Two Faces of Jocasta
While ancient Athens is often regarded as a place of flourishing art and life, it must also be remembered that the only lives regarded as worthy and of value were those of adult, male citizens. Women, slaves, children and foreigners … Continue reading →
Skepticism & Punishment
A very interesting topic was bought up in the seminar on Thursday, which was the skepticism of the existence of gods in the 5th century. Such skepticism arose alongside great thinkers, and manifested itself in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus’ agency & his obvious … Continue reading →
‘Blind’ The King
Fascinated by essay question four, the use of the word blind, metaphorically and literally caught my attention as throughout the play Oedipus’s ignorance towards the situation describes his metaphorical blindness as he continuously attempts to solve the riddle of who … Continue reading →
Six Obols None the Richer
C.S. Lewis was mentioned in the lecture today, which reminded me, of all things, of a song from a 90s teen movie. The movie is She’s All That (Pygmalion in high school, not stellar), and the song is ‘Kiss Me’. It’s … Continue reading →
On Phalluses and Satire and Sitcoms
Last class, we discussed the origins of Greek tragedy from the very phallic-heavy fertility ritual of the diathyramb into an entirely new form of storytelling that used new techniques such using actors to show events taking place rather than solely relying on a … Continue reading →
“How could you quench the fire of your eyes?”
… asks the leader of the chorus upon learning of Oedipus’ self-blinding (P85, line 1729). Such poetical phrasing is what we’d expect of the chorus, of course. In Greek tragedy the dialogues constituting the episodes were prosaic in comparison with … Continue reading →
Screwed Either Way
My impression of the story of Oedipus, at least at this point, is that the man starts the play in a situation of immense pressure, and that makes his demise is circumstantially inevitable. As a benevolent king, he cares about … Continue reading →