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One or two plays of Sophocles will be read in Greek, from among OEDIPUS,TYRANNOS, ANTIGONE, and PHILOCTETES, with particular attention paid to questions of style, the role of drama in its Athenian civic context, and
connections between the plays and
other aspects of fifth-century culture. The PHILOCTETES, in which Neoptolemus and Odysseus try to get Philoctetes to help the Greeks take Troy, even though they had abandoned him on an island years before, involves a
number of issues of concern both to
5th-century Greek society and to our own: "sophistic" or new-fangled vs. old-fashioned education, democratic vs. aristocratic values, persuasion vs.
force, honesty vs. trickery, sympathy for individual suffering and
the sick vs. cold calculation of th
e greater good, the value of friendship, and the question of how a young person makes choices, defines his/her character and
values, and fits into a larger society. The play also has interesting technical or dramatic
problems: an oracle described
differently in different parts of the play; one or more scenes of play-acting within the drama; and a first, false ending, followed by a second, radically different one involving a DEUS EX MACHINA. Besides careful
reading of the Greek text of the PHILOCT
ETES, the class will feature secondary readings on tragedy, on the PHILOCTETES, and on aspects of Greek cuture relevant to the play, and also reading of other Sophoclean plays in English, and further brief readings in
Greek texts about Odysseus, Achilles,
Neoptolemus, and the issues raised by the play.
Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.
COURSE FORMAT: Seminar
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA CLAS Grading Mode: Student Option
Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-19-2002
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459