 VCCS Litonline Introduction to LiteratureEnglish 112 (English Composition II) |
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Oedipus the Wreck
Objective for this Page: To summarize and to consider the staging of the parados.
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Summary of Oedipus the King
Parados: The Thebans pray to
other gods to save them from the plague-bringer, Ares. (Lines
169-244)
The chorus is the voice of Thebes, or at least its elders. One way to stage these commentaries on the action by the townspeople was to have half of the chorus stand on one ramp to the stage and say the "strophes" (the first and third parts of these choral "odes"); the other half of the chorus, standing or moving rhythmically on the other ramp, would respond with the "antistrophes" (the second and fourth parts).
These interludes of commentary on the action are very emotional--so they are highly poetic but also subjective views and immediate, unreflective reactions to the events of the play.
