Oedipus Rex Review Notes
Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, is classified as a tragedy.
It is considered the one play by Sophocles that has touched the hearts of
audiences
most deeply.
Aristotle remarked that Oedipus Rex is the model of a perfectly made
tragedy—“an
imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude.”
The tragedy, as a genre, often starts “in medias res” or “in the middle” of the
action.
Tragic Hero/Heroine:
 Must be noble or of high status
 Neither thoroughly good nor thoroughly bad
 Has a tragic flaw that leads to his/her own downfall (Hamartia)
 Hubris: excessive pride or arrogance (often hero/heroine’s hamartia)
 Evokes both pity and fear from the audience
 Reversal of seemingly good fortune (Peripeteia)
 Enlightenment or recognition of hero’s responsibility (Anagnorisis)
 The audience is cleansed of pity and fear and feels renewed (Catharsis)
Chorus (15 elders)
 No positional power (citizens of Thebes)
 Peripheral to main interactions (on the sidelines)
 Effected (brought out) by main interactions
 Summarizes and emphasizes events in the play
 Looks at point of view of all characters
Audience
 Knows the story more than the characters (dramatic irony)
 Interacts via pity and fear
Tragedies are tragic because
 Plot mirrors life (realistic)
 The hero experiences a downfall (reversal of fortune aka peripeteia)
 The audience experiences fear/pity.
 There is an enlightenment/acceptance of responsibility in which the protagonist
realizes that he is the reason for the destruction surrounding him (anagnorisis).
 A moment where the audience and protagonist are cleansed of pity and fear; a
release or cleanse (catharsis)
6 Elements of Tragedy Based on Aristotle’s Poetics
 Tragedy: a play with a serious theme that usually ends unhappily for the main
character set in motion by some tragic flaw in his or her personality (hamartia)
 Hubris: arrogance or excessive pride
 Foreshadowing: clues as to what will probably happen later in the play
 Climax: the highest point of emotional tension or turning point of tension
 Catharsis: an emotional purification or cleansing felt by the audience at the
end of a tragedy; As the audience members watch the play, they feel a mixture
of pity and fear, but by the play’s end, the audience feels washed clean and
emotionally renewed by witnessing and understanding the fate of the
protagonist.
 Denouement: the resolution of the main conflict (not usually a happy outcome
for the main character)
Sections of a Greek Play
 Prologue: spoken by one or two characters before the chorus appears; sets
forth the subject of the play and provides the mythological background
necessary for understanding the events of the play.
 Parados: song sung by the chorus as it first enters
*strophe: sung as the chorus turns from one side of the orchestra to the other
*antistrophe: sung while the chorus moves in a direction opposite the strophe
 Episodes: scenes of dialogue in which one or more actors take part
 Stasimon: a choral ode that often reflects on the dialogue and events of the
preceding episode; weaves the plot into a cohesive whole
 Exodus: the final episode where there is a processional song sung by the chorus
at the end of the play offering words of wisdom related to the actions and
outcomes of the play
Ancient Greece Background
Religion: Believed gods took an active interest in human affairs—successes were
viewed as the sign of divine favor while problems and failures were interpreted as the
result of divine anger.
Plague: Killed 1/3 population
Victims were “seized first with strong fevers, redness and burning of the eyes,
and
expelled an unusually foul breath.” Next came “sneezing, hoarseness, a
powerful
cough, and every kind of bilious vomiting.”
Oracle of Apollo at Delphi: Oracles were believed to speak for Apollo and
communicate the will of Zeus (Apollo was Zeus’s son; the god of the sun and music)
Prophet: Or “Seer” was thought to be capable of interpreting signs of what was to
come
Exile: Means one is sent away for an amount of time; One could not have any
connection
with one’s home or people in the town.
Standard punishment for unintentional murder
Fate: Each person has a fate assigned to him or her (by the gods).
A person who seeks to overstep his or her fate would be guilty of hubris or
pride.
Be able to identify the characters: who they are in the play, their relationships to
other characters, and what they do to move the plot of the play forward.
Know Oedipus’s flaws.
What does his hubris lead him to do that ultimately causes his downfall?
Describe Oedipus as a tragic hero.
Identify elements of dramatic irony in the play.
Note use of motif and how it functions in the tragedy of Oedipus: Blindness vs. Sight
Fate vs. Free will