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Greek Drama and Oedipus Rex Mr. Sweeney Southwest High School
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Drama Drama – a story written to be performed onstage by actors ◦ The plot is divided into acts, which are further divided into scenes ◦ Dialogue – the conversations of the characters
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Comedy vs. Tragedy Comedy – a play with a happy ending; usually deals with the struggles of common people against social forces Tragedy – depicts the downfall of a main character known as a tragic hero
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Greek Tragedy Qualities of a tragic hero ◦ Nobility ◦ Hamartia – a flaw that brings about the hero’s downfall; all tragic heroes have one ◦ Hubris – also known as arrogance; it was the most common flaw in Greek tragic heroes Catharsis – the emotional cleansing we experience as we watch the character realize he has destroyed himself
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Greek Plays Only three actors were used for all the main roles; each often played multiple roles Actors wore masks so the audiences knew which characters they were supposed to be in each scene
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Greek Plays A chorus of 10-15 people commented on the action and divided the play by reciting odes Each scene was, therefore, an episode (“between the odes”)
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Greek Playwrights Three most famous: ◦ Aeschylus ◦ Euripides ◦ Sophocles
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Greek Theaters Orchestra Skene Proskenium Theatron
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Greek Theaters
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Greek Plays Plays were usually performed as part of religious festivals Awards were given to the authors of the very best plays at these festivals (Sophocles won first place in 24 of the 62 festivals he entered) Oedipus Rex was first performed at the Festival of Dionysius in Athens; Dionysius was the Greek god of wine
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The Tale of Oedipus King Laius of Thebes learns from an oracle that he will have a son, and that this son will kill his father (Laius) and marry his mother (Jocasta) When the baby is born, Laius has his feet pinned together Laius then gives the baby to a servant and instructs him to take the baby into the wild and kills him
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The Tale of Oedipus The servant cannot bring himself to kill the innocent child, so he passes him on to a Corinthian shepherd he meets The shepherd takes the baby back to Corinth and presents him to the Corinthian king and queen They name him Oedipus (“swollen foot”) because of the wound to his feet; they do not tell him he was adopted
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The Tale of Oedipus When he has grown to a young man, a drunken servant tells Oedipus that he was adopted Since no one else will tell him the truth, Oedipus goes to an oracle, who tells him he will kill his father and marry his mother Distraught, Oedipus vows never to return to Corinth
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The Tale of Oedipus On the road, Oedipus meets a wealthy traveler, who picks a fight with him; Oedipus kills the man, and the man’s servant runs away Oedipus continues traveling and meets the Sphinx, who has terrorized the city of Thebes with his riddle Oedipus solves the riddle and kills the Sphinx
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The Tale of Oedipus The people of Thebes are overjoyed, but their king has been killed – the do not know who did it They name Oedipus their new king and so he marries the old king’s widow, Jocasta As the play begins, he has been king for about 20 years, and has multiple children with Jocasta
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