oedipus learns that the child from the shepherd’s field is son of Laius • Oedipus is the child from the field • All hope is gone“I stand a wretch, in birth, in wedlock cursed, A parricide, incestuously, triply cursed!” 

23. Despair • Jocasta has withdrawn from life, finding it impossible to live with the disgrace • Oedipus has withdrawn from the world by blinding himself • He will no longer see • His daughters • His city • The statues of the gods • He asks to be put to death • Will be exiled from Thebes • His daughters have been deprived of social existence and will die unwed and barren. They have been deprived of the goods of living in society.