Sophocles: Journal 5

How does Sophocles evoke fear and pity?

Sophocles evokes fear and pity by juxtaposing the chorus and Oedipus. He uses their parallel situations to highlight the ultimate downfall of the great and mighty Oedipus.

In the beggining of the play, Oedipus is very proud of his accomplishments and the people are happy to call him their king, "Oh Oedipus, king of the land, our greatest power!" (160, 16). In the play, the chorus starts out in a very bad position. The plague has hit their city and many people are dying. Sophocles places the chorus and Oedipus side by side to show how privileged Oedipus is compared to his people.

As the play continues, we see Oedipus sink lower and lower into the standings of the chorus. When he first realizes he may have killed Laius, we see a drop in his social standing, "What are you saying? I shudder to look at you" (202, 822). Jocasta, Oedipus' wife/mother, now shudders to look at him once he starts to hint that he might have killed Laius. Oedipus' tone is very panicky because of the fear that he might be the same murderer he is looking for. This evokes pity because we can see Oedipus' standing slowly dropping from this high and proud king to a hopeless common man like his people, the chorus. Sophocles evokes fear by making Oedipus' tone panicky, showing that he himself is scared of dropping to the ranks of the common man.

In the end of the play, Oedipus has become the very people he once ruled over. He is helpless, like his people are with the plague they suffer through. There is nothing that he can do to change his situation, except maybe kill himself like Jocasta has done. His rank literaly drops from a king to a common man. This evokes pity by showing how Oedipus is now one of the helpless people that we saw in the beginning of the play. Willing to do whatever they needed to help their situation even a little, like Oedipus did by gouging his eyes out. The chorus has spent almost all of thier pieces explaining what a bad position they are in and pleading with the gods to help them. Oedipus had been promising them that he would help, but now he has become the one who needs help, the plagued individual pleading for help from his, now, superiors.

Sophocles: Journal 4

Reoccuring Images: A Shrieking Bird

"the dark wings beating around him shrieking doom the doom that never dies, the terror-"(548-549)

"Jocasta, why, why look to the Prophet's hearth, the fires of the future? Why scan the birds that scream above our heads?" (1054-1056)

"O dear god, and the Sphinx came crashing down, the virgin, claws hooked like a bird of omen singing, shrieking death-" (1323-1325)

A bird, back then at least, is impossible to stop, especially when it is going in for the kill. They can stay wherever they are for as long as they want because they can fly above our heads and become untouchable, looming over us, shrieking. Sophocles uses the image of the shrieking bird to highlight the idea that the characters can do nothing about their fate. The birds are used in parts of the story when their fate is questioned, but the shrieking birds are untouchable, they are unable to chage their fate.

Sophocles: Journal 3

Gender Roles

I think that Sophocles establishes that women are just as respected as men. Oedipus is respectful towards Jocasta, at least at first, and he listens to what she says. I think that Sophocles is trying to use Jocast as an example because she does voice her opinions and she demands to be heard. Maybe Sophocles had been seeing too many women giving up thier voice and opinions so that they can be easily manipulated. Oedipus refuses to listen to Jocasta when things aren't going his way. But he has done this before, showing the equality he holds for men and women. So there really isn't a huge gap that Sophocles creates between men and women, if anything he brings them closer to equals.

Sophocles: Journal 2

Is Oedipus a proficient leader?

Oedipus does demonstrate qualities of a proficient leader. He understands what his kingdom is going through and listens to the ideas of his people.

How does my view on Oedipus change?

In the first part of the story and in the beginning of this part i like Oedipus a lot. then, when he started to argue with the old man, i started to think that there is something about Oedipus that he isnt telling others. some dark secret. When he starts to insult the man, even for such petty things as his blindness, we see a different side of Oedipus. when provoked, he fights dirty and he doesnt care who gets hurt.

Teiresias:
Seems like a troubled old man. He has given up on telling people things because he is sick of being right but no one believing him. it seems that he argues with others and gets yelled at a lot by others because he doesnt tell them what they want to hear.

