Terms + critics

Question 1

Hamartia

Answer 1

Tragic flaw

Question 2

Sophrosyne

Answer 2

moderation (flat accent on the e), the hero lacks this, their behaviour crosses a line which leads to a tragic result.

Question 3

Didaskalos

Answer 3

teacher, Sophocles acts as this in writing ‘Oedipus’ if interpreting this as a moral message.

Question 4

“The chief interest…

Answer 4

in tragedy was in its emotive force, and the pleasure which accompanies the emotional response which that force can evoke.”

Question 5

Whitman

Answer 5

Sophocles elevates his characters to ‘heroic humanism’ (divine fault reading)

Question 6

Audience response (context)

Answer 6

If the play is correctly dated in the early 420s, the Athenians were just recovering from a plague of their own, particularly emotionally impactful. They also appreciated Apollo a lot there (patron god was Athene)

Question 7

Winnington-Ingram

Answer 7

“Oedipus’ flaw is not a failing of ethos (flat accent on e) [character], but of intellect.” He is suggesting that Oedipus isn’t essentially evil, and under other circumstances would have been successful.

Question 8

Ethos (flat accent on e)

Answer 8

essentially means ‘character’, the guiding beliefs or ideals which characterise someone. Oedipus has high ethos at the beginning of the play, virtuous with a care for his people with no ulterior motive - yet his ethos becomes misplaced, spiralling into anger and essentially madness.