Sample Notes PDF - Oedipus Rex

Sophocles’
OEDIPUS REX
(Exam Notes by Arpita Karwa)
These are sample notes for B.A & M.A (English) Exams. You can take guidance & prepare your own notes in the similar manner.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• Athens in the fifth century B.C. was a golden age of drama for Greece and the world.
• Sophocles emerged as the most popular playwright among his contemporaries — the older
Aeschylus and the younger Euripides
• Like other dramatists of his time, Sophocles wrote his plays as theatrical interpretations of the well-
known myths of Greek culture — an imaginative national history that grew through centuries.
Sophocles and his contemporaries particularly celebrated the mythic heroes of the Trojan War,
characters who appear in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
• Sophocles wrote more than 120 plays, but only seven complete tragedies survive.
• Of all the surviving plays, the tragedies of the Oedipus Trilogy — Oedipus the King, Oedipus at
Colonus, and Antigone — are the best known and most often produced. Although all three plays are
part of the same story, Sophocles did not create them to be performed as a single theatrical
production. Instead, the three tragedies represent separate dramas on related subjects.
• Oedipus the King, also called Oedipus Tyrannos or Oedipus Rex, written around 420 BC, has long
been regarded not only as his finest play but also as the purest and most powerful expression of
Greek tragic drama.
ABOUT THE PLAY

• The major conflict of Oedipus the King arises when Tiresias tells Oedipus that Oedipus is responsible
for the plague, and Oedipus refuses to believe him
• The rising action of Oedipus the King occurs when Creon returns from the oracle with the news that
the plague in Thebes will end when the murderer of Laius, the king before Oedipus, is discovered
and driven out.
• The climax of Oedipus the King occurs when Oedipus learns, quite contrary to his expectations, that
he is the man responsible for the plague that has stricken Thebes—he is the man who killed his
father and slept with his mother.

Sophocles’
OEDIPUS REX
SCHOOL OF THOUGHT
• The play is an example of classic tragedy, emphasising the manner in which Oedipus's own faults
contribute to his downfall
• Oedipus The King, also called Oedipus Rex, is a play written by Sophocles, which illustrates human
impotence in the face of destiny, and describes how the fate hurls man and woman into the
terrible miseries, for no fault of his/her own
• This tragedy of fate explores the depths of modern psycho-analysis as Oedipus unwittingly kills
his father and marries his mother in an attempt to avoid the very prophecy he ultimately fulfills.
• Sigmund Freud coined the term Oedipus complex in his Interpretation of Dreams in 1899 from the
legend of Oedipus. In psychoanalysis, Oedipus complex means love for mother and enmity for father
INTER TEXTUAL REFERNCE

• Oedipus Rex and Macbeth are both tragedies.
• Oedipus and Macbeth are both men that have a lot of power but are not capable of keeping it
• They are kings who take a fall through faults of their own.
• Both become kings by reacting to what the supernatural forces tell them
• The oracle instructs Oedipus to take revenge upon the murderer of the former king, Laios, in order
to stop the plague; Macbeth is told by the three weird sisters that he will be king. Macbeth
becomes too confident because of the words of the sisters and gets himself killed. Oedipus tries to
find the murderer of Laios only to discover that he himself is the killer.
CRITICAL RECEPTION
• In his Poetics, Aristotle writes that the purpose of tragedy is to arouse pity and fear in the audience,
and so create a catharsis — or cleansing of emotions — that will enlighten people about life and
fate.
• Dramatic irony arises from the difference between what an audience knows and what the
characters on stage know. In Oedipus the King, for example, everyone in the audience knows from

Sophocles’
OEDIPUS REX
the beginning that Oedipus has killed his father and married his mother. The tension of the play,
then, develops from Oedipus' slow but inevitable progress toward this terrible self-knowledge.
• Watching Oedipus' fate unfold, the audience identifies with the hero, sharing vicariously in the
horror of the reversal he suffers and acknowledging the power of destiny. By connecting with the
audience, Sophocles has achieved the catharsis that Aristotle thought was so important. In
accomplishing this dramatic feat, Aristotle declares, Sophocles' Oedipus the King stands as the
greatest tragedy ever written.
• Each of the plays of the Oedipus Trilogy achieves this catharsis that Aristotle defined as the hallmark
of all tragedy.
• A masterful work of plot and suspense, Oedipus the King is often heralded as a "perfectly structured"
play.
QUOTES
• Fear? What should a man fear? It’s all chance, chance rules our lives.- Jocasta
• He solved the famous riddle with his brilliance, he rose to power, a man beyond all power. Who
could behold his greatness without envy?- Chorus
(In underscoring these facts, the Chorus seems to suggest a causal link between Oedipus’s rise and
his fall—Oedipus fell because he rose too high, because in his pride he inspired others to “envy.”)
• ...count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last – Chorus
• Those who jump to conclusions may go wrong- Chorus
• Oedipus arrogantly tells the Chorus, "You pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers."
• Can such a man, so desperate, still boast he can save his life from the flashing bolts of god?- Chorus
• Oedipus furthers Sophocles' sight metaphor when he defends his decision to humble himself
through blindness: "What good were eyes to me? Nothing I could see could bring me joy."

