1. Oedipus Rex Sophocles

2. 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 old.

3. 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, 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 during public celebrations.
He wrote more than 120 plays. Only seven survive.
He competed and often won the City Dionysia, a festival held every year at the Theatre of Dionysus in which new plays were presented

4. Greek Theatre: The Purpose
Greek theatre, was important to classical culture. It was viewed as the ritualistic interpretation of natural forces: the cycle of life and death; and the nexus of past, present and future.
Elements of song and dance were essential to Greek theatre, so it was also an outlet for creativity.
Thus, the prime function of theatre was to merge creative expression with feelings and reasoning, allowing man to analyze those forces he may not naturally understand.

5. Greek Theatre: The Ritual
Was a religious celebration (Dionysus: god of drama and….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
Attendance was a CIVIC DUTY!
More than 15,000 spectators attended the theater
Plays were instructional as well as entertaining. Citizens would glean lessons from the performance

6. 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 and public honor.

7. Greek Theatre: Structure
The structure of the theater imposed restrictions on the play.
There were obvious acoustic problems and the actors had a difficult task ahead of them.
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
stage movements.

9. Ancient Greek Theatre

10. 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.
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.

13. Functions of Chorus The beauty of poetry and dancing
Relieves tension between scenes
Interprets events for audience
Often converses with the actors; gives advice
Gives background of events

15. Characteristics of Greek Drama 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

16. Generic Structure of Drama
Exposition (Inciting Incident)
Conflict / Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution (Dénouement)

17. 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.

18. Greek Tragedy has five distinct parts
The Prologos (Prologue)
The Parados (Chorus)
The Episodes (Scenes)
The Stasimons (Odes)
The Exodos (Conclusion)

19. The Prologos (Prologue)
The opening portion of the play which sets the scene and contains the exposition.

20. The Parados 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.

21. The Scenes Scenes in the action of the drama.
The episodes, performed by the actors
Contains the rising action

22. The Odes
The ode is a type of lyric poem, using exalted, dignified diction, a poetic form created for the choral passage.
The 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.

24. The Exodos (Conclusion)
The concluding section of the tragedy.
The exodos ends with the chorus singing their final lines as they exit, interpreting the main message of the play.

25. Tragedy Terms
Hamartia: A tragic flaw or error that in ancient Greek tragedies leads to the hero’s reversal of fortune (Perepeteia).
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, usually in
reference to a key aspect of his identity.

26. The Legend

27. Gustave Moreau, Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1864 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1808 (Louvre)

28. 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?

29. JOURNAL
Critic Roland Barthes has said, "Literature is the question minus the answer.“ Considering Barthes' observation, analyze how Oedipus raises questions in its audience and the extent to which it offers answers.