September 25, 2017 - September 29, 2017 Weekly Agenda
Monday, September 25th:
Notes on Oedipus Rex:
The following notes are to help clarify the reading:
Notes on Oedipus Rex:
OEDIPUS REX Notes: ideas and vocabulary that might be useful to clarify:
Page 30
Reread and annotate Creon’s rebuttal to Oedipus’ charges.
First: Write down the quotation from the text
Second: Then, in your own words write what you think his rebuttal is.
Refer to the text!
Example of quotation:
“You do wrong, when you take good men for bad…for good.”
Anarchy: when there are no established rules, but everyone does what h/she wants with no regard for the rights of others.
Perquisites: Perks; rights and privileges which go with a position of power.
Sceptre: a staff which symbolizes power.
“You married my sister…reason it out as I have…would any sane man prefer power,… all a king’s anxieties.
Creon has never been part of the Royal blood line, so he would not benefit from the killing of the king. He does not want the burden of kingship.
I am welcome everywhere, every man salutes me.”
Creon knew that if he became king his popularity would go down.
“Time and time alone will show the just man…”
The following notes are to help clarify the reading:
Please read pages 44 – 45, the Chorus; Ode ll, Strophe 1 through Antistrophe 2; determine what three types of people one should refrain from being, and what happens to those types of people.
Vocabulary:
Begot: to be sired from or born from
Haughtiness: extreme arrogance
Levity: lack of respect
Blasphemy: to speak ill of the gods or to show disrespect to the gods.
Summit: the top of the mountain
Plummet: to fall from a great height
Comely: pleasing
Ordinance: rules
Impious: men who do not keep the laws of gods.
Obscurities: lack of clarity; the Delphic oracle was noted for very unclear, general predictions.
In the first stanza, the chorus is speaking of the Titans, the gods who preceded the gods of the Olympian gods. The Titans lived before the beginning of Time, which was created by the father of the Titans, Chronos, who was also the god of Time.
The first type of evil person is a TYRANT, who plummets to the dust of hope (despair) due to his recklessness and vanity.
The second type of evil person is the haughty one, who will be caught up in a net of pain, and will bear the blows of heaven upon his heart and mind if he pretends to be a holy man.
The third are those who do not believe in the Oracles.
Iocaste: believes that the soothsayers lie. All the predictions turn out false!
Why does she believe this?
She had a son with her first husband. What did the soothsayer say about their child? That he would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother.
What did the parents do to prevent that terrible prediction?
They pierced the ankles of the baby with a thorn; then, they gave him to a shepherd to leave on a mountain to die.
Oedi: feet
Pus: Swollen
The following notes are to help clarify the reading:
The following notes are to help clarify the reading:
Pages 54 - 56
What is the “good news” the messenger from Corinth tells Oedipus?
The “good news” is that the king, Polybos, has died.
In relief Oedipus says that the oracles utter empty words: his father has died, but not by his hands.
But there is a reversal. The good news go from from good to bad:
Then, the messenger from Corinth tells Oedipus that Polybos was not his father.
But Oedipus is still fearful of sleeping with his mother.
The messenger tells him that Merope was not his mother, either; that he himself gave Oedipus as a baby with bound feet (Laios instructed the baby’s feet be bound together by a thorn) , to King Polybos and Queen Merope. He tells Oedipus that his scarred ankles should tell him the truth.
Oedi- foot
Pus - swollen
Why does Iocaste not want Oedipus to continue investigating who he is?
Oedipus interprets Iocaste’s reluctance to allow him to continue with his investigation as arrogance on her part.
He accuses of her being conceited, arrogant, and a snob. He says that she is ashamed that it may be revealed that he is of low birth.
Iocaste exits the palace, for she knows what fearful horrible things will soon come to light!
Oedipus says, not yet realizing the horrible irony of his words, that the matter of his birth is of no importance for he is a child of luck, and his brothers are the passing months.
Ode lll (pages 56 – 57)
Pan: satyr, half-goat/half-man. A woodland nymph who is quite a rascal and plays a pan flute. He is a symbol of wanton, promiscuous sexuality.
Dionysus: the god of wine and of theatre.
Hermes: the messenger god.