ROLE OF CHORUS
• The Chorus is a group of actors that together speak, sing, and dance in one body.
• The Chorus' consisting of 3 parts. These are called, respectively, the strophe, the antistrophe, and
the epode.

• To entertain the audience

Sophocles’
OEDIPUS REX
- They add to it the element of melody which must have been one of the attractions of Greek
tragedy.

• A classic Greek chorus consisted of a number of identically dressed men who served as observers
and commentators during the course of a play.
- The chorus in Oedipus Rex represents the voice of the greater society.
- The elders of the chorus are considered to represent men of Thebes who honor and respect the
king and the gods. Their odes show both knowledge of religious culture as well as strong loyalty
to the king.

• The chorus' role is to provide a broader context for the action of the play as a whole: the chorus has
the ability to pass judgment on the actions of the other characters, & comment on the morality of
such- Sympathizes with Oedipus
- Sophocles also utilizes a chorus because it helps the audience to see the story from one more
angle, providing a fuller picture of the situation.

• The Chorus takes part in the dialogues also- Jocasta, Oedipus, Ask Oedipus to keep his cool

• The chorus moves along the story by announcing the arrival of characters and answering questions
that help the plot progress.

CHARACTER SKETCH- JOCASTA

• In contrast to Oedipus, Jocasta distrusts the oracles and believes that whatever happens will happen
by unforeseeable chance. Still, she is wary enough to honor Apollo with offerings in a crisis.
• Intelligent and capable, but not driven to exploration as Oedipus is, Jocasta has her own philosophy
about what should be known or looked into. When Jocasta realizes before Oedipus the reality of his
identity, she begs him to stop his questioning to avoid grief. Later, her own panicked grief impels
her to suicide.
• In her first words, she attempts to make peace between Oedipus and Creon, pleading with Oedipus
not to banish Creon.
• She is comforting to her husband and calmly tries to urge him to reject Tiresias’s terrifying
prophecies as false.

Sophocles’
OEDIPUS REX
• Jocasta solves the riddle of Oedipus’s identity before Oedipus does, and she expresses her love for
her son and husband in her desire to protect him from this knowledge.
CHARACTER SKETCH- CREON

• Loyal- ambassador for Oedipus, as Creon goes to the Delphic oracle
• He tells Oedipus that he has brought news from the oracle and suggests that Oedipus hear it inside.
Creon has the secretive, businesslike air of a politician, which stands in sharp contrast to Oedipus,
who tells him to speak out in front of everybody.
• Creon embodies the voice of reason. As Oedipus storms, Creon maintains his calm; when Oedipus
cries out to be banished, Creon protects him with gentle firmness. By the end of the tragedy, Creon
proves himself sensible and responsible, a good leader for the now kingless Thebes.
• Early in Oedipus the King, Creon claims to have no desire for kingship. Yet, when he has the
opportunity to grasp power at the end of that play, Creon seems quite eager.
• God-fearing person
CHARACTER SKETCH- TIERESIS

• Blind prophet- eyes have it. See well than those around him. (ironic)
• The literal blindness of the soothsayer points to the metaphorical blindness of those who refuse to
believe the truth about themselves when they hear it spoken.
• Mouthpiece for the Gods - He's in tune with the mind of Apollo and receives visions of the future.
• Motivates and propels Oedipus to listen to truth
• Resembles voice of consciousness
• Filled with truth and submission to God.
• Tiresias comes to Oedipus against his will, not wanting to explain the meaning of the oracle to the
kin. However, after a courteous greeting, Tiresias meets with insults and rejection.
• Never surprised by abuse, Tiresias does not back down when threatened. True to the gift of
prophetic power, he stands unflinching before the fury of kings.

