11/25/19 Leyao Yang Period 8

11/25/19 Leyao Yang Period 8

Modern Mythology 2020

Leyao Yang Period 8 #32

November 25, 2019

Aim: How does irony contribute to the state of catharsis in tragedies?

Do Now: Read the poem “Pride” by Dahlia Ravikovitch. Rename the poem. What is the role of irony in this poem?

The class started off with Mr. Luu reading the poem “Pride” by Dahlia Ravikovitch aloud, followed by a pair share activity to answer the do now question.

Ruby began the conversation by saying that she would rename the poem to “Guilt” because she related it to feelings that are kept hidden, and eventually, even the smallest thing can bring out the true feelings that can no longer be kept as a secret. Ryan also pointed out that although the rock is very strong and closed off by hiding his crack, it broke apart by something as soft as a seal. 

The class was then asked to think of a word that can describe this illusion of perfection, and although we came up with words like “facade”, the word we were looking for was “stoic”. Mr. Luu gave another perspective of “stoic” as he explains the poem: Being stoic is not strong, it’s just being prideful. He claims that stoic can even be seen as a form of selfishness, and Alan argues that sometimes leaders don’t show their emotions for good, and it’s unfair to judge them as selfish. Adam jumps into the conversation as he explains that when you bottle up emotions, it is bound to explode after a prolonged period of time, and create a consequence that is greater than if they were to just let out their emotions first. 

Character Motivations

Ethical Motivation: Motivated by morals and ethics; the sense of right and wrong

Pathetic motivations: Motivated by passion, overwhelming emotions

Which motivation seems to drive Oedipus’ desire to find Laius’ murderer?

Some people like Adam and Ryan argued that Oedipus is driven by ethical motivations because Oedipus didn’t seem to have any emotions for the people, and he’s just doing it to secure his place as the king. However, others like Ruby argued that Oedipus demonstrate qualities of pathetic motivation as he sounded very childish and emotion-driven in his conversation with the priest. It was later revealed by Mr. Luu that both motivations played a role because ethically, Oedipus wants to do what’s good for Thebes, while that was driven by his compassion for his people.

Towards the end of the period, we read lines 216-275, a monologue from Oedipus and discussed the ironies we found

• “Stranger to the story” - Oedipus claims that he is a stranger to the story of Laius’ death, even though he is the murderer
• Oedipus curses the murderer of Laius - he curses himself
• Oedipus will defend Laius as if Laius is the “father” - Laius IS his father
• “Common children” - Oedipus is the king, has a wife and kids. But he killed the old King Laius, which is his father and married his mother.

To answer the aim: How does irony contribute to the state of catharsis in tragedies?

As the audience, we know the truth and how ironic the actions of Oedipus are. It makes us feel bad for the characters because we understand that it’s their fate in this tragedy.

Reflection:

The most important thing I learned today was the power of ironies in Greek tragedies to evoke the emotions of the audience, and learning the concept of irony in the story of Oedipus helps us understand why we feel what we feel as we read. “Oedipus the King” can easily arouse our pity when we look at the ironies of the characters’ actions and fate, and thus the catharsis of our emotions. Although Greek tragedies often make us feel bad for the characters, it gives us pleasure and relief to see that we are not living a life as terrible as them (similar to the idea of schadenfreude).