Literary Focus
for
Oedipus the King
• Tragedy: A serious play representing the
disastrous downfall of the central character.
• Tragic hero: A character, through choice or
circumstance, who is caught up in a sequence of
events that inevitably results in a catastrophe.
• Dramatic irony: Occurs when the audience
knows more about a character’s situation than the
character.
• All the parts of the PLOT diagram
• Epiphany: A moment of revelation or insight in
which a character recognizes some truth.
Aristotle’s Elements of Tragedy
Who was Aristotle?
• 384 BC – 322 BC
• Greek philosopher
• Studied at the Academy
in Athens under Plato
• Helped in the education
of Alexander the Great
• Significant contributions
to science and philosophy
• Wrote about drama and
poetry in Poetics
Tragedy
• A serious play
representing
the disastrous
downfall of the
central
character.
Aristotle and Oedipus the King
• Aristotle believed that Oedipus the King
was the perfect tragedy.
• Poetics was written around 350 BC. The
first performance of Oedipus was around
425 BC, some 75 years before Aristotle
wrote his work.
• Aristotle used Oedipus to help illustrate his
main ideas.
According to Aristotle, there are
6 main elements of tragedy
•
•
•
•
•
•
Thought
Diction
Melody
Spectacle
Character
Plot
We will discuss these
elements from the
least important to the
most important.
Thought
• Saying what can be
said and what should
be said, meaning:
– Do the lines spoken by
the actors make sense?
– Is the timing of their
lines appropriate to
what is happening on
stage?
Diction
• If thought deals with what
is said, diction deals with
how it is said.
• Effective and beautiful
use of language in speech
and dialogue.
• The Greeks preferred
artistic use of language.
Melody and Spectacle
• If music is being used, it must be
appropriate.
• Costumes, settings, and props should also
be appropriate to the theme of the play.
Character
• The second most
important element.
• Important characters in
each play should be:
– properly developed
– have believable
personalities
– be good in some way
– act consistently throughout
the play
Plot
The action of the play
(plot) is the most
important of the six
elements!
Plot continued…
• There must be unity
of plot.
• This means that the
plot must move from
beginning to end
according to a tightly
organized sequence of
events.
A good plot has PERIPETY and/or DISCOVERY
– Peripety is the sudden
turn of events (a 180)
– Discovery is the
change from ignorance
to knowledge
When I say “GO”…
• Find someone in this room who is
approximately the same height as you and
share with them TWO things you learned
about tragedy. Move around the room,
don’t just find the person sitting next to
you!
GO!