Beyond the Boundaries of Fantasia: An ancient imagining of the future of leadership

Leadership in Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannos (Rex)

This seven-hour module asks us to consider the well-known story of Oedipus from the perspective of leadership. It is split into three acts: foundations, communities, and discoveries. In the first stage, we consider the mythological and cultural backgrounds of the story to consider to what extent it makes sense to think of the story of Oedipus in this performance as one that is in a significant way about leadership.  In the second, we contextualize the play in its Athenian setting and consider how it communicates issues of communal and political identities. In the third act, we examine the play as a whole and what its messages about knowledge, self-deception and power can say about the identity and process of leadership.



Act 1: Foundations
Beginning the Oedipus--Oedipus as leader and hero; the beginning of the play and Greek myth and literature

[Additional information available about Oedipus'  myths]

Act 2: Communities
The context(s) that help us to understand Oedipus Tyrannos as a play about leadership

Act 3: Discoveries
Oedipus as an example of a genre that makes us think about actions, identity, and relationships

And here's a song for this module:

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