Character: Oedipus Flashcards
How is our initial impression of Oedipus false ?
Introduced to him as a leader of the city
- Priest ‘king of our land’ ‘ best of men’- clear importance in the community and positive leadership
- Like Oedipus himself, the audience have a gradual shift in understanding of his character as the play unfolds
- we witness Oedipus become tyrannical and the Chorus who in the 1st Stasismon ‘never will I convict my king’ to the ‘we called you king’
What is Oedipus hamartia ?
His arrogance
- it comes from his own self identify as the riddle solver leading him to engage in hubristic behaviour transgressing against the gods
- seen most with Tiresias ‘I stopped the Sphinx’ with his ‘own intelligence’
- his tendency to rely on his own self confidence make him blind to the truth right in front of him
- he uses his own skills to almost propel his fate according to Nick Lowe
How does Oedipus appear in the first episode ?
Committed to Thebes and the city ‘ I’ll bring it all to life myself’
What does Oedipus say to the chorus after the parados and why is this signifcant ?
‘You pray to the gods? Let me grant your prays’
- self identification of power and knowledge which is hubristic in nature
How does Oedipus unknowingly curse himself ?
‘ I curse myself as well.. if by any chance he proves to be an intimate of our house’
-unknowingly curses himself in the first episode
- ‘ a dreadful curse upon myself’ he only believes that he has killed Lauis and as audience members who know that he has married his wife this heightens Oedipus’ lack of knowledge
What did Oedipus say about project to Tiresias and how is this ironic?
‘Where three roads meet’ Oedipus focuses on this specific detail overlooking other crucial detail such as the binding of the feet
- the rest of the evidence will of course fall into place heightening the dramatic irony as the audience know
What does Oedipus focus on upon hearing Jocastas recounting of the prophecy ?
‘Where three roads meet’ Oedipus focuses on this specific detail overlooking other crucial detail such as the binding of the feet
- the rest of the evidence will of course fall into place heightening the dramatic irony as the audience know
How does Oedipus oscillate between sceptisms and believing in prophecy ?
- fears he has cursed himself in 2nd episode ‘a dreadful curse upon myself’
- yet in the 3rd episode he describes the prophecy as being sent to the underworld with his Polybus
What is tragic about Oedipus ?
Takes every action to avoid fate where as this inextricably draws him closer to his fate
How is Oedipus a tyrant according to Seaford?
Embodies being embivolant caring for the polis but also kills a stranger and it’s angry at Creon
Suspisocus of Creon
It’s a deep political element
How is Oedipus perceived relationship with the gods important ?
The priest commends Oedipus in the prologue as being close to the gods ‘first of men….[in] face to face encounters with the gods’
- deeply ironic: out of all the characters Oedipus is the most ignorant of the gods
- that assertion by the end of the play highlights the difference in mortal knowledge and the power of the gods if Oedipus the best of all men cannot understand them
How else is Oedipus a tyrant ?
Comes into power not through dynastic reasons
- however it is later revealed he is the descendant of Lauis
