The plague won’t leave the city until the killer of the former king is found. The current king, Oedipus, agrees that it’s about time someone looked into this—it's been about twenty years. A psychic is called in, and at first he refuses to say anything; then he says that it’s Oedipus himself who killed the previous king. But this is ridiculous! Okay, so the previous king was killed at the place where three roads met, and Oedipus does remember killing someone (road rage) at the place where three roads met, but it wasn’t the king! So why is the Queen so reluctant to carry the investigation further?
Especially if you don’t already know how this is going to end, you should read Oedipus the King (PA4414 .O7 B44 1978), written around 430 BC by the Greek playwright Sophocles. One hint: this is a tragedy—the day’s not going to turn out well for anyone. The translation by Stephen Berg and Diskin Clay is in clear, elegant English. It’s the traditions of Greek drama that are less familiar. There’s the Chorus, for example, 12 actors who through speech, music, and dance help interpret the actions of the play to the audience. The fact that all of the characters wear masks. That all of the roles are played by male actors. Reading Greek drama is like looking through a window to the ancient past—and finding that the people of ancient myth, while not exactly like the people we see everyday (and this is fortunate), are not completely different from us either.
Especially if you don’t already know how this is going to end, you should read Oedipus the King (PA4414 .O7 B44 1978), written around 430 BC by the Greek playwright Sophocles. One hint: this is a tragedy—the day’s not going to turn out well for anyone. The translation by Stephen Berg and Diskin Clay is in clear, elegant English. It’s the traditions of Greek drama that are less familiar. There’s the Chorus, for example, 12 actors who through speech, music, and dance help interpret the actions of the play to the audience. The fact that all of the characters wear masks. That all of the roles are played by male actors. Reading Greek drama is like looking through a window to the ancient past—and finding that the people of ancient myth, while not exactly like the people we see everyday (and this is fortunate), are not completely different from us either.
This kind of stories are available in lincoln college of tech's library.
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