Analyzing Sophocles’ Portrayal of Characters in "Oedipus Rex"

Last week, I had been busy doing the Assignment 2 of EDU 3217 – analyse the treatment of a theme or portrayal of characters in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex or Kee Thuan Chye’s The Swordfish, Then the Concubine. For the assignment, I chose to analyse Sophocles’ Sophocles’ Portrayal of Characters in Oedipus Rex through Labels and Labeling. Thus, in this blog post, I will be sharing some of the findings in my analysis.

Every human being has hundreds of separate people living under his skin. The talent of a writer is his ability to give them their separate names, identities, personalities and have them relate to other characters living with him.

~ Mel Brooks, an American writer

Sophocles uses three types of labeling to portray his characters in Oedipus Rex. Each type of labeling has its way and function in characterization.

1. Labeling done by the playwright through giving names, which carry meanings that describe a character’s most important traits. Its purpose is to tell the audience and readers which traits to concentrate on, as well as create dramatic irony.

Example 1: The name of the antagonist, Oedipus has ambiguity in meaning. The word Oida means “to know” that is derived from the root vid-, which means “see”. This is referring to Oedipus’ contrasting traits that deal with his ability of having eyesight and insight. It also hints on Oedipus’ inquisitive nature (to know about who the murderer of King Laius is) that will serves as his tragic flaw (harmatia). In Greek, Oedipus also means “swollen foot” and “clubfoot”, which are the most important physical trait of Oedipus that symbolizes his irreversible fate (moira) in the play.

Example 2: Teiresias’ name is defined as “one who cries the signs of the heavens” in Greek, that tell us his role as a wise, skillful seer in the play, as well as mystery or truth revealer to the readers or audience.

Example 3: the name of Creon is a male name that is defined as “prince” in Greek (as opposed to Creusa that is defined in Greek as “princess”). The status of the Creon as a prince is the most important information about Creon, for it tells the audience or readers that he will be the next king-to-be after Oedipus. Thus, this explains why he is suspected to steal Oedipus’ throne, as well as foreshadows he will be the next ruler after Oedipus’ downfall, which is bound to come in the tragedy that entails reversal of fortune. (Sources: Answers.com and Mybaby-name.com)

2. Labeling done by other characters (epithets) to describe the characters through other characters’ point of views. Its function is to fill the audience and readers with more information (e.g. background information (identities, status and roles), past deeds and attributes), so that they have a clearer picture about the characters, which will helps a great deal in understanding and analysing the character. However, the description may not necessarily be reliable and misleading, for it may be originated from the labelers’ wrong perception, bias, jealousy and ignorance.

Example: Creon is introduced by Oedipus, as “Son of Menoikeus, brother of the Queen” (In Prologue, page 1386, line 72), which portrays his identity and his relationship with other characters.

3. Labeling done by the analysed characters to portray his characters in an implicit way, by providing the access to the characters’ mind. Its function is to provide opportunity, freedom and space to the audience and readers to think and analyse the traits of the characters.

Example: Through Oedipus’ labeling on others, we know about his disrespect to other people. He disrespects his own wife when he calls her “woman” in Scene II (page 1400, line 125). He also shows his disrespect to the blind and the elderly, when he mocks at Teiresias – “child of endless night” (line 150) and “sightless, witless, senseless, mad old man” (line 153) (Scene I, page 1394).

Unlike short stories that have narrators who can describe the characters, a play needs to find a way to do this within a short period of time. Hence, labeling is chosen for being the most creative, natural, time-saving and thought-provoking way to define and describe a character.

Words have meaning and names have power.

~ Author unknown

Similar Lesson, Different Method

If I were given a second chance to conduct the same lesson, will I deliver the same activity? My answer to that question will be “No”, simply because we should work for the better. There is no such thing as a perfect activity. In fact, there will always be some flaws detected in the particular activity.

