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AUTONOMOUS STATUS - CHED

Soc. Sci. 415 (Humanities)

Christian B. Barrientos Dr. Vima A. Olivares

MAT SocSci Student Professor

Oedipus Rex
Sophocles

THE DRAMA

Oedipus, in Greek mythology, the king of Thebes who unwittingly killed

his father and married his mother. Homer related that Oedipus’s wife and
mother hanged herself when the truth of their relationship became known,
though Oedipus apparently continued to rule at Thebes until his death. In the
post-Homeric tradition, most familiar from Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (or Oedipus
the King) and Oedipus at Colonus, there are notable differences in emphasis
and detail.

According to one version of the story, Laius, king of Thebes, was warned

by an oracle that his son would slay him. Accordingly, when his wife, Jocasta
(Iocaste; in Homer, Epicaste), bore a son, he had the baby exposed (a form
of infanticide) on Cithaeron. (Tradition has it that his name, which means
“Swollen-Foot,” was a result of his feet having been pinned together, but
modern scholars are skeptical of that etymology.) A shepherd took pity on the
infant, who was adopted by King Polybus of Corinth and his wife and was
brought up as their son. In early manhood Oedipus visited Delphi and upon
learning that he was fated to kill his father and marry his mother, he resolved
never to return to Corinth.

Traveling toward Thebes, he encountered Laius, who provoked a quarrel

in which Oedipus killed him. Continuing on his way, Oedipus found Thebes
plagued by the Sphinx, who put a riddle to all passersby and destroyed those
who could not answer. Oedipus solved the riddle, and the Sphinx killed herself.
In reward, he received the throne of Thebes and the hand of the widowed
queen, his mother, Jocasta. They had four children: Eteocles,
Polyneices, Antigone, and Ismene. Later, when the truth became known,
Jocasta committed suicide, and Oedipus (according to another version), after
blinding himself, went into exile, accompanied by Antigone and Ismene, leaving
his brother-in-law Creon as regent. Oedipus died at Colonus near Athens,
where he was swallowed into the earth and became a guardian hero of the
land.

Oedipus appears in the folk traditions of Albania, Finland, Cyprus,

and Greece. The ancient story has intense dramatic appeal;
through Seneca the theme was transmitted to a long succession of playwrights,
including Pierre Corneille, John Dryden, and Voltaire. It had a special
attraction in the 20th century, motivating among other artists Russian-born
composer Igor Stravinsky’s secular oratorio Oedipus Rex, French writer André
Gide’s Oedipe, and French novelist Jean Cocteau’s La Machine
infernale. Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud chose the term Oedipus
complex to designate a son’s feeling of love toward his mother and of jealousy
and hate toward his father, although those were not emotions that motivated
Oedipus’s actions or determined his character in any ancient version of the
story.

SPIRITUAL MOTIFS AND AESTHETIC CONSIDERATION

Fate is a motif that often occurs in Greek writing, tragedies in particular.

