You'll end up blinding yourself.
This week we started and finished Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. I knew a bit about the story beforehand; still, reading the entirety of the play made me think about new ideas.
The story of Oedipus Rex seems rather straightforward at first. The king of Thebes, Oedipus, is experiencing a plague in his land. He discovers that the plague was caused by gods angry at the killer of the former king of Thebes. In the end, he finds out that not only is he the killer, he also is the son of the former king and in fact, married his mother, the queen.
Sigmund Freud used this story as the namesake of his famous "Oedipus Complex", a complex where a boy feels sexual urges towards his mother and intense hatred towards his father. When most people read this play, they cannot see past the incest and the murder. But this tale is so much more than vile deeds and violence; it raises the question on whether we can outrun our fate. For you see, Oedipus left the king and queen he was raised with (not the king and queen of Thebes) because he heard a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He tried to avoid his destiny, but he failed.
I discuss more of this play in my tragedy blog, The Blogedy, so if you would like to find out more on what I think, read it there. It feels unnecessary to talk about my impressions twice, so what I want to focus on for the rest of the post is the method we used to record our thoughts, Cornell Notes. I didn't really like Cornell Notes so much and I didn't really use them so much either. I get the point of them: they allow students to write their thoughts alongside key terms from the play and pull out the main ideas of the story. I prefer actually writing on a copy of the text and pulling out the main ideas at the end. Having the story in front of me not only ensures that I will get in-text examples/support, but it also provides context that I don't think the Cornell Notes provides. Well, anyway, that's just my opinion. I'm sure it works for others and I'm sure that if I used it more often, I would like it more. Right now, though, I like my way.
Quote of the Week: “You must remember that no one lives a life free from pain and suffering.” -Sophocles
This week we started and finished Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. I knew a bit about the story beforehand; still, reading the entirety of the play made me think about new ideas.
The story of Oedipus Rex seems rather straightforward at first. The king of Thebes, Oedipus, is experiencing a plague in his land. He discovers that the plague was caused by gods angry at the killer of the former king of Thebes. In the end, he finds out that not only is he the killer, he also is the son of the former king and in fact, married his mother, the queen.
Sigmund Freud used this story as the namesake of his famous "Oedipus Complex", a complex where a boy feels sexual urges towards his mother and intense hatred towards his father. When most people read this play, they cannot see past the incest and the murder. But this tale is so much more than vile deeds and violence; it raises the question on whether we can outrun our fate. For you see, Oedipus left the king and queen he was raised with (not the king and queen of Thebes) because he heard a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He tried to avoid his destiny, but he failed.
I discuss more of this play in my tragedy blog, The Blogedy, so if you would like to find out more on what I think, read it there. It feels unnecessary to talk about my impressions twice, so what I want to focus on for the rest of the post is the method we used to record our thoughts, Cornell Notes. I didn't really like Cornell Notes so much and I didn't really use them so much either. I get the point of them: they allow students to write their thoughts alongside key terms from the play and pull out the main ideas of the story. I prefer actually writing on a copy of the text and pulling out the main ideas at the end. Having the story in front of me not only ensures that I will get in-text examples/support, but it also provides context that I don't think the Cornell Notes provides. Well, anyway, that's just my opinion. I'm sure it works for others and I'm sure that if I used it more often, I would like it more. Right now, though, I like my way.
Quote of the Week: “You must remember that no one lives a life free from pain and suffering.” -Sophocles