Focus: What should we take away from reading Oedipus Rex?
1. Warming up with one lightening-fast round of Socratic ticket musical chairs
2. Enjoying our first full Socratic seminar: Oedipus Rex
3. Wrapping up with kudos, questions, and epiphanies
HW:
1. For Thursday: Finish your first blog post before class on Thursday (unpack your question, use it to explore Oedipus Rex, and make sure you click on the "Publish" button).
2. For Friday: Bring your laptop to class; we will spend 30 minutes on your college essays.
3. Ongoing: Come in to see me for a conference on your college essay!
What is the impact of Oedipus’s remorse? Does it change anything?
ReplyDeleteThroughout the reading i was aware of his arrogance, but I had sympathy for him when he had to leave his daughters, so it did change things for me
I felt pity for him , it's what really made it a tragedy
It's interesting how sophocles brings the “disabled helpless character full circle”
Was Oedipus’s choice to blind himself selfish?
Even though he was blinding himself, it affected the people around him, so his remote doesn't change anything for me
By gouging his eyes out was he avoiding the truth?
Why didn’t he just kill himself? Why did he gouged his eyes out instead?
Maybe he doesn’t want to face his dad in the afterworld, choosing to blind himself was a bit selfish
Gouging his eyes out shows how he only sees things one way
Blindness can mean ignorance or lack of foresight, Oedipus wishes he could remain blind to the truth. He doesn’t want to be able to see a future.
Is guilt or conviction worse?
Both relate to fear
When a little kid does something bad, they don't want to own up to it, they hide their face, by blinding himself Oedipus is doing the same thing
Greek heritage of the play, believed in fate which dries the story
Why does Oedipus stand out as THE tragedy?
Everyone can relate to his guilt, the biggest tragedy is causing harm when you didn’t mean to
Oedipus is a victim of extreme irony, he was looking for the murderer and it was him
Discuss the irony of Oedipus saving Thebes?
We are usually the root of our own problem, it's not your challenges that define you, it's how you face them
What does Oedipus bringing his own downfall symbolize?
At the beginning teiresias tells him that he doesn’t want to know the answer
Aside from the things he didn’t have control over, what are we supposed to condemn?
By blinding himself he doesn’t really get the message of what happened to him
He spends a lot of time denying his identity, he's confused and tries to separate himself from the truth frequently, denies the truth as it comes, the audience can learn to accept and embrace truth
How does Oedipus feel at the end of the play and how does the audience?
People know the ending, the witness the play to feel what they were feeling the first time
As he finds out that the profits are correct, it's funny to read and watch his self destruction happen
Because of the dramatic irony, it's easier to really look and notice specific behavioral things that one may have missed if they were Oedipus, knowing the end allows better analysis
He knew he killed someone but wasn’t disturbed by it until he found out it was Laius, it says a lot about his character, what do you think?
DeleteHe didn’t know his father his whole life, how did him making the connection that it was his father affect him
He's so confident he never thinks it was him, he denies it the whole time
It comes out of a place of selfishness, he was upset because of his feel to his own ignorance not because he killed a person
Him killing his father means that he married his mother, he wasn’t morally upset but he was upset because he married and procreated with his mom
It also shows his loss of power, he thought he escaped it all but with this realization he is condemned to fate and he doesn’t have the power he thought he had
The three paths are symbolic, there's three ways he could’ve gone but they all end in the sam place, fate had him either way
What is the symbolism of the bound ankles?
It could be destiny's hold on him, he doesn’t have control of the future, which goes with the cross roads
Back to Ms. LeClaire's questions, we are supposed to condemn him for not accepting his fate, we should be upset
He kept trying to control his fate, even in the end, he didn't even want the gods to decide his punishment, he can't escape reality and his fate
I watched the movie Passengers, Fate is going to take you where it will, everyone's ultimate fate is death, we can't control that. Connecting to the crossroads we can choose how we go about it, but we’re all leading to death. We can criticize him for the way that he behaves in the meantime.
Wrap around:
DeleteOedipus is left for us to look upon and remember his frailty and to remember his choices
Is guilt or conviction worse is a good question
Feet abound is a good symbol and metaphor
It's interesting how instead of a good ending he punishes himself
Crossroads comment was good
More I think about this place the less I dislike Oedipus, he was handed a tough fate and he was drunk on power but he had a tough burder on his shoulders
His pride was huge he thought he knew what was best for him
I like the thought about gouging his eyes as opposed to suicide because he was afraid of the afterlife
The chorus at the end provides an overview of Oedipus
The story is a reminder that our heroes are not invincible, we see that a lot in our world today
This book reminds me of the movie drag me to hell about a cursed person who tries to escape fate but is dragged to hell in the end s
I want to point out the three paths, I remember something about the Greeks emphasis on the number of things, how many values of three and in the book, the number of deaths etc
Three is typically bad
This is a tragedy because Oedipus was told from his birth this prophecy and it's ironic because he runs away from it and then runs right into it. If you're told thats what going to happen it is. I have some sympathy for him
The point about kids covering eyes was interesting
I like what Mrs. LeClaire said about fate, Are the choices I make actually my choices? It's how we live right now, it's the path that makes us who we are
The evil in the book relates to fosters vampire chapter, are we all naturally evil?
I’ve been interested in the audiences relationship with the play, it's really important for us to remember that Sophocles was trying to tell us to heed these warnings
Oedipus was arrogant but felt guilty at the end because he was forced to leave his daughters
ReplyDeleteAn emotional connection must be made in order to feel remorse for a character.
Was Oedipus selfish at the end of the play? Was he selfish for punishing himself?
The children are now fatherless.
Why did he gouge his eyes rather than commit suicide?
Maybe he does not want to face his father in the after world
Blindness means ignorance or lack of foresight. He wants to remain blind to the truth. He does not want to see the future.
Oedipus is overcome with guilt and wants to be punished. Is guilt or conviction worse?
Oedipus does not want to face reality. Connection to when children cover their eyes in order to hide or avoid facing reality.
Children of the Earth analogy is common in Greek mythology.
Why dies Oedipus stand out as the tragedy?
The greatest tragedy is doing something that you do not know is wrong.
Irony of Oedipus Rex
Oedipus is the salvation on Thebes but he also caused the plague on Thebes
We are the root of our own problems. We decide our own fate. We are our own downfall.
Oedipus is angry because of his inability to determine who killed the king.
Besides killing his father and marrying his mother, what other mistakes did he make?
Blinding himself
How did the idea of finding out that he married his mother change his emotions?
Oedipus Rex experiences feelings of recognition as he discovers that the oracle is becoming reality.
Our biggest fear as humans is the unknown.
It is interesting how Oedipus Rex was undisturbed by how he killed someone but he was unable to recognize that he killed his father. He constantly blamed other people.
He did not recognize that he was the one that killed the king until the end of the play.
He understands that if he killed his father then he married his mother
Oedipus loses a power as a result of understanding that the oracle became reality.
Oedipus did not have control of his future. This can be represented by his bound ankles.
He tried to control his fate however the gods were to determine his punishment. The gods control Oedipus Rex.
Relation to the movie Passengers. The ultimate fate is death. Humans cannot control the ultimate fate of death however they are able to control life up until their fate.
Usually at the end of a book, a character improves. However, Oedipus Rex has a unique ending.
Our heroes are not always invincible. They experience downfalls.
Crossroads/paths are common in Greek mythology
Oedipus tries to avoid his fate. He knew about his fate since birth. It is ironic that he ends up facing his fate.
Are we all naturally evil or are we all born good?