HIST-211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 72: Sophocles, Hamartia, Tiresias
23 Sep 2020
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Document Summary
All the significant action has already taken place before the play begins: king laius. His wife is jocasta, and his brother in law is creon. His personal history is gradually unveiled during the course of the play in a series of revelations. The play"s tragic power resides in human failing, hamartia: thebes. To the sphinx"s question as to what walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon and three in the evening, oedipus replied man correctly. Reliance on human reason was destroying to olympian religion: athens. The new anthropocentric attitude reached its highest point. When oedipus encounters the blind prophet teiresias, he mentions the oedipal issues of parental murder and incest. He is concerned about his identity and the chorus voices his concerns. The people of corinth believed him to be the legitimate son of polybus and merope. It becomes crucial not only for the city but for oedipus as a human being to rediscover his identity.
