1. Overview - Sophocles and Oedipus Rex (Key Details)

2. Sophocles 496 – 406 B. C. a playwright who lived a long, comfortable, happy life grew up in a wealthy family in ATHENS, GREECE

3. Sophocles his dramatic work portrayed misery and tragedy reflected his strong religious beliefs and beliefs in Gods/fate of his culture considered a master of artistic development of incident, working on feelings, culmination of interest leading up to final crisis, crushing blow of catastrophe

4. Sophocles By age 16, he was already known for his beauty, grace, and was chosen to lead a boys’ choir In his first competition, he took first prize, defeating Aeschylus the great playwright He won 18 first prizes, and never failed to take at least second

5. Sophocles An accomplished actor, he performed in many of his own plays His weak voice forced him to give up acting Additional duties included acting as ordained priest, serving on Board of Generals, and being director of the Treasury

6. Sophocles One of the great innovators of Greek theater, he was the first to add a third actor He abolished the trilogic form – made each tragedy a complete entity, unlike Aeschylus Credited with inventing scene- painting

7. Sophocles Of his remaining 7 plays, Oedipus the King is considered his greatest work Explores the depths of modern psycho-analysis as Oedipus unwittingly kills his father and marries his mother A masterful work of plot & suspense, it also employs allusion and dramatic irony

8. Sophocles Oedipus the King is often heralded as a ‘perfectly structured’ play Oedipus the King is part of three plays – Antigone (written first), Oedipus the King, and Oedipus of Colonus (405 B.C. written last)

9. Sophocles the age of Sophocles in Greece was a time when anything seemed possible through human effort and reason

10. Sophocles toward the end of Sophocles’ life, Athens raged war against Sparta, their bitter rivals there also was a great plague in 430 B.C.

11. Sophocles Sophocles’ surviving plays (written after 440 B.C.) are deeply troubling

12. Sophocles These plays depict characters caught up in unsolvable dilemmas that test their faith in divine and human justice

13. THEMES Quest for identity and truth Nature of innocence and guilt Nature of moral responsibility

14. Imagery References to light and darkness to predict the future

15. Example of Imagery The priest says at the beginning: "All the house of Kadmos is laid waste; all emptied, and all darkened.”

16. Example of Imagery Oedipus promises Creon: “Then once more I must bring what is dark to light.”

17. Foreshadowing Because the audience already knows the legend/story of Oedipus, details such as dialogue, Choral responses, etc. provide key clues as to future events in the play

18. Example of Foreshadowing Teiresias tells Oedipus that it is he who is blind: “But I say that you, with both your eyes, are blind. You cannot see the wretchedness of your life.”