Theatre scholarship

Fagles- Oedipus

Oedipus is his own destroyer

Goldhill-Oedipus

he is both a saviour and a monster

Baldock-Oedipus

an audience cannot help but sympathise with his plight

Wyles-hamartia

Oedipus’ hamartia is his arrogance

Rutherford-fate

Oedipus does not suffer because of what he did but because of fate

Higgins-fate

the power of fate cannot be overcome by will

Struck-fate

nothing Oedipus can do can change the tragedy’s outcome

Garvie-human nature

human beings by their very nature are flawed and incapable of full understanding

Garvie-Oedipus vs Tiresias

Oedipus is ignorant but determined to know whereas Tiresias knows the truth but is determined to suppress it

Garvie-Tiresias vs Oedipus

Tiresias is physically blind but knows all while Oedipus the physically sighted knows nothing

Garvie-Oedipus’ fall

Oedipus does not fall out all. He sets out to cover the truth and by the end of the play he has succeeded

Garvie-Oedipus

he is the only character where to live a painless lie is worse than to accept a painful truth

Garvie-Oedipus’ fall

it seems that both fate and Oedipus’ character are responsible for his fall

bettendorf

the primary purpose of the play is not literary criticism but political action

redfield

Aeschylus’ victory is a rejection of the new lifestyle and a return to the old moral centre

cartledge

Dionysus has clearly trespassed too far on the human side of the human/divine divide

cartledge-success

considered to be the finest surviving Aristophanes play

Goldhill comedy vs tragedy

comedy and tragedy ask similar questions

Dover

the ordinary man enjoyed the sexuality of comedy as a channel for his own “excess” sexuality

Goldhill-chorus

the chorus parallel the Athenian citizens who can observe but not intervene in political events

Habash-Dionysus

Dionysus provides unity to the seemingly disparate structure of the play

Rosen-religion

Aristophanes situates comic satire within the realm of ritual and religion

Garvie-audience frogs

the audience is in the position of the gods themselves

Morwood- Dionysus Bacchae

Dionysus profoundly disrupts theban social order

Jaffe-justice

divine justice is superior to man’s law

Seaford- Pentheus

Pentheus is not a tragic hero but a tragic tyrant

Scott- bacchae

one of the most powerful and disturbing plays ever written

Wyles-chorus

the chorus’ ecstatic joy ober Pentheus’ death is chilling

Garvie- Tiresias

the characters who question his wisdom usually find cause to regret it

Hall- family

tragedy of maternal suffering

Hall-Pentheus

Pentheus is an obnoxious arrogant stupid young man

Hall-Dionysus

lack of pity for human suffering

Morwood-Dionysus Bacchae

Dionysus is most terrifying and most gentle to mortals

Garvie

the despair seems all the more darker because of the recurring theme of joy

Stuttard- chorus Bacchae

one of the key components of the play

Roiseman-pentheus

pentheus is neither good nor completely bad

Rutherford-prophecy in Oedipus

disregard of the prophecies reflects a change in Athens

Wyles-Oedipus chorus

chorus articulate what it would be like to watch Oedipus on stage

Taplin-chorus in Oedipus

they serve as an emotional bridge between the audience and the narrator