Ticket 35. Innovation of Sophocles. The theme of fate in the tragedy "OEDIPUS THE KING"

SOPHOCLES - Greek poet, playwright and public figure; lived and worked in Athens, was friends with Pericles and Phidias. In 443 S. was treasurer of the Athenian Maritime League, in 441-440. - strategist. The years of S.'s maturity date back to the heyday of Athenian slave-owning democracy. At first he sided with the leader of the aristocratic party, Cimon, but, having become close to Pericles, he began to share his views.

More than a hundred dramatic works were attributed to S., but only seven have been completely preserved: “Electra”, “Oedipus the King”, “Oedipus at Colonus”, “Antigone”, “Philoctetes”, “The Trachinian Women” and “Ajax”; In addition, a large fragment of the drama “The Pathfinders” has survived to this day. The tragedy “Oedipus the King” was and is especially famous. The features of polis ideology were reflected in S.'s work: patriotism, consciousness of public duty, faith in the strength of man. After the death of the playwright, he was honored on a par with Homer and Aeschylus; forty years later, the Athenian orator Lycurgus passed a law for the construction of a bronze statue of Sophocles and for the storage of verified texts of the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides in a public place.

Sophocles was an innovator: he did not always follow the classical trilogy form and introduced a third actor onto the stage. Sophocles' skill was manifested both in his ability to organize the dialogue of the characters and in the choice of the plot line. Sophocles is known for his peculiar dramatic irony - the character, according to the author's plan, himself does not realize the true - hidden - meaning of the words he speaks, while the audience understands him perfectly. Because of this skillful “inconsistency”, psychological tension arises - the beginning of catharsis. This effect is especially pronounced in the tragedy "Oedipus the King". Aristotle admires Sophocles in his Poetics and says that his characters are very similar to real people, only better than them. According to Aristotle, Sophocles depicts people as they should be, while Euripides depicts them as they really are.

Sophocles is the great Greek playwright who gave us one of the most delightful works of human civilization - the tragedy “Oedipus the King”. At the center of the plot is a person, defining the theme of the tragedy - the theme of moral self-determination of the individual.

Sophocles reveals to us a question of universal scale: who decides the fate of man - the gods, or he himself? In search of an answer to this eternal question, the hero of the tragedy Oedipus left his hometown, practically dooming himself to certain death. The gods foretold him to kill his father and marry his mother. He found, as it seemed to him, the right solution: to leave his home. But Oedipus, alas, did not understand the most important thing: the gods determine only the general appearance of a person’s fate, its direction, one of the possible hypothetical versions of future reality. Everything else depends only on the person himself, on his personality, on what is hidden in him.

With their prophecy, the gods of Olympus indicated to Oedipus that he was capable of killing his father and marrying his mother, and that is why he must be constantly on alert, not allowing those truly terrible abilities that lie within him to escape. But he took everything literally and did not see that truth. And only at the very last moment, at the moment of spiritual insight, he realizes how blind he was then, and as a sign of this he gouges out his eyes. Thus, he expresses the main idea of ​​​​the tragedy: it is not the gods who decide the fate of man, but he himself. Fate and inevitability are nothing compared to a person who understands and is aware of his moral and spiritual essence.

The second great tragic poet of Athens in the 5th century. - Sophocles (born around 496, died in 406).

The middle place that Sophocles occupied in the three-star Attic tragedians is marked by an ancient story comparing the three poets by correlating their biographies with the Battle of Salamis (480): forty-five-year-old Aeschylus took personal part in the decisive battle with the Persians, which established the naval power of Athens, Sophocles celebrated this victory in the boys' choir, and Euripides was born this year. The age ratio reflects the ratio of eras. If Aeschylus is the poet of the birth of Athenian democracy, then Euripides is the poet of its crisis, and Sophocles continued to be the poet of the heyday of Athens, the “age of Pericles.”

Sophocles' birthplace was Colon, a suburb of Athens. By origin he belonged to wealthy circles. His works enjoyed exceptional success: he received first prize in competitions 24 times and never came in last place. Sophocles completed the work begun by Aeschylus of transforming tragedy from a lyrical cantata into a drama. The center of gravity of the tragedy finally shifted to the depiction of people, their decisions, actions, and struggles. For the most part, Sophocles' heroes act completely independently and determine their own behavior in relation to other people. Sophocles rarely brings the gods onto the stage; the “hereditary curse” no longer plays the role that was attributed to it by Aeschylus.

The problems that concern Sophocles are related to the fate of the individual, and not to the fate of the race. rejection of the principle of a plot-related trilogy that dominated Aeschylus. Speaking with three tragedies, he makes each of them an independent artistic whole, containing all its problems.

Not a single work of ancient drama left such significant traces in the history of European drama as Oedipus the King. Sophocles emphasizes not so much the inevitability of fate as the variability of happiness and the inadequacy of human wisdom. It is interesting that Sophocles pays great attention to female images. For him, a woman is, on a par with a man, a representative of noble humanity.

Sophocles' tragedies are distinguished by their clarity of dramatic composition. They usually begin with expository scenes in which the starting position is explained and a plan is developed; .behavior of the heroes. In the process of executing this plan, which encounters various obstacles, the dramatic action either increases or slows down until it reaches a turning point, after which, after a slight slowdown, a catastrophe occurs, rapidly leading to the final denouement. In the natural course of events, strictly motivated and resulting from the character of the characters, Sophocles sees the hidden action of the divine forces that govern the world. Horus plays only an auxiliary role in Sophocles. His songs are like lyrical accompaniment to the action of the drama, in which he himself no longer takes a significant part.