Creon:
At first he seems very fragile, easily damaged by Oedipus' insults and naming him as a traitor. But then we see that he is very determined to clear his name, he wants Oedipus to look at the facts. he is strong willed and will not go down without a fight.

Sophocles: Journal 1 (Part 2)

Literary Devices

"Our city reeks with the smoke of burning incense, rings with cries for the Healer and wailing for the dead" (159, 4-5), Imagery, appeals to smell and hearing, takes the reader into the story and shows the desperation of the city.

"I would be blind to misery..."(159, 14), Hyperbole, shows Oedipus' devotion to his people.

"And black Death luxuriates in the raw, wailing miseries of Thebes" (160,37-38), Personification, makes the black death seem resiliant, and it shows that the preist has little hope of it moving on.

"So now again, Oedipus, king, we bend to you, your power-" (161, 49-50), Tone, the tone is pleading and makes the priest more sicere and desperate.

Characterization, 161, Shows Oedipus' past accomplishments and how much his people believe in him.

"[...] the trail of the ancient guilt so hard to trace?" (165, 124), Metaphor, emphasizes the difficulty of the task.

Characterization, 167, shows Oedipus' passion and willingness to defend his people.

"Racked with terror-terror shakes my heart [...] I worship you in dread..." (168, 170-174), Repetition, gives a pleading and desperate tone to the people.

"Thebes like a great army dying" (169, 194), Simile, highlights the enormity of the situation in Thebes.

Tone, 169, Hopelessness, shows that the people of Thebes have no hope of overcoming this situation.

Sophocles: Journal 1 (Part 1)

159: Oedipus' people are gathering at the alter, he implores an old man to tell him of his prayers.

160: The Preist tells Oedipus of how Thebes is dying and how the black plague has reached them.

161: The Preist speaks of Oedipus' past accomplishments and pleads with him to help his people and set the city on its feet.

162: Oedipus tells his people that he too suffers because they suffers and tells them that he sent his brother-in-law Creon to Delphi to ask for advice, then Creon arrives.

163: Creon brings mixed news back from Dephi and asks Oedipus if he wants it in private or in front of his people and Oedipus wants it with his people present.

164: Creon says that for the Thebes to be put right again, the murder of Laius, thier previous leader, must be avenged.

165: Creon reveals that Laius was killed in Thebes and his killers are also in Thebes, and that there was one survivor in the attack and he told Creon something.

166: Creon says that the survivor told them that the King Laius and his company were attacked by theives, and when Oedipus asks why they didnt track the killer down then, Creon says that the Sphinx persuaded them not to.

167: Oedipus says that he will avenge Laius' death and he tells the priests to come with him and to get the people at the alter to come too.

168: The chorus pleads with Zeus and the other gods for help.

169: The chorus speaks of the deaths of the people that have befallen Thebes and again pleads for the help of the gods.

170: The chorus asks the gods to defeat death for them and grind it down to nothing.

Dystopian Journal #3

The critisizms that Atwood has is towards the citizens of the U.S. and how they allow the government to control them. She, of course exaggerates this, but she does so in a manner that foreshadows a version of our future. Atwoods vision is not necesarilly believable, but it is indeed powerful. The eerie similarities that Gilead bears towards our society can be closely examined to reveal a strong connection. It makes the reader think of all of the ways they are controlled and wonder what would happen if that control got out of hand. Throughout the story, Offred talks about her previous life and how much joy she had in it. This gives the hope that Offred can return to being happy. She longs to return to her family and this gives her the strength to keep going. Also towards the end of the story, Offred starts to take control of her own life. She independently goes to visit Nick for sex. Her desicion is not influenced by anyone else. Atwood does this to show that we can make our own decisions even if we are already subject to an oppressive and controlling government. She offers the hope that things still can be steered in another direction. We may be on the path to a society like Gilead, but it is not set in stone. Atwood shows us that just by keeping a small amount of control over ourselves, we can keep ourselves from becoming pawns to the government. This is showed when Offred is taken away by the rebellion. Her control over herself has been rewarded by potential freedom.

Word Count: 270