Monday, January 30, 2017
Oedipus Rex: Blog 6
Choose six very powerful lines from the play, one for each category: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, spectacle. 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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ReplyDeleteTheme is important in tragedy. One of the themes of "Oedipus" explores fate. When Oedipus realizes that he may have killed Laios. He realizes that he would have to suffer, because he promised to punish whoever killed Laios. He tells Iocaste how awful it would be if he killed her husband. He would not be able to stay in Thebes, and he though he could not go back to Corinth in order to avoid the prophecy. He lamented,
"If I was created so, born to this fate,
Who could deny the savagery of God(line 303-304)!"
Oedipus has been trying to escape fate. There is a part of him that thinks he can escape fate, because he left Corinth to protect who he thought were his parents. I think his words show that he may not think that he can escape a terrible fate. He believes Apollo has ordained his life. He thinks that if he was born to kill Laios, and marry Laios' wife that he is not good. He has been born to do evil. He says that since he was born to do evil, then Apollo is savage. I think the underlying question in the story is whether we can escape fate, and whether there is fate.
“I saw this stain of my doom arrive upon me”
ReplyDeleteThought: In the play many of the characters, including Oedipus “think aloud” in a sense so that the reader/ audience is able to understand Oedipus more, and later be sympathetic of the tragedy that bestowed him. Throughout the story Oedipus, and especially Iocaste do or say things that foreshadow that Oedipus had actually fulfilled the prophecy. Many characters words were cryptic until Oedipus made them speak clearly which revealed their true thoughts and helped foreshadow. The foreshadowing made the plot more interesting and more “tense.” This quote relates to the story as a whole because it is recognizes the foreshadowing the audience/ reader got from the thoughts of Oedipus, and other characters.
Spectacle Lines 34-41 pg. 1195
ReplyDelete"He hurled his weight, as though wrenched out of himself, at the twin doors: the bolts gave, and he rushed in. And there we saw her hanging, her body swaying from the cruel cord she had noosed about her neck. A great sob broke from him, hearbreaking to hear, as he loosed the rope and lowered her to the ground."
The play uses very explicit and descriptive words to describe death and harm. These words explain exactly what happened to Jocasta and what Oedipus's reaction was. The word cruel suggests that a different force did this too her. Even though she hung herself, Oedipus believes that it was his fault once again. He was very saddened to hear and see her dead and the language really shows that. It shows imagery in the fact that we can picture him lowering her to the ground after sobbing heavily. Even though he is kind of the reason for her death, he is extremely saddened.
Diction “Now when we look to him we are all afraid; he’s pilot of our ship and he is frightened.” (Part II) This explains how frightened and affected by the prophecy the citizens of Thebes are, not just Oedipus. This clearly illustrates that the people of Thebes looked to Oedipus for guidance, as their “pilot,”and stretches the tragedy of the prophecy beyond Oedipus, but to his entire kingdom. Had the author chosen to exclude this, the play would not have been such of a tragedy because it only affected Oedipus. Oedipus’ feeling of being “frightened” stretches beyond that of just Oedipus, but the people on his “ship” who would be the citizens of Thebes.
ReplyDeleteDiction Scene 1 Lines 195-197
ReplyDelete"Listen to me. 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"
Diction is used here to create an ironic twist. The man that can see is blind to the truths of the world, and the blind man is the only one that can truly see. Also, Oedipus mocks the man for his blindness, but at the end of the play Oedipus willingly blinds himself. Once Oedipus finally sees the "wretchedness" of his life he decides that he would rather be blind.
Spectacle:
ReplyDeleteThe scene where Oedipus gouges out his own eyes is powerful. While we cannot literally see it while reading the play, watching it unfold in real time must be an extremely powerful experience. "You, you'll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen, blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind from this hour on! Blind in the darkness-blind!" As Sophocles writes, "He tore the golden brooches that upheld...Her queenly robes, upraised them high and smote...Full on his eye-balls..." While we are not watching this unfold, from this vivid description we are given a spectacle of how dramatic this really was.