Assignment Sheet
Sample Student Essay from Sequence
1202 Teaching Notes: 1202 Unit 1 � Justice
Materials:
Aristotle�s �Definition of Justice�
Sophocles� Oedipus Rex
Film: Chinatown
External Link: MLK�s speech �Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence�
Thoreau�s �Civil Disobedience�
Sophocles� Antigone
Film: Gandhi
Day 1: Aristotle�s �Definition of Justice�
Homework Due: Discussion Board post:
- Identify at least 3 passages (of at lease one sentence each) that express a main idea in Aristotle�s �Definition of Justice.� Type the passage exactly as it appears, using quotation marks and providing the page number in parenthesis at the end of it.
- Imagine that Aristotle was alive today and that you were going to interview him about this essay. What idea, in particular, would you question him about? (Pick something that you disagree with or that you find unclear or confusing). Write a question which includes the passage that pertains to it. Formulate your question as I have in the example below.
Example: Imagine that I�m going to interview Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence. Here�s how I would phrase the question:
In the Declaration of Independence you say that �all men are created equal.� However, if I grew up in Compton and you grew up in Beverly Hills, how could we be equal? We wouldn�t have the same life experiences or the same opportunities to succeed, so where is the equality?
Discussion Notes:
1. Discuss the difficulties of reading Aristotle: reading strategies is helpful. What seem to be the
terms he uses frequently: virtue, justice, family, equality,
2. Def. of the state: individual>>family>>community>>state.
3. Justice = the common interest = �a sort of equality�
4. Aristocrat << Aristotle (concept of nobility � class superiority)
5. men of lower birth and women were not considered fit to strive for highest virtue.
Double Column Notes on �Definition of Justice� � see Word doc. � break class up into groups and have each group respond to a set of quotes. Go over responses as a way to begin discussing the essay.
Homework: study for Oedipus Quiz.
Day 2: Beginning Oedipus
- Oedipus Quiz.
- Announce Homework:
- read Aristotle�s �On Tragedy� in DiYanni p. 2114
- Double Column Notebook which makes connections on Aristotles ideas and the events/characters of Oedipus. Examples of types of ideas: virtue, leadership, Truth, family, etc.
- MLK Speech: look at portion which refers to slavery and Vietnam as sicknesses that afflict the soul of America.
- Correct Quizzes: discuss answers in class
- Double Column Notebook on board using responses to quiz questions:
- City State of Thebes >>> importance of the state for Ari. and Greeks
- Particide and incest >>> taboos, sins which violate the social order of the city state. Why not allow killing of fathers and incest. Why? They violate the sanctity of family unit
- Etc.
Day 3: Continuing Oedipus (Discussion of Myth, Tragedy & Aristotle & Catharsis)
�Something in the Way� from Nirvana Unplugged
Purpose: To explore the idea that we are attracted to the tragedy of others.
� Is there something cathartic about the song? What other artists portray a sense of personal
tragedy in their music? Why do they become heroic for us?
� What does the idea of �Something in the Way� suggest about human suffering?
� Is there a parallel to Oedipus� plight and suffering?
� How has the myth of Oedipus (as portrayed by Sophocles) permeated the artistic world across the generations? Look at other Cobain lyrics from Incesticide.
Aristotle: �On Tragedy�
� Tragedy is: �imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude�; it evokes �pity and fear�; cathartic effect: audience feels purged
� Tragedy results from:
� Hero�s tragic flaw
� Flaw that is a result of fate >> beyond hero�s control
� Hero�s error of judgment >> mistakes (very common, underscores the imperfection of man)
Joseph Campbell on the Importance of Myth: “Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human manifestation…” (from Hero with a Thousand Faces)
Oedipus: What is the play really about?
