Oedipus Rex and
Ancient Greek Theater
Archetypes
Sophocles and Athenian Society
Maps of Ancient Greece
Origins of Greek Drama
The Role of the Chorus
Ancient Greek Theaters
Stichomythic Dialogue
The Tragic Hero
Freytag’s Plot Triangle
Archetypes
 An archetype is a basic model, a prototype, a paradigm, an exemplar.
 An archetype is atavistic and universal; it is a product of the “collective
unconscious.”
Fundamentals of Human
Existence
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Birth
Growing up
Death
Love
Family
Tribal life
Sibling rivalry
Generational conflict
Creatures and Symbols
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Lion
Eagle
Snake
Tortoise
Hare
Rose
Paradisiacal garden
Character Types
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The rebel
The “player”
The “femme fatale”
The self-made man
The all-conquering hero
The traitor
The villain
The god-king
The king as a sacrificial
scapegoat
• The tragic hero
Sophocles (497 or 496 to 406 B.C.)
 Sophocles was born in Athens.
 Sophocles was the best-known ancient Greek playwright.
 While Sophocles was a member of the ruling class, he was
aware of the social inequalities in Athenian society.
 Sophocles used his plays to warn his fellow Athenians of
“divine retribution” for social injustice.
 Sophocles explored the fate-freewill dichotomy in his plays.
While humans eventually have to face the consequences of
their decisions and actions, freewill was not more powerful
than fate or destiny. In fact, one’s freewill could actually work
toward fulfilling fate!
Mt. Olympus
Pisa
Origins of Greek Drama
 Sixth Century B.C.
o Thespis essentially invented acting by stepping in front of the chorus and
performing a solo.
o Thespian has come to mean actor.
 Fifth Century B.C.
o Each year plays were performed in an annual competition to honor Dionysus
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(Bacchus).
Each playwright wrote three tragedies and a satyr-play (a farce for comic
relief) for the competition.
Sophocles won twenty of these competitions.
Sophocles introduced the third actor on stage. (Aeschylus introduced the use
of the second actor on stage.)
Sophocles Theban plays, while often anthologized together, were actually not
originally written as a trilogy. In fact, Antigone was written first, Oedipus Rex
was written second, and Oedipus at Colonus was written last.
The Chorus
 Group of 15 men who sang lyric poetry and danced to music
 Unpaid and drawn from the citizenry at large
 Considered a civic duty
 Costumed in light masks and the dress of the people
 Link between audience and actors
o Served as the “ideal spectator,” responding to the play as the playwright intended.
o Functioned as the conscience of the people, establishing an ethical perspective from which to view
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the play
Reflected upon what had happened and foreshadowed what was to come
Questioned, made requests of, and at times advised the central characters
Helped to establish mood and heighten dramatic moments
Helped to establish pacing
Provided tension release
Separated the scenes
Performed in song with a back-and-forth movement that heightened the emotion of the performance
 Strophe (left to right)
 Antistrophe (right to left)
 Epode
A character or characters onstage interacted with the Chorus through a song, the kommos, or through
a leader or spokesperson, the Choragos, who would step forth from the Chorus to become a character
on stage.
Stichomythic dialogue (stichomythia):
Alternating individual lines of verse between
two speakers
 A technique used to provide contrast to long speeches
 A technique used to present thesis and antithesis, questions
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and answer, argument and refutation.
A technique that allowed playwrights to distinguish for the
audience one masked actor from another
A technique used to heighten the drama
Usually occurs at moments of high tension
Usually structured in parallel lines of verse
Sometimes structured using antilabe
The Crime of Laius (Laios):
 Pelops: King of Pisa, husband of Hippodameia, father of Chrysippus (from
a previous marriage), Atreus and Thyestes, among others.
 Laius took refuge in Pisa after fleeing Thebes; his older cousins (Amphion
and Zethus) ruled Thebes at the time, and he feared for his life.
 Pelops welcomed Laius and entrusted him with the training of Chrysippus
in the art of war and charioteering.
 Antiope, mother of Amphion and Zethus, was raped by Zeus.
 Amphion married Niobe, who bragged about her many children and insulted the
goddess Leto. Leto’s twins, Apollo and Artemis (fathered by Zeus), killed all Niobe’s
children in retaliation. Amphion either killed himself or was killed by Zeus after
vowing revenge, and Niobe either killed herself or was turned to stone.
 Zethus had only one son, who died, so he killed himself.
 Laius fell in love with and abducted Chrysippus, taking him back to Thebes
once the “coast was clear.”
 Pelops gathered his army and marched to Thebes to retrieve his son,
but Hippodameia conspires with her two sons, Atreus and Thyestes, to
kill Chrysippus (in some versions Chrysippus kills himself out of
shame).
 Pelops banished Hippodameia, Atreus, and Thyestes to Mycenae,
where Hippodameia hangs herself and Atreus becomes king.
 Laius, having angered Pelops and the gods with his behavior, was
cursed by Pelops and warned by Apollo not to have any children. Hera
also sent the Sphinx to torment Thebes.
 Laius, begin motivated by passion more than reason, did not heed
Apollo’s warning and had a son with Jocasta (Iocaste)—Oedipus!
 As far as Atreus and Thyestes are concerned, Atreus became king of
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Mycenae and Thyestes seduced Atreus’ wife. Atreus retaliated by
serving Thyestes’ two sons to him at a “reconciliation” dinner.
Thyestes cursed Atreus and his two sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus.
Sound familiar?
Menelaus was the king of Sparta and husband of the infamous Helen,
the reason (mythologically speaking) for the Trojan War!
Agamemnon was king of Mycenae and fought with his brother in the
Trojan War.
According to legend, both survived the war and returned safely
home, but Agamemnon was betrayed and killed by his wife,
Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus—another son of Thyestes!
Orestes avenged his father’s murder, which is the subject of
Aeschylus’ trilogy Oresteia.
Tragic Hero
 He is elevated to a high status and position in society, and he
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possesses noble stature and greatness.
While he embodies nobility and virtue, he is flawed.
His downfall or demise is due in part to freewill, an error in
judgment (i.e., hamartia) associated with a tragic flaw (e.g.,
hubris).
His downfall or demise is due in part to fate.
His misfortune is not wholly deserved; the punishment exceeds the
crime.
He gains awareness, insight, and self-knowledge as a result of his fall
from grace.
Tragedy
 An action of great magnitude is at the center of the plot.
 Pathos (that which evokes pity or sympathy) is an essential
element of the play.
 The plot is carefully sequenced, moving from the complication
to the unraveling or denouement.
 Complication: Prologue to turning point
 Denouement: Turning point to the resolution
 Complicated plots involve reversal (peripeteia), which is a sudden
change or reversal of circumstance or fortune, and recognition
(anagnorisis), which is a change from ignorance to knowledge.
 A catastrophe occurs, which usually spirals outward: not only does
the tragic hero suffer, but his family also suffers.
 A catharsis (a purification or purging of emotions; a spiritual
renewal) occurs.