blog before the class...

I-3: Oedipus

Chorus (breakdown, functions) -- in class!

The Chorus showed its origin, partly, also, by dressing like the chief actor... The standard number of members of a chorus was twelve throughout most of Aeschylus's career, but was raised to fifteen by Sophocles. The chorus, like the actors, wore costumes and masks.

"... The Chorus also served another purpose. In the modern drama, when the tragedy of a situation becomes almost too great for the audience to bear, relief is often found in some comic, or partly comic, episode which is introduced to slacken the tension."

... [Seneca] The Chorus has become a means of internal dialogue for Oedipus, like a mysterious voice that confronts him with the horrible reality of his own deeds.

215 Dramatic Literature: Part One -- Lesson 3. Oedipus play online *

Ethics v. Aesthetics (N): good and bad, right and wrong (not the same)

Leader = violence (man, male, brute, animal -- and evolution to gentleMAN, Hamlet, officers in Chekhov, and finally, Godot -- no decisions)

Choices (mind) and CRIME, SIN (knowledge of good and bad), Punishment (NO story again?)

* Jocasta's issue is not one of shame but of power. Queen and Woman, family and carier? "Mother of King" and the Virgin * Public vs. Private Shame (dicuss) * It is said that suicide is a selfish act and what more could one expect from such a "self-serving woman"? (How to work on this part?) Mother was the last in her? Mother, Sister, Daughter = woman.
"Women's logic":

"What should a man fear, whose life is ruled by fate, 
For whom there is clear foreknowledge of nothing? 
It is best to live by chance, however you can. 
Be not afraid of marriage with your mother; 
Already many mortals in their dreams 
Have shared a mother's bed. But he who counts 
This dream as nothing, easiest bears his life." 

Questions:
Is Jocasta actually willing to live in incest with her son as long as the information isn't public? Since it was Jocasta, according to the herdsman in the next scene, who actually gave the baby to him and commanded him to abandon it on the mountainside, does Jocasta kill herself because she can't face Oedipus or because she can't face the public shame of their incest?

Is she the main "criminal"?

[ The etymology of Jocasta is that the name means "lighthearted" and comes from Italian. ]

... Jocasta got a really bad deal from her first husband. She liked Oedipus because she thought he could give her a normal life with her children. When she found out she was his mother she knew her life was destroyed. (justifications, defence)

The Poetics (test back) of Aristotle Sophocles and Oedipus Rex: Applications of theory to the play (in class)

6 Principles (Poetics)

Structure
Idea : ...
Hero (Character) : ...
Plot/Action/Story --

---

Texture
Language
Music
Spectacle (Show)

---

Film: when texture becomes structure?

Plot v. Story
1:10

FINALE:

CHORUS
Look ye, countrymen and Thebans, this is Oedipus the great,
He who knew the Sphinx's riddle and was mightiest in our state.
Who of all our townsmen gazed not on his fame with envious eyes?
Now, in what a sea of troubles sunk and overwhelmed he lies!
Therefore wait to see life's ending ere thou count one mortal blest;
Wait till free from pain and sorrow he has gained his final rest. 

Composition (Oedipus as a story)
The Classics (what do we mean by "classic") Classic Antiquity

Exposition

Genre (Type of Hero) Aristotle: above average -- tragic, below -- comic.

Drama and Tragic-comedy. "Next History": Historical Period (Christianity as Drama)

Review: 2: Chronotope (Time + Space) > Subjective POV