Oedipus Journal #2

Background information helps you to understand what is going on especially when the chorus comes on. Today they do not really have choruses in plays and to be able to understand the play you need to know about the chorus that is made up of about 50 people. They sang a hymn of chant and that helps us to understand why a random chorus comes in and sings. The background information helps to understand whe the characters talk about the Gods. They talk about Dionysus for example "I cry to you -your name and ours are one, Dionysus- come with your face aflame with wine." (238-39). He is the God of wine and they are calling on him to help them. They also call to him to "Burn that god of death". He is the god of life cycles so this would make sense for them to pray to him. We also know that Zeus is basically the biggest and most important god. This helps us to also understand why the characters are always praying to him or using his power as a threat. The information helps us as readers to understand who all of these gods are.

Knowing background on Sophocles also helps us to understand his plays. In the article we read today, it said that he used some of his life experiences in his writings. This can explain a lot. In the story, he yells and has a fight with at Creon who is his family and in real life, Sophocles has a fight with his son, Iophon, who is his own family. This helps a reader to know why Sophocles might choose to put a certain part in his stories. Now we know that he might do it because it happened to him in his life. Background information is very important in helping a reader and is crucial if they want to fully understand the text that they are reading.