The Chorus In Oedipus The King And EuripidesBacchae

In the beginning of the play Oedipus meets Laios on a road. Both were driving chariots and neither would yield the right of way. Laios attempts to kill Oedipus’ horses but Oedipus reacts fast killing Laios attendants and his own father, Laios. Oedipus went to Thebes to help and destroy a monster and bless their town. Because of his heroic act, Thebes recalls him again to help and find the murderer who killed their king Laios and punish the man. Oedipus goes and does everything he can to get evidence and find the man who killed Laios the king: “Is this your prayer? It may be answered. Come, Listen to me, act as the crisis demands… Until now I was a stranger to this tale, As I had been a stranger to the crime. Could I track the murderer without a clue?” (Sophocles 1. 1. 204 - 209). Teiresias, a chorus of Theban, elders tells Oedipus he is the murder who killed his father and also mentions he married his own mother along with having children. Oedipus finds all of that to believe and what Oedipus does is find more people to tell him the truth. Jocaste, wife and mother of Oedipus, tells him through the play to not believe such a thing. In Act three Scene five, Shepherd the man, who took Oedipus to Corinth city’s reveals to him that everything is true. Oedipus makes the decision to gouge his eyes out making himself blind to not see the whole catastrophe. He begs Creon to send him away from Theban

He constantly tries to outwit the gods and their celestial will. At the beginning of the play, Oedipus does everything he can to help Thebes and its people. He sends Creon to the oracle to get advice from Apollo. Creon then brings back news that Apollo says to get rid of the chaos and products left behind from king Laius’ death, and because Oedipus honors the gods, he vows to find Laius's murderer and punish him for his doings (Fitts and Fitzgerald 6). The reason Oedipus leaves his home and comes to Thebes is to escape the prophecy made by the oracle that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He trusts and honors the gods until he is accused of being the man who does this terrible things. He becomes so focused with trying to find the man who killed the king that he stops listening and respecting the gods and all of the people trying to make him understand the truth. His relationship with the gods overall falters because like many others, he respects the gods, but eventually, he begins to try to figure this mystery out by himself instead of understanding his fate given to him by the gods (Fitts and Fitzgerald 34). All of these characteristics provide examples of how his fate is

The plot of Oedipus the King, a Greek Tragedy written by Sophocles, revolves around several prophecies. A plague has stricken Thebes, and Oedipus discovers that the plague will only end when the murder of King Laius has been caught. Additionally, another prophecy states that the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta would kill his father and sleep with his mother. Oedipus vows to the citizens of Thebes that he will find the murderer, but as the plot develops, Oedipus comes to the realization that he himself was the murderer that he had been seeking. There are several scenes in Oedipus the King that incorporate violence, and these violent scenes are a critical aspect of the play because they contribute to the development of the plot; the use of violence, whether verbal or physical, also enhances our understanding of the characters’ personalities and/or emotions.

Early on in the story, Oedipus is the proud and confident king of Thebes; he is a man that is not to be underestimated or degraded. This once undisputed fact becomes more debatable the longer the play continues, however. The conflict begins with Oedipus attempting to lift a curse that has been unleashed on the kingdom of Thebes. This curse was caused by the murder of the previous king, Laius, and the only way for it to be lifted is for the murderer to be exiled from Thebes. Oedipus works fervently to unravel the mystery behind who Laius’ killer was. However, each new discovery ends up incriminating Oedipus as the killer instead. Along the way Oedipus discovers that his supposed parents, the king and queen of Corinth, are not his true parents. This revelation pushes him to begin a new search for his biological parents, a search that eventually leads him to one of Lainus’ shepherds. It is this shepherd that reveals to King Oedipus that his mother is Jocasta, his current wife. Consequently, Oedipus falls into a fit of despair in which he stabs his own eyes out and confronts the consequences of his shameful existence. By the end of the play, Oedipus has not only lost his status as the king of Thebes, but has also been exiled from the kingdom and has become an outcast for all of society to hate. The transition Oedipus undergoes

In Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, the Chorus alters its view of Oedipus from initially comparing and identifying him as a god and heroic leader to then realizing he induced the plague upon the city; moreover, the Chorus eventually articulates its belief that Oedipus deserves his punishment, juxtaposing their original thoughts of Oedipus which later highlights his fall to instability. A murderer travels through the streets of Thebes, causing the Chorus, represented by the citizens and suffering a dreadful plague because of the wrongdoing, wants the killer captured; however, Oedipus, the king, wants to find who committed this crime, proving ironic because of prophecies revealing his responsibility in the misconduct. After Teiresias and Creon accuse Oedipus of

Greek tragedies were often influential plays performed throughout Greek society since the late 6th century BCE and are still performed in the present twenty first century on stages all over the world. Early Greek tragedy plays were rarely open to women and the actors were all male, women were played my males wearing famine masks. The performances were in open –air theaters that had very good acoustics that echoed the actors’ voices, eventually megaphones were utilized to amplify the actors’ voices in some costumes. Greek tragedies were often linked to religious beliefs mainly inspired by Greek mythology. Acts of violence was not allowed and the death of characters could only be heard and not seen. Greek tragedies always begin in the middle of events. The audience learned the beginning of the play and the expectations for the future events during the play, this is called En Medias Res- Latin for “in the middle of things”. Actors would sometimes speak to the leader of the chorus. The chorus was normally a group of people who would sing and on some occasions dance. The purpose of the chorus is as follows:

