LEARNING ACTIVITIES #3

1. The prologue presents the conflict that gives rise to the tragedy.
What does the people of Thebes ask of Oedipus?
There is plague in Thebes and Oedipus is committed to solving it.
dialogue that he maintains with the priest, who speaks on behalf of the
citizens. Oedipus leaves the palace and goes to his people asking them
the reason for the meeting. The priest tragically responds that the plague
he has taken over Thebes. Oedipus pledges to the people to find the
guilty. The people of Thebes ask for help from Athena, Artemis, and Apollo to
put an end to this plague.
What did Oedipus's confrontation with the Sphinx consist of?
At her doors was the sphinx, a monster that had locked up the
city and that challenged every traveler who passed by to solve a riddle underneath
death penalty for not answering correctly. Oedipus solved the riddle (What is the being that
With one voice it has four legs, two legs, and three legs? Answer: the
human being, who crawls at birth, is bipedal as an adult and uses a
staff in his old age). Upon answering correctly, the monster commits suicide and Oedipus thus wins his
freedom and that of the Thebans, but also retains the kingdom of Thebes,
including his wife Yocasta, who later revealed herself as his mother.
Where is the oracle of Apollo located?
Located in the Pleisto valley, next to Mount Parnassus, near the
actual village of Delphi, in Phocis (Greece), at 700m above sea level and
9.5 km from the Gulf of Corinth.

2. The parodos is the entrance of the chorus.

Who makes up the choir?
Rta: It is the choir of Theban elders. A group of people who
they participated in the plays. The leader of the chorus is called a coryphaeus.
The choir was made up of Theban elders, who in turn represented
to the people.
What is the content of this first intervention?
Rta:First: after the prologue, to raise a prayer to the
deities of the city in order to eliminate the plague. They also
they mention the names of six gods from Olympus.
After the prologue begins Episode 1.
Tiresias, despite being obligated to tell the truth as the seer he is,
She refuses to reveal it to Oedipus. Why? How does he react?
Tiresias did not reveal the secret out of fear of the power it possessed,
mainly, I feared that he would take immediate action against him and it
Matara.
Oedipus is offended by Tiresias' statements, so
proceeds to humiliate him. The dialogue between Oedipus and the seer degenerates because of this.
in a confrontation (agon), in which both insult each other. Oedipus
 angry at the refusal to speak about Tiresias, and verbally accuses him of
complicity in the murder of Laius. The two argue vehemently,
Well, Oedipus mocks Tiresias' lack of sight.
At last, Tiresias speaks. What does he say? Does Oedipus believe in this?
revelation? What argument challenges the credibility of the fortune teller? In
Who do your suspicions fall on?
The killer of Laius is Oedipus.
Oedipus does not believe him and thinks that Creon and Tiresias have conspired to
to snatch the throne from him.
The fortune teller refuses to tell the truth to Oedipus as everything was paid for
Creon and Tiresias, pretending that they had nothing to do with the
death of Laius and always blaming Oedipus.
Creon appears indignant at the accusations that Oedipus has made.
conspiracy to usurp the throne. The mention of this crossroads
let Oedipus pause for a moment and ask for more details. Oedipus of
suddenly starts to suspect that the accusations are true
Tiresias. Demands that they bring before him the only witness to the murder.
from the fields where he now works as a shepherd.

4. The Estásimo 1 shows the reaction of the people of Thebes to the accusation.
from Tiresias.
What degree of credibility does the chorus of elders give to the words of
Tiresias?
The choir meditates and sings its discontent with words
heard; on one hand, wants to trace back to the cause to discover the
guilty of the murder of the former king of Thebes; on the other hand, he feels anguish.
for the terrible but unproven imprecations of the fortune teller and in turn,
for his loyalty to the king.
Do you agree with Oedipus's attitude?
The attitude of King Oedipus was always harsh, for within him dwelled the
powerlessness upon realizing what had happened to his town. When
interacting with Creon makes him rigid, as he felt cheated by him
for not having said anything to him.

Episode 2 shows the conflict of Oedipus with Creon and suggests the
appearance of Jocasta.
How does Oedipus treat his brother-in-law Creon? What does he accuse him of? What ...
Does he argue this to defend himself? On whose side does the leader stand?
Oedipus receives Creon angrily. Oedipus claims that he has found Creon.
conspiring against his life. He denies it, and Jocasta asks her husband to
Create, the same thing Corifeo does. The king announces that, if Creon does not leave
Tebas will go. His brother-in-law says he will leave, and Corifeo informs Yocasta about
what happened.
 Oedipus accuses Creon of conspiring against him to take the crown and
to be able to govern.
He argues that he doesn't need to keep the crown, as he is in
a privileged situation, having the same privileges as a king, by being
the brother of the queen, and does not need to make important decisions like
make the king himself.
Corifeo and Yocasta intercede for Creon.
Jocasta tries to calm Oedipus by showing him that the predictions of
The fortune tellers are wrong. What story do they tell you?
The story of when she and Layo deliver a servant to their son, to
that he would kill him on Mount Citeron, after having drilled a foot, already
that an oracle had predicted that he would kill his father.
The story of Jocasta worries Oedipus. Why?
Oedipus tells the story of his past. Once, when he was young,
A man he met told him that he was not his father's son. He told him that.
he asked his parents and they denied it. Oedipus was not satisfied with the
response and went to an oracle to determine his true lineage. The oracle
he told her that he would kill his father and marry his mother. This prophecy
it scared Oedipus so much that he left his hometown and never returned. On his journey,
he crossed paths with an arrogant man and killed him after suffering an insult.
What confirmation does Oedipus need to uncover the truth?
Rta: Oedipus says he needs a clue to reconstruct the truth. After
demand from the entire city that there be no cover-up and that anyone who knows
Something is obliged to declare, it proceeds to seal the pact with its destiny.

