Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Day 60!

Happy 1/3 of the school year! Congratulations on surviving this much of English IV!

I'd like to start today by thanking all of you for your helpful feedback on yesterday's teacher report card. I saw a couple of comments more than once, and I will work to include more base jumping in the future.

Today we will continue reading Oedipus Rex.  We will start class by discussing the questions from yesterday, and then we will move forward with Scene 4- Ode 4! I can't wait!! It's about to get crazy!


Oedipus Rex-: Scene 4-Ode 4 Questions

  1. Sophocles creates both ambiguity and irony by having Oedipus say he does not “know the man” who enters, at the start of Scene 4, because on some level Oedipus does recognize the Shepherd. On what two prior occasions has Oedipus seen this man?
  2. At especially tense points in the drama, Sophocles uses what the Greeks called stichomythia, or rapid-fire dialogue, in which the characters speak only one line each. Why does he use such dialogue in this scene?
  3. Oedipus threatens to torture the old Shepherd. What does this reveal about his character?
  4. What is the dilemma the Shepherd expresses in line 1094?
  5. What seems to be the Chorus’ main idea in lines 1128-1131?
  6. Here Oedipus’ fortunes are completely reversed. What does the Chorus say is to blame? Do you agree?

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