Oedipus and the chorus believe that Oedipus is the murderer and the son of King Laius and

Initially, Oedipus remains in a state of ignorance throughout the establishment of the tragedy by virtue of his strong characteristics that include pride, ego, and obliviousness. In the drama, Oedipus speaks about what would happen if the killer was a royal member of Thebes. The play reads, “If by any chance / he proves to be an inmate of our house, / here at my hearth, with my full knowledge, / may the curse i just called down strike me” (284-287). Oedipus placed a cure throughout the distinguished city of Thebes in hopes to lead it back to its once former glory. This shows his ignorance in view of the fact that he is the one who killed the former King Laius, which means Oedipus cursed himself. His ego of trying to be the savior once again put Oedipus in a terrible position for the continuation of his life. Furthermore, Oedipus sent for a prophet to help discover who the mysterious

Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex, has a voice beyond the main characters. The chorus plays a major roll in this tragedy. In Greek plays, there were a select few main characters and the chorus was the rest of the cast. (INSERT). To completely understand the tragedy, it is important for the read to read the whole play including the chorus. The chorus is valuable to the play with their knowledge and cultural awareness of the time. Not only did the chorus provide extensive context, but also their other main job was to verbally judge the main character’s actions and moral decisions. The chorus provides the audience with new perspectives on the tragedy and the characters themselves.

Throughout the play Oedipus is driven by many factors to find the killer of King Laius, and while on that mission, he inquires much about his past and himself. One of his main strives is to find out his true identity. The city of Thebes is struck by a plague due to the death of King Laius. The Oracle of Delphi states that in order to rid of the plague, Oedipus has to commit himself to finding the murderer of the dead King Laius. Oedipus shows allegiance by going on a

The chorus is an essential feature of Greek classical drama. Instances of various types of dance, singing, and speech are some elements of a Greek chorus. “Composed of similarly costumed men, they performed on the orchestra located beneath the stage. The chorus stayed in the orchestra for the duration of the performance from which vantage point they observed and commented on the action of the characters.” Oedipus is a play written by Sophocles, a respected playwright, and it is “generally assumed that the main function of the Sophoclean chorus is a philosophical one; that it serves above all as the spokesman for a certain view of life.” The chorus can be dramatic in the following ways: “through the personality of the group forming the chorus and the appropriateness of their relationship to the action and the characters, through the iambic lines spoken by the coryphaeus, through physical participation in the action and through the choral songs.” The chorus is an important component of the Greek Tragedy Oedipus. Aside from its responsibility to effectively represent the people of Thebes, the chorus in Oedipus has a powerful influence over audience perceptions and emotions.

better. For instance, we could start with the title, usually rendered Oedipus Rex -- Oedipus the King, Rex of course being the Latin for king. Yet more accurately the title was Oedipus Tyrannus- Oedipus the Tyrant. Was Oedipus a good and wise king, or an evil tyrant whose hold on power was seen as illicit? Tonight I will argue that Oedipus was indeed a good and wise king, however, his power grasp was illicit due to him not being a proper king, and just a crowd backed ruler. Another important issue concerns the staging of the play. We are used to serious plays in which a few actors push the drama along through their speeches and actions. Song and dance with a chorus are something we might expect from a "musical," a lighthearted comedy. We might be tempted to see the singing as a vestige of a past time, without major function. It is also possible to argue the opposite, that the music and vocal elements, even more than the speech, provided the main emotional drive for this play. My hypothesis is that staging and songs during a tragedy was

Onto this horrific scene enters Oedipus the King, presumably from the doors of the palace of Thebes, commanding the immediate attention of both the Thebans, gathered in supplication, and also the audience watching the play. The confused and chaotic gaze of the audience is focused to one singular point on the stage. This movement from many to one point of view is pleasurable for the audience and gives Oedipus immediate elevated status. The audience looks towards him in anticipation, as do the Thebans. `Children' (p.25) says Oedipus to the Thebans of all ages, reinforcing his position of almost godlike authority. This image of King Oedipus, in a position of such power over these many devastated people, plus the further numbers the audience is forced to contemplate in an offstage world, `more sit in the market-place, carrying boughs like these' (p.26), is striking indeed. One will remember it in the final stages of the play when Oedipus' power is diminished, just as the audience will be forced to note the imagery depicting Oedipus' downfall as his mask is changed for the final scenes from one reflecting his characterisation as `mature,

A final cultural difference is the importance of the chorus and its use in the plays Agamemnon, Oedipus, and Medea. The chorus was not highly involved in the action of the plays. In general, the chorus’ main functions were to create a psychological and emotional background to the action through its odes. It introduces and questions new characters, as well as point out the importance of events as they occurred, to establish facts and avow the outlook of society. Finally, the chorus covers the passage of time, between events, and separates episodes (Calder 21). Within the play Agamemnon, by Aeschylus, the chorus represents the voice of wisdom of the city as well as its limitations (Novelguide). The chorus’ limitations are clear when they fail to

In answering this question, I will look at the question in two ways. Firstly, I will look at the role of the chorus objectively, examining the basic role of the chorus in the play, and looking at the role of the Chorus as Sophocles would have intended the role of the Chorus to be understood. However, I will then look at how I think the Greek audience would have perceived the role of the Chorus and then how the role of the Chorus is perceived today by a 20th century and examine the key differences in the two different sets of perceptions. Finally, I will look at the importance of the role of the Chorus to a 20th century audience and a Greek audience respectively.