Sophocles were convinced that the world is governed by intelligent divine forces, against the background of whose action tragic suffering acquires a moral meaning. Deities took an obvious or hidden part in the course of the drama.

In the tragedy “Oedipus the King” a truly human drama unfolds, full of psychological and socio-political conflicts. Recognizing divine predestination, against which man is powerless, Sophocles shows a man striving to avoid what was destined. The most terrible and unexpected turn occurs in the fate of his hero: a man who enjoyed universal respect, famous for his wisdom and exploits, turns out to be a terrible criminal, a source of misfortune for his city and people. It is important here to note the primary role of the motive of moral responsibility, which pushes the theme into the background rock, borrowed by the poet from an ancient myth. Sophocles emphasizes that Oedipus is not a victim, passively waiting and accepting the blows of fate. This is an energetic and active person who fights in the name of reason and justice. He emerges victorious in this struggle, assigning punishment to himself, carrying out the punishment himself and thereby overcoming his suffering. The meaning is that there are no negative characters - a person does not make mistakes consciously. This tragedy is united and closed in itself. This is an analytical drama, because... the entire action is based on the analysis of events related to the hero’s past and directly related to his present and future.

The tragedy opens with a solemn procession. Theban youths and elders pray to Oedipus, glorified by his victory over the Sphinx, to save the city a second time, to save it from the raging pestilence. The wise king, it turns out, had already sent his brother-in-law Creon to Delphi with a question to the oracle. The gods say that the killer of the former king lives in this city. Oedipus energetically takes up the search for the unknown murderer and betrays him to a solemn curse. Oedipus (the current king) summons the blind old soothsayer Tiressius. However, Tiressius does not want to reveal the secret to Oedipus, he insists, and T. says “you are the murderer.” Oedipus does not believe it and blames Creon (his wife’s brother) for the death of Laius and sending him the old man. Creon calls his sister Jocasta (Oedipus’s wife) for help. In order to calm Oedipus, she talks about the unfulfilled oracle given to Laius, in her opinion, but it is this story that instills anxiety in Oedipus. (long ago Lai went to the oracle, and he predicted that the son born to him would kill him and marry his mother; Lai ordered his slave to take the child to the mountains and kill him). Oedipus is worried and asks about Laius. But he doesn’t realize that it was he who killed Laius, then a messenger comes from Corinth and talks about the death of Oedipus’s dad, Polybus. He says that they want to put Oedipus on the throne. Oedipus triumphs: the prophecy of parricide did not come true. Oedipus is afraid of the story that the oracle once predicted for him, that he would marry his mother. But the messenger tells him that he is not the son of Polybus and tells him where he found him. Jocasta, for whom everything has become clear, leaves the stage with a sorrowful exclamation. Oedipus begins to look for the second shepherd who gave him as an infant to this messenger. The shepherd (the second) comes and does not want to tell the truth, but E and the messenger forces him. The witness to the murder of Laius turns out to be the same shepherd who once gave the baby Oedipus to the Corinthian. The shepherd confesses that the baby is the son of Laius, Oedipus curses himself.

In an excode full of deep sympathy for the former savior of Thebes, the chorus sums up the fate of Oedipus, reflecting on the fragility of human happiness and the judgment of all-seeing time.

In the final part of the tragedy, after the messenger reports the suicide of Jocasta and the self-blinding of Oedipus (he removes the brooch from Jocasta’s shoulder and gouges out his eyes. Oedipus HIMSELF executes himself for an unwittingly committed offense, Oedipus appears again, curses his ill-fated life, demands exile for himself, says goodbye to his daughters. However, Creon, into whose hands power passes, detains Oedipus, awaiting the instructions of the oracle. The further fate of Oedipus remains unclear to the viewer.

Meaning– there are no negative characters – a person makes mistakes not consciously. This tragedy is united and closed in itself. Sophocles emphasizes not so much the inevitability of fate as the variability of happiness and the inadequacy of human wisdom

However, never and nowhere in world drama has the story of a man haunted by misfortune been depicted so heartfeltly as in Oedipus the King. The exact time when this tragedy was staged is unknown. It dates approximately from 428-425. Already ancient critics, starting with Aristotle, considered “Oedipus the King” to be the pinnacle of Sophocles’ tragic mastery. The entire action of the tragedy is centered around the main character, Oedipus; he defines every scene, being its center. But in tragedy there are no episodic characters; every character in this drama has its own clear place. For example, the slave of Laius, who once threw out the baby on his orders, subsequently accompanies Laius on his last fatal trip, and the shepherd, who once took pity on the child and took him with him to Corinth, now arrives in Thebes as an ambassador from the Corinthians to ask Oedipus to reign as king. Corinth.

In the tragedy "Oedipus the King" Sophocles makes an important discovery that will allow him to subsequently deepen the heroic image. It shows that a person draws strength from himself that helps him live, fight and win. In the tragedies "Electra" and "Philoctetes" the gods recede into the background, as if giving up first place to man. "Electra" is close in plot to "Choephora" by Aeschylus. But Sophocles created a vitally truthful image of a courageous and honest girl who, without sparing herself, fights with her criminal mother and her despicable lover - suffers, hopes and wins. Even in comparison with Antigone, Sophocles expands and deepens the world of Electra's feelings.

Introduction

Aeschylus is called the "father of tragedy." Unlike the tragedies of his predecessors, the tragedy of Aeschylus had a clearly completed form, which subsequently continued to be improved. Its main feature is majesty. The Aeschylean tragedy reflected the heroic time itself, the first half of the 5th century. BC, when the Greeks defended their freedom and independence during the Greco-Persian Wars. The playwright was not only their eyewitness, but also a direct participant. The intense struggle for the democratic reorganization of society did not subside within Athens. The successes of democracy were associated with an attack on some of the foundations of antiquity. These events were also reflected in the tragedies of Aeschylus, filled with conflicts of powerful passions.