Likewise, where the attempt to avoid an oracle is the very thing that enables it
to happen is common to many Greek myths. For example, similarities to
Oedipus can be seen in the myth of Perseus' birth.
Two oracles in particular dominate the plot of Oedipus Rex. Jocasta
relates the prophecy that was told to Laius before the birth of Oedipus (lines
711–4):
[The oracle] told him
that it was his fate that he should die a victim
at the hands of his own son, a son to be born
of Laius and me.
The oracle told to Laius tells only of the patricide, whereas the incest is
missing. Prompted by Jocasta's recollection, Oedipus reveals the prophecy
which caused him to leave Corinth (lines 791–3):
that I was fated to lie with my mother,
and show to daylight an accursed breed
which men would not endure, and I was doomed
to be murderer of the father that begot me.
The implication of Laius's oracle is ambiguous. One interpretation
considers that the presentation of Laius's oracle in this play differs from that
found in Aeschylus's Oedipus trilogy produced in 467 BC. Smith (2005) argues
that "Sophocles had the option of making the oracle to Laius conditional
(if Laius has a son, that son will kill him) or unconditional (Laius will have a
son who will kill him). Both Aeschylus and Euripides write plays in which the
oracle is conditional; Sophocles...chooses to make Laius's oracle unconditional
and thus removes culpability for his sins from Oedipus, for he could not have
done other than what he did, no matter what action he took.
This interpretation is supported by Jocasta's repetition of the oracle at
lines 854–55: "Loxias declared that the king should be killed by/ his own son."
In Greek, Jocasta uses the verb chrênai: "to be fated, necessary." This iteration
of the oracle seems to suggest that it was unconditional and inevitable.
Other scholars have nonetheless argued that Sophocles follows tradition
in making Laius's oracle conditional, and thus avoidable. They point to
Jocasta's initial disclosure of the oracle at lines 711–14. In Greek, the oracle
cautions: "hôs auton hexoi moira pros paidos thanein/ hostis genoit emou
te kakeinou para." The two verbs in boldface indicate what is called a "future
more vivid" condition: if a child is born to Laius, his fate to be killed by that
child will overtake him.
Whatever the meaning of Laius's oracle, the one delivered to Oedipus is
clearly unconditional. Given the modern conception of fate and fatalism,
readers of the play have a tendency to view Oedipus as a mere puppet
controlled by greater forces; a man crushed by the gods and fate for no good
reason. This, however, is not an entirely accurate reading. While it is a
mythological truism that oracles exist to be fulfilled, oracles do not cause the
events that lead up to the outcome. In his landmark essay "On
Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex", E.R. Dodds draws a comparison
with Jesus' prophecy at the Last Supper that Peter would deny him three
times. Jesus knows that Peter will do this, but readers would in no way
suggest that Peter was a puppet of fate being forced to deny Christ. Free
will and predestination are by no means mutually exclusive, and such is the
case with Oedipus.
The oracle delivered to Oedipus is what is often called a "self-fulfilling
prophecy," whereby a prophecy itself sets in motion events that conclude with
its own fulfilment. This, however, is not to say that Oedipus is a victim of fate
and has no free will. The oracle inspires a series of specific choices, freely made
by Oedipus, which lead him to kill his father and marry his mother.
Oedipus chooses not to return to Corinth after hearing the oracle, just as he
chooses to head toward Thebes, to kill Laius, and to take Jocasta specifically
as his wife. In response to the plague at Thebes, he chooses to send Creon to
the Oracle for advice and then to follow that advice, initiating the investigation
into Laius' murder. None of these choices are predetermined.
Another characteristic of oracles in myth is that they are almost always
misunderstood by those who hear them; hence Oedipus misunderstanding the
significance of the Delphic Oracle. He visits Delphi to find out who his real
parents are and assumes that the Oracle refuses to answer that question,
offering instead an unrelated prophecy which forecasts patricide and incest.
Oedipus' assumption is incorrect, the Oracle does, in a way, answer his
question. On closer analysis the oracle contains essential information which
Oedipus seems to neglect. The wording of the Oracle: "I was doomed to be
murderer of the father that begot me" refers to Oedipus' real, biological father.
Likewise the mother with polluted children is defined as the biological one. The
wording of the drunken guest on the other hand: "you are not your father's
son" defines Polybus as only a foster father to Oedipus. The two wordings
support each other and point to the "two set of parents" alternative. Thus the
question of two set of parents, biological and foster, is raised. Oedipus' reaction
to the Oracle is irrational: he states he did not get any answer and he flees in a
direction away from Corinth, showing that he firmly believed at the time that
Polybus and Merope are his real parents.
The scene with the drunken guest constitutes the end of Oedipus'
childhood. He can no longer ignore a feeling of uncertainty about his
parentage. However, after consulting the Oracle this uncertainty disappears,
strangely enough, and is replaced by a totally unjustified certainty that he is
the son of Merope and Polybus. We have said that this irrational behaviour—
his hamartia, as Aristotle puts it—is due to the repression of a whole series of
thoughts in his consciousness, in fact everything that referred to his earlier
doubts about his parentage.
The exploration of the theme of state control in Oedipus Rex is paralleled
by the examination of the conflict between the individual and the
state in Antigone. The dilemma that Oedipus faces here is similar to that of the
tyrannical Creon: each man has, as king, made a decision that his subjects
question or disobey; and each king misconstrues both his own role as
a sovereign and the role of the rebel. When informed by the
blind prophet Tiresias that religious forces are against him, each king claims
that the priest has been corrupted. It is here, however, that their similarities
come to an end: while Creon sees the havoc he has wreaked and tries to amend
his mistakes, Oedipus refuses to listen to anyone.
Irony
Sophocles uses dramatic irony to present the downfall of Oedipus. At the
beginning of the story, Oedipus is portrayed as "self-confident, intelligent and
strong willed." By the end, it is within these traits that he finds his demise.
One of the most significant instances of irony in this tragedy is when
Tiresias hints at Oedipus what he has done; that he has slain his own father
and married his own mother (lines 457–60):
To his children he will discover that he is both brother and father.
To the woman who gave birth to him he is son and husband and to his father,
both, a sharer of his bed and his murderer.
Go into your palace then, king Oedipus and think about these things and if
you find me a liar then you can truly say I know nothing of prophecies.
 The audience knows the truth and what would be the fate of Oedipus.
Oedipus, on the other hand, chooses to deny the reality that has confronted
him. He ignores the word of Tiresias and continues on his journey to find the
supposed killer. His search for a murderer is yet another instance of irony.
Oedipus, determined to find the one responsible for King Laius' death,
announces to his people (lines 247–53):
I hereby call down curses on this killer...
that horribly, as he is horrible,
he may drag out his wretched unblessed days.
This too I pray: Though he be of my house,
if I learn of it, and let him still remain,
may I receive the curse I have laid on others.
This is ironic as Oedipus is, as he discovers, the slayer of Laius, and the
curse he wishes upon the killer, he has actually wished upon himself.
Glassberg (2017) explains that “Oedipus has clearly missed the mark. He is
unaware that he is the one polluting agent he seeks to punish. He has
inadequate knowledge...”
Sight and blindness
Literal and metaphorical references to eyesight appear
throughout Oedipus Rex. Clear vision serves as a metaphor
for insight and knowledge, yet the clear-eyed Oedipus is blind to the truth
about his origins and inadvertent crimes. The prophet Tiresias, on the other
hand, although literally blind, "sees" the truth and relays what is revealed to
him. "Though Oedipus' future is predicted by the gods, even after being warned
by Tiresias, he cannot see the truth or reality beforehand because his excessive
pride has blinded his vision…" Only after Oedipus gouges out his own eyes,
physically blinding himself, does he gain prophetic ability, as exhibited
in Oedipus at Colonus. It is deliberately ironic that the "seer" can "see" better
than Oedipus, despite being blind. Tiresias, in anger, expresses such (lines
495–500):
Since you have chosen to insult my blindness—
you have your eyesight, and you do not see
how miserable you are, or where you live,
or who it is who shares your household.
Do you know the family you come from?
Without your knowledge you’ve become
the enemy of your own kindred

PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCE
-Sophocles has his own philosophy reflected in his plays. One of these
philosophies is that nothing is constant in this life. A friend yesterday may be an
enemy today. This philosophy is so clear in this play: Oedipus and Creon were
close friends in the past but they become enemies. Creon is the opposite of
Oedipus and he is not rash or hot-tempered. But he will change. Why do we
change? We change according to circumstances.

-chance does not control our life Can we say that our life is ruled by chance?
Oedipus tells his past to Jocasta and how he killed an old man. This shows how
things go logically. We cannot say that our life is ruled by chance. Classical
drama is based on fate but Sophocles says that man's life is controlled by both
fate and free will.

-Past, present and future make one circle. The past life of the dead has an
impact on the life of people. The philosophy of Sophocles is that the dead control
and affect our life.

- man's life is not separate from the universal order. We live in our universe and
are affected by what happens around us. Oedipus was left in the desert and
somebody pitied him. Solving the riddle was the direct reason for being proud
and marrying his mother.

PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCE
The Oedipus complex represents the universal unconscious sexual
attraction to the child’s parents (Goodrich 182). Nowadays, this conception is a
key top of the psychoanalytic theory.
Although this theory is called after the tragedy of Sophocles, the main
psychological motives of the heroes’ behavior are the hopelessness and
conscious subjection to the faith and Gods’ will. If Oedipus has suffered from
the complex, he wouldn’t run from his family. He loves his foster father and
wants to avoid the prediction. Oedipus’s example is rather a story of the
meaningless of life.
He lives in a tragic universe where nobody can understand his horrible
suffering. Oedipus begins with pride and loses it becoming ashamed and
abandoned. He can’t bare his meaningless life and blinds himself. However,
Oedipus is the only one who can blame him.
He did everything to prevent the tragedy and fatal end. Sophocles clearly
defines his protagonist as a hero archetype which starts from the state of
knowledge and sacrifices his life in order to help his family.
Sophocles doesn’t give us the final answer about a future of the
protagonist. The story has no moral lesson. Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus the
King discovers several psychological motives of the human’s behavior where the
most acceptable solution is the resignation to the faith and Gods’ will.
REFLECTION

Fate is something that we cannot control and no matter how we try to

avoid it, it will find a way to happen. However, hamartia is someone’s downfall,
specifically tragic heroes. Yet, hamartia is the result of that person making a
mistake not some greater being deciding what is going to happen.

Before he was even born his fate was sealed. Yes, he did escape his
father’s death plan for him, and was given to lobbing parents of another town,
however he still was not able to escape hearing the prophecy the oracle made
about him, because it is his fate. Being freaked out about what he just heard,
he fled Corinth, with fate directing him into the path of his father, even though
he did not know it. Oedipus’ life was decided for him long before he was even
brought into the world, and everything that happened in his life was a result of
the prophecy and not him making a mistake. It was out of his control.

Reference:
https://ivypanda.com/essays/psychological-theories-of-sophocles-oedipus-the-king/
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/best-plays-of-all-time