Leiden University Student Repository

Mendez Correa, Emma Louise (2019)

Wat het koor weet - Gedachtelezen in het eerste koorlied van Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex

Bachelor thesis | Griekse en Latijnse taal en cultuur (BA)

This thesis examines the first stasimon of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and focuses on how the opening of the first choir song responds to the first epeisodion. In the first epeisodion Tiresias accuses Oedipus of murdering Laius. Nevertheless, the choir opens the first stasimon by asking who the murderer of Laius is. Why don't they respond to Tiresias' accusation? My analysis suggests that the choir suffers of cognitive dissonance since the accusation of Tiresias, as this accusation forces the choir to choose between either Oedipus or Tiresias. I have tried to explain that the fact that the choir opens by asking who the murderer is can be seen as a form of cognitive dissonance reduction, more specifically by changing a environmental cognitive element, namely time.

Sophocles

Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive science

Theory of mind

Greek tragedy

Oedipus Rex

Author

Mendez Correa, Emma Louise

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

BA Griekse en Latijnse Taal en Cultuur

Supervisors

Jonge, Casper de

ECTS Credits

10

Language

nl