Divide the class into small teams. Each team is given paper, crayons, markers and a board.
The teams are names after Greek heroes:
Heracles
Theseus
Perseus
The heroes need to fight evil monsters.
Heracles must beat Cerberus, an angry dog with three heads.
Theseus must beat the Minotaur, an animal half man, half bull. The Minotaur is very, very strong.
Perseus must beat Medusa, a woman with dangerous snakes in her hair. Anyone who looks at Medusa will turn to stone.
The task is not easy, it is a task for heroes. The heroes must answer questions, write, draw and conjugate verbs.
The first team to get 10 points will win. Let’s get started.
1) Write down an animal that is black and white
2) Write down 2 animals that can fly
3) Write 3 animals that can swim
4) A _________ can _____ a house
5) A _________ can ____ fruit and vegetables
6) A ________ can ____ people who are not well.
7) A football player scoring / scores goals.
8) A teacher teach / teaches students.
9) I play / plays guitar.
10) Chose one person to draw. On the board, draw your monster (Cerberus, Minotaur or Medusa). You have three minutes each.
11) Complete the sentences with adjectives.
A dog is very ____ and _____ .
A crocodile is very ______ and ______ .
A panda is very ______ and ________ .
12) Write 2 things you do in the morning
13) Write 2 things you do in the afternoon
14) Write 2 things you do in the evening
15) Draw a clock on your board
Show me five o’clock
Show me seven o’clock
Show me twelve o’clock
16) Write 2 words that begin with bl, cl, pl.
17) Conjugate these verbs
Heracles:
I am scared of lions / you / he / she / it / Mr John / we / they
Theseus:
I am very strong / you / he / she / it / Mr John / we / they
Perseus:
I am not scared of snakes / you / he / she / it / Mr John / we / they
18) Answer ‘Sure, that sounds fun,’ ‘Good idea,’ or ‘Not really.’
Do you want to fight a lion ?
Do you want to do homework all day ?
Do you want to play tennis ?
19) Team Heracles suggest something to Team Theseus and get a response. Team Theseus ask Team Perseus, and Team Perseus ask Team Heracles.
EXAMPLE: Do you want to drink water ?
20) Some or any.
There is ____ milk.
There isn’t ____ chicken.
There are _____ grapes.
Are there ______ eggs ?
Is there ____ juice ?
_____ there _____ water ?
21) You have 10 seconds. Write food that is healthy. Write food that is unhealthy. Write some drinks.
22) Write 2 fun places for children in Sai Gon
23) Write a sentence using
exciting / dangerous / happy
24) Sing the finish work song (“Dear teacher, I am finished.”)
25) How can you kill a skeleton. Watch the hero Jason.
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Oedipus and the Sphinx. Representation on a cup circa 470 BCE, now in the Vatican Museum, Rome.
Oedipus, along with Sisyphus, Achilles and Odysseus, is a figure from Greek myth who is part of our modern psyche. His story, whose key points are widely known, belongs to our collective cultural history; he lends his name to a psychological complex. In philosophy, Oedipus can be discussed as a case of free will versus determinism.
Oedipus was certainly no hero in the Theseus or Perseus mold. An argument could be made that he was no hero at all, but a tragic figure. However, he was strong enough to overcome four royal guards single-handedly, and intelligent enough to solve the riddle of the Sphinx, thereby freeing the people of Thebes.
A warrior (like Achilles), an strategist (like Odysseus), a character doomed for unimaginable punishment (like Sisyphus) ? We see what a complex character Oedipus is, and why he still holds our interest and awe.
Oedipus Rex by Pier Paolo Pasolini 1967
So, the key points, what the ‘average person’ knows about Oedipus:
He killed his father and slept with his mother
He solved the Riddle of the Sphinx
Some background is necessary. Some clarification is absolutely necessary.
Firstly, he unwittingly killed his father (King Laius; I shall elucidate later). Secondly, as a reward for freeing Thebes from the curse of the Sphinx, Oedipus was given Queen Jocasta, Laius’ widow, to wed. The patricide and insest were commited freely. Or were they ? Oedipus had been told that he would kill his father and marry his mother, which is exactly what happened, despite his determination to prove the prophecy false.
Therefore, it is my contention that Oedipus was punished for having the hubris to believe that he could defy fate. Yet, the question remains: why was Oedipus fated for such a punishment ? For that, we have to go back a generation and learn about his father, King Laius of Thebes.