“Aeschylus is a creative genius of enormous realistic power, revealing with the help of mythological images the historical content of the great revolution of which he was a contemporary - the emergence of a democratic state from a tribal society,” wrote I.M. Tronsky.

The playwright wrote tragedies on themes, many of which remain relevant today. The purpose of this work is to reveal the theme of fate in Aeschylus’s tragedy “Chained Prometheus”, to find out what fate means for Aeschylus in this tragedy, what is its meaning. A.F. Losev said that the image of Prometheus reflects the “classical harmony of fate and heroic will,” when fate controls a person, but this does not necessarily lead to lack of will and powerlessness. This can lead to freedom, and to great feats, and to powerful heroism. Predestination in Prometheus has a life-affirming, optimistic content. Ultimately, it signifies the victory of good over evil, the end of the power of Zeus the tyrant.

Fate and will through the eyes of an ancient Greek

What did the very concept of rock mean to the ancient Greeks? Fate or fate (moira, aisa, tyche, ananke) - has a double meaning in ancient Greek literature: the initial, common, passive - the share, fate predetermined for each mortal and partly to the deity, and the derivative, proper, active - of a personal being, assigning , telling everyone his fate, especially the time and type of death.

Anthropomorphic gods and goddesses turned out to be insufficient to explain in each given case the cause of the disaster that befalls one or another of the mortals, often completely unexpectedly and undeservedly. Many events in the lives of individuals and entire nations take place contrary to all human calculations and considerations, all concepts about the participation of humanoid deities in human affairs. This forced the ancient Greek to admit the existence and intervention of a special being, whose will and actions are often inscrutable and which, therefore, in the minds of the Greeks never received a clearly defined, definite appearance.

But the concept of fate or fate contains far more than one feature of chance. Immutability and necessity constitute the most characteristic feature of this concept. The most urgent, irresistible need to imagine fate or fate occurs when a person stands face to face with a mysterious fact that has already happened and amazes the mind and imagination with its inconsistency with familiar concepts and ordinary conditions.

However, the mind of the ancient Greek was rarely satisfied with the answer that “if something happened contrary to his expectations, then it should have happened that way.” A sense of justice, understood in the sense of rewarding everyone according to his deeds, encouraged him to look for the causes of the amazing catastrophe, and he usually found them either in some exceptional circumstances in the personal life of the victim, or, much more often and more readily, in the sins of his ancestors. In this latter case, the close mutual connection of all members of the clan, and not just the family, comes out with particular clarity. Brought up in ancestral relations, the Greek was deeply convinced of the need for descendants to atone for the guilt of their ancestors. Greek tragedy diligently developed this motif, embedded in folk tales and myths. A striking example of this is “Oresteia” by Aeschylus.

For the history of the concept of fate, the greatest interest and the most abundant material are represented by the tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles, poets who believed in domestic gods; Their tragedies were intended for the people and therefore, much more accurately than philosophical or ethical writings of the same time, responded to the level of understanding and moral needs of the masses. The plots of the tragedies belonged to myths and ancient legends about gods and heroes, sanctified by faith and long ago, and if in relation to them the poet allowed himself to deviate from established concepts, then his justification was changes in popular views on deity. The merger of fate with Zeus, with the advantage going to the latter’s side, is clearly expressed in the tragedies of Aeschylus. According to the law of ancient times, Zeus directs the fate of the world: “everything happens as destined by fate, and one cannot bypass the eternal, inviolable determination of Zeus” (“The Petitioners”). “Great Moirai, may the will of Zeus accomplish what the truth demands” (“Libation Bearers,” 298). Particularly instructive is the change in the image of Zeus, weighing and determining human fate: in Homer (VIII and XXII) Zeus asks in this way the will of fate, unknown to him; in Aeschylus, in a similar scene, Zeus is the lord of the scales, and, according to the chorus, a person is unable to do anything without Zeus (“The Petitioner,” 809). This idea of ​​the poet about Zeus is contradicted by the position he occupies in “Prometheus”: here the image of Zeus bears all the features of a mythological deity, with his limitations and subordination to fate, unknown to him, like people, in his decisions; he tries in vain to wrest the secret of fate from Prometheus by violence; the helm of necessity is ruled by the three Moirai and Erinyes, and Zeus himself cannot escape the fate destined for him (Prometheus, 511 et seq.).

Although the efforts of Aeschylus are undoubted to unite the actions of supernatural beings in relation to people and elevate them to the will of Zeus, as the supreme deity, nevertheless, in the speeches of individual characters and choirs, he leaves room for belief in an immutable Rock or fate, ruling invisibly over the gods, why in the tragedies of Aeschylus are expressions denoting the dictates of Fate or fate so frequent. In the same way, Aeschylus does not deny the culpability of the crime; punishment befalls not only the perpetrator, but also his offspring.

But knowledge of his fate does not constrain the hero in his actions; the hero’s entire behavior is determined by his personal qualities, relationships with other persons and external accidents. Nevertheless, every time at the end of the tragedy it turns out, according to the conviction of the hero and witnesses from the people, that the catastrophe that befell him is the work of Fate or fate; in the speeches of the characters and especially the choirs, the idea is often expressed that Fate or fate pursues a mortal on his heels, guiding his every step; on the contrary, the actions of these persons reveal their character, the natural chain of events and the natural inevitability of the outcome. As Barthelemy rightly notes, the characters in tragedy reason as if they can do nothing, but act as if they can do everything. Belief in fate, therefore, did not deprive the heroes of freedom of choice and action.