In my case, if I were given a second chance to conduct the same lesson, I will vary my activities to make my lesson more interesting. Instead of just worksheets, I can use games to capture students’ interest to my lesson. Similarly, besides individual activity, I can plan for pair or group activities. Teaching is an art, repeating the same activity or routine merely reflects non-creativity.

As for questions or doubts in simulated teaching, I had none as both lecturer and tutor had explained clearly about what to do and what not to do before we start simulated teaching. Moreover, both of them were there if we need to make any enquiries or need any assistance from them.

My Strengths and Weaknesses in Simulated Teaching

On the 13th of April 2009, I had presented a simulated teaching in front of twenty course mates, who acted as my Form Four students. Similar to other course mates, after I had done my simulated teaching, I had to listen to Miss Kasthoori’s comment about my teaching. Thanks to her, I get a clearer picture about my strengths and weaknesses in teaching after listening to her comment.

First of all, I will start off with something positive – my strengths. My good point in teaching is clarity, regardless in the aspect of voice or explanation. Due to my loud voice, I faced no problem in voice projection and students could hear what I say clearly. In set induction, I had explained most of the terms that needed to deal with in the lesson, such as tragedy, reversal of fortune, labels and characteristics. Hence, students understood the concept and were able to achieve the objective of the lesson, which is to analyse the development of Oedipus’ characteristics from earlier scene to later scene through labels.

As for my weaknesses, they are poor time management and over-ambitious. In order to let students to have a clear picture on what they were doing, I used lots of time to explain the terms and concepts in set induction. As a result, my set induction was too long. Besides, many of my course mates were teaching how to analyse the characteristics through adjectives, I decided not to repeat the same activities again. However, according to the tutor’s comment, analysing characteristics through labels was rather too heavy for the students.

In conclusion, the simulated teaching makes me realise that I need to improve my teaching skills by managing my time well. I should discard some of the redundant explanation for it will be too time-consuming. As for activities, I should plan it according to the students' ability. In other words, the only remedy of my weaknesses is to understand students' level of proficiency and understanding.

Simulated Teaching and Real Life Teaching - Same or Different?

After performing simulated teaching, I find that it is a good experience to future teachers. Why would I say so? Undeniably, simulated teaching creates a training ground to future teachers to practice whatever they had learnt (especially teaching methodologies), before they are sent to teach in real life situation. However, is simulated teaching similar to real life teaching?

To begin with, let us look at the similarities between simulated teaching and real life teaching. The first similarity will be the emphasis on dress code as a teacher. The next similarity is teacher always ask questions, such as “Do you understand?” or “Any questions?” to check on students’ understanding. Moreover, in set induction, teachers will relate students’ experience to the story. The purpose of doing this is to initiate students’ interest in the lesson, to give a better understanding to the students, and to activate the appropriate network of schemata in reading the story. As for post-reading or closure, teachers will sum up the lesson and also discuss about the message or moral value that can be found in the story.

Next, we shall look at the differences between simulated teaching and real life teaching. First of all, simulated teaching is more complicated than teaching in real life, especially in preparation stage. In simulated teaching, teachers have to create their own worksheets and decide what to teach. On the contrary, in real life teaching, teachers do not have much time to do all this, for they have many paper works to do in the school. Moreover, there are many workbooks that provide good worksheets to their students. They also do not need to crack their heads thinking what to teach, for their teachings are bounded by the syllabus and modules, which are created by the Ministry of Education.

Nonetheless, teachers in simulated teaching can have a better class control as compared to teachers in real life teaching. This is because the students of simulated teaching are their course mates, who are usually more cooperative. In other words, teacher in simulated teaching face students that have no discipline problems.