Laius was from the House of Thebes and, as a young man, left his home town and stayed in Elis with King Pelops, a grandson of Zeus and son of Tantalus (but that is another story). Laius was a guest, and became tutor to Pelops’ son Chrysippus. Laius committed the unpardonable sins of abducting and raping the boy. For this he was cursed. Should he ever have a son, that child would murder him, then marry the widow. Despite Laius forcing himself to decline the pleasure of his wife, nature, to employ a phrase, took its course. A son was born, a son that Laius demanded be left alone on a mountain, his feet pinned together.
Oedipus abandoned, a print on a beach towel. A perfect illustration of how the myth permeates our culture.
The shepherd charged with this duty gave the baby to a friend from Corinth, where the baby was adopted by the childless King Polybus and Queen Meriope. The child was named Oedipus, meaning swollen foot (and from which we get the medical term oedema, swelling in the feet and ankles) [1]. Oedipus loved and was loved by his parents, and all was well in Corinth. Until, that is, a drunken man told Oedipus the truth, that he was not the natural child. Polybus and Meriope denied this, but Oedipus (in perhaps his first mistake, not believing his parents) travelled to the Oracle at Delphi to learn the truth. His origin was confirmed, and his fate, to kill his father and marry his mother, was proclaimed.
Delphi, home of the famous oracle
In an attempt to avoid this prophecy, Oedipus travelled instead to Thebes. On this journey, he met a carriage coming towards him. Either the driver grazed him, struck him, or demanded that he yield and give way. This infuriated Oedipus, and a fight ensued. In the carriage was an old man; King Laius. The King and all his guards, all but one of the retinue, were slain by Oedipus for their disrespectful treatment of a king’s son.
The Murder of Laius by Oedipus by Joseph Blanc 1867
Whether he was brave to refuse this slight, or flawed by an uncontrollable albeit understandable anger, Oedipus had unwittingly fulfilled the first part of the prophecy.
Continuing on to Thebes, Oedipus encountered the Sphinx and solved the riddle (which I’m sure you are all familiar with). Defeated, the Sphinx killed herself and, as mentioned earlier, Oedipus was given the widowed Queen Jocasta. The had four children and all was well. For a time. A plague decimated Thebes, and it would not abate until the murderer of Laius was found and punished. Eventually, it was revealed that Oedipus was the killer. Jocasta hanged herself, Oedipus blinded himself and went into self-imposed exile, wandering the countryside and dying just outside Athens.
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Performed by the Fimonoi Theatre Group in Athens, Greece
The Greek myths, unlike theological texts such as the Talmud, Bible and Koran, are incredibly flexible and varied, altering from city to city, as well as over time. Just how much people believed or accepted them will never be known, but many people would have been aware of the more famous myths.
Many myths that involve retribution, such as are found in Ovid’s ‘Metamorphosis’ are read as cautionary tales. Someone, a mortal, displayed a weakness that was so offensive they were punished. Some punishments were extremely harsh, but the reason could be clearly discerned. But how to understand Oedipus ? What, in fact was his digression ?
His fate was stated before he had done anything wrong. Maybe he didn’t accept his parent’s explanation, but that seems more contrary to Confucianism and filial piety. Greek myths are full of family in-fighting. He refused to yield to the carriage of King Laius and that pride led to fighting and murder, yet that could be attributed to self defense. Oedipus’ only fault seems to have been simply existing. Laius angered the gods. Why punish the son ?
I have read that some contemporary Greeks apparently thought the same, and began questioning the veracity of gods, myths and society. Such a harsh punishment for a young man who had rid a city of a curse made little if any sense. The psychological trauma would be unimaginable, which may explain the need to self mutilate, physical pain to numb the mental anguish.
To conclude, I am left to assert that Oedipus’ only crime was to try to defeat fate, to have the hubris to feel that a mere mortal, a king’s son notwithstanding, had the power to change the will of the gods. He honoured his father and mother but at the expense of the Immortals. Oedipus refused to accept his fate, for that he was doomed.
What else could Oedipus have done ? Should he have ignored the prophecy, or resign himself to the outcome ? The debate continues.
Stravinsky rehearsing his Oedipus Rex opera, first performed in 1927
Thay Paul's Notes 