INTERWORLD COLLEGES FOUNDATION INC.

BURGOS ST., PANIQUI, TARLAC

Project PALM (Parent – Assisted Learning Module)

Subject: ENGLISH 10 WEEK NO. 4 Module Duration:

Topic/s: Types of Conflict in a Greek Tragedy
Reference/s: MELC, English in Perspective World Literature 10
Learning Objectives: At the end of this module, each learner should be able to:
 Express insights based on the ideas presented in the material viewed
 Compare and contrast the contents of the materials viewed with outside
sources of information in terms of accessibility and effectiveness

LESSON Types of Conflict in a

4 Greek Tragedy

In our everyday life, we encounter people who may challenge our ability to
keep our cool, maintain our composure, or stretch our patience. In some cases, we
may not be in conflict with another person but with our own selves. Many of these
similar situations are reflected in the literature of the world which this module deals
with in order to surface how intrapersonal conflicts may be expressed and resolved.
In the process, you will learn how to express your personal ideas or opinions both in
oral and written English so as to convince others to accept your standpoint on
certain issues or conflicting situations in real life and eventually, restore harmonious
relationships with others around you.

As you go through this module, remember to search for the answer to this focus
question:

How do literary texts help one understand how conflicts can be expressed and
resolved?

Prepare to Read:
The following selection is another outstanding contribution of Greek Literature to
the world. Written by the great Greek Dramatist Sophocles, this literary masterpiece
epitomizes tragedy as we know it today. Read the synopsis of the play to find out the
conflicts encountered by the main character and how the character resolved these.

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Project PALM (Parent – Assisted Learning Module)

Oedipus Rex
(Oedipus the King)
By Sophocles(Plot Overview)

A plague has stricken Thebes. The citizens gather

outside the palace of their king, Oedipus, asking him to take action. Oedipus replies
that he already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle at Delphi to learn how to
help the city. Creon returns with a message from the oracle: the plague will end when
the murderer of Laius, former king of Thebes, is caught and expelled; the murderer is
within the city. Oedipus questions Creon about the murder of Laius, who was killed by
thieves on his way to consult an oracle. Only one of his fellow travelers escaped alive.
Oedipus promises to solve the mystery of Laius’s death, vowing to curse and drive out
the murderer.

Oedipus sends for Tiresias, the blind prophet, and asks him what he knows about
the murder. Tiresias responds cryptically, lamenting his ability to see the truth when the
truth brings nothing but pain. At first he refuses to tell Oedipus what he knows. Oedipus
curses and insults the old man, going so far as to accuse him of the murder. These
taunts provoke Tiresias into revealing that Oedipus himself is the murderer. Oedipus
naturally refuses to believe Tiresias’s accusation. He accuses Creon and Tiresias of
conspiring against his life, and charges Tiresias with insanity. He asks why Tiresias did
nothing when Thebes suffered under a plague once before.

At that time, a Sphinx held the city

captive and refused to leave until someone
answered her riddle. Oedipus brags that he
alone was able to solve the puzzle. Tiresias
defends his skills as a prophet, noting that
Oedipus’s parents found him trustworthy. At
this mention of his parents, Oedipus, who grew
up in the distant city of Corinth, asks how
Tiresias knew his parents. But Tiresias answers
enigmatically. Then, before leaving the stage,
Tiresias puts forth one last riddle, saying that the murderer of Laius will turn out to be
both father and brother to his own children, and the son of his own wife.

After Tiresias leaves, Oedipus threatens Creon with death or exile for conspiring
with the prophet. Oedipus’s wife, Jocasta (also the widow of King Laius), enters and
asks why the men shout at one another. Oedipus explains to Jocasta that the prophet
has charged him with Laius’s murder, and Jocasta replies that all prophecies are false.
As proof, she notes that the Delphic oracle once told Laius he would be murdered by
his son, when in fact his son was cast out of Thebes as a baby, and Laius was murdered
by a band of thieves. Her description of Laius’s murder, however, sounds familiar to
Oedipus, and he asks further questions. Jocasta tells him that Laius was killed at a three-
way crossroads, just before Oedipus arrived in Thebes.

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Project PALM (Parent – Assisted Learning Module)

Oedipus, stunned, tells his wife that

he may be the one who murdered Laius.
He tells Jocasta that, long ago, when he
was the prince of Corinth, he overheard
someone mention at a banquet that he
was not really the son of the king and
queen. He therefore traveled to the oracle
of Delphi, who did not answer him but did
tell him he would murder his father and
sleep with his mother. Hearing this, Oedipus fled his home, never to return. It was then,
on the journey that would take him to Thebes that Oedipus was confronted and
harassed by a group of travelers, whom he killed in self-defense. This skirmish occurred
at the very crossroads where Laius was killed. Oedipus sends for the man who survived
the attack, a shepherd, in the hope that he will not be identified as the murderer.
Outside the palace, a messenger approaches Jocasta and tells her that he has come
from Corinth to inform Oedipus that his father, Polybus, is dead, and that Corinth has
asked Oedipus to come and rule there in his place. Jocasta rejoices, convinced that
Polybus’s death from natural causes has disproved the prophecy that Oedipus would
murder his father.