Moreover, both teachers and students in the school are spoon-fed in their teaching and learning. Just as I had pointed out earlier, school teachers do less work in preparation because teaching materials are mostly provided by the Ministry of Education, or they can also find good workbooks in the book stores. As for students, there are more rote-learning or passive learning in their teaching process, but less self-discovery involves. The main reason is our education system, which is academic-based. Teachers have to rush the lesson to complete the syllabus that is given to them. Consequently, students are not given enough time to analyse and understand the text thoroughly. More often than not, drill-and-practice method is much favoured. In other words, teachers focus on how to make students answer questions accurately, instead of teaching them how to derive the answer. The result (how many A’s) is emphasis, not the process (development of thinking skills). Thus, activities such as analysing the linguistic feature or literary elements in the text are rarely found in schools.

Although both simulated teaching and real life teaching have similarities and differences between them, simulated teaching is undeniably a good initiative for future teachers to practice their teaching.

My Simulated Teaching (Continue) – Pre, While and Post

In pre-reading stage, I asked students to highlight the labels that describe Oedipus in the extract.

For while-reading stage, in the first activity, students were asked to complete the tables, using the labels that they have highlighted in pre-reading. In the tables, they had to state whether the labels are positively, neutrally or negatively connotated, by using (+), (#) and (-) signs respectively. Besides that, they had to find adjectives that describe the labels. For Table A, they also needed to seek for the antonyms of the adjectives as well.

In the second while-reading activity, students had to describe the development of Oedipus’ characteristics, by using the information from Table A and Table B. Since it was a harder task, I gave further explanation to assist students to complete the task.

Lastly, in post-reading stage, I asked students to think whether reversal of fortune in Oedipus’ life causes reversal of his characteristics. Students had to write an essay to state their opinions without exceeding 120 words.

In conclusion, the objective of my lesson is to analyze the development of Oedipus’ characteristics from earlier scene to later scene through labels.

My Simulated Teaching – Set Induction

Analyzing Characters' Traits Through Labels

On the 13th of March, 2009 (Friday), I had done my simulated teaching on Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex”. In this post, I am going to explain the activity of my set induction in detail, whilst pre-reading and while-reading stage will be explained in the following post. For set induction, I used a series of PowerPoint slides.

First, I taught about the reversal of fortune. In Slide 1, I showed a picture of a Greek theatre and asked students to identify what the picture represented. Then, I briefly explained about Greek drama that is famous for its tragedy and reversal of fortune.

Secondly, I further reinforced the concept about reversal of fortune. In Slide 2, I showed two pictures, which portrayed a king and the same king who loses his throne. I told a story about the downfall of the king.

Thirdly, I introduced the term “characteristics”. After listening to the story, students were asked to give description (characteristics) about the character based on the pictures given. I discussed the characteristics with the students. Next, students were required to compare and contrast the discussed characteristics. I pointed out that the characteristics changed completely after the character’s life has changed completely too. Thus, in Slide 3, I asked students to think whether reversal of fortune will cause reversal of characteristics.

Next, I introduced the role of labels in portrayal of characters. In Slide 4, I briefly explained the term “label”, as well as the function and importance of label in analyzing character’s traits. In Slide 5, I showed the two pictures that display the character again and asked students to think how they would address both characters. I pointed out that both labels and characteristics change due to reversal of fortune.

To conclude the set induction, I introduced the play that I wanted to teach in Slide 6, which is Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, as well as the objective of the lesson, which is to analyze the development of Oedipus’ characteristics from earlier scene to later scene through labels.

The questions I had asked to the students in set induction are stated as below: Look at the picture, what can you see?

1. What is Greek drama famous for?
   
2. After listening to the story, do you wish to have that reversal of fortune? Will you remain the same as you are once you have it? If no, how would you change?
   
3. Based on the picture, what are the adjectives that can describe Henry, before and after he lost his throne?
   
4. In your opinion, does reversal of fortune cause reversal of characteristics?
   
5. Look at the picture again, how would you address Henry, before and after he lost his throne?

The Movie of "Oedipus Rex" that Shows More than the Play

On the 10th of March, 2009, we watched our third movie, which was Sophocles’ play, “Oedipus Rex”. After watching the movie, I have a clearer picture about the story, especially on the murder of King Laius.

