Frasier
Fill out the comedy study guide. Watch for the Oedipal
myth. Over the weekend, complete the Oedipus reading
guide. Purchase Medea, peruse the introduction.
Oedipus the King
Philosophical Chairs
Take with you: your book, your notes
Rules of engagement
 Read the material and opening statement carefully; be sure to
understand it.
 Listen to the person who is speaking (don’t raise hands, interrupt,
scoff, or cheer).
 Understand differing points of view.
 Contribute your own thoughts, offering your reasons succinctly as
possible. Use Oedipus and other literary or modern examples.
 Respond to the statements only, not to the personality of the
person giving it.
 Change your mind about the statement as new information or
reasoning is presented.
 Move to the opposite side or the undecided chairs as your thinking
changes (movements should not be acknowledged…)
 Support the mediator in maintaining order and helping the
discussion to progress.
 Reflect on the experience (homework)
Aristotle asserts that Oedipus brought about his own
downfall by stubbornly seeking the truth about
himself despite the warnings that it will not bring him
happiness. Do you agree?
Yes
"I always wanted a fire truck when I was little. I never got one. That's why I'm
evil, heheheheheh!"— Zorak, Cartoon Planet
No
People always think that because Aristotle said a tragic hero's
downfall should be due to a "tragic flaw" (hamartia), and
Aristotle admired King Oedipus above all tragedies, therefore
Oedipus must have a "flaw". [This is a false premise under
Aristotle's very own logic.] And so they have struggled to find
one!... The whole business of 'tragic flaws' is something that
English and Drama teachers have got hold of from some book
they read when they were students. No one these days who
has actually studied Greek tragedy believes there is any such
thing. –Andrew “Letters on the Classics”
What could it have been? Bad temper? King Laius under divine
protection? Carelessness? Pride/Arrogance/Hubris (Are they
all even the same?) Fatal curiosity? NONSENSE.
Right! There is NO
fatal flaw.
Wrong! He is
flawed.
I realized something quite interesting: just about everything Aristotle
says about tragic heroes is wrong. Aristotle had postulated the
principle of the tragic flaw in tragedy. A hero, who is mostly good,
makes some sort of mistake related to character flaw, usually hybris or
pride. However, from what I read, I realized that tragic heroes are
almost never brought down by flaws or by hubris. In fact, in most
cases, the protagonist is actually destroyed by his or her virtues. In
puzzling over this, I realized that Aristotle is, in fact, not trying to
explain exactly what is happening in tragedy but what should be
happening. He is answering a very specific challenge to the very
existence of tragedy presented by Plato in the Republic Book III. Plato
had argued that tragedy corrupted the audience. Aristotle's
development of the tragic flaw is a response to this challenge.
--The author has a Ph.D. in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy.
Team Aristotle
Team Plato
"Fine! The gloves are off pal! C'mon, lemme see a little wrath! Smite me, O
mighty smiter! You're the one who should be fired! The only one around here
not doing his job is you! ANSWER ME!!!“ —Bruce Nolan, Bruce Almighty
The Philosophy of the Absurd
 One of the main themes of Camus’ philosophy is rebellion,
but not in the sense of a full-fledged revolt.
 Sisyphus rebels, not in refusing to continue his arduous task,
but in the fact that he refuses to accept the absurdity of his
punishment.
 Man’s tragedy is his consciousness, his awareness of his
own condition. Oedipus was always the pawn of fate, but his
tragedy begins the moment he knows the truth.
 Sisyphus teaches “there is no fate that can not be
surmounted by scorn.”
What does it mean?
 Camus defines it as a confrontation between “rational”
human beings and an “indifferent” universe.
 Despite our hopes, dreams, expectations and even our
efforts, the world does not deliver what we expect, nor does it
seem to care what becomes of us.
 Only personal experience is meaningful; meaning can not be
found in others or outside forces.
 Meursault accepts the indifference of the universe as
“brotherly” in The Stranger.
 Death makes life absurd.
Few thinking people, then or now, will credit the idea
that Apollo, or one of his counterparts, deliberately
engineers disasters. But Sophocles' theme rings
partially true to those of us who approach the
universe with a sense of awe, as a mystery where
perhaps there is more than there appears to be.
Oedipus plight
shows meaning to
the audience.
What happens to
Oedipus is absurd.
Sophocles proves the
Gods are pointless in
the story. Life is absurd.
"Fine! The gloves are off pal! C'mon, lemme see a little wrath! Smite me, O
mighty smiter! You're the one who should be fired! The only one around here
not doing his job is you! ANSWER ME!!!“ —Bruce Nolan, Bruce Almighty
The most significant feature of a traditional hero in
comparison with the others in his community is his
willingness to act, to make decisions (usually in
response to a crisis of some kind), and to step
forward and take risks in the face of fate at a time
when such decisions are necessary. Oedipus is the
embodiment of the traditional hero. (Think in
comparison to the chorus.)
