Honors English Oedipus Test
About this set
Created by:
thatskatastic on April 4, 2012
Classes:
Log in to favorite or report as inappropriate.
Order by
41 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Aristotle | (384-322), 4th century BC, defined tragedy |
| Catharsis | Purification that brings emotional relief or renewal |
| Tragedy | Depiction of some catastrophic, realistic action that will arouse pity and fear in the one who sees it, and purge him of an accumulation of upsetting emotions |
| Tragedy is... | An imitation of an action that is serious, complete, of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions |
| Playwright's purpose | Showing the audience a general truth about life |
| Protagonist's error/frailty | Weakness that most people have |
| Hamartia | A tragic flaw or tragic error in judgement; Oedipus kills Lauis |
| Hubris | That pride or overconfidence which leads a man to overlook a divine warning, or to break a moral law |
| Hero of a tragedy | Hero must be in a high social position, must posses a tragic flaw, which brings disaster |
| Reversal | The character's actions turn on him or discovery (the character moves from ignorance to knowledge); Oedipus realizes he killed his father/married his mother |
| Three unities | Place, time, and action |
| Place | The action represented is limited to one location |
| Time | The time represented as passing be no more than one day |
| Action | Nothing that is necessary is left out; nothing that is unnecessary is included |
| Form of tragedies | Prologue, parados, epeisodion, stasimon, and exodos |
| Prologue | Introduced the play and story |
| Parados | Song that brought on the chorus |
| Epeisodion | Usually five; passage of dialogue among characters that alternated with the stasimon |
| Stasimon | Chorus chanted or sang its part with music, and moved at the same time; strophe as they moved to the left; antistrophe as they moved to the right |
| Exodos | Took the chorus offstage and ended the play |
| Sophocles | (497-406) man of many talents, interested in civic affairs and became treasurer of athens, wrote over a hundred scripts and won eighteen Dionysia festivals, introduced a third actor and reduced the size of the chorus to fifteen |
| Corinth | Place where Oedipus was raised by his foster parents, Polybus and Merope |
| Thebes | Place where Oedipus was born, where his real parents Lauis and Jocasta live |
| Abae | An ancient town in the country of Phocis which was famous for its temple and oracle of Apollo |
| Amphitrite | Wife of the god Poseidon and goddess of the sea. She was the mother of Triton |
| Bacchus | Earlier called Dionysus. Greek and Roman god of wine and revelry |
| Cadmus | King of Phoenicia, founded Thebes along with five other men |
| Cithaeron | Lofty mountain range separating Boeotia from Megaris and Attica; sacred to Dionysus; associated with Oedipus because that's where he was found |
| Maenads | Bacchanites, "mad" because they were frenzied in their worship to Bacchus |
| Pan | A son of Hermes; god of the shepherds and the flocks, loved music and invented the syrinx or shepherd's flute; led the nymph's in dance, but frightened people because he has the legs and horns of a goat |
| Parnassus | Mountain range in southern Greece |
| Phythia | Priestess of Delphi who uttered the revelations of Apollo |
| Creon | Jocasta's brother who becomes the custodion of Thebes after what happens with Oedipus |
| Jocasta | Oedipus mother and wife who hangs herself after finding out the truth about him |
| Lauis | Oedipus' father who was killed by Oedipus |
| Three highways meet | Place where Oedipus killed his father |
| Tiresias | The blind prophet of Thebes who revealed to Oedipus that Oedipus had murdered his father and married his mother |
| Aphorism | A brief statement of truth; "Seek and you shall find only that escapes which was never pursued" |
| Dramatic irony | A contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true |
| Paradox | Seeming contradiction that proves to be true; "eyeless seer" |
| Metaphor | Comparison not using like or as |
First Time Here?
Welcome to Quizlet, a fun, free place to study. Try these flashcards, find others to study, or make your own.