Topics for Discussion on Oedipus Rex




TOPICS for DISCUSSION on OEDIPUS REX
1. Did the gods ordain Oedipus to kill his father and sleep with his mother or did they simply foresee that he would do that?
2. If the gods ordained Oedipus to kill his father and sleep with his mother, is Oedipus guilty of his actions? Why or why not?
3. If someone is genetically predisposed to psychosis and is raised in an abusive environment which will assure psychotic behavior, is that person responsible for her/his behavior?

4. Does OEDIPUS REX conform to Aristotle’s POETICS? Why or why not?
5. Oedipus was noted for his keen intellect; how did his intellectual powers ultimately lead to his downfall?
6. Is Oedipus an arrogant, rash man? Explain; give evidence. If you find that he is, then did his arrogance and rashness lead to his downfall?
7. Is there freewill according to the Greeks? Why or why not? Do you believe in free will? Why?
8. There is a belief called “determinism” which maintains that your fate, your decisions are determined even before your birth due to genetic, environmental, historical and societal factors which are in place even before your birth. What do you think? Is there a cause for determinism in OEDIPUS REX?
Discuss the above questions and/or come up with your questions and answers for your Socratic discussion on Friday.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A.P. Blitz, Saturday, March 24, 2018

Image
Musee des Beaux Arts  W. H. Auden About suffering they were never wrong, The old Masters: how well they understood Its human position: how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along; How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting For the miraculous birth, there always must be Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating On a pond at the edge of the wood: They never forgot That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse Scratches its innocent behind on a tree. In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must h
Read more

Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 1

Image
Hamlet Act 2, Scene 1: In this scene Polonius is giving instructions to his servant Reynaldo to spy on Laertes, his son, in Paris. (Again, note the theme of spying) Polonius is giving Reynaldo money to give to his son, but tells him to “to make inquire of his behavior”. “Inquire me first what Danskers are in town….” This is an example of elision or omission of words (words are intentionally left out to insure the lines scan in iambic pentameter.) What word or words are left out? Dansker: Danes Polonius tells Reynaldo to inquire about Laertes’ behavior in a roundabout general way: “encompassment and drift of question” and by this way will arrive at the truth faster and more completely than by asking directly (“…come you more nearer / Than your particular demands will touch it.”) Do you think that’s true? Polonius further instructs Reynaldo, the servant, to say that he doesn’t know him well, but has some “…distant knowledge of him…” Mark: Listen well! Are
Read more

Middlemarch Essay

Image
How to Approach the A.P. prompt for MIDDLEMARCH How does Eliot portray characters? How does she portray complex relationship between husband and wife? Literary devices: Narrative perspective (Pov) and selection of detail. Middlemarch: underline novels!!!!! Rosamond’s personality: She was not given to weeping and disliked it. Lines 14 – 16: Rosamond thinks….. Go through the entire prompt and find examples of pov (narrative perspective) of Rosamond. Find at least three examples. Lines 77 – 79: “The thought in her mind was if she had known what he was going to be like she would never have married him.” Lines 87 - 90: “She was determined to make no further resistance or utterance.” Lines 23 – 26: This sudden trial was to a creature who had known nothing but indulgence. 52 – 53: His self blame gave her some hope that he would attend to her opinion. Tertius: Lines 48 – 50: Lydgate was bowing his neck like a creature……” Lines 34 – 35: That she had
Read more