Journal
•If you could know how the rest of your life
panned out, as well as the time and place of
your death, would you want to know?
Why or why not?
Does knowing an outcome affect the way you get there?
• Think-pair-share
• Does knowing the end ruin the journey?
• Do spoilers ruin an episode of your favorite
show or book?
• Does knowing the end ruin Oedipus?
• Think about it– don’t say it out loud yet.
FATE
Fate dictated everything.
• No one could change the outcome of fate
set before them.
• Zeus can’t
• Oedipus can’t
• Tales of mortals trying to escape fate are
everywhere in Greek myth.
• Is it true for us today?
The Dramatic Structure of
“Oedipus the King”
The Greek Tragedy
• Believed that dramatic structure of
Greek tragedy influenced the
eventual division of a play into acts
and scenes.
• Greek tragedy divided into five
sections.
1. The Prologue (Prologos)
• Opening portion of the play
• Sets the scene and contains the
exposition
2. The Parados
• Entrance song of the Chorus
• Named after the broad isles on
either side of the theatron
(theatre), where the Chorus
entered and exited from.
3. The Episodes (Scenes)
• Scene in the action (plot) of the
drama.
• Scenes (episodes) are performed by
the actors (distinguished from stasimons—
performed by the Chorus).
• Episodes alternate with the
stasimons.
4. Stasimons (Odes)
• A choral passage (performed by
the Chorus)
• Alternates with the episodes
• Type of lyric poem.
• Chorus performed through song
and dance accompanied by
instruments.
5. Exodos
• Concluding section of the
tragedy.
• Ends with the chorus singing
their final lines as they exit.
How Oedipus relates to
Plot Structure:
• Exposition—Prologue, Parados
• Rising Action—Scene 1, Ode 1
through Scene 3,Ode 3
• Climax—Scene 4
• Falling Action—Ode 4, Exodos
• Resolution--Exodos
The Breakdown
( Dover Edition)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Prologue: Beginning through the entrance of the chorus ( 1-6)
Parados)(pg. 6-8)
Episode 1 (pg. 9-17)
Stasimon 1 ( chorus song/commentary ) (pg.17-19)
Episode 2 ( pg. 19-31)
Stasimon 2 (pg. 31-32)
Episode 3 (pg. 32-39)
Stasimon 3 (pg. 39)
Episode 4 (pg. 40-42)
Stasimon 4 (pg. 42-44)
Exidos (pg. 44- end….. Chorus exits)