Posted by student on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 at 9:47pm.
There are several tense moments in this play.
1. Right after hearing from the old seer, "Oedipus threatens Creon with death or exile for conspiring with the prophet. Oedipus’s wife, Jocasta (also the widow of King Laius), enters and asks why the men shout at one another. Oedipus explains to Jocasta that the prophet has charged him with Laius’s murder, and Jocasta replies that all prophecies are false. As proof, she notes that the Delphic oracle once told Laius he would be murdered by his son, when in fact his son was cast out of Thebes as a baby, and Laius was murdered by a band of thieves. Her description of Laius’s murder, however, sounds familiar to Oedipus, and he asks further questions. Jocasta tells him that Laius was killed at a three-way crossroads, just before Oedipus arrived in Thebes. Oedipus, stunned, tells his wife that he may be the one who murdered Laius."
http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/oedipus/summary.html
Can you imagine how angry Oedipus was after hearing what the old seer had to say? Can you imagine his taking his anger out on his brother-in-law, Creon? Can you imagine how confusing all this was to his wife, Jocasta? And then can you imagine how stunned and confused Oedipus was when the reality of all this began to dawn on him?
It's hard for us to read plays and understand the emotions that go on, but we can do so if we use our imaginations and put ourselves into the different characters' places.
Once you find that particular place in the play itself, see what kinds of literary devices are around there. And there will be many because that's how the Greek playwrights wrote. For one thing, Teiresias is portrayed as a blind seer -- but he sees (understands) reality better than any of those around him who aren't physically blind. (irony)
Read it through again. Put yourself in the characters' places. Imagine the emotional sides to all this.
Please repost if you come up with an answer and if you want someone here to critique your thinking.
=)
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