Oedipus Rex
Sophocles
It walks on four legs in the
morning, two legs at noon and
three legs in the evening. What
is it?
Man (or woman).
Crawls on all fours as a
baby, walks on two legs
as an adult and uses two
legs and a cane when
they're old.
Who was Sophocles?
 Born in 495 B.C. about a mile north of Athens
 He lived until he was ninety years of age!
 One of the great playwrights of the golden age
 He was devoted to the service of the state and art and public
affairs
 By the age of sixteen, he was already known for his beauty
and grace and was chosen to lead a choir of boys at a
celebration of the victory of Salamis
 He wrote more than 120 plays
 He competed and often won the City Dionysia--a festival
held every year at the Theatre of Dionysus in which new plays
were presented
Before Greek Theatre
 Before Greek theater, drama was also important: it
was the “ritualistic expression and interpretation of
pure and natural forces, the cycle of life and death,
and the nexus of past, present and future.”
 Elements of song and dance were essential to theatre
 The prime function of theatre was the expression of
feelings and reasoning, excited by man’s battles with
the eternal forces that appear to govern his life.
Greek Theatre: Ritualistic Nature
 Was a religious celebration (Dionysus: god of wine)
 The Greek government saw the ritualistic celebration
as so important that business activities were
suspended for one week for the festival
 Citizens were expected to attend the festival and
often participated (e.g. as the chorus)
 Attendance was a CIVIC DUTY!
 More than 15,000 spectators attended the theatre
 Plays were instructional as well as entertaining.
Citizens would glean lessons from the performance.
Greek Theatre: Competition
 Greek Theatre contained an element of
competition
 two or three authors would present four plays:

three tragedies and a

comedy
 These plays were judged. The winner would take
away substantial prizes.
Greek Theatre: Structure
 The structure of the theatre imposed restrictions on the play.
 There were obvious acoustic problems and the actors had a
difficult task
 There was a lack of painted scenery
 These restrictions required the playwright to delineate
carefully within the characters lines the:

setting,

passage of time,

names and dates,

As well as stage movements.
Ancient Greek Theatre
Greek Theatre: Conventions
 There was a CHORUS in the play
 The function of the chorus was interactive: it helped the audience
understand the play
 Thespis introduced the first actor who would step out of the chorus.
 Aeschylus and Sophocles introduced the second actor
 Euripides introduced a few more actors, and therefore the number of
people in the chorus decreased
 Generally there were no more than three actors in a scene: actors would
play more than one part
 Costumes were designed to make the actors look larger than life (elevate
their status) and were cumbersome and made it difficult for the actors to
move. As a result, there was not much action in the play and monologues
were favored.
Functions of Chorus
• The beauty of poetry and dancing
• Relieves tension
• Interprets events for audience
• Often converses with the actors; gives advice
• Gives background of events
Rated G
• No violent action
• Scenes of horror happen off stage
• Reported to the audience
Unity
• Unity of action- no subplots
• Unity of place-no change of scenery
• Unity of time- plot is over a short period
• No intermissions
Generic Structure of Drama
• Exposition (Inciting Incident)
• Conflict
• Rising Action
• Climax
• Falling Action
• Resolution (Dénouement)
Generic Structure of Drama
Climax
Conflict / Rising Action
Exposition (Inciting Incident)
Falling Action
Resolution (Dénouement)
Tragedy
A drama of a character, usually one in
high position, where a conflict usually
develops between the protagonist/hero
and a “superior force” (such as destiny,
circumstance, or society) and the story
ends in some sort of disaster or great fall
of the protagonist.
Greek Tragedy has five distinct parts
1.
The Prologos (Prologue)
2.
The Parados (Chorus)
3.
The Episodes (Scenes)
4.
The Stasimons (Odes)
5.
The Exodos (Conclusion)
The Prologos (Prologue)
 The opening portion of the play which sets the scene
and contains the exposition.
The Parados (Chorus)
 The entrance song of the chorus.
 The Parados is named after the broad aisles on
either side of the theatron, along which the chorus
entered or exited.
The Episodes (Scenes)
 Scenes in the action of the
drama.
 The episodes, performed by
the actors, are distinguished
from the stasimons,
performed by the chorus.
 The episodes alternate with
the stasimons.
The Stasimons (Odes)
 A choral passage, alternating with the episodes of the
plot of the drama.
 The ode is a type of lyric poem, using exalted, dignified
diction, a poetic form created for the choral passage.
 The chorus sang and danced the tragic odes,
accompanied by musical instruments.
 The tragic ode consisted of strophes and antistrophes,
essentially stanzas of the poem.
 Historians suggest that the chorus sang the strophe,
dancing in one direction around the orchestra, changing
directions with the antistrophe.
The Exodos (Conclusion)
 The concluding
section of the
tragedy.
 The exodos ends
with the chorus
singing their final
lines as they exit.
Hubris and Hamartia
• Hamartia: A tragic flaw or error that in
ancient Greek tragedies leads to the hero’s
reversal of fortune.
• Hubris: Excessive pride or arrogance.
Often leads to the downfall of the major
character in Greek tragedy.
Anagnorisis
 A moment of awareness when a character
makes a critical discovery, ususally in
reference to a key aspect of his identity.
The Myth
pg 199-201 in text book
Gustave Moreau, Oedipus and the
Sphinx, 1864 (Metropolitan Museum
of Art)
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Oedipus
and the Sphinx, 1808 (Louvre)
The Myth in Painting
 Do you think the artists have the same view
of how Oedipus is reacting to the Sphinx?
 Do they have the same view of who is in
control?
 Do they have the same view of what the
outcome of the confrontation will be?
 How do these two paintings express different
ideas about the same story?