The Text
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Link to the text we will use in class
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Background to the Play
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Lecture Notes
These concepts will be covered in discussion and classroom lecture prior to the beginning of the play. _______________________________________________________ Greek Drama*
* Information summarized from Drama, by Charles Burton Gulick and Anarchon |
Oedipus Prereading Questions
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Prereading Questions - Directions
Please answer the following questions in complete sentences. For EACH question, supply one specific, capital-letter example: that is, include an example from literature, history, culture, politics, sports, current events, or TV/film and explain how come or in what way that example proves your point.
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Terms to Know
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List of Terms
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Readings and Passage Analysis
Procedure for Class
Step One: Annotate Step Two: Focused Reading / Dialectical Journal
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Overview
Throughout the discussion of Oedipus, students will be asked to read and annotate specific sections of the text and then focus on those sections in the following day's discussion.
Procedure for Class Step One: ANNOTATION
Step Two: Focused Reading/ Dialectical Journal*
*Note: This pattern of reading/discussion/passage analysis was adapted from the Great Books Reading and Discussion Program. |
Questions for After the Play *
Truth and Guilt
The Tragic Flaw Issue
Blindness
Responsibility and Destiny
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Overview
These questions really can't be answered effectively until students have read the entire play and can look back on the narrative as a whole and see that Sophocles planned for particular end-game events right from the first moments of the play -- such as the fact that the play itself begins with a question. These questions may be used in a variety of ways -- as whole-class discussion, as journal questions, as exit tickets, or as the basis for short essays. They can take the place of the questions used in the essay assignment for this unit. I have tried to separate them out by motif. Set #1: You Can't Handle the Truth
Set #2: The Tragic Flaw Issue
The classic interpretation of this play -- and one with which I want you to be familiar, because it is the standard interpretation -- is that Oedipus brought his own fate on himself through his hamartia (his tragic flaw) and that that flaw was hubris, or excessive pride. Traditionally, the argument has been that Oedipus' pride led him to believe he could escape the fate laid upon them by the gods. Others have pointed to Oedipus' quick temper as a serious hamartia, pointing to the Chorus' advice that those who are quick-tempered are not safe, and pointing also to Oedipus' ready rage when dealing with Teiresias and Creon.
Set #3: Blindness
Set #4: Responsibility and Destiny
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