Sophocles’
OEDIPUS REX
CHARACTER SKETCH- OEDIPUS

• Oedipus' brilliance and determination serve him well in solving mysteries — like the riddle of the
Sphinx — but lead ultimately to his tragic downfall.
• Oedipus is a man of swift action and great insight. When the citizens of Thebes beg him to do
something about the plague, for example, Oedipus is one step ahead of them—he has already sent
Creon to the oracle at Delphi for advice.
• Oedipus’s swiftness and confidence continue to the very end of Oedipus the King. We see him
interrogate Creon, call for Tiresias, threaten to banish Tiresias and Creon, call for the servant who
escaped the attack on Laius, call for the shepherd who brought him to Corinth, rush into the palace
to stab out his own eyes, and then demand to be exiled.
• The petition of the chorus that opens Oedipus the King attests to Oedipus' responsible leadership.
He has been a good king for Thebes, and in crisis he moves decisively to save his city, but in his
excitement and energy, Oedipus lacks discretion. When, for example, Creon hints wisely that they
should discuss the news from the oracle in private, Oedipus refuses, insisting that every action he
takes to find and to purge corruption from the city must be public.
• Impervious to reason and advice, Oedipus follows his will with an intellectual passion. His drive to
unearth the mystery — and his pride in performing his intellectual feat before the whole city — end
in horror, as he discovers that the object of his relentless search is himself.
• Desire for knowledge and truth about his own existence
ROLE OF FATE
• Philosophers such as Socrates opened rational debate on the nature of moral choices and the role
of the gods in human affairs. Slowly, the belief in a human being's ability to reason and to choose
gained greater acceptance in a culture long devoted to the rituals of augury and prophecy. Socrates
helped to create the Golden Age with his philosophical questioning, but Athens still insisted on the
proprieties of tradition surrounding the gods and Fate, and the city condemned the philosopher to
death for impiety.
• According to Aristotle, theater offers its audience the experience of pity and terror produced by the
story of the hero brought low by a power greater than himself. In consequence, this catharsis — a
purging of high emotion — brings the spectator closer to a sympathetic understanding of life in all
its complexity.

Sophocles’
OEDIPUS REX
• Fate was the will of the gods — an unopposable reality ritually revealed by the oracle at Delphi, who
spoke for Apollo himself in mysterious pronouncements.
• Indeed, this voice of the gods — the expression of their divine will — represents a powerful, unseen
force throughout the Oedipus Trilogy.
• Man was free to choose and was ultimately held responsible for his own actions.
• Warned by the oracle at Delphi that their son will kill his father, King Laius and Queen Jocasta of
Thebes try to prevent this tragic destiny. Laius pierces his son's feet and gives him to a shepherd
with instructions to leave the baby in the mountains to die. But pitying the child, the shepherd gives
him to a herdsman, who takes the baby far from Thebes to Corinth. There, the herdsman presents
the child to his own king and queen, who are childless. Without knowing the baby's identity, the
royal couple adopt the child and name him Oedipus ("swollen-foot").
• Oedipus grows up as a prince of Corinth, but hears troubling stories that the king is not his real
father. When he travels to Delphi to consult the oracle, Oedipus learns the prophecy of his fate, that
he will kill his father and marry his mother. Horrified, he determines to avoid his terrible destiny by
never returning home.
• Near Thebes, Oedipus encounters an old man in a chariot with his attendants. When the old man
insults and strikes him in anger, Oedipus kills the man and his servants. The old man, of course, is
Oedipus' father, Laius, but Oedipus does not realize this.
• Outside Thebes, Oedipus meets the monstrous Sphinx, who has been terrorizing the countryside.
The Sphinx challenges Oedipus with her riddle: "What goes on four feet at dawn, two at noon, and
three at evening?" Oedipus responds with the right answer ("A man") and kills the monster.
• The Theban people proclaim him a hero, and when they learn that Laius has been killed, apparently
by a band of robbers, they accept Oedipus as their king. Oedipus marries Jocasta, and they have four
children. Thus, despite all his efforts to prevent it, Oedipus fulfills the dreadful prophecy.
FREE WILL
• In Oedipus the King, Oedipus displays his characteristic brilliance and overconfidence in what he
regards as his heroic search for the murderer of Laius. He pursues the mystery relentlessly,
confident that its solution will yield him the same glory he enjoyed when he answered the riddle of
the Sphinx. Oedipus' self-assurance that he has taken care of his fate blinds him to it and begins the

Sophocles’
OEDIPUS REX
fall that will end in his literal blindness. Thus he becomes the victim — rather than the conquerer
— of Fate.
• Oedipus pushes Tiresias, Creon, Jocasta, the oracle, the messenger, and the shepherd for information
regarding his beginnings. Each one of these characters in some way or form refused to give him a
thorough answer. As he draws closer to the answer, another character tries to stop his
journey. Oedipus continues moving onward even though others request he didn't
• His scornful treatment of Tiresias and his prophecies as well as his unwillingness to heed the role
of fate in his own life helps to move him closer to accomplishing that which he seeks to avoid.
• The gods who control fate manipulate the thinking and concepts in human's free will.
• His past actions were determined by fate, but what he did in Thebes, he did so of his own will

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Sophocles’

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE PLAY

INTER TEXTUAL REFERNCE

CHARACTER SKETCH- JOCASTA

CHARACTER SKETCH- CREON

CHARACTER SKETCH- TIERESIS

CHARACTER SKETCH- OEDIPUS

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