In his work “Twelve Theses on Ancient Culture,” the Russian thinker A.F. Losev wrote: “Necessity is fate, and one cannot go beyond its limits. Antiquity cannot do without fate.

But here's the thing. The new European man draws very strange conclusions from fatalism. Many people think this way. Yeah, since everything depends on fate, then I don’t need to do anything. All the same, fate will do everything as it wants. Ancient man was not capable of such dementia. He thinks differently. Is everything determined by fate? Wonderful. So, fate is above me? Higher. And I don't know what she will do? If I knew how fate would treat me, I would act according to its laws. But this is unknown. So I can still do as I please. I am a hero.

Antiquity is based on a combination of fatalism and heroism. Achilles knows that it is predicted that he must die at the walls of Troy. When he goes into a dangerous battle, his own horses say to him: “Where are you going? You will die...” But what does Achilles do? Doesn't pay any attention to warnings. Why? He is a hero. He came here for a specific purpose and will strive for it. Whether he dies or not is a matter of fate, and his meaning is to be a hero. Such a dialectic between fatalism and heroism is rare. It doesn’t always happen, but in antiquity it exists.”

What does the tragic hero fight against? He struggles with various obstacles that stand in the way of human activity and hinder the free development of his personality. He fights so that injustice does not occur, so that the crime is punished, so that the decision of a legal court triumphs over arbitrary reprisals, so that the mystery of the gods ceases to be it and becomes justice. The tragic hero fights to make the world a better place, and if it must remain as it is, so that people have more courage and clarity of spirit to help them live.

And besides: the tragic hero fights, filled with the paradoxical feeling that the obstacles standing in his way are both insurmountable and at the same time must be overcome at all costs if he wants to achieve the fullness of his “I” and not change it associated with great dangers, the desire for greatness, which he carries within himself, without offending everything that still remains in the world of the gods, and without making a mistake.

The famous Swiss Hellenistic philologist A. Bonnard in his book “Ancient Civilization” writes: “A tragic conflict is a fight against the fatal: the task of the hero who started the fight with it is to prove in practice that it is not fatal or will not remain with him forever. The obstacle that must be overcome is erected on his path by an unknown force against which he is helpless and which he has since called divine. The most terrible name he gives to this force is Rock.

Tragedy does not use the language of myth in a symbolic sense. The entire era of the first two tragic poets - Aeschylus and Sophocles - is deeply imbued with religiosity. Back then they believed in the truth of myths. They believed that in the world of the gods, revealed to the people, there were oppressive forces, as if seeking to destroy human life. These forces are called Fate or Fate. But in other myths it is Zeus himself, presented as a brutal tyrant, a despot, hostile to humanity and intent on destroying the human race.

The poet’s task is to give an interpretation of myths that are far removed from the time of the birth of the tragedy, and to explain them within the framework of human morality. This is the social function of the poet, who addresses the Athenian people at the festival of Dionysus. Aristophanes, in his own way, confirms this in the conversation between the two great tragic poets, Euripides and Aeschylus, whom he brings to the stage. Whatever rivals they may be presented in comedy, they both agree at least on the definition of a tragic poet and the goal that he should pursue. What should we admire in a poet?.. The fact that we make people better in our cities. (The word “better” of course: stronger, more adapted to the battle of life.) In these words, tragedy affirms its educational mission.

If poetic creativity and literature are nothing more than a reflection of social reality, then the struggle of the tragic hero against fate, expressed in the language of myths, is nothing more than the struggle of the people in the 7th-5th centuries BC. e. for liberation from social restrictions that constrained his freedom in the era of the emergence of tragedy, at the moment when Aeschylus became its second and true founder.

It was in the midst of this eternal struggle of the Athenian people for political equality and social justice that ideas about a different struggle began to take root during the most popular holiday in Athens - the struggle of the hero with Fate, which constitutes the content of the tragic performance.

In the first struggle, there is, on the one hand, the strength of the rich and noble class, possessing land and money, dooming small peasants, artisans and laborers to poverty; this class threatened the very existence of the entire community. It is opposed by the enormous vitality of the people, demanding their rights to life, equal justice for all; these people want law to become the new link that would ensure the life of every person and the existence of the polis.

The second struggle - the prototype of the first - takes place between Rock, rude, deadly and autocratic, and the hero, who fights for more justice and humanity among people, and seeks glory for himself. Thus, tragedy strengthens in every person the determination not to reconcile with injustice and his will to fight against it.

The high, heroic character of Aeschylus' tragedy was determined by the very harsh era of resistance to the Persian invasion and the struggle for the unity of the Greek city-states. In his dramas, Aeschylus defended the ideas of a democratic state, civilized forms of conflict resolution, the idea of ​​military and civic duty, personal responsibility of a person for his actions, etc. The pathos of Aeschylus's dramas turned out to be extremely important for the era of the ascending development of the democratic Athenian polis, however, subsequent eras kept a grateful memory of him as the first “singer of democracy” in European literature.

In Aeschylus, elements of the traditional worldview are closely intertwined with attitudes generated by democratic statehood. He believes in the real existence of divine forces that influence man and often insidiously lay snares for him. Aeschylus even adheres to the ancient idea of ​​​​hereditary clan responsibility: the guilt of the ancestor falls on the descendants, entangles them with its fatal consequences and leads to inevitable death. On the other hand, the gods of Aeschylus become guardians of the legal foundations of the new state system, and he strenuously puts forward the point of a person’s personal responsibility for his freely chosen behavior. In this regard, traditional religious ideas are being modernized.

A well-known expert on ancient literature, I. M. Tronsky writes: “The relationship between divine influence and the conscious behavior of people, the meaning of the paths and goals of this influence, the question of its justice and goodness constitute the main problematic of Aeschylus, which he develops in the depiction of human fate and human suffering .

