Oedipus Rex by Sophocles: Ancient Greek Tragedy Lecture
Added 2026-02-08 22:29:54 +0000 UTC
Comments
Hooray to Warwick! My Alma mater , thank you for this. It looks like a real treat.
Jane
2026-02-09 03:49:36 +0000 UTCI really enjoyed this modern jazzy/rock musical version of Oedipus Rex from the Warwick Classics Department and Classics Society. https://youtu.be/9Blp4RNLiqI?si=yCozM6Rs_gWCetYA
Victor Bieniek
2026-02-09 03:35:39 +0000 UTC“ If you want one thing too much it’s likely to be a disappointment.” Gus McCrae ch.45
Natalya
2026-02-09 03:25:42 +0000 UTCYes, I have the same impressions, Jack. I don’t know if I appreciate Oedipus more, because I do appreciate those subtleties of the Oresteia, but I agree Sophocles has a style that is closer to modern.
Greg
2026-02-09 02:39:39 +0000 UTCI definitely appreciated Oedipus Rex more than the Orestiea. Perhaps it’s because the material is so much more familiar and therefore easier to follow but I also think it has to do with how Sophocles tells the tale. For one, the style is much closer to modern drama with the back and forth dialog and less reliance on the chorus. It’s also such a brilliant use of dramatic irony. Agamemnon was way more subtle and I had to read it multiple times to pick up on Clytemnestra’s ironic speeches, but with Oedipus it’s right there and done so well. Oedipus is also so much more sympathetic in that he does not shirk his responsibilities and his guilt. He doesn’t attempt to justify or defend himself the way Agamemnon did to Achilles in the Iliad when he blames Zeus for his faults. He accepts it and punishes himself as he said he would. It’s also just a really great detective story/mystery!
Jack Twachtman
2026-02-09 02:23:25 +0000 UTCI enjoyed this play more than the first due to seeing him go from anger at being accused to realizing the truth and the fear and despair.
Stephanie Ecklund
2026-02-09 02:13:01 +0000 UTCYeah, Laius, didn’t really feel the brunt of the curse like his son did.
Jessi
2026-02-09 02:02:02 +0000 UTCShe may have been a very young mother, though.
Jessi
2026-02-09 01:57:07 +0000 UTCIt’s really amazing to me, thanks to this incredible book club, the great education in the ancient classics I’ve received over the last year. I had no idea how much I needed Greek tragedy in my life, lol. After reading these stories, 3,000+ years ago no longer feels so long ago. Listened to a fantastic production of Oedipus Rex on Audible.com this week. Listened twice because it was THAT good. It gave me a satisfaction similar to Shakespeare, The Brothers Grimm, The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales, even the Twilight Zone. It’s everything Ben mentioned in the lecture about why we like tragedies—suffering, fear, pity, fate, decisions made, consequences to actions, empathy, purging of emotions, etc. Even better when there’s a good twist. They make us feel, and more importantly make us think, which Aristotle mentions in his instruction on Poetics. As for Oedipus—wow, oh wow, oh wow! Talk about sins of the father. Other than that horrific display of road rage, Oedipus seemed like a decent-enough fellow. He tried so hard to avoid that curse and it found him anyway.
Jessi
2026-02-09 01:54:59 +0000 UTCAll Oedipus had to do to avoid the prophecy from coming true was to not have sex with a woman old enough to be his mother! The solution was so simple!
Maureen Reynolds
2026-02-09 01:46:01 +0000 UTCI found all of the plays of Oedipus Rex extremely compelling. I didn't want to stop reading. Of the three, I continue to like Antigone best. I read Seamus Heaney's version of Antigone, The Burial at Thebes immediately after reading an older version (1912 - Gutenberg). His version read so quickly.
Maureen Reynolds
2026-02-09 01:43:17 +0000 UTCI’m tempted to say I prefer Oedipus to The Oresteia because of the greater “readability” (language), excellent handling of the theme of fate versus- or fate as wrapped up in free will, and very strong tragic feeling. However, if Aristotle says that plot is primary, both feel very strong to me. And I much prefer the intellectual arguments of justice versus vengeance in the Oresteia, and higher potential for spectacle (to me). So objectively I think Oedipus is stronger but subjectively I prefer the Oresteia. I don’t know that I could have articulated that though without the guidance! Plus, Oedipus being so quick to react all the time just irks me.
Kelly R.
2026-02-09 01:34:46 +0000 UTCI enjoyed this lecture very much - I never knew before about Laius abusing the boy. It made me think about how intertwined the family crimes and curses and fates are. When I first read Oedipus in high school I felt for him deeply, because of the whole inevitability of the outcome. Later in a college course it came up again and I felt less sympathy because his quick rage seemed to be his own undoing. He really angers easily, blames quickly and unfairly, and isn’t too slow to murder, he’d even have murdered Jocasta I think I understand if she hadn’t killed herself first, but how is she to blame? I blamed him. Now decades later I’m circling back to sympathy because I see him cursed with this temperament, and in the context of these oracles I could see potentially that his fate was sealed by being born that way. I wondered when I was thinking about this about whether the Greek fate was related to the Indian idea of karma. I had a teacher who felt that there must be reincarnation going back infinitely because otherwise how could it be fair. I don’t think I believe we come back, but I did see his point. Karma was earned by past actions, but baby Oedipus, if he didn’t have a previous life of error, was an innocent babe with a preordained fate - why? Maybe because of Laius’ crimes. So I’m back to sympathy.
Ellen Young
2026-02-09 00:59:03 +0000 UTCWhat a painful story simply due to the "unbeknownst" sins of the characters. Though I cringe at the mother/son relationship, it can happen to anyone under the circumstances. How can the Gods punish one for the sins committed unknowingly? Had "bystanders" come forth earlier, mistakes could have been prevented. There is a great commentary to be made around the vital acts of bystanders - "to do or not to do" is equally as a philosophical struggle as "to be or not to be". I read this play in tandem with the recommended play and WOW what an experience. I really love Aeschylus' use of the chorus and would have loved to have watched a play in tandem with that read, IF and only if the chorus was in fact reading their lines all as one synchronized voice. The chorus does not and I had an expectation of the words being read in unison - all voices together. Nonetheless, one of the reasons I prefer Aeschylus' writing is simply because it is so unique to any style. Sophocles and Euripides read as modern screenplay scripts and move along as the typical fast paced dialogue amongst the players. In the end, with Oedipus Rex, I completely agree with Freud - this could happen to any of us. I remember watching an Oprah Winfrey show and a brother and sister had married each other NOT knowing they were related because the whole 6 or so siblings were all adopted out as babies across several different states. This brother and sister met as adults and fell in love. It can happen...should God punish? Should the sinners inflict self mutilation or punishment when the reality of the sin is finally known? Should society damn the sinners and hold their actions as taboo even though the sin was committed unknowingly? In the case of the brother and sister - does this change the adoption process and mandate that adopted children know their parents and siblings once they come of age? Many things to ponder...
Jeannine Thomas
2026-02-09 00:25:37 +0000 UTC1974 Genevieve Bujold in. Jean Anouilh's Antigone.
Gail Rothschild
2026-02-09 00:08:06 +0000 UTC
