Monday, January 30, 2017
Oedipus Rex: Blog 5
Choose six very powerful lines from the play, one for each category: plot, character, thought, diction, melody. Note where they appear in the play, so that you can refer to them later: lines that foreshadow later events, lines that reveal a conflict, lines that reveal a character’s personality, lines that explain why a character behaves that way, lives that refer to past events, lines that seem like sage advice. Prepare a brief explication of each of the lines chosen, relating them to the category, to the specific scene in which they appear, and to the work at large. You cannot have the same quotes.
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My favorite Ode in "Oedipus" is number four. It is structurally different from the other Odes. After a couple of stanzas there are powerful, thought provoking lines that stand alone. I think it is purposefully different, because Oedipus has just discovered the truth. The play has reached the climax. The Ode is a lament for the tragedy of Oedipus' life. One of the lines that stuck out to me the most was, "For I weep the world's outcast(line 49)." Oedipus has done this atrocious thing, and the chorus is sorry for him. They "weep" for him. Weeping is a deep sadness. The chorus' diction makes the audience feel sorry for him too. "Outcast" has a very negative connotation. We like unity. We don't generally like to think of people being outcasts, or alone.
ReplyDelete“In torrent together flowed the drops of blood; all at once a dark storm of blood like hail rained down”
ReplyDeleteSpectacle: When Oedipus found that his wife/mother was dead, Oedipus is described as violently stabbing his eyes out. “In torrent together flowed the drops of blood; all at once a dark storm of blood like hail rained down.” The reader can imagine how grotesquely the action would have been taken out. Had this been acted out on a stage, it would have been a huge shock factor for the audience that really emphasizes the idea of tragedy. A once hero and king is now powerless and blind because of a prophecy that he tried so hard to prevent. This scene in particular would increase the amount of sympathy from the audience for Oedipus.
Plot Lines 195-198 pg. 1175
ReplyDelete"You mock my blindness, do you? But I say that you, with both your eyes, are blind: you can not see the wretchedness of your life, nor in whose house you live, no, nor with whom."
This quote is a key point to understanding the plot in this play. Oedipus does not know yet at this point that he was the killer of the King. Teiresias knows this, however, and is hinting at Oedipus to understand this, but he doesn't figure it out yet. Teiresias is annoyed at this point because he has given him so many different hints that would tell him this but he didn't get it. This ties into the plot because the whole plot is who killed the king, and Teiresias doesn't explicitly say who did it, but as a reader it intensifies the plot and allows us to make inferences as to whom it may be.
Thought “Great light of comfort; but I fear the living.” (Part II) This quote is taken after Iocaste basically asks Oedipus if he is relieved that his father (Polybos) is dead. He says that he is still afraid of Polybos’ wife, who Oedipus thinks his his birthmother. He is afraid because as long as they are living, there is viable truth to the prophecy that everyone has spoken of. This gives us insight into his thoughts because in the beginning of the play, we see that Oedipus wholeheartedly does not believe that there is any truth to the prophecy, but here, we see that Oedipus is not so non believing of it as we had previously thought.
ReplyDeletePlot Scene 2 Lines 251-258
ReplyDelete"At a feast, a drunken man maundering in his cups/Cries out that I am not my father's son!/I contained myself that night, though I felt anger/And a sinking heart. The next day I visited/May father and mother, and questioned them. They stormed/Calling it all the slanderous rant of a fool;/And this relieved me. Yet the suspicion/Remained always aching in my mind."
This is one of the first inklings that the audience gets that Oedipus is not who he believes he is. A man drunkenly shouts information the Oedipus is not truly the son of his father, and Oedipus' parents not only dispel this notion, but they are outraged at it. All of this, and the fact that this suspicion "remained always aching" in Oedipus' mind combine to create a very large amount of foreshadowing. Details such as this propel the plot forward. Since plot is one of the most important elements of tragedy, happenings like this are central to the play.
Melody:
ReplyDeleteThe Melody, and the Chorus within the play, are a key concept to understand. The Chorus is a group who commentate on the happenings of the play, but actually have some impact on the plot itself, even convincing Oedipus to not kill Creon at one point. Another important element is how they repeatedly tell Oedipus to keep his composure, "CHORUS: Why, Oedipus, why stung with passionate grief Hath the queen thus departed? Much I fear From this dead calm will burst a storm of woes (1091)." So while the Chorus could have been used as a mere narrator, Sophocles here actually includes them in the plot, which is a unique theme of "Oedipus Rex".