 Born outside Athens, Greece, between BCE  Belonged to an affluent Athenian family  Wrote at least 120 plays, 90 of them tragedies  Died BCE

 Athenian government was an “exclusionary democracy,” run by elected officials in the form of an open assembly. ◦ Only about 10% of the population was eligible to participate. ◦ Women, slaves, & “non-citizens” were excluded.

 Although Sophocles was a member of the ruling class, he was aware of the social inequalities in Athenian society.  His plays include repeated attempts to warn his fellow Greeks of the divine retribution that would come to them as a result of their prejudices & injustice to the poor.

 The Greek pantheon consisted of hundreds of deities in a complex hierarchy.  The familiar “Olympian” gods - closest to humans - were a relatively small part of the overall scheme.

 While immortal & powerful, the gods were not all-powerful in the sense of our modern concepts of God.  The gods themselves were subject to FATE and to each other’s will. ◦ In Oedipus Rex, the Delphic Oracle is the prophet of Oedipus’s doomed fate, but she’s not the cause of it - nor is Apollo.

 The Greeks did, to some extent, believe in FREE WILL.  Still, FREE WILL was not more powerful than DESTINY. ◦ Oedipus is a perfect example of the belief that, try as they might, people cannot avoid the destinies to which they are born.

 Nonetheless, as Oedipus’s FATE is the result of his father’s earlier misdeed, human FREE WILL cannot be completely dismissed either.

 Laius - Oedipus’s birth father - was raised by a single mother who ruled Thebes as her dead husband’s regent.  Laius’s two young cousins usurped the throne & plotted to kill young Laius.  So, Laius was smuggled out of Thebes and given to Pelops, King of Pisa, to raise.

 Laius became the tutor of Pelops’s favorite son, Chryssipus, whom he abducted and took back to Thebes.  The two cousins having died, Laius claimed his throne & held Chryssipus captive.  Pelops raised an army & demanded the return of his son, but it was discovered Chryssipus was already dead.

 Laius & his house were cursed because of his poor treatment of Pelops & Chryssipus.  When Laius married Jocasta, he was warned NOT to have children by her because his son by Jocasta would one day kill him.  One night, while drunk, Laius imprudently disregarded the prophecy* - and Oedipus was conceived.

 Thus, while Oedipus is, to a large extent, a pawn of FATE, at the root of that ill destiny is an act of FREE WILL that went against nature and angered the gods.

 Oedipus came to rule Thebes by solving the riddle posed by the Sphinx and thus saving Thebes from chaos and destruction.

 The Greek Sphinx was a demon of death and destruction and bad luck.  It was a female creature, sometimes depicted as a winged lion with a feminine head, and sometimes as a female with the chest, paws and claws of a lion, a snake tail and bird wings.  She sat on a high rock near Thebes and posed a riddle to all who passed.

 The riddle was: "What animal is that which in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three? ”  She strangled those who could not solve the riddle.  Finally, Oedipus came along to save the day.

 Oedipus was the only who could answer that it was ” man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff. ”  The Sphinx was so mortified at the solving of her riddle that she cast herself down from the rock and perished.

 So, how did Oedipus’s story end up on the stage in play form?

 Sixth Century BCE ◦ According to legend & recorded by Aristotle, Thespis essentially invented acting by stepping in front of the chorus & performing a solo. ◦ The word “thespian” has come to mean “actor.”

 Fifth Century BCE ◦ Athens made tremendous advances in philosophy, rhetoric, literature, science, architecture, and visual arts. ◦ Tragedies were performed in annual competitions that were a part of the Lenaia and the Great Dionysia, religious festivals held in honor of Dionysis.

 One of the twelve Olympian gods  God of wine & ecstasy  Inspirer of ritual madness  Patron of theater & agriculture

Theatre of Dionysus, Athens

Theater of Epidaurus

 Each competing playwright produced 3 tragedies & a satyr-play.  The three best submissions were approved & given a chorus for performance.  On the last day of the festival, a prize was awarded to the tragic playwright voted best of the year.

 Aeschylus - wrote the Oresteia, a tragic trilogy, & introduced the use of a second actor onstage, interacting with the first. He also began to develop a more complicated plot. He won 13 festival competitions.  Euripides - wrote Medea. He won 4 festival competitions.