Scene iv; pages 57 - 63
Oedipus asks the messenger where and how he got the baby. The messenger says that a shepherd from Laios’ household gave him the child. The shepherd from Laios’s household took pity on the child and did not want to kill it.
The shepherd from Thebes was in charge of getting rid of the baby, but took pity on the child with the bound feet and gave it to the messenger.
The shepherd is summoned who is also quite old, like the messenger, and at first does not “remember” the messenger (most likely he does recognize him, but understandably does not wish to reveal his role in this awful tragedy).
The messenger refreshes his memory: they spent three seasons between the months of March and September tending their flocks together.
The messenger asks the shepherd if he remembers giving him a baby to take care of. The shepherd tries to avoid answering these incriminating questions. The shepherd becomes very angry and belligerent at the messenger when the messenger blurts out that Oedipus was the child whom he gave to him.
Attention is now turned to the shepherd: who, from Laios household, gave him the baby?
When the old man tries to avoid answering, Oedipus becomes enraged and threatens the old man with death if he does not tell who gave him the baby.
Upon threat of torture, the old shepherd confesses the horrible news that it was Iocaste who gave him the child to dispose of.
Oedipus is the killer of Laios, the king, who is his father.
Oedipus married Iocaste, his mother.
Iocaste bore four children by her son/husband and Odipus was the killer of her husband – his father.
The following notes are to help clarify the reading:
The following notes are to help clarify the reading:
Ode iv; (pages 63 – 65)
Vocabulary:
Renown: great fame and honor.
Sirings: the children whom he sired (fathered).
Interpretation:
Happy is he who is never born. Unhappy is he who has a long life.
Chorus: I who saw your days call no man blest!
Chorus:
What measure shall I give these generations
That breathe on the void and are void
And exist and do not exist?
Who bears more weight of joy
Than mass of sunlight shifting in images,
Or who shall make his thought stay on
That down time drifts away?
The above is a reference to the Titans who proceeded time and who exists beyond the matter of mere mortals. Their joy is above the weight and mass of the shifting, ephemeral light of changing images.
Extended metaphor comparing Oedipus’ mind to that of a bow and an archer.
Before, Oedipus’ mind was a strong bow.
Deep, how deep you drew it then, hard archer,
At a dim fearful range,
And brought dear glory down!
You overcame the stranger
The virgin with her hooking lion claws –
(With your keen intelligence you destroyed the sphinx who held all of Thebes in terror!)
Oedipus, the most renown of all men, has fallen to that state of a low slave, ground under bitter fate.
The following is a reference to Iocaste:
The great door that expelled you to the light
Gave at night – ah, gave night to your glory:
As to the father, to the fathering son.
Garden: Iocaste
Harrowed: to plow
Things down in the past will be brought to the light.
Oedipus’s reign was a lie which lulled Thebes into a false, blind, unknowing sleep of peace and safety.
False years went by: Oedipus’ reign, which was illegitimate and defiled by his father’s murder and by siring children with his mother.
Briefly go over the Freytag pyramid for The Most Dangerous Game.
Tuesday, September 26th:
'The Red Shoes Ballet" field trip
For those of you who are not attending the ballet, please use this time to read The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber and answer the questions at the end of the book.
Wednesday, September 27th:
Multiple Choice Questions 6 - 10 over Oedipus Rex - do for tomorrow!
Your reading logs for Oedipus will be due on Monday, October 2nd.
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, Page 77 - 106; questions 1 - 9; due Wednesday, October 4th. Please do not write the questions, but incorporate the questions with your answers.
Assign for Friday, October 6th, Unit 2, #11 - 20.
How to do Oedipus' reading logs:
Briefly go over the Freytag pyramid for The Most Dangerous Game.
Please reread pages 44 – 45, the Chorus; Ode ll, Strophe 1 through Antistrophe 2; determine what three types of people one should refrain from being, and what happens to those types of people.
Vocabulary:
Begot: to be sired from or born from
Haughtiness: extreme arrogance
Levity: lack of respect
Blasphemy: to speak ill of the gods or to show disrespect to the gods.
Summit: the top of the mountain
Plummet: to fall from a great height
Comely: pleasing
Ordinance: rules
Impious: men who do not keep the laws of gods.
Obscurities: lack of clarity; the Delphic oracle was noted for very unclear, general predictions.
