Sophocles and Oedipus the King

1. SophoclesandOedipus the King

2. Sophocles ca. 496—406 BCE • Time period: -----Athens far advanced in power and prosperity; -----The league of free cities had became an empire, in which Athens taxed and coerced the subject cities. -----Died 2 years before Athens surrendered to Sparta • Playing prominent part in the city’s affairs: treasurers, general; member of special committee

3. Sophocles’s Career as Dramatist • 468: won first prize at the Dionysia, competing against Aeschylus • Produced more than 120 plays over the next 62 years • Won first prize no fewer than 24 times • When he was not first, he came in second, never third.

4. Achievements • The Creator of the third actor to the Greek drama • The use of the third actor to create complex triangular scenes -----(Oedipus vs. messenger vs. a listening Jocasta) -----In comparison to Aeschylus: Agamemnon vs. Clytemnestra vs. Cassandra (less dramatic tension)

5. Historical Background • Oedipus was probably staged during the early years of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.E.) • Most of the plays date from the last half of the fifth century B.C.E.; they were written in and for an Athens that had undergone an intellectual revolution.

6. Historical Background • It was in a time of critical re-evaluation of accepted standards and tradition that Sophocles produced his masterpiece, Oedipus the King, and the problems of the time are reflected in the play.

7. Question for Discussion • What kind of suitor will win your heart? -----practical, down-to-the earth, engaged in saving money for the future -----romantic, generous, engaged in creating love scenes • What type of husband would you like to marry?

8. Question for Discussion • Do you take interest in fortune telling? What might be people’s motives in so doing or not so doing? • If you are the mother of a wanted criminal, will you notify the police of the criminal’s whereabouts? Should the mother be considered violating the law or even the accomplice if she fails to do so?

9. After Reading

10. The Power of the Play • Authority of history: ---The history of ages that leaves no records is myth. • Authority of religion: the relation between humanity and gods ---Man should not try to or think he can exceed gods in power. • The power to arouse the irrational hopes and fears that lie deep and secret in the human conscious (incest desire).

11. Dramatic Ironies in the Revelation of Truth • Jocasta tells King Laius’s death at where three roads intersect rather than at his son’s hand. The information is meant for relieving Oedipus of his anger about Tiresias’s prophecy. This, however, causes Oedipus’s suspicion of himself as the murderer.

12. Dramatic Ironies in the Revelation of Truth • The messenger from Corinth tells Oedipus he is not the son of Polybus. The information is meant for relieving Oedipus of his fear of Apollo’s prophecy. This, however, further discloses the truth of Oedipus’s birth.

13. The Contemporary Significance • Oedipus as a typical fifth-century Athenian • Containing all their virtues and vices as well

14. The characteristics of the Athenians • The words by the Corinthian spokesman at Sparta: ---“Athenians . . .are equally quick in the conception and in the execution of every new plan.” ---“They are bold beyond their strength; they run risks that prudence would condemn.” ---“In the midst of misfortune they are full of hope.”

15. The characteristics of the Athenians • Devotion to the city • Quick rage: ---condemned and executed the generals who had failed, in the stress of weather and battle, to pick up the drowned bodies of their own men killed in the naval engagement at Arginusae.

16. Oedipus’s Character as a Typical Athenian • Quick in conception & execution: ---Oedipus has already sent to Delphi when the priest advises him to do so and has already sent for Tiresias when the chorus suggests this course of action.

17. Oedipus’s Character as a Typical Athenian • Bold & Risk-Running ---Oedipus risked his life to answer the riddle of Sphinx ---In spite of the oracle about his marriage, accepted the hand of the queen.

18. Oedipus’s Character as a Typical Athenian • Full of hope even in the midst of misfortune ---Oedipus claims that he is “the child of fortune” even when he is told that he is not the son of Polybus and Merope and Jocasta has already realized whose son he is.

19. Oedipus’s Character as a Typical Athenian • Devotion to the city ---His answer to the priest at the beginning of the play shows that he is a conscientious and patriotic ruler. ---His curse on the murderer of King Laius is due to his civil concern.

20. Oedipus’s Character as a Typical Athenian • Quick rage ---the characteristic fault of Athenian democracy ---He throws a tantrum when his search of the murderer is frustrated at the first attempt. ---His anger bursts out again when his interrogation of Tiresias gets no result.

21. Oedipus’s Character as a Typical Athenian • Confidence in the human intelligence, especially his own (Every step his intelligence prompted took him one step nearer to disaster.) 1. pity & orthodoxy 2. taunting at oracles when he hears that Polybus is dead 3. the despairing courage with which he accepts the consequences, “And I am at the edge of hearing horrors, yes, but I must hear.”

22. A Question to Explore • What causes Oedipus’s tragedy?

23. A Question to Explore • What causes Oedipus’s tragedy? ---He is the man he is, because of all aspects of his character, good and bad alike.

24. What causes Oedipus’s tragedy? • His confidence in human intelligence • His risk-running boldness • His devotion to the city • His quick conception and execution • His quick rage • His hopefulness as the situation darkens • His passion for discovering the truth

25. The Revelation of Oedipus’s Character: Present and Past • Each action on stage shows us the mood in which he committed some action in the past.

26. The Revelation of Oedipus’s Character: Present and Past 1. Quick rage: ----His death sentence on Creon he killed Laius because of an insult on the high way 2. Action without forethought ----proclamation of total excommunication for the unknown murderer  accepting the hand of Jocasta

27. The Revelation of Oedipus’s Character: Present and Past 3. intelligent, persistent search for truth ---Searching the murderer of Laius  Solving the riddle of Sphinx

28. Oedipus’s coming to true self-knowledge Oedipus’s coming to full self-knowledge: ---He learns that the oracle he had first fought against and then laughed at has been fulfilled, that every step his intelligence prompted took him one step nearer to disaster, that his knowledge was ignorance and his clean vision blindness.

29. The figure that arouses fear & pity • A man among the highly renowned and prosperous, who is not pre-eminent in virtue and justice, and yet on the other hand does not fall into misfortune through vice or depravity, but falls because of some mistake (陰錯陽差).

30. Further Reflection on the Questions • A romantic lover might easily become an irresponsible husband in the future. • A practical lover would probably be a responsible husband, who, however, might bore you.

31. A Question to Explore • Is Apollo the essential factor in the tragedy?

32. A Question to Explore • Is Apollo the essential factor in the tragedy? ---Although Apollo has predicted what Oedipus will do, he does not determine it. Oedipus determines his own conduct, by being the man he is.

33. Sophocles’s Reflection Upon the Man and the World • Oedipus suffers more than he deserves. • He has served as an example of the inadequacy of the human intellect and a warning that there is a power in the universe that humanity cannot control or even fully understand. (敬天畏神) • But Oedipus still has our sympathy and Sophocles felt this too.

34. The Conflict in Antigone • Antigone vs. Creon: --representatives of two irreconcilable social and religious positions --Family loyalty vs. loyalty to the state

35. Further Reflection upon Questions • So, what will be your verdict (final judgment) on the mother who fails to inform the police of her son’s crime?

36. An Gender Issue • The tension between household and civic institution: • The attempt of Athenian periodic legislature to curtail public display at funerals, including women’s laments. • Athenians’s fear of disorder created by women in the household