Heroic tales serve as material for Aeschylus. He himself called his tragedies “crumbs from the great feasts of Homer,” meaning, of course, not only the Iliad and the Odyssey, but the entire set of epic poems attributed to “Homer,” i.e., the “cyclus.” Aeschylus most often depicts the fate of a hero or heroic family in three successive tragedies that make up a plot-wise and ideologically integral trilogy; it is followed by a satyr drama based on a plot from the same mythological cycle to which the trilogy belonged. However, borrowing plots from the epic, Aeschylus not only dramatizes the legends, but also rethinks them and imbues them with his own problems.”

In the tragedies of Aeschylus, mythological heroes act, majestic and monumental, conflicts of powerful passions are captured. This is one of the famous creations of the playwright, the tragedy "Prometheus Bound".

REFERENCES

Reference publications

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Ancient literature: A textbook for students of pedagogy. in-ov / Ed. A.A. Tahoe-Godi. – Ed. 5th, revised. – M.: CheRo LLP, 1997.

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Lyrics

Homer. Iliad. Odyssey. – 1 optional (can be from the reader).

Aeschylus. Prometheus Chained.

Sophocles Oedipus the King

Euripides. Medea.

Aristophanes. World. Clouds. Frogs. . – 1 optional.

Apuleius. Metamorphoses, or the Golden Donkey.

Virgil. Aeneid. Bucolics. . – 1 optional (can be from the reader).

Horace. Monument. Epistle to the Piso (On ​​Art).

Literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Tutorials

Foreign literature of the Middle Ages: Latin, Celtic, Scandinavian, Provence, French. lit.: Reader / Comp. V.I. Purishev - M.: Education, 1974.

Foreign literature of the Middle Ages: German, Spanish, Italian, English, Czech, Polish, Serbian, Bulgarian. lit.: Reader / Comp. V.I. Purishev - M.: Education, 1975.

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Purishev B.I. Literature of the Renaissance: A course of lectures. – M.: Higher. school, 1996.

Lyrics

Song of Roland. Poem about the Nibelungs. Song of Sid. – optional (according to the reader).

Bedier J. A novel about Tristan and Isolde.

Dante A. Divine Comedy. ("Hell").

Boccaccio J. Decameron. (Several short stories from different days).

Poetry of Petrarch, Villon, Shakespeare, Camoes, etc. – optional (according to the anthology).

Rabelais F. Gargantua and Pantagruel.

Cervantes M. Don Quixote.

Shakespeare B. Romeo and Juliet. Hamlet.

Foreign literature of the 17th-18th centuries.

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Lyrics

Cornel P. Sid. Racine J. Phaedra. – 1 tragedy of your choice.

Moliere J.B. A tradesman among the nobility. Tartuffe. – 1 comedy of your choice.

Lope de Vega Dog in the manger.

Walter F. Candide.

Diderot D. Nun.

Defoe D. Robinson Crusoe.

Swift J. Gulliver's Travels.

Fielding G. The story of Tom Jones, a foundling.

Stern L. A sentimental journey. Stern L. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Rousseau J.J. New Eloise. Goethe I.V.. The sufferings of young Werther. – 1 novel of your choice.

Beaumarchais P. The Barber of Seville. Marriage of Figaro. – 1 piece of your choice.

Sheridan R. School of slander.

Schiller F. Robbers. Deceit and love. Lessing G. Emilia Galotti – 1 piece of your choice.

Goethe I.V. Faust.

Burns R. Poetry.

SELF-TEST QUESTIONS

1. Epic as a cultural phenomenon. Heroic epic of Homer. Gods and people in poems, the epic hero of Homer, style and language of poems.

2. The originality of ancient Greek lyric poetry (using the example of the works of Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon - optional).

3. Aeschylus - “father of tragedy,” poet and ideologist of the period of formation of Athenian democracy.

4. Sophocles is a tragedian of the period of the dawn of Athenian democracy and the beginning of its crisis. His heroes are “people as they should be.”

5. Euripides – philosopher on stage. His heroes are “people as they are.”

6. Artistic originality of Aristophanes' comedy.

7. “Comedy of the Pot” by Plautus. The artistic mastery of Terence. (optional)

8. Roman lyrics of the Augustan era. The place of Horace in ancient Roman literature (The works of Virgil. The works of Ovid. (optional)).

9. The genre of the ancient novel.

10. Artistic originality of the heroic epic of the era of feudalism (“Song of Roland”, “Song of Sid”, “Poem of the Nibelungs” - optional).

11. Knightly literature and urban literature of the Middle Ages.

12. Humanism of Renaissance literature.

13. The originality of national versions of the Renaissance (Italian, French, English, Spanish - using the example of the works read).

14. The evolution of the tragedy genre in the works of Shakespeare.

15. Classicism and Baroque: aesthetics and practice.

16. The originality of the genre of classic tragedy (using the example of the works of Corneille or Racine).

17. The originality of the genre of classic comedy.

18. Enlightenment - ideological movement of the 18th century. Main literary trends and leading genres.

19. National versions of the literature of the Enlightenment.

20. English novel of the Enlightenment. (The image of Robinson Crusoe as a positive hero of the era. An English social and everyday novel (based on the work of G. Fielding). Political and social satire in the novel by J. Swift “Gulliver’s Travels”) - optional.

21. The originality of the genre of philosophical story.

22. Sentimentalism as an artistic movement in literature of the 18th century. Sentimental novel (Rousseau's "The New Heloise", Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther", Stern "A Sentimental Journey", "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" - optional).

