Choices and Consequences play a crucial role in character and plot development within literature and Greek tragedy in particular. In Oedipus Rex, the protagonist makes a series of choices based on a prophecy. When he tries to outrun his fate, he ultimately causes it to come true. Depicting Oedipus's story in a T-Chart will help students connect characters' choices to their consequences and track the chain of events that leads Oedipus to his tragic fate.
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Student Instructions
Create a storyboard that shows cause and effect relationships in Oedipus. Each cause and effect pair will be shown in the same row.
Start by briefly explaining the idea of cause and effect in literature. Tell the students how actions taken by a character have consequences that result in the development of the plot. Discuss the significance of this concept to make the plot more interesting and how it naturally fits into the plot structure.
Once students are clear on the basic concept discuss real life cause and effect scenarios with them. For instance, if a student took a different path to school today what would happen (Action)? The student could be late for school or they could forget their way (Consequence). Students can also discuss the consequences of some actions they took and what they learned from their experience.
Once students are done reading the play discuss each event in detail. Teachers can ask “why” related questions such as “Why did that happen”, “Why did he do that”, etc pertaining to each event so students can figure out the cause behind each consequence. This will also help students improve their reasoning with facts.
Discuss a couple of cause and effect events from the play and ask students to pick one event to visually display the cause and effect. Students can work in groups so each group has one event from the play. Once all the groups are done with their drawing, teachers can hang the drawings in the order of the play so that the entire story is depicted through each illustration.
Students can reflect on the significance of each cause and effect event in the play and how it helped in the development of the plot. Ask the students to come up with different scenarios to change or extend the plot using their creativity and assess how things could have gone differently.
Important choices are also made by other characters in the play including Jocasta, Creon, and Tiresias. For instance, Tiresias's warnings go unheeded and Jocasta's sad realization results from her choice to marry Oedipus. All of these actions result in the prophecies becoming true and the tragic demise of Jocasta.
The themes of fate and free will are intertwined in "Oedipus Rex." Oedipus has a choice, yet he is also constrained by a predetermined fate. Despite his best efforts, his decisions ultimately seal his doom and his pre-decided fate wins.