 Sophocles ◦ brought a third actor on-stage, created scene design, and enlarged the chorus from 12 to 15. ◦ wrote the “Theban plays,” Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. ◦ won 20 festival competitions.

 While Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone are often anthologized together and in “chronological” order, they are not a trilogy.  Antigone was written first and Oedipus at Colonus last - about 40 years later.  Each work should be considered a separate work, NOT episodes in a serial.

Dramatic Irony ◦ The audience was already familiar with the plots, taken from well-known myths. ◦ Therefore, they always had more information about the action than the characters onstage did. ◦ Suspense was in HOW the well-known events would transpire & in the audience’s watching the events unfold in “real time.”

 Plays were acted in the daytime, with minimal sets and props.  Actors were all male.  Actors wore masks, wigs, and high-heeled boots, which increased their visibility to the audience & added to the formality of the experience.

 To increase dramatic intensity, the plays observed the THREE UNITIES described by Aristotle…

 All the action of the play took place within twenty-four hours, in continuous time.  Dialogue and the Chorus provided background information.

 All of the action was limited to a single setting.

 One single main plot focused on the main character. There were no sub-plots.

 Due to the religious intent and dignified style, no violence was shown on stage.  The messenger ran on stage and spoke to the audience of any deaths or killings.

 Was used to present exposition & to provide commentary on the action & characters: ◦ 15 men represented the citizens. ◦ They were always on stage, and they frequently sang and danced. ◦ They always had a leader who carried on a dialogue with the main characters or with the rest of the chorus.

 The function of the chorus was to… ◦ Set the tone ◦ Give background information ◦ Recall events of the past ◦ Interpret and summarize events ◦ Ask questions ◦ Offer opinions ◦ Give advice, if asked ◦ Stay objective ◦ Act like a jury of elders or wise men who listened to the evidence and reached a moralistic conclusion at the end of the play

 Performed in song with a highly formal and stylized back-and-forth movement that heightened the emotion of their performance: ◦ Strophe - first part of a choral ode ◦ Antistrophe - follows the strophe ◦ Epode - completes the chorus’s movement

 Aristotle said tragedy aroused the emotions of PITY and FEAR.  Ideally, tragedy brings about a purging of these emotions.  This release of feelings = Catharsis.

 The release was/is thought to produce emotional relief and encourage psychological health.  Tragedy heals.  Catharsis = the end goal of tragedy.

 Tragedy is not true in the sense that history is true.  It’s not a duplication of life, but a representation.  Plot consists of a self-contained and concentrated single action.  Only those incidents integral to the action are included in the play.

 Peripeteia / Reversal of fortune  Anagnorisis / Recognition  Scene of suffering / Pathos 1. Peripeteia - “reversal of fortune” from good to bad.

2. Anagnorisis - a change from ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between the persons destined for good or bad fortune. This recognition = discovery of true identity or involvement, establishment of guilt or innocence, & revelation of previously unknown details. *In the best tragedies, the peripeteia (reversal) & anagnorisis (recognition) occur together and create suspense.

3. Scene of Suffering - a destructive, painful action, such as death, bodily pain, or wounds. This destructive or painful action should be caused by loved ones. This will arouse the most fear & pity. *All 3 of these elements appear near the play’s conclusion because they are the probable & inevitable results of the exposition & complications.

 The tragic condition is often the result of the tragic hero’s hamartia, often defined as the tragic flaw that leads to the hero’s downfall.  More accurately, hamartia is an error in judgment or perception, the hero’s inability to see his flaw or to accurately foresee the consequences of his decisions or actions.

 A common trait associated with hamartia is hubris (or hybris).  Hubris = exaggerated self pride or self confidence, which often results in fatal retribution.  Hubris against the gods is generally regarded as a character flaw of the heroes in Greek tragedy and the cause of their destruction.

 The tragic hero’s misfortunes are not caused by vice or depravity - but by some great error.  The error makes him human to the audience; thus, he arouses fear and pity in us because we can see ourselves in his place.  We - the audience - are able to sympathize with the protagonist because he is imperfect, just like us, and his suffering exceeds what he deserves.  This sympathetic identification makes catharsis possible.

 As you read Oedipus Rex, consider Oedipus as a tragic hero…  Do you believe he is a pawn of FATE? How much blame does he bear for his situation?  Do you feel fear & pity for him?  Does the play move you to a cathartic response?