Lec 3 Fri, 4/4/14

Murderers Oedipus and someone else

can one be the same as many is Oedipus one or many?
Oedipus is many son, husband, king, adopted son
O is more than one thing to the other characters
One is many in life, its not always the case
All human beings had the same life pattern grow old and die
Riddle in the play > trajectory of human life
Is O an example of manhood? Biologically, yes.
Is O the human being the riddle is talking about? No, because when
he was baby, he crawled on three feet not four
O doesnt know who he is
The play the journey that happens to most of humans
Who killed Laius? O chooses to banish the killer (himself)
O is going to be exiled from Thebes
Some clues? Sophocles gave O the clue at the beginning
Whats the clue? Tiresias (prophet of Thebes)
People thinks they know, but want others to support them their
truth
King can see but doesnt know everything
Religious man cant see but knows everything
When knowledge meets ignorance, they clash
Tiresias dont bother to talk about what happened, since O doesnt
listen
O becomes suspicious and accuses Tiresias of the murder
Tiresias revealed that O is the pollution
O killed Laius
Tiresias truth freeds him self
O cant accept the truth, refuses to see the answer
O and Tiresias are different from the beginning, then will reflect one
another at the end.
Tiresias doesnt care
Tiresias rephrases the quest of O
How can one be many?
O is two things at once
O hasnt learned the lesson yet
O understand what Tiresias meant, then he is able to understand
himself
O needs to go to the origin (back to his parents) his quest
His journey goes towards home (to Thebes)
He never left home, never matured
O left Thebes, goes to Athens his first real journey, when he had
learned of himself
Human proofs are no proofs
three crossroads Laius was killed by robbers
The three is not very common in Greece
First time O admits hes wrong
Os soul wanders become unfixed
Man wants facts, woman wants emotion myths
Corinthian messenger didnt say your father died to O