Why did the movie make us understand more about Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex”? The first reason of it was of course the play was acted out. After watching the movie, it is easier for us to visualize the play.

The second reason was the movie showed more than the play. Before watching this movie, I had watched another movie of “Oedipus Rex” too. However, the movie that I had watched earlier strictly followed the convention of Greek theatre – how the characters are supposed to enter the stage, how chorus should move from right to left or vice versa as they speak, how violent scenes are occurred off stage, etc. After watching that movie, I was still uncertain about what the story is all about.

As for this movie that we had watched on the 10th of March, it did not fully follow the convention of Greek theatre. In fact, it showed lots of scenes that were not supposed to act in the play due to violence. For example, Oedipus’ flashback about the murder of King Laius, Jocasta’s suicide and Oedipus’ self-blinding. In Greek Theatre, violent scenes are supposed to occur off stage. Thus, in the play text of Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex”, the information regarding the murdering process of King Laius is given through Oedipus, and description of Jocasta’s suicide and Oedipus’ blinding is given through a messenger.

Nevertheless, since the movie showed more than the play, it gave us a clearer picture about the story of “Oedipus Rex”. After watching the movie, I did have a better understanding on the story.

My Adventure to KLPAC

Have I been to a theatre to watch a play? After 7th of March, 2009, the answer is a big “yes”. The title of the play was “The Secret Love Life of Ophelia”, which was held in Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC). The play was directed by Christopher Ling and was performed by two actors only, Alfred Loh (Hamlet) and Sharon Lam (Ophelia).

In brief, the story was about the secret love life of Ophelia and Hamlet, whose passion with each other was expressed through love letters. In EDU 3217, we had been taught about theatre, which is the second hand experience. Finally, we got a chance to watch a real play in a real theatre, which is the first hand experience. Nothing beats the first hand experience!

Thus, for this post, I am going to discuss about what I have learnt from this adventure regarding theatre. Some of the knowledge has already been taught in lectures and tutorials.

#1 – Punctuality

The play started at 2pm sharp, no matter the audience fully arrived or not.

#2 – Theatre = A place where a play is held

I’m shocked! I thought the play will be held on a large stage in front of the audience. I also thought that the actors will be a level higher than the audience, as the stage will be a raised stage.

In reality, theatre is a place where a play is held. In “The Secret Love Life of Ophelia”, the actors acted on the small space in the centre, while audience watched from their seats, which were situated on a higher area. It was as though we were on the stage instead.

#3 – No drink, no food, no talking

Yup, you can do nothing, but only as an audience – an attentive listener and a mute observer

#4 – No mistake, only perfection

This is meant for the actors. Since theatre involves real actors and real audience, they cannot afford to make any mistake, for there is no turning back to undo the mistake they had done.

I was impressed by the actors’ memory skills when I watched the play. How on earth can they remember their scripts that were written in Shakespearean Language? Their fluency in the language will make you salute them more.

Moreover, both Alfred Loh and Sharon Lam were so real in their mimes. Alfred (Hamlet) was making coffee without coffee and Sharon (Ophelia) feeding her cat without any cat.

Perhaps, this is what people say about practice makes perfect!

It is fun to watch plays in the theatre..... I will be back!

Hamlet: A Play in a Play

Today, we had watched the second movie, entitled “Hamlet” that was a play written by a famous playwright, William Shakespeare. It was a great movie, although we faced difficulties in understanding Shakespearean language. However, for students of EDU 3217, it was an educational movie to let us understand more about theatre in Elizabethan Era, as well as expose us to Shakespearean language.

For this posting, I will not discuss about the synopsis of the movie. Instead, I will discuss how this movie helps me in my study about theatre, as well as William Shakespeare’s style of writing.

First of all, I noticed that people in Elizabethan Era enjoyed theatre. When a group of traveling actors came to Elsinore, the people were so happy and welcomed them warmly.

