Oedipus Act 1 Important stuff

3 unities - Aristotle’s thing Sophocles borrowed the idea from Aristotle Three unities of drama: The perfect trifecta of drama, if you will Single plot - Find the murderer Single place - Thebes (in front of the palace) Single day - All happens the same day

What is going on in the beginning? The priest addresses Oedipus telling him what is happening “Bloody surf” Blight on the fruitful plants Blight on the catle Blight on the women Pestilence = Plague What does all of this mean??

Motif BLINDNESS VS. SIGHT Line 11-12 - “I would be blind to misery not to pity my people” - Oedipus

Tragic Flaw - Hubris Line 7 - “I Oedipus whom all men call the Great” Line 34-38 - We have not come as suppliants to this altar because we thought of you as a God, but rather judging you the first of men in all the chances of this life and when we mortals have to do with more than man.” Line 39-48 - Priest is flattering Oedipus and reminding him why his people have such faith in him

Oedipus makes it about himself Line 68-73 - I know you are all sick, yet there is not one of you...that is as sick as myself.

Creon Drive out the pollution from our land What pollution? MURDER!!!! Creon mentions King Liaus (first time) It is true that Oedipus never knew him but has heard of him - he was well loved

Creon’s retelling of Liaus’ murder THIEVES - line 147-49 One lone survivor Notice the question following - what difference does Oedipus make??? Foreshadow much??? Why didn’t they look for the murderer? The Sphinx

Oh look, Oedipus makes it about him again Line 161-176 - I will not serve a distant friend’s advantage, but act in my own interest Line 161 - “I will bring this to light again” - Inciting Incident

Stop and look at the Chorus The role of the chorus - The chorus plays a very important role in Greek theatre They fill in the holes, remind you of what is happening, and tell you what you should be thinking/feeling

Oedipus does something bad/dumb Line 232-236 - Oedipus kind of makes himself equal to the gods…….. He says pray to me, not the gods If you are hiding the murderer Line 244-265 Oedipus’ decree on the murderer Leave the land Live in misery for the rest of forever and meets a miserable doom Irony - Line 270-271 - Double curses himself

More Irony - Oedipus doesn’t even know what he is saying Line 272-288 I fight in his defense as for my father

And what happens if you choose not to obey Oedipus? Line 289-295 He curses them He says they should have been doing this all along, and since they weren’t he curses them

Teiresias - The blind Prophet There are so many mentions of the motif in this scene that I am not going to write them here...you will just have to follow along Oedipus recognizes Teiresias’ importance - line 329-333 Teiresias will not give Oedipus what he wants This is not something that normally happened As the king, you do what he says Line 347-48 - The wisdom he has will only bring pain Why doesn’t Teiresias want to tell Oedipus the info??? What happens if you accuse the king of being a murderer??

The many burns of Teiresias and the one of Oedipus Also look at all the Motif here!! Line 360-361 - Teiresias is making fun of Oedipus not thinking before he speaks Line 377-79 - Oedipus is blind to his own faults and his temper isn’t helping Line 431-33 - Foreshadowing Line 476-501 - all of it Line 513 - lol... mockery Foreshadow - Line 521-541 The one burn of Oedipus Haha you’re blind - the irony here of course is….

THEME Fate vs. Freewill - line 382-84

Oedipus’ accusations Accuses Creon of hiring Teiresias to make Oedipus look bad Oedipus really thinks Creon wants his crown

That Pride Though Line 457-463 - I did it all without the help of a prophet

Chorus - one more time Line 583-591 The chorus supports Oedipus and will not believe anything against him until proof is provided