In the first stanza, the chorus is speaking of the Titans, the gods who preceded the gods of the Olympian gods. The Titans lived before the beginning of Time, which was created by the father of the Titans, Chronos, who was also the god of Time.
The first type of evil person is a TYRANT, who plummets to the dust of hope (despair) due to his recklessness and vanity.
The second type of evil person is the haughty one, who will be caught up in a net of pain, and will bear the blows of heaven upon his heart and mind if he pretends to be a holy man.
The third are those who do not believe in the Oracles.
Iocaste: believes that the soothsayers lie. All the predictions turn out false!
Why does she believe this?
She had a son with her first husband. What did the soothsayer say about their child? That he would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother.
What did the parents do to prevent that terrible prediction?
They pierced the ankles of the baby with a thorn; then, they gave him to a shepherd to leave on a mountain to die.
Oedi: feet
Pus: Swollen
Page 54 - 56
What is the “good news” the messenger from Corinth tells Oedipus?
The “good news” is that the king, Polybos, has died.
In relief Oedipus says that the oracles utter empty words: his father has died, but not by his hands.
But there is a reversal. The good news go from from good to bad:
Then, the messenger from Corinth tells Oedipus that Polybos was not his father.
But Oedipus is still fearful of sleeping with his mother.
The messenger tells him that Merope was not his mother, either; that he himself gave Oedipus as a baby with bound feet (Laios instructed the baby’s feet be bound together by a thorn) , to King Polybos and Queen Merope. He tells Oedipus that his scarred ankles should tell him the truth.
Oedi- foot
Pus - swollen
Why does Iocaste not want Oedipus to continue investigating who he is?
Oedipus interprets Iocaste’s reluctance to allow him to continue with his investigation as arrogance on her part.
He accuses of her being conceited, arrogant, and a snob. He says that she is ashamed that it may be revealed that he is of low birth.
Iocaste exits the palace, for she knows what fearful horrible things will soon come to light!
Oedipus says, not yet realizing the horrible irony of his words, that the matter of his birth is of no importance for he is a child of luck, and his brothers are the passing months.
Ode lll (pages 56 – 57)
Pan: satyr, half-goat/half-man. A woodland nymph who is quite a rascal and blows a pan flute. He is a symbol of wanton, promiscuous sexuality.
Dionysus: the god of wine and of theatre.
Hermes: the messenger god.
Scene iv; pages 57 - 63
Oedipus asks the messenger where and how he got the baby. The messenger says that a shepherd from Laios’ household gave him the child. The shepherd from Laios’s household took pity on the child and did not want to kill it.
The shepherd from Thebes was in charge of getting rid of the baby, but took pity on the child with the bound feet and gave it to the messenger.
The shepherd is summoned who is also quite old, like the messenger, and at first does not “remember” the messenger (most likely he does recognize him, but understandably does not wish to reveal his role in this awful tragedy).
The messenger refreshes his memory: they spent three seasons between the months of March and September tending their flocks together.
The messenger asks the shepherd if he remembers giving him a baby to take care of. The shepherd tries to avoid answering these incriminating questions. The shepherd becomes very angry and belligerent at the messenger when the messenger blurts out that Oedipus was the child whom he gave to him.
Attention is now turned to the shepherd: who, from Laios household, gave him the baby?
When the old man tries to avoid answering, Oedipus becomes enraged and threatens the old man with death if he does not tell who gave him the baby.
Upon threat of torture, the old shepherd confesses the horrible news that it was Iocaste who gave him the child to dispose of.
Oedipus is the killer of Laios, the king, who is his father.
Oedipus married Iocaste, his mother.
Iocaste bore four children by her son/husband and Odipus was the killer of her husband – his father.
Ode iv; (pages 63 – 65)
Vocabulary:
Renown: great fame and honor.
Sirings: the children whom he sired (fathered).
Interpretation:
Happy is he who is never born. Unhappy is he who has a long life.
Chorus: I who saw your days call no man blest!
Chorus:
What measure shall I give these generations
That breathe on the void and are void
And exist and do not exist?
Who bears more weight of joy
Than mass of sunlight shifting in images,
Or who shall make his thought stay on
That down time drifts away?