True
False
The chorus typically acknowledge their timidity or
bewilderment or anxiety in the face of the crisis and
look to the hero for leadership, often placing their
hopes in the hero's record of previous
successes. They are followers and require
someone to step out an assume the risks of making
decisions about what the community should do. This
is the role of modern-day society as well.
True
False
Every person must find his or her own answer to the
mystery of why bad things happen to good people in
a universe supposedly under God's control. Yet even
if people reach different conclusions, and express
them freely, people can usually still live and work
together in peace and good-will.
True
False
Pride, arrogance, hubris, sin… they are all the same.
True
False
There is no free will in Oedipus the King.
True
False
In our world, very bad things do sometimes happen
to very good people. Your chief security comes from
what people know you can do well. You can succeed
with your natural abilities, your effort, and your good
character. It's safest, and the best strategy, to try to
be a good person. This should work for you.
True
False
Riddle of the Sphinx
Who in the morning walks on four legs, at midday on two, and in the
evening on three?
Reflect
Reflect on the statements and arguments you heard/made today. Respond
to at least one of the questions below in a brief paragraph (1/4-1/2 page).
 Is there some question left unanswered for you? Explain.
 Did someone change your mind throughout this process? Explain.
 Do you feel more conviction or less conviction in your beliefs (in literature,
the universe, tragedy, religion, etc.)? Explain.
 Is there something you wanted to say, but you were unable to do so? If so,
what is it?
 The discussion today raised additional questions. What are they?
 Why can’t everyone think like me? Explain.
*These may be read aloud as a debriefing in the future. Be aware of your statement’s
weight, but BE HONEST.
On Misunderstanding
the Oedipus Rex
E. R. Dodds
“On Misunderstanding the
Oedipus Rex” E. R. Dodds
Eric Robertson Dodds (26 July 1893 – 8 April 1979) was
an Irish classical scholar.
 Part of academia is reading scholarly work. Practice breaking
it down.
 Create an outline of his argument.
Essential questions:
What are the three philosophies under which readers fall?
What are Dodd’s arguments regarding each group?
“In what sense, if in any, does
Oedipus Rex attempt to justify the
ways of God to man?”
 1st Group?
 2nd Group?
 3rd Group?
 What does Dodds say about each group’s response?
First Group
The play justifies the gods by showing or proving that we get
what we deserve
Second Group
The play proves that man has no free will but is a puppet in
the hands of the gods who pull the strings that make him
dance
Third Group
Sophocles is a pure artist and was therefore not interested in
justifying the gods. The story of Oedipus is simply used to
make an exciting play.
Response to First Group
Can we find moral fault in Oedipus?
He IS proud and overconfident. Is that enough
to constitute the hamartia of Oedipus?
Did Sophocles intend us to think Oedipus a
good man? YES
His hamartia exists in his parricide and incest,
not with losing his temper with Tiresias
Could Oedipus have avoided his fate? NO!
The oracle unconditionally says you WILL kill
your father and sleep with your mother.
Response to Second Group
We cannot view the play from one of the two
clear-cut views – either we believe in free will
or else we are determinists
Certainly Oedipus’ past actions were fatebound; but everything else that he does ON
THE STAGE from the first to the last he does
as a free agent
What causes his ruin is his own strength and
courage, his loyalty to Thebes, and his loyalty
to the truth. In all this we are to see him as a
free agent
Response to Third Group
 A healthy reaction against the old moralizing school of
critics
BUT
 Sophocles did not believe that the gods are, in any
human sense, just
 He did not always believe that the gods exist and that
men should revere them
 It is looking through our Christian spectacles that we
demand God to be just. The older world saw no such
necessity
 There is an objective world order which man must
respect, but which he cannot fully hope to understand
Conclusion
Certainly the Oedipus Rex is a play about the blindness of
man and the desperate insecurity of the human condition: in
a sense every man must grope in the dark as Oedipus
gropes, not knowing who he is or what he has to suffer; we
all live in a world of appearance which hides us from whoknows-what dreadful reality. But surely the Oedipus Rex is
about human greatness.
Contd.
Oedipus IS great, not in virtue of a great
worldly position – for his worldly position is an
illusion which will vanish like a dream – but in
virtue of his inner strength: strength to pursue
the truth at whatever personal cost, and
strength to accept and endure it when found.
Oedipus is a kind of symbol of the human
intelligence that cannot rest until it has solved
all the riddles – even the last riddle, to which
the answer is that human happiness is built on
an illusion.