At Jocasta’s summons, Oedipus comes outside, hears the news, and rejoices
with her. He now feels much more inclined to agree with the queen in deeming
prophecies worthless and viewing chance as the principle governing the world. But
while Oedipus finds great comfort in the fact that one-half of the prophecy has been
disproved, he still fears the other half—the half that claimed he would sleep with his
mother.

The messenger remarks that Oedipus need not worry, because Polybus and his
wife, Merope, are not Oedipus’s biological parents. The messenger, a shepherd by
profession, knows firsthand that Oedipus came to Corinth as an orphan. One day long
ago, he was tending his sheep when another shepherd approached him carrying a
baby, its ankles pinned together. The messenger took the baby to the royal family of
Corinth, and they raised him as their own. That baby was Oedipus. Oedipus asks who
the other shepherd was, and the messenger answers that he was a servant of Laius.

Oedipus asks that this shepherd be brought forth to testify, but Jocasta,
beginning to suspect the truth, begs her husband not to seek more information. She
runs back into the palace. The shepherd then enters. Oedipus interrogates him, asking
who gave him the baby. The shepherd refuses to disclose anything, and Oedipus
threatens him with torture. Finally, he answers that the child came from the house of
Laius. Questioned further, he answers that the baby was in fact the child of Laius himself,
and that it was Jocasta who gave him the infant, ordering him to kill it, as it had been
prophesied that the child would kill his parents. But the shepherd pitied the child, and
decided that the prophecy could be avoided just as well if the child were to grow up in
a foreign city, far from his true parents. The shepherd therefore passed the boy on to
the shepherd in Corinth.

Realizing who he is and his parents are, Oedipus screams that he sees the truth
and flees back into the palace. The shepherd and the messenger slowly exit the stage.
A second messenger enters and describes scenes of suffering. Jocasta has hanged
herself, and Oedipus, finding her dead, has pulled the pins from her robe and stabbed
out his own eyes. Oedipus now emerges from the palace, bleeding and begging to be
exiled. He asks Creon to send him away from Thebes and to look after his daughters,
Antigone and Ismene. Creon, covetous of royal power, is all too happy to oblige.

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Project PALM (Parent – Assisted Learning Module)

Comprehension Questions:

1. What is the problem in the story? Who are involved in the problem?
2. What actions were attempted at solving the problem in the story? How did these
actions result to?
3. What was the final solution arrived at by the characters involved in the story?
4. Was there any indication for the character rebuilding or restoring relationship
with other characters after the conflict in the story? Support your answer.

Refer to the Problem-Solving Worksheet that follows and indicate your answers to the
questions above.

Problem Definition Solutions Attempted

Who:

What:

Why:

Final Result Results

Relationship restored or unrestored? Why?

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Project PALM (Parent – Assisted Learning Module)

Literary Point
Identifying Different Types of Conflict

Conflict is a salient ingredient in creating tension or excitement in the story. It

refers to the problem of concern which the characters have to resolve. It is
also a struggle between or among opposite forces.
Conflict may come from various sources: internal or external.
Internal conflicts come from the dilemma of a character within himself (Man
versus Self)—his own thoughts, values, decisions, conscience or acts.

External conflicts, on the other hand, emanate from outside factors which the
character has to deal with. It may:
1. Man versus Society (or community) — a struggle between the main
character and the society (practices, beliefs, norms, or standards)

2. Man versus Man (another character) — a struggle between the main

character and other characters.

3. Man versus Nature (or environment) — a struggle between the main

character and the natural forces or environment which may be beyond
the character's power or strength.

4. Man versus supernatural beings — a struggle between the main character

and fictional or supernatural beings like ghost, etc.

5. Man versus circumstances/fate — a struggle between the main character

and the events or situations that are presented to him.

Literature Activity 2
Provide details from the play for each of the following types of conflict. An
example is given for you.

Type of Conflict Details

Man versus Self

Man versus Man

Man versus Society

Man versus Nature

Man versus Fate Oedipus was prophesied to kill his parents.

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Project PALM (Parent – Assisted Learning Module)

Literature Activity 3: Linking One Form to Another

Having analyzed the tragic drama Oedipus the King using the Problem-Solving
Worksheet, click the link below to watch the music video of “Sorry that I Loved You” by
Anthony Neely and answer the Reflective Questions that follow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?vSz-6k8Wdm8U

Reflective Questions

1. What idea is
communicated in the
song? How does the
song illustrate the
persona’s response to
the situation he was
caught up with?

2. Does the song express a

similar experience from
the story of Oedipus?
Explain briefly.

3. How does the play

Oedipus the King help
you understand how
conflicts can be
expressed and
resolved?

4. What specific
condition/s in the play
determine/s your
answer to Question
No.3? Explain briefly.