Oedipus Rex Flashcards
(17 cards)
“Oedipus is his own destroyer.
Fagles
“Much of its appeal for modern readers may derive from its resemblance in some respects to a detective novel.”
Garvie
“Oedipus is relentless to know the truth, it is admirable.”
Garvie
The search for the killer of Laius turns into “the search for his own identity. Laius is forgotten, as is his earlier determination to save the city.”
(the shepherd is never questioned about the killing of Laius for which he was originally summoned
Garvie
“Tiresias is physically blind, while Oedipus, the physically sighted, knows nothing.”
Garvie
“It seems that both fate and Oedipus’ own character are responsible for his fall.”
Garvie
“Oedipus is a paradox in himself - he is both a saviour and a monster.”
Goldhill
“His insistence that Creon is a traitor shows an arrogance about his abilities.”
Higgins
“Doubt and mockery of prophecies and prophets reflects changing attitudes towards oracles and spiritual authority in 5th century Athens.”
Higgins
“Fate cannot be overcome by will.”
Higgins
“Oedipus is not a puppet. In Greek eyes, fate is predictable and inescapable but within it there is choice and freedom of action.”
Knox
“Oedipus is allowed one freedom: “The freedom to search for the truth.”
Knox
“The poets language presents him to the audience not as a figure of a mythical past, but as one fully contemporary in fact he is easily recognizable as the epitome of the Athenian character.”
Knox
“His flaws are hot temper and impulsiveness (…) every act of his is performed rashly.”
Mazzeno
“The divine power and the human agent are working together, hardly separable.”
Rutherford
“Oedipus’s hamartia is his arrogance, leading to hubristic behaviour.”
Wyles
“Oedipus is ignorant but determined to know, whereas Tiresias knows the truth but is determined to supress it.”
Garvie
