| Term | Definition |
| oedipus | a tragic Greek hero. his prophecy stated that he kills his father and marries his mother, ultimately causing him to gouge his eyes out. |
| creon | king of Thebes, known for forcing eteocles and polyneices to kill each other then leave polyneices unburied, therefore causing the events of antigone |
| jocasta | queen of Thebes, known for being the wife and mother of Oedipus |
| antigone | daughter of Oedipus, known for trying to help polyneices get a proper burial after Creon orders otherwise. |
| teiresias | the blind seer that gives oedipus and Creon their prophecies. these prophecies cause the two to be angry and not listen to him. |
| ismene | second daughter of oedipus, known for not helping antigone in giving Polynices a proper burial. |
| chorus | theban elders who summarize and comment on the last scene of the plays. they represent the voices of the city. |
| shepherd | a former servant of laios, giving insight of oedipus's prophecies and ultimately proving oedipus's prophecy true, |
| corinth | the city in which Oedipus was raised by polybos and merope, whom he believed to be his biological parents. |
| laios | father of Oedipus. he was killed by his own son |
| polybos | adoptive father of Oedipus, who raised him in corinth |
| merope | adoptive mother of Oedipus, who raised him in corinth along with polybos. |
| theseus | son of king aegeus, known for going onto the Crete and slaying the minotaur in the labyrinth. king of athens in Oedipus at colonus |
| polyneices | son of oedipus. he is forced to kill his brother and Creon decrees that he shouldnt get a proper burial for betraying Thebes. |
| eteocles | son of oedipus. he is forced to kill his brother and is given a proper burial and is portrayed as a hero. |
| eurydice | former wife of Orpheus, killed by a snake. in antigone, she provides the message that Antigone has killed herself. |
| the furies | three sisters of vengeance who punish people who violate the laws of nature. |
| nemesis | goddess of retribution or justice. |
| dramatic irony | when the reader or audience is aware of something that the character is not. |
| situational irony | when something happens that is opposite of what is expected. |
| verbal irony | when someone says something when they mean the opposite. |
| motif | a recurring image or symbol that emphasizes the main idea or theme. |
| suppliant | a humble plea or beg to a person in authority. |
| anagnorosis | when the tragic hero in a play recognizes their wrongdoing or cause for their downfall. |
| hubris | excessive pride |
| hamartia | the flaw in a character that causes their downfall. |
| allusion | a reference from one media to another, unrelated, media. |
| theme | a central idea or message in a piece of writing that typically teaches a lesson. |
| tragic hero | the main character in a tragedy that faces a change in fortune, ultimately facing a downfall. |
| oracle | an individual that can contact the gods and are able to tell prophecies. |
| prophecy | a prediction of the future. |
| soothsayer | someone who can view the future; a prophet. |
| logos | to persuade an audience by using reasoning. |
| ethos | to persuade an audience by using the speaker's credibility |
| pathos | to persuade an audience by using emotional imagery |
| tragedy | a dramatic play in which a character, typically one with good fortune, experiences a downfall due to a flaw in their character. |
| catharsis | the purging of emotions. |
| freytag's pyramid | a framework describing the introduction, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. |
| peripeteia | |
| fate | the force of predetermined events for a person. |
| tyranny | a type of government in which one person rules over all without other input, usually cruel and unfair. |
| capitalistic | an economic system in which properties and industry are controlled by a private owner |
| democratic | a type of government in which citizens vote for a leader. |
| socialistic | a system in which people support and control economic and political beliefs. |
| in text citaitions | a piece of evidence within writing; shown by the authors last name and page number in parenthesis. |
| conjuctions | a word that connects clauses or sentences. |
| dependent clause vs independent clause | a dependent clause cannot stand on its own and must have an independent clause to make sense in a sentence. an independent clause is a phrase that can stand by itself without needing a dependent clause or even an independent clause. |
| complex vs compound sentences | a complex sentence has an independent clause and at least one dependent clause to provide more information. |
| capitalization | a part of grammar in which that the first letter of a sentence or a proper noun must be capitalized. |
| runon sententence vs incomplete/fragment sentneces | a run-on sentence is a sentence that goes on without punctuation, making it nonsensical. an incomplete/fragment sentence is a sentence without a subject and/or verb. |
| parts of a paragraph | 1. topic sentence, 2. supporting evidence, 3. analysis, 4. concluding sentence. |
| apostrophe s vs plural s | apostrophe s describes who the item is in possession of. plural s describes multiple of one item. |