The above is a reference to the Titans who proceeded time and who exists beyond the matter of mere mortals. Their joy is above the weight and mass of the shifting, ephemeral light of changing images.
Extended metaphor comparing Oedipus’ mind to that of a bow and an archer.
Before, Oedipus’ mind was a strong bow.
Deep, how deep you drew it then, hard archer,
At a dim fearful range,
And brought dear glory down!
You overcame the stranger
The virgin with her hooking lion claws –
(With your keen intelligence you destroyed the sphinx who held all of Thebes in terror!)
Oedipus, the most renown of all men, has fallen to that state of a low slave, ground under bitter fate.
The following is a reference to Iocaste:
The great door that expelled you to the light
Gave at night – ah, gave night to your glory:
As to the father, to the fathering son.
Garden: Iocaste
Harrowed: to plow
Things down in the past will be brought to the light.
Oedipus’s reign was a lie which lulled Thebes into a false, blind, unknowing sleep of peace and safety.
False years went by: Oedipus’ reign, which was illegitimate and defiled by his father’s murder and by siring children with his mother.
Your true colors will come out eventually.
Agenda for Monday, September 25th:
Went over Freytag's Pyramid for "The Most Dangerous Game"
Assigned "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"
Questions 1 - 9; do not write the questions but incorporate questions in answer.
Due Wednesday, October 4th.
Agenda for Monday, September 25th:
Went over Freytag's Pyramid for "The Most Dangerous Game"
Assigned "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"
Questions 1 - 9; do not write the questions but incorporate questions in answer.
Due Wednesday, October 4th.
Multiple Choice Questions over Oedipus Rex.
Tuesday, September 26th:
'The Red Shoes Ballet" field trip
For those of you who are not attending the ballet, please use this time to read The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber and answer the questions at the end of the book.
Wednesday, September 27th:
Multiple Choice Questions 6 - 10 over Oedipus Rex - do for tomorrow!
Your reading logs for Oedipus will be due on Monday, October 2nd.
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, Page 77 - 106; questions 1 - 9; due Wednesday, October 4th. Please do not write the questions, but incorporate the questions with your answers.
Assign for Friday, October 6th, Unit 2, #11 - 20.
How to do Oedipus' reading logs:
Reading Log for Oedipus Rex; pages 45 - 57
Example:
Summary:
The messenger tells Oedipus that his father has died from old age. Jocasta tells Oedipus that this is wonderful news and proves that the oracles lie. However, the messenger interrupts and says “But Polybus is not your father.” The messenger tells Oedipus how the herder gave him as a baby to Polybus. Then Oedipus orders someone to go find the shepherd and bring him to the court so that Oedipus may find out the truth.
Oedipus says that the reason Jocaste does not want to know about his birth is that she is afraid he is of lowly humble birth.
Figurative Language:
Personification:
Messenger: “Death holds him in his sepulcher.” Messenger tells Oedipus that Polybus is dead.
Oedipus: “My faint heart betrayed me.” This is a reference to the prophecy that he would kill his father, which has tormented him for years.
Dramatic Irony:
Oedipus: “Must I not fear my mother’s bed.” Everyone but him knows he has already slept with his mother.
Personification:
“Since Fate rules us and nothing can be foreseen.” Jocaste is trying to tell Oedipus not to listen to the oracles for they know nothing.
Dramatic irony and foreshadowing:
“Have no more fear of sleeping with your mother!” Jocaste already knows the truth and is speaking the truth - his fear is over! The act has already occurred and will not occur again.
Reversals:
When the messenger arrives to tell him the news that Polybus is dead. The messenger tells him this in order to comfort him; however, this news has the opposite effect.
Thursday, September 28th:
Friday, September 29th:
Thursday, September 28th:
Oedipus Multiple Choice Questions 6 – 10
Went over in class
Figurative Language Scavenger Hunt
Divide into teams and look for and write down the quotations in Oedipus Rex with metaphors, similes, imagery, personification, hyperbole, reversals, recognition, irony!
Friday, September 29th:
Went over in class
Figurative Language Scavenger Hunt
Divide into teams and look for and write down the quotations in Oedipus Rex with metaphors, similes, imagery, personification, hyperbole, reversals, recognition, irony!
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