Oedipus Terminology

Important Terminology within the literature of Oedipus the King

Hamartia

The tragic flaw that leads to the downfall of the tragic hero. Combination of internal and external forces.

Hubris

Excessive pride, arrogance, or overconfidence. someone who is a know-it-all.

Peripeteia

(A BIG CHANGE) An action performed by a character that has the opposite of its intended affect. The moment in the plot when a change occurs as a reversal, the point when the hero’s fortunes turn in an unexpected direction.

Anagnorisis

The recognition that the tragic hero experiences that marks a change from ignorance to knowledge. marks the highest point of emotional intensity in the text.

Catharsis

The audiences emotional release in response to the tragic hero’s downfall.

Dramatic Irony

The tension created when the audience is aware of something that is unknown to the character.

Paradox

A seeming contradiction—whatever sounds impossible yet is possible. A play on ideas, side by side contraries that seem to clash and reconcile simultaneously.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which the poet addresses an absent person, and abstract idea, or a thing.

Stichomythia

Characters are assigned alternating individual lines of parallel verse in a dialogue. Used to break up longer rhetorical passages, heighten dramatic tension, and differentiate between masked performers.