Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Oedipus: Tragic Flaw

Tragic Flaw

Weakness of character that contributes to the character’s downfall

Pride – thought he could change his fate Krista, Sarah, Courtney

  • P21: To Creon – Oedipus says that Oedipus will not be found a murderer
  • P3: To Thebes – everyone could be guilty, but Oedipus is not
  • P?: Thought he could change is fate by running away from Corinth
  • P16: To Tiresias – Oedipus takes pride in his ability to solve riddles & doesn’t care if it is his ruin
  • Refuses to believe that he is not the prince of Corinth
  • Kills Laius (smites) out of pride because Laius would not give way

Anger Chris, Perry, Aaron

Carelessness – did not do enough to avoid his fate Angie, Katie, Dana

Impulsiveness/rashness – acts on emotion Andrew, Kristin

Ignorance Kyle, Daidre

posted by Jeffrey @ Wednesday, January 25, 2006 0 comments

Monday, January 16, 2006

Oedipus: Fate vs. Guilt

Oedipus is Guilty

  • He’s guilty because he tried to change his fate – by trying to avoid his fate, he makes his fate come true
  • Killed a man
  • Kills Laius out of pride & anger
  • Slept with his mother
  • Pride: Tells the people to solve the problem themselves, not to look to the gods.
  • Stubborn blindness: gets mad at Tiresias; Tiresias calls Oedipus blind; insists on pursuing the issue after Jocasta urges him to stop; blames everyone else for his problems; P 18 I: Oedipus is criticized for trying to flee from his prophecy

Oedipus is a victim of fate

  • Oracle is infallible: “With what doom art thou sent?”
  • Apollo is called invincible
  • P 18 I: Oedipus is criticized for trying to flee from his prophecy
  • Kills Laius out of self-defense
  • Laius did not appear as royalty – Oedipus didn’t know he was killing a king
  • Tried to get away – to avoid performing his fated evil
  • Jocasta tells Oedipus that her baby was killed
  • Jocasta & Laius try to avoid fate by killing Oedipus, but failed
  • Everyone involved tried to avoid fate, but were not able to
  • Oedipus fulfills his prophecy in complete ignorance

posted by Jeffrey @ Monday, January 16, 2006 0 comments

Monday, January 09, 2006

Dramatic Irony in Oedipus

Dramatic Irony

Example

Purpose

P 10 “And for myself I pray, if with my knowledge . . . That I may suffer all that I invoked on these just now.”

Humor (Oedipus is oblivious)

Empathy (you know he is the guilty one and has no idea)

P. 10 “Since I am vested with the government Which he held once, and have his marriage-bed (doh!), and the same wife (doh!); and since our progeny – if his had not miscarried (doh!) – had sprung from us (doh! X2) with common ties of common motherhood (yikes!) – only that fate came heavy upon his head – on these accounts, I as for my own father, will fight this fight”

Humor

Focus on characterization

P44-45: Jocasta kills herself, fulfilling the prophecy that Oedipus would kill his parents.

Empathy

P 26 “It would be sweet to see a parent’s face”

Humor

Empathy

Oedipus leaves Corinth to save his parents, but fulfills the prophecy with his real parents in Thebes.

Empathy

P 35 “And how can I help dreading my mother’s bed?”

Humor

Empathy

“That I should leave my birth unknown” . . . “it cannot injure you”

Humor

Empathy

P29 “I pollute my victim’s bed”

Humor

Focus on Oedipus’ partial-revelation and coming “double whammy that’s going to hit him in the butt”

P3 “There is not one of you so sick as I”

Humor

Sympathy – he will feel worse

Focus on Oedipus’ character

P30 “The death of Laius, as it should have been, Whom Loxias declared my son must slay! After all, the poor thing never killed him, But died itself before! “ . . . P35 “Let none of these predictions any more weigh on your mind!

Empathy

Focus on the complexities of the situation

Tiresias tells Oedipus that he is the murderer and Oedipus does not believe him à blames Creon.

Focus on Oedipus

Oedipus’ figure looks just like Laius’ figure

A mind well-balanced cannot turn to crime

posted by Jeffrey @ Monday, January 09, 2006 0 comments

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Work

Read Oedipus

Pride & Prejudice presentations

posted by Jeffrey @ Wednesday, January 04, 2006 0 comments