� Mythic Story was reflected in : Homer�s Odyssey, Sophocles� Oedipus Rex, and plays of Euripides and Aeschylus (text of plays is lost)
� Sins of the Father � One version of the myth says that Laius was punished by the gods because he seduced a young boy.
o This part of the myth is only in Robert Graves� book on Greek Mythology, not in Edith Hamilton�s or Thomas Bullfinch�s (schools most often use the latter).
o Story: Laius was a Theban who raped a young boy, named Chrysippus, who he was teaching to operate a chariot. He fell in love with the boy and abducted him. When the whole thing came to light the boy killed himself in shame. The gods perceived what Laius had done as a crime against heterosexual relations and marriage. As punishment Hera sent the Sphinx to plague Thebes and Apollo made Laius childless. Laius went to the Oracle at Delphi to find out about his future and was told that he should remain childless because his son would kill him. Afterwards Laius married Jocasta and unintentionally got her pregnant while he was drunk. In light of this, the gods� punishment does not seem arbitrary. The problem is that his son Oedipus is the one who bore the brunt of the suffering.
o �Sins of the Father� concept � part of Judeo-Christian Tradition: the tragedy causes the downfall of the entire house of Kadmos (affects Oedipus and his family across generations)
� The Symbol of the Sphinx:
o Oedipus as story about question of rulership: embodied in The Sphinx Sub-plot
o Solving the Riddle addresses the question of Earned vs. Inherited Power: Should political power (kingship, in this case) be inherited or earned? Aristotle discusses this in �Definition of Justice�.
� Consider that Sophocles titled the play Oedipus Tyrannus. In the case of Oedipus he both earns it by solving the riddle of the Sphinx and inherits it (unknowingly) � creating an interesting irony. �Tyrant� � in Classical Greece meant �uninherited political power� (it did not connote cruelty or despotism).
o Sphinx is sometimes portrayed as a combination of genders and species (head of man, breasts of woman, body of lion); sometimes portrayed as winged lion with head and breasts of woman and tail of a serpent,
� The Symbol of Blindness:
o Tieresias: blind soothsayer: is blind but can see truth better than the sighted; can see what the sighted cannot; can see what the gods have in store for humans. Note also: Tieresias is also double-sexed; is an �hermaphrodite� � Hera blinded him because he told the secret that women enjoy sex more than men. Also, by being both man and woman he know more than any normal mortal could/would.
o Blindness as symbol of castration: emasculation. Oedipus blinds himself because he never again wants to look on the fruits of his sexual activity, so he symbolically emasculates himself (the eyes are the first organs of lust/desire).
� The Issue of Guilt:
o Aristotle doesn�t perceive Oedipus as the guilty party � �undeserved misfortune� not due to �depravity� but �some great error�
o What makes us guilty?
� Hubris? (pride, violence, excess)
� Hamartia? (a flaw, mistake, sin)
� Ironies: The Clash of Opposites
o Concept of �polemos panton pater� – �conflict fathers everything� (everything in life arises from conflict of some sort)
o A necessary aspect of the public life of a society? (is suffering inescapable and necessary? � see the rhetoric used concerning the need for military action to �bring democracy to the world�).
� Story of the individual�s relentless search for the truth (as in the film Chinatown)
� Story of the need to confront human problems with dignity and courage
Homework: Read the essays of literary criticism on pp. 1295 � 1300 of Di Yanni (Freud, Knox, Poole) and the material in External Links. In Discussion Board respond to the following prompt:
Considering one or more of the ideas you wrote about in the Double Column Note exercise, now make a connection to something you read in either one of the critical essays in Di Yanni or in External Links. Write a paragraph of at least 200 words which develops an idea about that connection. Your goal should be to use this third source of information to further develop your ideas about the topic. Your paragraph should include at least one quote from the new source (but don�t include the quote in your word count). It should also refer to the play and to Aristotle, although you don�t necessarily have to quote from them. Make sure you mention the name of the source and the author, if any.
Example: If you wrote about the tragic hero in the Double Column Note exercise you might want to discuss what Knox says about Oedipus� heroic stature in his essay. Your paragraph would provide a pertinent quote from the essay and explain its connection to the portrayal of Oedipus in the play and the description of the tragic figure (or of tragedy) in Aristotle�s �On Tragedy�.
Day 4:
Give back Double Column Note Exercises and ask students to look at my comments, look back at the Synthesis Paragraph they�ve written in DB and in class add a response to this question:
What question to you think you can address in your essay, based on the thinking you�ve done thus far?
Continue to Discuss Oedipus using notes above and include mention of Divine Right of Kings issue and Inaugural address or other Bush speeches that indicate a feeling of divine appointment. (Billy Graham�s speech also.)
–Melinda Papaccio