Oedipus Rex: The Paradox of Knowledge

Today in literature, students are exploring the deep themes of Greek tragedy through Oedipus Rex and Aristotle’s Poetics, focusing on what the Greeks believed about knowledge, truth, and human limits. Using key literary concepts such as tragic flaw, reversal, recognition, and catharsis, students are examining how Oedipus’s pursuit of truth leads through suffering to wisdom. Through guided discussion and textual analysis, students are learning that for the Greeks, true wisdom begins in humility and in recognizing the limits of human reason before the divine. This lesson also begins preparing students to craft a thoughtful literary analysis essay using classical reasoning and evidence from the text.