Oedipus Rex By: Sophocles

Bernadine JuliusSouth Park High SchoolBuffalo School District

Ms. J. WeberFall 2009

This lesson was prepared for a 12th grade Advance Placement English class.

Class size consist of twenty-five students.

There were no students classified as having a learning disability, however due to the high rate of absenteeism some student were continually behind.

To ensure students gain an insight into Greek tragedy and such concepts as fate, hubris, and dramatic irony. The student will also learn the origin and development of drama in Athens in the 5th and 6th centuries BC.

This 44 minute lesson was part of a three week unit plan on Oedipus Rex.

Students who were not in class was given a daily synopsis of the material presented during their absence.

1.0 The learners will be able to list and give examples of the seven conventions of a Greek tragedy.

2.0 The learners will be able to defend their interpretation of the play Oedipus Rex in the form of an essay.

How is the character’s tragic flaw, both a burden and a virtue?

What is a hero and what does a hero do?

The students should understand the conventions of classical tragedy as set forth by Macedonian philosopher Aristotle.

The students will understand that the qualities that defines a hero are timeless.

How does the medieval concept of tragedy differ from that of classical tragedy.

Why is Oedipus considered a tragic hero?

Why is Oedipus Rex considered a tragedy?

How would you interpret the role of the chorus?

The student will create a literary interpretive essay using the NY State Regents Exam Critical Lens as a guideline.

The students are to perform a modern day interpretation of the text.

The students will read the text aloud and make reasonable interpretations based on the text.

Level: Commencement (Grade12) Learning Standard: ELA Key Idea: Writing Standard: (2) Literary Response and Expression Performance Indicator: Use resources such as personal

experience, knowledge from other content areas and independent reading to create literary, interpretive, and responsive text.

NYS LEARNING STANDARD

The NY State Regents Board (ELA – Writing) Rubric

Meaning – 6 points

Development – 6 points

Organization – 6 points

Language Use -6 points

Convention - 6 points

  Critical Lens Response

We may ask, what is the point of the Greek tragedies that have come down to us if it is not that life is not one-sided and simple? To say, furthermore, that life lacks the sunny optimism of the Greeks and is, instead, marked with a sense of sin, is to ignore chorus after chorus in the Greek tragedies, representing, in effect, the ideal spectator and the author himself, in which we see a basically pessimistic view of life. One thinks of the last lines of the most famous play of all, Sophocles' Oedipus the King: "Here is the truth of each man's life: we must wait and see his end, scrutinize his dying day, and refuse to call him happy till he has crossed the border of his life without pain." That this was not an isolated sentiment but one widely held and influential, may be seen from its occurrence in Herodotus, who quotes it in the name of the revered wise leader Solon, Euripides, Aristotle and many more. To judge a man before his death will be judging him unjustly because only after death is a person’s deed truly visible.

 

“You can not judge how a person life is in the present because it can always change in the future. I agree with the quote because many times in life a person’s position changes for the worse. I will use two literary works that support this quote.”

Meaning=6 Development= 6 Organization= 6 Language Use= 5 Convention= 5 Total 28 out of

30

Comment: Very well written and thoughtful essay. Good job in interpreting the actual meaning of the quote.

“No man can be happy in life if he endures pain whether it is physical or emotional. I do not agree with this quote.”

Meaning=4 Development= 4 Organization= 5 Language Use= 5 Convention= 5 23 out of 30

Comment: Your essay was very detailed with many supporting facts. The sentences were clear and fluent. More implicit connections between information in the text to the assigned task needed to be made.

“The story supports my opinion about the statement by Oedipus because both White Fang and The Outsider grow from their person pain and is happy in the end.”

Meaning=2 Development= 4 Organization= 6 Language Use= 5 Convention= 5 22 out of

30

Comment: I agree with what you wrote, but the essay did not connect with the quote. Provide more supporting details and develop your ideas more thoroughly.

Instructional Students were permitted to come during their study hall and or the teacher’s prep time for extra help or missing material.

Content The teacher provides a synopsis of each act for the students to review. Students can pick one up only after the material has been covered and discussed in class.

Task Time will be allowed for any student who is absent or need extra time to finish test,

Show the theatrical version of the play after reading portions of the text.

Give students more time to work on their skit.

Have more student lead discussions.

After asking the students, how I could improve on the lesson, the students informed me that I could have shown the movie after each act instead of waiting until the end.

Review journals more frequently.

Put some of my management procedures in my modifications.

Thank you to my wonderful peer review group: Yolanda, Jennifer, Shirley, Ashley and Mr. Arnold. I could not have done this without your guidance, recommendations and thoughtful feedback.