The play starts with Oedipus (married to Jocasta) sending Creon, his brother-in-law, to Delphi – Apollo the Prophet’s oracle – to seek help and obtain advice about how the plague that hit Thebes can be stopped. Creon comes back and informs Oedipus that in order for the plague to vanish, the murderer of their former leader, Laius, has to be caught and punished. Thebes relies heavily on Oedipus, their new king, as he, himself, shows great conviction and determinism to help his people once again (first time is when he solved the riddle and freed them from the sphinx). Oedipus, king, we bend to you, you power– Oedipus is shown to be this righteous king who suffers not solely for himself but for the miserable crowd in front of him as well. He promises to defend the city and find the killer of Laius and thus satisfy Apollo. But is this the case really? In fact Oedipus fears (huge theme in the play) for his safety since the murderer still runs freely in the cities. So his incentives are not entirely selfless. Oedipus curses the murderer (i.e. himself, but he doesn’t know this yet) for what he has done to Thebes. So I will fight for him as if he were my father, There’s a great deal of irony here: (if only he knew that Laius IS indeed his father and well… no need to search the world, Oedipus, the murderer is just CLOSER to you than you think he is…). And now begins Oedipus’ quest for the truth about the murder. First he resorts to Tiresias, the blind prophet, master of the mysteries of life, who refuses to talk or reveal the grim and dire truth, not wanting to inflict pain, letting Oedipus learn the truth later by himself. This causes Oedipus to be enraged (in fact he seems to be angered all the time throughout the play). Oedipus then, fury winning his words, accuses Tiresias along with Creon, of taking part in Laius’ murder (Oedipus thinks everyone has bad motives but him), which leads Tiresias to his outrage: he says to Oedipus that he is the curse and the corruption, that HE is the murderer, and that he’s the only one responsible of his downfall. Oedipus gets even angrier hearing this nonsense; he CANNOT accept being accused, and commands Tiresias to be taken away. Revealed at last, brother and father both Here, we see this direct reference to sexuality, as in other places in the text as well. One important thing to note is the many interferences done by the chorus (thought to be the voice of the Theban mass) over and over again. The chorus brings different views of things and shows the actual reflection of the characters. For example: Zeus and Apollo know, they know, the great masters Creon hears of Oedipus’ hasty accusations and comes to defend himself as he claims that he has no interest in being king in Thebes, and he proceeds with this rational and reasonable calm argument, unlike Oedipus’ brutality and harsh threats (we talked in class about how Oedipus seems less rational than all other characters, he cannot control himself. Even his intelligence must be questioned: solving the riddle and passing was simply fated on him as well). Once again, we witness Oedipus’ constant rage that is easily triggered, and his stubbornness. Creon tells him that he already is praised without being king, he’s not looking after glory or pride, and that he’d much prefer to sleep in peace than live in anxiety as a leader. But Oedipus now refers to him as his mortal enemy, refusing to believe his words. Then comes Jocasta, to ease the tension a bit, blaming the two for their useless quarrels in a land so sick. Then she addresses Oedipus, with the chorus, both urging him to believe Creon and let go of his suspicions. She also tells him not to worry about ANY of the prophet’s sayings (about how he might be the murderer in particular) because she simply believes that no force, not gods not oracles, can predict the future (major anti-religious character) and she gives an example as proof: She and Laius were told that their son would kill his father and marry his mother and yet Laius was killed by strangers at a crossroad so the prophecy failed to become true. But a question must be asked: didn’t SHE herself try to MAKE SURE the prophecy doesn’t come true by sending off her son at birth to be killed? The fact that she wanted to kill Oedipus proves that she shouldn’t have in the first place because, well, prophecies must be wrong –the thing she vehemently argues about! But hearing this story, Oedipus’ thoughts raced back and forth and he asked Jocasta to give more details about the killing of her former husband as well as his physical description. She does and, at this point of the play, Oedipus is linking the story to his own, he is anxious, worried and tortured… He orders that the shepherd (lone survivor of the accident) be brought to the palace for further questioning. He tells Jocasta about the reason that pushed him to leave Corinth: Some man there told him one day that he is not the son of Polybus, king of Corinth. Oedipus went immediately to Polybus and Merope, Polybus’ wife, to get clear answers. They comforted him and kept his adoption a secret, but still he had to be reassured so he went to Apollo in Delphi