Short Fiction: A Study of Genre

Lesson 7
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ELA

Unit 4

11th Grade

Lesson 7 of 15

Objective


Analyze the impact of the playwright’s use of dramatic irony in the opening scene of the play.

Readings and Materials


  • Play: Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (from The Theban Plays)  pp. 3 – 8 — End at "Oedipus retires"

  • Article: “Oedipus” 

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Target Task


Multiple Choice

The primary impression created by the Priest’s descriptions of Oedipus on page 3 is that the people

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Sample Response

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Over the course of today’s reading, the primary focus shifts from

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Sample Response

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Writing Prompt

Describe the impact of the author’s use of dramatic irony in this scene. Use examples from the text to support your answer.

Key Questions


  • ("Oedipus") What is the central irony in Oedipus’s attempt to escape the fate assigned him by the oracle of Delphi? Describe.

  • ("Oedipus Rex") How does Oedipus’s words on page 3 help to characterize him?

  • ("Oedipus Rex") What do pages 4-5 reveal about the people’s attitudes toward Oedipus?

  • ("Oedipus Rex") How is Oedipus feeling about his city? Why? What action did he take?

  • ("Oedipus Rex") What does Oedipus declare on page 5? How does the author use dramatic irony here to foreshadow future events?

  • ("Oedipus Rex") Creon returns from the oracle of Apollo with what news about the cause of the plague?

  • ("Oedipus Rex") What does Oedipus pledge to do? 

  • ("Oedipus Rex") Sophocles develops a motif of blindness and sight throughout the play. Revisit today’s pages and note any references to blindness, eyes, seeing, or sight.

Notes


  • In Athens in 403 BC, the audience viewing Sophocles’s play would most surely have been familiar with the legend of Oedipus. Familiarity with the legend serves to heighten the sense of dramatic irony for the audience and deepen the empathy for the protagonist. When the play begins, Oedipus is attempting to discover the cause of the plague threatening Thebes. Beginning by sharing the legend, verbally or through reading, allows students this same experience. One version of the legend is shared here; the teacher should feel free to use any version she or he sees fit. Depending on students’ experience levels with Greek tragedies, it would be helpful to provide background on some essential features, and we will include some of those in the unit. We will not, however, include a physical description of classical Greek theaters or the role of the chorus, as these are covered in depth in the Antigone unit for English 10.
  • Physical layout of the theater
  • Actors wear large masks; emphasis on words rather than action
  • Overall rhythm of a Greek tragedy: prologue, parodos, episodia, stasimon, exodus
  • Literary tragedy: courageous individuals confront powerful forces with a dignity that reveals the depth of the human spirit in the face of failure, defeat, or even death
  • Hamartia: an error, frailty, or mistake that brings about the protagonist’s misfortune
  • Catharsis: We experience pity and fear but are ultimately able to purge both of these emotions and replace them with hope because of the protagonists’ greatness of character that affirms human values
  • Dramatic irony/tragic irony

Next

Analyze Sophocles’s use of techniques common to his genre to develop Oedipus as a character.

Lesson 8
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