ENGL 103W Lecture : Intro to Oedipus the King and Sophocles
3 Oct 2011
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The oresteia is about: chthonic forces, such as the furies; about the power of revenge and how difficult it is; about hatred, war and rage; about choices being taken out of one"s hands; about gods and elemental forces. On the other hand, sophocles" plays are about: the individual being an agent, about choices: the opposite of an agent is a patient. Agent is the one who acts(has control), the patient is the one being acted on(no control). To be an agent is to have the power of choice. Sophocles is interested in how his characters are agents, they are not toys of gods. His world is not primal and elemental, but is deceptive none the less. There still are forces that affect us, but they are personal, psychological or philosophical. We seem to have a lot of choice, but we don"t. There"s a lot of stuff that goes on in our minds that we don"t really know about.