[Link] Estimate 2 is very brief.

What attitudes do the elderly disapprove of?
Edipus's attitude.
The impiety of Jocasta.

Episode 3 begins with the arrival of the messenger.

What news does the messenger bring? Why does Oedipus rejoice at first when
Hear her? What does she fear, however?
That the king of Corinth, Polybus, and adoptive father of Oedipus has
dead.
The news that the messenger from Corinth brings is that Polybus was not
the father of Oedipus, that Polybus is dead, and that the Corinthians want
that Oedipus be their king.
However, she still fears that she might somehow commit
incest with his mother.
How does the messenger try to reassure him? Why does he not succeed?
 The messenger, eager to reassure Oedipus, tells him not to.
Don't worry, because Merope is not your real mother.
Oedipus wanted to know more about the information he had been given.
messenger. The witness of the crime finally arrives. Oedipus and the messenger
they ask and at first he resists giving answers, asking to be
let them leave without answering anything. However, in the face of threats from
Oedipus torturing or executing him reveals that the child they had
delivered to be abandoned on Mount Citeron was the son of
King Laius and Queen Jocasta had delivered him to be
he died, preventing a dire oracle, the prophecy, from being fulfilled.
that Yocasta said had never been made true: that the child
He would kill his father.
How does Jocasta react? Why? What has she discovered? What does she ask for?
to Oedipus?
Yocasta reacts in an agitated manner.
Yocasta does not want Oedipus to find out the truth and cannot.
do nothing that could prevent him from investigating his origin.
The death of Laius was due to another murder.
Jocasta tries to convince Oedipus not to do anymore.
investigations, because she has already come to terms with what has happened and
wants to spare him the misfortune that will come when he knows the
truth.
Oedipus ignores the recommendations of Jocasta. Why?
What does it intend?
The best thing is to leave yourself to chance whenever possible. Don't you
uneasy, then, the fear of marrying your mother. Many are the
mortals who in their dreams have united with their mothers; but
Whoever despises all those nonsense, that is the one who lives happily.
Creon announces the remedy to put an end to the plague that afflicts the
village. I will say, then, the answer of the god. King Apollo has
ordered in a clear way that we expel the miasma from this land
that she is being fed, and that we can no longer endure a wrong
what is incurable.
What does Oedipus believe is his origin?
Rta: Oedipus is believed to have been a king of the city of Thebes, although the indications
the data from this governorate is scarce and unreliable, which is believed that the
The origin of the Greek work was a king in one of the cities of the league of
Of those who would have committed parricide as narrated in the text.
classic.
8. According to Estimate 3, the following question can be answered.
What is the mood of the choir?
 The character of Oedipus appears in various emotional states: first he
shows determined and cheerful, then his spirit weakens. He becomes angry with
Creon and Tiresias, but later does not hesitate to acknowledge that he has been
unjust to them. He is tough and brave, but he softens with his daughters.
9. In Episode 4 we witness the final revelation.
What is the Theban shepherd afraid of?
The servants of Oedipus lead an elderly man identified as 'the
pastor, the man who gave the baby to the Corinthian messenger so long ago
years. Oedipus insists that he reveal exactly what he knows. The messenger
it claims that Oedipus is the same baby who was abandoned by his father and his
mother. The shepherd reacts with fear and begs the messenger to be quiet.
Oedipus threatens the shepherd and, in the end, the man confesses that the baby was a
child of the house of Laius.
What does it reveal?
Rta: The shepherd confesses that he was the son of Laius. He then adds that it was Jocasta.
who delivered it so that they would leave it on the mountain, since the prophecy
it announced that the child would kill his father. The pastor says he did not have the
enough value to let the baby die and that is why he decided to take it to
another country.
What is Oedipus's reaction when he discovers the truth?
When the truth is discovered, that he is his father's killer and the
husband of his mother, Jocasta commits suicide and Oedipus blinds himself,
asking for his exile from Creon, brother of Jocasta.
10. Position yourself in Estásimo 4 and respond:

What feeling does the chorus express towards the figure of Oedipus?
The chorus expresses its feelings by saying that taking Oedipus as
Example cannot view the life of any mortal as blissful. There was
defeated the sphinx and saved Thebes and yet today he is the one whose
misfortune is more regrettable.
11. The Exodus is the final part of the work.
The messenger recounts the death of Jocasta and the blindness of Oedipus. Why?
Do these events not happen in front of the spectator?
Rta: Because it is difficult to represent something like this.

What fate does Oedipus predict for his daughters?

He asked Creon to take care of his daughters, and he said goodbye to them. Oedipus
annoyed, he predicts to him that if he started a war against Thebes, they would both die.
brothers at the hands of the other; but Polynices leaves sadly
facing death and before leaving, asks Antigone for a favor,
that if he died, they would bury him. Then thunder is heard, Oedipus explains
that according to the oracle the thunders announced his passage to the other world. Oedipus
he bids farewell to his daughters and accompanied by Theseus marches to the place
designated, which would later be sacred; Oedipus tells Theseus to recount
his death to his heir and so on. His daughters begin to cry.
due to the death of his father and the terrible predictions about his brothers,
Theseus arrives and informs them that their father has died, Antigone and Ismene.
they return to Tebas.