who, instead, told him about the terror and pain that a prophecy holds for him in the future. You are fated to couple with you mother, you will bring Then, Oedipus, fearing that this might happen, ran and left Corinth behind. But by running away, Oedipus was only getting closer and closer to achieving the ugly prophecy, by reaching the triple crossroad. He killed Laius and his men with cruelty (though they did him no true harm). He claims to be guilty (yet still not knowing it’s his father). Jocasta tells Oedipus not to make any conclusions and have hope while waiting for the shepherd’s arrival. This concludes the first part of the reading (Wednesday 11th March). The second part of the reading (Friday 13th March) is the most interesting part. It reflects the importance of the role of fate and how it can never be changed. As we mentioned above, anything Oedipus tried to do to avoid it would only bring upon him the same fate, it was his own undoing. As we saw, he was sent away at birth by his real parents to avoid the prophecy of him killing his father and marrying his mother, but it came true anyway. When Oedipus learns from the messenger that his father, Polybus, has died from sickness (and he’s told he can be king in Corinth but he refuses to stay away from his parents), he was relieved and so was Jocasta. Since it was prophesized that Oedipus would kill his father, this event proved that prophecies aren’t always right. However, Oedipus was still afraid of the other part of the prophecy concerning his sleeping with his mother. While Jocasta tried to sooth him, Oedipus remained in fear. And as for the marriage with your mother– Next, we talked about lineage. Oedipus discovers that Polybus and Merope weren’t his real parents. He was given to the messenger with his ankles pinned together (meaning of his name: pain), and he set him free and gave him to Polybus. Jocasta then realizes the truth and tries to call off the search since her pain was enough, but Oedipus thinks she wants it off because of her pride. He thinks she’s ashamed by this discovery. The shepherd who gave Oedipus to the messenger is then brought to the palace for questioning. Violence takes place when the herdsman resists to tell his story; however, he cracks in the end and says he brought him from the house of Laius. Oedipus then realizes the whole truth and starts crying and shouting (see description: bottom of p.232). We also talked about the pessimistic views that were possessed by the people (through chorus’ passages). They believed that if Oedipus’ fate was doomed, then they have nothing but misery to expect. This showed the faith they had in Oedipus; they trusted him and saw him as the man who has no similar. We then hear what happened through the messenger (violent scenes probably skipped for esthetic purposes). Jocasta was found dead; she hung herself by the bridal bed. Oedipus then enters the room sobbing, and stabs his eyes with her brooches. A visual description (spurting blood…) is given which reminds us of the Cyclops’ scene in The Odyssey of Homer. He believed that his crime is too great for immediate death, and he should suffer, better yet, MAKE himself suffer. With his eyes gone, he won’t see what he’s done, he won’t see the world since nothing would bring him joy anymore and after dying, he won’t see his parents in the underworld. He was too ashamed of his unforgivable doings.
Oedipus then, in deep agony, asks Creon to send him away and exile him out of the land; Creon needs to ask the god before doing that. Then, Oedipus requests to touch his daughters, Ismene and Antigone, for the last time. This was his last wish. He was afraid that their fate would be of suffering because of him; he asks Creon to take care of them. In this part, we see that women suffer more than men; for men can take care of themselves wherever they go. However, women are taunted by their families’ past; Oedipus was worried that his daughters won’t be allowed to be women since no probably no man would agree to be with them. Having Oedipus as their father would bring them shame and disgrace; thus, they need someone to take care of them. The story ends with the chorus’ final view on Oedipus’ fate: only death will free him from his huge pain.
To sum the whole thing up, Oedipus’ power and greatness are worthless now. There is no chance to escape fate no matter what. Moreover, a man carries what he’s done for eternity even if his actions weren’t intended. Oedipus didn’t mean to be a murderer and an incestuous son, yet still holds responsibility. Our hero had a no-win situation in his life. He was at first blind to what a person he TRULY is. Men are blind to what runs beyond their knowledge in the cosmos. We can never know all things, but we have reason, and we might as well use it to know what we CAN know. And one thing for sure: the more you know your capacity and limitations (i.e. can’t change fate), the more your balance in human nature (words inspired from the lecture given by Dr. P. Shebay’a, Tuesday 10th March).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorThis is created by the Students of CVSP 201 Archives
May 2015
Categories |