23. Goethe’s tragedy “Faust” is the pinnacle of the German Enlightenment. The problem of searching for truth and the meaning of life in Goethe’s tragedy “Faust”. Images of Faust and Mephistopheles in Goethe's tragedy "Faust".

24. Reflection of the features of the late French Enlightenment in the works of D. Diderot.

25. Lope de Vega - playwright.

26. Reflection of the era in the comedies of J.-B. Moliere and P. Beaumarchais, compare their heroes.

27. Reflection of the ideals of “storm and stress” in the dramaturgy of Schiller and Lessing.

As well as questions from the preparation plans for the seminars.

TOPICS OF CONTROL WORKS

1. Epic as a cultural phenomenon (using the example of Homer’s poems “Iliad” or “Odyssey”).

2. Ancient Greek lyrics (using the example of the works of Sappho, Alcaeus, Anacreon).

3. The artistic originality of the political comedy of Aristophanes (using the example of 2-3 comedies).

4. Iranian-Tajik poetry of the Middle Ages (using the example of the rubai genre).

5. Japanese classical poetry (using the example of the tanka or haiku genres).

6. The originality of the genre of the ancient novel (using the example of Long’s novels “Daphnis and Chloe”, Achilles Tatius’s “Leucippe and Clitophon”, Apuleius’s “The Golden Ass”, Petronius’s “Satyricon” - optional).

7. The world of Irish sagas (artistic features and analysis of several sagas).

8. Icelandic epic (artistic features and text analysis).

9. Artistic originality of the heroic epic of the era of feudalism (“Song of Roland”, “Song of Sid”, “Poem of the Nibelungs” - optional).

10. Poetry of Francois Villon.

11. The world and man in the poetry of the Vagants.

12. Innovation in the lyrics of the Provençal troubadours.

13. “The Divine Comedy” by Dante is a philosophical and artistic synthesis of medieval culture and the humanistic culture of the Renaissance.

14. The originality of national versions of the Renaissance (Italian, French, English, Spanish - optional).

15. Renaissance humanism in Boccaccio’s “Decameron”.

16. Shakespeare is a comedian (using the example of 2 comedies).

17. Artistic innovation of W. Shakespeare’s sonnets.

18. English drama from the era of Shakespeare.

19. Classicism: aesthetics and practice (Racine, Corneille, Moliere - optional).

20. Enlightenment - ideological movement of the 18th century. Main literary trends and leading genres.

21. National versions of the Enlightenment (English, French, German - optional).

22. English novel of the Enlightenment (Defoe, Swift, Fielding, etc. - optional).

23. The educational nature of R. Sheridan’s comedy “School of Scandal.”

25. Schiller’s dramas “Cunning and Love” and “Robbers”: anti-feudal character, the image of a rebel.

26. The embodiment of Lessing’s aesthetic views in the drama “Emilia Galotti”.

WORKSHOP PLANS

Seminar No. 1

Man and Rock in Ancient Tragedy

Preparation plan for the seminar

1. The place of theater in the life of Athens.

2. Sophocles’ heroes are “people as they should be.” Sophocles' innovation in creating characters.
- Does Oedipus fight Fate? What does trying to resist fate lead to?
- Is Oedipus personally to blame for the misfortunes that happen to him?
- What moral lesson did Aeschylus want to teach his fellow citizens?

3. Euripides’ heroes are “people as they really are” (interests, attitude to life, characters, author’s attitude and embodiment on stage).
- Why is Euripides called the “philosopher from the stage”?
- How does the author motivate Medea’s behavior?
- Why does Euripides change the outline of the myth?
- Is Medea punished for her actions? If so, what is this punishment?

Sophocles Oedipus the King.

Euripides. Medea.

Aristotle. On the art of poetry // Ancient literature. Greece. Anthology. – Part 2. – M., 1989. – P. 347 – 364.

Boyadzhiev, G. N. From Sophocles to Brecht in forty theatrical evenings / G. N. Boyadzhiev. – M., 1981.

Kallistov, D. P. Ancient theater / D. P. Kallistov. – L., 1970.

Losev A.F. Ancient literature / A.F. Losev. – M., 2001.

Nikola, M.I. Sophocles // Foreign writers. Biobibliographical dictionary. Part 2. - M., 1997. - P. 265-269 (available on the website www.philology.ru)

Nicolas, M.I. Euripides // Foreign writers. Biobibliographical dictionary. Part 1. - M., 1997. - P. 310-313)

Yarkho, V.N. Dramaturgy of Euripides and the end of ancient heroic tragedy / V.N. Yarho. – Access mode http://philology.ru/literature3/yarkho-99.htm

Yarkho, V. N. Dramaturgy of Aeschylus and some problems of ancient Greek tragedy / V. N. Yarkho. – M., 1978.

Yarkho, V. N. The tragedy of Sophocles “Antigone” / V. N. Yarkho. – M., 1986.

Seminar No. 2

The dramaturgy of Ancient Greece marked the beginning of the history of the development of this genre. Everything that we have now originated in this cradle of European culture. Therefore, in order to understand many modern theatrical trends and discoveries, it is very useful to look back and remember where dramatic art began?

The king of the city of Thebes, Laius learns from the oracle that his son, who is about to be born, will kill him and marry his mother, Queen Jocastra. To prevent this, Laius orders the shepherd to take the newborn to the mountains to die; at the last moment he feels sorry for the baby and he hands him over to a local shepherd, who gives the boy to the childless Corinthian king Polybus.

After some time, when the boy has already grown up, rumors reach him that he is adopted. Then he goes to the oracle to find out the truth, and he tells him “no matter whose son you are, you are destined to kill your father and marry your own mother.” Then, in horror, he decides not to return to Corinth and leaves. At the crossroads he met a chariot in which an old man sat and urged the horses with a whip. The hero stepped aside at the wrong time and he hit him from above, for which Oedipus hit the old man with his staff, and he fell dead to the ground.

