第三讲：A Study of Sophocles.pptVIP

A Study of Sophocles Sophocles (496 B.C.—406 B.C) I. Life Works Born the son of a wealthy armor manufacturer around 495 B.C. at Colons During his long and prolific career Sophocles wrote more than 120 plays, won the first prize 18 times, and never received less than second prize. In fact, critics acknowledge him as one of the shapers of the genre(类型) “tragedy” seven surviving plays Ajax, Antigone, Trachinian Women, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus II. The Theban plays 忒拜三部曲 The Theban plays consist of three plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King (also called Oedipus Tyrannus or Oedipus Rex), and Oedipus at Colonus. All three plays concern the fate of Thebes during and after the reign of King Oedipus. Each of the plays relates to the tale of the mythological Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother without knowledge that they were his parents. His family is fated to be doomed for three generations. III. Sophocles’s Masterpiece “Oedipus the King” 《俄狄浦斯王》 “Oedipus Rex” “Oedipus Tyrannos” Aristotle identify it as the epitome(典型) of effective dramatic technique and characterization. the greatest of surviving Greek tragedies. Oedipus Rex 《俄狄浦斯王》 IV. Oedipus the legend Oedipus arrives at Thebes a stranger and finds the town under the curse of the Sphinx, who will not free the city unless her riddle is answered. Oedipus solves the riddle and, since the king has recently been murdered, becomes the king and marries the queen. In time, he comes to learn that he is actually a Theban, the king’s son, cast out of Thebes as a baby. He has killed his father and married his mother. Horrified, he blinds himself and leaves Thebes forever. V. Character List (Dramatis Personae) Oedipus --the protagonist, king of Thebes A Priest of Zeus Creon – brother of Jocasta, Oedipus’s brother-in-law A Chorus of Theban Citizens and their Leader Teiresias--the blind prophet of Thebes Jocasta-- Oedipus’s wife and mother, and Creon’s sister. A Messeng