Scene Study – Oedipus

I. Background & Given Circumstances

Identify the specific time and place in which your play, and your chosen scene, take place. (1 paragraph)
Identify central relationships your character has with other characters in the play. (1-3 paragraphs)
Analyze the values your character holds, based on both what they say about themselves, and what their actions express.
Identify major conflicts for your character in the world of the play, especially focusing on conflicts of role and conflicts of objectives. (1-2 paragraphs)
The moment before: describe what happens to the character for the 5 minutes leading up to your chosen scene, based on evidence from the play, and your own imagination, as necessary. (1 paragraph)

II. Action Analysis (1-2 paragraphs)

Identify an over-all objective for your character (super-objective) that motivates them throughout the duration of the play.
Identify your character’s objective/goal for your chosen scene
Identify at least 1 internal and one external obstacle to your character’s attempted objective in the scene.
Identify the character’s motivation for pursuing their objective
Divide the scene into beats, and name each beat with the actions/tactics that your character attempts over the course of the scene.
In your submitted written materials, include a copy or scan of your script with the beat divisions and names clearly indicated—highlighted or boxed in different colors, for example.

III. Structural Analysis: Character Arc

Analyze your character’s role in the major events of the play (exposition, complications, crisis, climax, denouement) (2-3 paragraphs)
Does the character have a major moment of self-recognition? If so, describe it & it’s significance to the overall plot. (1 paragraph)

IV. Character Research

Locate and summarize three unique written reviews of productions of your play that address how your chosen character was played/interpreted. You do not need a separate Works Cited page, but you must cite the sources of your reviews, including the author, publication, and date of publication. (1-2 paragraphs)
Analyze your character’s capacity for self-understanding (complexity), and their degree of willpower/strength/persistence in pursuing their objectives. (1 paragraph)
Describe the appearance of your character, including the style, cut and color of their clothing, their hairstyle, and the way they carry themselves. (1 paragraph)
Submit a minimum of 3 visual images that inspire/support your ideas about the appearance of the character. These can be a literal or metaphorical as you wish. These should be included in whatever final file you submit (pdf, doc, etc)

Use the play ‘Oedipus’ as the play for this assignment. You can use any scene that you want, but please make sure it is meaningful to the plot and will result in a good job being done. Don’t worry about the page limit, if you have to go over the limit I’m fine with compensating you for that.