Vocab!
Define "Hubris"
An excessive amount of pride and conceit on the part of the protagonist that leads to them to break a moral law and thinking they are on the same level of as the Gods.
Provide an example of "Hubris" in Oedipus Rex
After Oedipus' fate was revealed to him by Tiresias, Oedipus was convinced that this fate was wrong and implied that he knew more than the Gods.
What are the five characteristics of the quest?
A quest
A place to go
A stated reason to go there
Challenges and trials en route
5. A real reason to go there
Provide an example of a myth in Oedipus Rex
CHORUS:“ O Lord of the stormcloud, you who twirl the lightning, Zeus, Father, thunder Death to nothing!” (Lines 229-234)
Zeus is the king of all the Gods in Greek mythology and during this time in ancient Greece the strong belief in the Gods were prevalent.
Define "Catastrophe"
The climactic point in the tragic hero’s life (not always death)
Provide an example of "Catastrophe" in Oedipus Rex
When Oedipus is told that he will murder his father and wed his mother.
What do Biblical allusions do for a piece of literature?
Biblical allusions add dimension and deepens the piece of literature.
Provide an example of a symbol in Oedipus Rex
JOCASTA: “Laius fused his ankles tight together and ordered other men to throw him out on a mountain rock where no one ever goes” (Lines 863-865)
When Oedipus was a baby his father, Laius, binded Oedipus’ feet together causing Oedipus to have swollen ankles in adulthood and he had to limp. Oedipus’ swollen ankles become the symbol of his fate.
Define "Hamartia"
The critical and grave mistake that the tragic hero makes that ultimately leads to their downfall.
Provide an example of "Hamartia" in Oedipus Rex
What are the four great struggles of the human being?
with nature
with the Divine
with other humans
with ourselves
Provide an example of a sexual symbol in Oedipus Rex
OEDIPUS “Your father killed his father, sowed his mother, one, one and the selfsame womb sprang you- he cropped the very roots of his existence.” (Lines 1639-1641)
Sophocles has Oedipus describe the act of a man having relations with his mother as sowing his mother. Sophocles uses the word “sow” which suggests that the man is planting a seed within the woman. Sophocles use of symbols agrees with Foster’s argument that authors encode sexual messages within their literary worlds.
Define "Peripeteia"
When the protagonist take crucial action that changes his “safe” surroundings.
Provide an example of Peripeteia
Oedipus' life begins to fall apart and his fate starts becoming a reality.
Explain what Foster means by “irony trumps everything.”
Irony thickens the plot and makes the literature more interesting and compels readers to look more into the layers of meaning.
Provide an example of a deformity in Oedipus Rex
In this Chapter of How to Read Literature Like a Professor Foster explained that authors will give their characters deformities not only to set them apart from other characters but to also serve as a symbol. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus suffers from a limp his entire life which is a symbol of his inevitable fate in which he will marry his mother and kill his father.
Define "Anagnorisis"
When the protagonist has a sudden moment of insight and finally realizes the lethal path that they have led themselves on.
Provide an Example of Anagnorisis
Oedipus finds out that Jocasta is his mother and that he is the reason his father is dead and he realizes the prophecy was true all along.
Who does Foster accuse of teaching writers to encode sexual messages in their writing and of teaching readers to decode sexual messages in literature?
Foster accuses Freud of teaching writers to encode sexual messages in their writing and teaching readers how to decode sexual messages in literature after Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams in 1990.
Provide an example of Irony in Oedipus Rex
OEDIPUS: “So I will fight for him as if he were my father, stop at nothing, search the world to lay my hands on the man who shed his blood.” (Lines 301-303)
This quote is a significant example of dramatic irony in Oedipus Rex because Oedipus being the hero that he is explained that he would fight for the murdered King Laius of long ago as though he were his own father when in reality King Laius is Oedipus’ father