Lesson 2 : Poetics

Dramatic = Subjective (Stage Event)

Conflits in Hamlet (Visualization -- Chart), Comedy, later (12th Night, Shrew)

Themes & Message/Thought

Oedipus Expo ( Lesson #4 )

NOTES: * Chekhov's Farces are not in your textbook, but I will using the texts in class. Genre -- Comedy. Character Study (Tobacco, for exmple). Must see the show and write 200 words (post to eGroup).

Religion & Stage (dicuss) Oedipus v. Hamlet

Communication Formula:

Sender => Medium => Reciever (Theatre Application)
Study and Discussion Questions (Bedford): Sophocles, Oedipus Rex

* Describe the exposition revealed in the Prologue.
* Create a staged reading of the debate between Kreon and Oedipus in scene ii. Discuss the use of logic and reason by each character.
* Explain Teiresias’s cryptic dialogue. What prevents him from speaking plainly?
* Discuss Oedipus’s journey toward the truth of his biography. What human instincts prevent him from "seeing" the truth?
* Describe the acts of violence that occur offstage. How would you stage these events today?

Space (two cities, place in the city, public, road and fork, secret city, exile) and Time

Writing Suggestions: Sophocles, Oedipus Rex

* Attempt to chart the structure of Oedipus Rex, including rising action, conflict, climax, and falling action.

* Locate the precise moment at which Oedipus moves from a psychological state of denial to open recognition of the truth. Now describe the stage picture at this moment, including all characters on stage. How might you place or "block" the actors playing each role for maximum effect?

* Discuss the motivations of the Chorus of Theban Elders as a voice of the polis.

* Discuss the theme of blindness in Oedipus Rex. Describe the use of intellectual, physical, and metaphoric blindness throughout the play.

[ 1st test ]

Web Assignments:
You are the dramaturg for a new production of Oedipus Rex. Using the Perseus Project at Tufts University (perseus.tufts.edu), find historical information. Focus your investigation on images of Oedipus.
General information on ancient Greek theater can be found at Greek Resources. Using the photos and links here, write a brief essay on an element of Greek theater (production or text) that would assist your understanding of Oedipus Rex.

... Composition123 -- Exposition

Bakhtin: Chronotope

Chronotope = Space + Time
1. Review "From Theatre to Drama" [ Ritual -- Drama -- Theatre ] (Poetics -- Dramatic Composition, see vtheatre.net/200/drama) and 2. some Semiotics (Page v. Stage)

3. Oedipus and Hamlet (Hero (Tragic Character) and Chronotope) + To Introduce:

Dramatic Question:

Inciting Incident:

4. Homework: Oedipus (Sophocles) -- use Class List!

Oedipus ("200 words" assignment)

Gods please forgive me for my sins, I was born with them.

Written By: Jeff Aldrich

Thinking about the story of Oedipus, I recall sophomore high school literature, and a word that was used to describe Oedipus' story was Hubris. Hubris-excessive pride, an arrogance if you will; worthy of punishment by the gods. This is an ailment of Oedipus' character, his Hubris, challenging the gods, nay the universe itself; this ailment is the ailment of the human race; that's what Sophocles is referring to.

No one wants the world to be the way it is, we deny it, we continue searching no proof is good enough.

I think of Jesus, a man who preformed miracles on numerous occasions, but he couldn't convince his closest of friends that he would rise from the dead, they wouldn't believe it until they saw it before their own eyes, then they try and tell the world and who will believe them?

That's Hubris. And the world, the gods, punish it. Nothing is enough, so we lash-out, attempt to change fate. Deny, deny, deny. I think of Oedipus' relationship to Creon, and in return Creon's relationship to Oedipus. Oedipus' lashing out, when Creon brings him the news, Creon's final stab at Oedipus in the closing lines of the play: 

"Crave not mastery in all,
For the mastery that raised thee was thy bane and wrought thy fall."
This is indeed the stab of a King at the fallings off of another. The baseness of this comment, in light of what has just torn apart the kingdom, appals me. 
But Creon is just man.
So are we all.
filmplus.org/plays/hamlet.html -- next class
THR History (next week): Renaissance & Shakespeare

[ see I-1: intro Textbook * ]