The next thing that I noticed in “Hamlet” was all actors are males. It was so funny to witness the male actor acting as the queen.

William Shakespeare’s language may be tough to understand, however, he is undeniably a witty playwright. I noticed that he likes to use opposition of ideas to describe something, convey messages and advices, as well as create humour. Some of the meaningful quotes are stated as below:

• Neither a borrower nor a lender be
  


• To be or not to be
  


• In second husband let me be accurst!
  None wed the second but who kill'd the first.
  


• QUEEN GERTRUDE :
  Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
  
  HAMLET :
  Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
  


• I must be cruel, only to be kind:
  Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.

I like William Shakespeare’s style of writing. In fact, I feel that he is a witty playwright with a great sense of humour. “Hamlet” may be a tragedy, but it is also embedded with comical element. It seemed as though we were watching a comedy! Only when characters were dying one by one, I realized that I was watching a tragedy. We had a good laugh when King Claudius and Prince Hamlet talk about Polonius, who is killed by Hamlet.

KING CLAUDIUS
Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?

HAMLET
At supper.

KING CLAUDIUS
At supper! where?

HAMLET
Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain
convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your
worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all
creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for
maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but
variable service, two dishes, but to one table:
that's the end.

KING CLAUDIUS
Alas, alas!

HAMLET
A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a
king, and cat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.

To be a Nobody or a Somebody?

Have you ever wished to have power and status? Watch the movie, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”. Look at the majestic position she had and compare it with the life she went through. Is she happy with it? Or worse, is it worth it to sacrifice so much for the power? Perhaps you can even ask Creon in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and he will tell you this,

“Think of this first: Would any sane man prefer
Power, with all a king’s anxieties,
To that same power and the grace of sleep?
Certainly not I.
I have never longed for the king’s power – only his rights”

(Line 67 to Line 71 in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex)

Practically, we want to have the power, but not the responsibility. Tough luck, my friend. “With great power comes great responsibility”, as it is told to our super hero, Spiderman, and now it is to you.

The movie, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” had won many awards - Best Costume Design, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Best Art Direction and Production Design, etc. However, in my opinion, they have missed the award of the best script writer. One of the major factors that makes “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” a successful movie is their awesome script. It provides many meaningful quotes that give us food-for-thought within a few lines. Apparently, the writers, Michael Hirst and William Nicholson ought to be acknowledged too for their incredible writing skills.

What is a queen? Other than a female ruler or the wife of a king, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” suggests other meanings. A queen is a female ruler, who needs:

a) To lose her kindness: has to be cruel to be kind

Queen Elizabeth I: Are you here to tell me I must murder a Queen?

Sir Walter Raleigh: I would never presume to tell my Queen what to do. Only you know where your duty lies……

Sir Walter Raleigh: Kill a Queen and all Queens are mortal. We mortals have many weaknesses: we feel too much, hurt too much, all too soon we die, but we do have the chance of love.

Queen Elizabeth I: Do we? I have given England my life. Must she also have my soul?

b) To lose her peace of mind: faces threats and challenges, as well as overcomes fear of:

~ Losing her kingdom

Queen Elizabeth I: Go back to your rat hole! Tell Philip I fear neither him, nor his priests, nor his armies. Tell him if he wants to shake his little fist at us, we're ready to give him such a bite he'll wish he'd kept his hands in his pockets!

Spanish Minister: You see a leaf fall, and you think you know which way the wind blows. Well, there is a wind coming, Madame, that will sweep away your pride.
[turns to leave with his ministers]

Queen Elizabeth I: I, too, can command the wind, sir! I have a hurricane in me that will strip Spain bare when you dare to try me!

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Queen Elizabeth I: By God, England will not fall while I am Queen.

~ Losing her throne and her life

Queen Elizabeth I: Spain intends to place Mary Stuart on our country's throne, and I am to be assassinated. Does this sound familiar?

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Queen Elizabeth I: May we have wisdom not to fear shadows in the night, and courage when the day of danger truly dawns.

c) To lose her freedom – as a slave to policy and others’ expectation.