Oedipus reached the city of Thebes, where the Sphinx sat and asked a riddle to everyone passing by; whoever did not guess was killed. Oedipus easily guessed the riddle and saved Thebes from the Sphinx. The Thebans made him king and married him to Queen Jocastra.

After some time, a plague struck the city. The oracle predicts that the city can be saved by finding the killer of King Laius. Oedipus eventually finds the murderer, that is, himself. At the end of the tragedy, his mother hangs herself, and the hero himself gouges out his eyes.

Genre of the work

Sophocles' work "Oedipus the King" belongs to the genre of ancient tragedy. Tragedy is characterized by a personal conflict, as a result of which the main character comes to the loss of personal values ​​necessary for life. An integral part of it is catharsis. When the reader experiences the suffering of the characters through himself, it evokes in him emotions that elevate him above the ordinary world.

Ancient tragedy often shows the contrast between happiness and misfortune. A happy life is filled with crimes, retributions and punishments, thus turning into an unhappy one.

The peculiarity of Sophocles' tragedies is that not only the main character suffers cruel fates, but also the fates of everyone involved in him become tragic.

The main theme of ancient drama is evil fate. And the tragedy “Oedipus the King” is the clearest example. Fate dominates a person; he is deprived of free will. But in Sophocles' tragedy, the hero tries to change what was destined; he does not want to come to terms with predestination. He has his own position, but this is the whole tragedy: the rebellion against the system is brutally suppressed, because it is also planned in advance. Rock, which the rebel questions, plays a cruel joke on him, making him doubt that he was forced. Oedipus leaves not from his home, but from the house of his adoptive parents. His departure is tantamount to an escape from his own fate, which finds him on this trajectory as well. And when he blinds himself, then in this way he also opposes fate, but this attack is also predicted by the Oracle.

The hero's evil fate: why was Oedipus unlucky?

The king of the city of Thebes, Laius, stole and abused the student of the oracle, who conveyed to him knowledge about the world. As a result of his action, he learns of a prophecy that says that he will die at the hands of his own son, and his wife will marry him. He decides to kill the child. Reminds me of the myth of the god Kronos, who feared that children might kill him - and devoured them to prevent this from happening. However, Lai lacked divine will: he failed to eat the heir. Fate decreed this in order to punish the offender of the fortuneteller. Therefore, the whole life of Oedipus is an example of how evil fate wittily joked.

The baby falls into the hands of the childless king. Childlessness was considered the will of the gods, and if there are no children, then this is a punishment and so it is necessary. It turns out that the dignitary suffered from infertility only because he had to shelter the toy of fate.

Oedipus meets the Sphinx. The Sphinx appeared long before Kronos. All the deities that existed before Kronos combine the features of different animals and humans. She destroys the city, constantly devouring the townspeople for their lack of erudition. And when Oedipus solves her riddle, she dies, as was destined, and the hero has already attributed this to his own account.

The beginning of the plague in Thebes is also a divine punishment for the fact that, in fact, evil fate was created by walking around in the human world.

No one suffers in vain. Everyone is rewarded according to his actions or according to the actions of his ancestors. But no one can escape his lot; rebels are severely punished by the hand of fate. The most interesting thing is that this uprising is the fruit of the imagination of the gods themselves. Evil fate initially controls those who think that they are deceiving him. Oedipus is not to blame for his disobedience, it’s just that, using his example, they decided to teach people a lesson in obedience: do not contradict the will of your superiors, they are wiser and stronger than you.

The image of Oedipus: characteristics of the hero

In Sophocles' tragedy, the main character is the ruler of Thebes - King Oedipus. He is imbued with the problems of every resident of his city, sincerely worries about their fate and tries to help them in everything. He once saved the city from the Sphinx, and when the citizens suffer from the plague that has fallen on them, the people again ask for salvation from the wise ruler.

In the work, his fate turns out to be incredibly tragic, but despite this, his image does not seem pitiful, but, on the contrary, majestic and monumental.

All his life he acted according to morality. He left his home, going to an unknown place, so as not to carry out his destined crime. And in the finale, he asserts his dignity through self-punishment. Oedipus acts incredibly bravely, punishing himself for crimes that he committed unknowingly. His punishment is cruel, but symbolic. He gouges out his eyes with a brooch and sends himself into exile so as not to be near those whom he has defiled with his actions.

Thus, the hero of Sophocles is a person who complies with moral laws, striving to act according to morality. A king who admits his own mistakes and is ready to bear punishment for them. His blindness is a metaphor for the author. So he wanted to show that the character is a blind toy in the hands of fate, and each of us is just as blind, even if he considers himself sighted. We do not see the future, we are not able to recognize our fate and intervene in it, therefore all our actions are the pitiful throwings of a blind man, nothing more. This was the philosophy of that time.

However, when the hero becomes physically blind, he regains his sight spiritually. He has nothing to lose, the worst has happened, and fate has taught him a lesson: trying to see the invisible, you can even lose your sight. After such trials, Oedipus is freed from lust for power, arrogance, and godless aspirations and leaves the city, sacrificing everything for the good of the townspeople, trying to save them from the plague. In exile, his virtue only strengthened, and his worldview was enriched: now he is deprived of illusions, a mirage, which was created by obliging vision under the influence of the dazzling rays of power. Exile in this case is the path to freedom provided by fate as compensation for the fact that Oedipus covered his father’s debt.

