The Chorus Flashcards
(7 cards)
What do the chorus say about hubristic wealth ?
Hubris get the tyrant and if filled with too many things it will fall into the abyss of doom
‘ pride breeds the tyrant’ line 958
Implies that there is tyranny and hubris resulting in his fall from being king to a miserable exile
Greek culture is limited: society limits wealth and unlimited is bad which is built into politics and religion
- here is an example of a tyrant accumulating unlimited wealth
What does Professor Macintosh argue the chorus to represent ?
The citizen body of Athens and to an extent the fate of the city in Oedipus itself
Why is the line ‘pride breeds the tyrant’ important ?
From the 2nd stasismon
- in the same ode there is singing about two different kinds of overreach
- healthy overreach that ‘makes the city strong’ infered to be what they are assigned to Oedipus
- the other is the person who has ‘no fear of justice’ it’s the start of Tyranny
- however these are actually the same person
- dramatic irony
What do the chorus say about the prophecies ?
- they question that if the Delphic Oracle is wrong then the entire ritual structure collapses
- ‘why join the sacred dance’
- if it is true that there is no divine justice or reliability from the standards oracles ‘never again’ will they participate in religion
- ‘unless these prophecies all come true’
How does the chorus’ opinion on prophecy then change by the end of the play?
‘Your destiny’ ordained by ‘ all seeing time’
- prophecy and fate are absolute
How is Oedipus interaction with the chorus important in terms of his blinding ?
The chorus ask What ‘drove you on’ to blind yourself
- he responds telling them ‘Apollo he ordained my agonies…. But the hand that struck my eyes was mine’
- reaffirms the veracity and the power of the gods
What is the chorus and what does it represent in Oedipus ?
Mimetic: represent a group of characters
The older men of Thebes