Queen Elizabeth I: You like your ladies to jump at your command.

Sir Walter Raleigh: Do you think that way?

Queen Elizabeth I: To tell you the truth, I'm very very tired of always being in control.

Sir Walter Raleigh: Nonsense!

Queen Elizabeth I: What?

Sir Walter Raleigh: You eat and drink control.

d) To lose truthfulness and bear with artificiality of others

(A scene where Elizabeth Throckmorton gives advice to Sir Walter Raleigh on how to win the queen’s favour.)

Elizabeth Throckmorton: Say what you mean to say as plainly as possible. All men flatter the

Queen in hope of advancement. Pay her the compliment of truth.

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Sir Walter Raleigh: I think it must be hard for so great a Queen to know the simple pleasure of being liked for herself.

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Archduke Charles: The beauty of your Majesty is dazzling to my eyes. I am overwhelmed. I am conquered. I die. Only your love, my stattlich Elizabeth, can restore me into life.

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Queen Elizabeth I: [in German] You play the game very well, my young friend. But don't you sometimes feel an overwhelming desire to say what you're really thinking?

Archduke Charles: I daren't even think what I'm really thinking.

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Queen Elizabeth I: More lines on my face. Where do they come from?

Elizabeth Throckmorton: Smile lines, my lady.

Queen Elizabeth I: Smile lines? When do I ever smile?

In conclusion, having power and status is not as easy or great as it may seems to be. Similarly, Emily Dickinson discussed about it in her poem, “I’m Nobody, Who are You?” which mocks the life of a Somebody. Inevitably, we need to pay the price to get the prize. However, are we willing to buy it? For the price is our own happiness.

Looking at the world from her high, majestic position with sorrowful eyes

Elizabeth, The Golden Age

24th of February, 2009 is a memorable day for our class. It is the first time we get to watch a movie together and the movie was awesome. It is a 2007 film, entitled “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”, which was directed by Shekhar Kapur. In the film, it had many good actors, such as Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush and many more.

In brief, the story is about the challenges that Queen Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) had to face during her reign: Spanish Armada, unfulfilled love and plot of her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots (Samantha Morton) to steal her throne. According to http://www.imdb.com/, the Internet Movie Database, it describes the story as “Two faiths, two empires, two rulers - colliding in 1588”

What I had learnt from “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” that is useful in my understanding about theatre is the importance of costume in presenting and highlighting the traits of the characters. The element that I like the most in the film was its costume. Just take a look at the picture below.

It is no wonder that the film’s costume designer, Alexandra Byrne, won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design at the 80th Academy Awards. It was amazing to witness how different costumes help to portray a character’s different traits, especially on Queen Elizabeth, the main character. With the help of the costume, she appeared to be elegant, lady-like and majestic as a queen. However, when Queen Elizabeth fought in the war, the warrior suit that she wore portrayed her as a heroic figure. She looks more like a courageous king or warrior than an elegant queen. In fact, the film highlighted a great deal about the role of costume. Before the queen went into the battle field, she would take out the ring from her finger and change her outfit that she normally wore in the court into the warrior suit. However, when she won the battle, she wore back the ring and changed into her usual outfit.

Besides that, through “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”, I had learnt more about Elizabethan culture and view, which will help a great deal in understanding and analysing drama from Elizabethan Era. I realized that people from Elizabethan Era believed that the transformation of nature will cause changes of fate or act as an omen that foreshadows something bad will happen. Thus, when Spanish was about to invade England, Queen Elizabeth asked her astrologer, Doctor John Dee (David Threlfall) for guidance.

Queen Elizabeth I: Give me hope.

Dr. John Dee: The forces that shape the world are greater than all of us, Majesty. How can I promise that they'll conspire in your favor even though you're the Queen? This much I know, when the storm breaks, some are dumb with terror and some spread their wings like eagles and soar.