The man in the tragedy "Oedipus the King"

The author writes his work, which is based on the myth of Oedipus the King. But he permeates it with the subtlest psychology, and the meaning of the play lies not even in fate, but in a person’s confrontation with fate, in the very attempt of rebellion, doomed to failure, but no less heroic for that. This is a real drama, filled with internal conflicts and conflicts between people. Sophocles shows the deep feelings of the characters; there is a sense of psychologism in his work.

Sophocles did not base his work solely on the myth of Oedipus, so that the main theme would not become exclusively the fatal bad luck of the protagonist. Together with her, he brings to the fore problems of a socio-political nature and the inner experiences of a person. Thus, turning the mythological plot into a deep social and philosophical drama.

The main idea in Sophocles' tragedy is that a person, under any circumstances, must himself be responsible for his actions. King Oedipus, after learning the truth, does not wait for punishment from above, but punishes himself. In addition, the author teaches the reader that any attempt to deviate from the course planned from above is a mirage. People are not given free will; everything is already thought out for them.

Oedipus does not hesitate or doubt before making decisions, he acts immediately and clearly according to morality. However, this integrity is also a gift from fate, which has already calculated everything. It cannot be deceived or bypassed. We can say that she awarded the hero with virtuous qualities. This is where a certain justice of fate towards people is manifested.

The mental balance of a person in Sophocles’ tragedy fully corresponds to the genre in which the work is performed: it fluctuates at the edge of conflict and, in the end, collapses.

Oedipus and Prometheus of Aeschylus - what do they have in common?

The tragedy of Aeschylus “Prometheus Chained” tells the story of a titan who stole fire from Olympus and brought it to people, for which Zeus punishes him by chaining him to a mountain rock.

Having ascended to Olympus, the Gods were afraid of being overthrown (as they overthrew the Titans in their time), and Prometheus is a wise seer. And when he said that Zeus would be overthrown by his son, the servants of the lord of Olympus began to threaten him, asking for the secret, and Prometheus remained proudly silent. In addition, he stole fire and gave it to the people, arming them. That is, the prophecy received a visual embodiment. For this, the chief of the gods chains him to a rock in the east of the earth and sends an eagle to peck out his liver.

Prometheus, like Oedipus, knowing fate, goes against it, he is also proud and has his own position. Both of them are not destined to overcome it, but the rebellion itself looks bold and impressive. Also, both heroes sacrifice themselves for the sake of people: Prometheus steals fire, knowing about the punishment awaiting him for this, and Aeschylus gouges out his eyes and goes into exile, abandoning power and wealth for the sake of his city.

The fate of the heroes Aeschylus and Sophocles is equally tragic. However, Prometheus knows his fate and goes to meet it, and Aeschylus, on the contrary, tries to run away from it, but in the final he realizes the futility of attempts and accepts his cross, maintaining his dignity.

Structure and composition of the tragedy

Compositionally, the tragedy consists of several parts. A work of prologues opens - a pestilence hits the city, people, livestock, and crops die. Apollo orders the murderer of the previous king to be found, and the current king, Oedipus, vows to find him at all costs. The prophet Tiresias refuses to say the name of the murderer, and when Oedipus blames him for everything, the oracle is forced to reveal the truth. At this moment, the tension and anger of the ruler is felt.

The tension doesn't subside in the second episode. A dialogue follows with Creon, who is indignant: “Only time will reveal to us what is honest. A day is enough to find out the vile thing.”

The arrival of Jocastra and the story of the murder of King Laius at the hands of an unknown person bring confusion into the soul of Oedipus.

In turn, he himself tells his story before he came to power. He has not forgotten about the murder at the crossroads and now remembers it with even greater anxiety. Immediately the hero learns that he is not the natural son of the Corinthian king.

The tension reaches its highest point with the arrival of the shepherd, who says that he did not kill the baby, and then everything becomes clear.

The composition of the tragedy is concluded by three large monologues of Oedipus, in which the former man who considered himself the savior of the city is not present; he appears as an unfortunate man, atonement for his guilt through severe suffering. Internally he is reborn and becomes wiser.

Issues of the play

1. The main problem of the tragedy is the problem of fate and freedom of human choice. The inhabitants of ancient Greece were very concerned about the theme of fate, since they believed that they had no freedom, they were toys in the hands of the gods, their fate was predetermined. And the duration of their life depended on the Moira, who determine, measure and cut off the thread of life. Sophocles introduces polemics into his work: he gives the main character pride and disagreement with his fate. Aeschylus is not going to humbly wait for the blows of fate, he fights with it.
2. The play also touches on socio-political issues. The difference between Oedipus and his father Laius is that he is a just ruler who, without hesitation, sacrifices his love, home and himself for the happiness of his citizens. However, a good king invariably bears the yoke inherited from a bad one, which in ancient tragedy took the form of a curse. His son managed to overcome the consequences of Laius’s thoughtless and cruel rule only at the cost of his own sacrifice. This is the price of balance.
3. Grief falls on Oedipus from the moment the truth is revealed to him. And then the author talks about a problem of a philosophical nature - the problem of ignorance. The author contrasts the knowledge of the gods with the ignorance of the common man.
4. The tragedy takes place in a society in which the murder of blood relatives and incest are accompanied by the most severe punishment and promise disaster not only to the one who committed it, but also to the city as a whole. So, the acts of Oedipus, despite the actual innocence, could not remain unpunished and therefore the city suffers from pestilence. The problem of justice in this case is quite acute: why do everyone suffer for the actions of one?
5. Despite all the tragedy of Oedipus' life, in the end he is endowed with spiritual freedom, which he gains by showing courage against the blows of fate. Therefore, there is a problem of assessing life experience: is freedom worth such sacrifices? The author believed that the answer was yes.

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