The Oedipus Cycle
Sophocles is considered one of the great ancient Greek tragedians.
Among Sophocles' most famous plays are Oedipus the King, Oedipus at
Colonus, and Antigone. These plays follow the fall of the great king,
Oedipus, and later the tragedies that his children suffer. The Oedipus plays
have had a wide-reaching influence and are particularly notable for
inspiring Sigmund Freud’s theory of the "Oedipus Complex," which
describes a stage of psychological development in which a child sees their
father as an adversarial competitor for his or her mother’s attention and
affection.
The three plays are often called a trilogy, but this is technically incorrect.
They weren't written to be performed together. In fact they weren't even
written in order. Antigone, which comes last chronologically, was the play
Sophocles wrote first, around 440 B.C. It wasn't until about 430 B.C that
Sophocles produced his masterpiece Oedipus the King. He finally wrote
Oedipus at Colonus in 401 B.C., near the end of his life. Also note that the
plays were rarely if ever revived during the playwright's life time, so it's not
like it would have been easy for Sophocles' audiences to compare them.
What’s the BIG DEAL? Well…..
Stop us if you've heard this one before: guy walks into a bar, meets Han
Solo, hits on a girl who turns out to be his sister, steps up to save a galaxy,
and finds out by the end of the second movie that his greatest enemy is
*gasp* his father! Well, it's a familiar tale, not just for all moviegoers post1977 – but also for all theatergoers after, say, 429 B.C.
Take out that bit about Han Solo (and also, maybe the bar), and change
sister to mother and you've got the bare bones of Sophocles's Oedipus the
King: guy gets chosen as the One to battle evil (sadly, not a host of
stormtroopers; Sophocles goes with a plague caused by the evil presence
of a murderer in Thebes), hits on and eventually marries his mother, and
finds out that he himself was his father's killer without even knowing it.
Our point is: it seems kind of bizarre to us now to believe absolutely in fate.
But all of Sophocles's characters believe in it, to the point where the father
of this truly dysfunctional family (King Laius) is willing to order his infant
son (Oedipus) killed when a prophecy tells him that his son will be his
murderer. And all of the father's efforts to prevent his own death don't
work. Why? Because it's fate: these characters have no real control over
their own lives. Just like it's fate that Luke meets Leia and then Darth
Vader.
The neat thing about fate in both Oedipus the King and Star Wars works is
that, really, these guys don't have any control over their own lives –
because they're fictional. After all, what kind of character development
would there be if Darth Vader was defeated without knowing he was Luke's
father? Would Darth Vader ever have **spoiler alert** been redeemed at
the end? The relationship has to come out, or else there'd be no narrative
after the first movie.
Oedipus marries his mother by accident, and if they were allowed to just
hang around staying married and living in blissful ignorance, what would
Sophocles be telling his audience? Nothing anyone would want to hear
outside of Jerry Springer. So fate comes in to make sure we learn a
lesson: marrying your mother and killing your father is so wrong that it will
bring plague to your city and make you tear your own eyes out in horror.
And in a way, maybe all fiction is about fate, even today: after all, fictional
characters can’t avoid what their authors lay out for them.
How It All Goes Down
Oedipus Rex (or Oedipus the King)
King Oedipus, aware that a terrible curse has befallen Thebes, sends his
brother-in-law, Creon, to seek the advice of the Greek god Apollo. Creon
informs Oedipus that the curse will be lifted if the murderer of Laius, the
former king, is found and prosecuted. Laius was murdered many years ago
at a crossroads.
Oedipus dedicates himself to the discovery and prosecution of Laius’s
murderer. Oedipus subjects a series of unwilling citizens to questioning,
including a blind prophet. Teiresias, the blind prophet, informs Oedipus
that Oedipus himself killed Laius. This news really bothers Oedipus, but his
wife Jocasta tells him not to believe in prophets—they've been wrong
before. As an example, she tells Oedipus about how she and King Laius
had a son who was prophesied to kill Laius and marry her. Well, she and
Laius had the child killed, so obviously that prophecy didn't come true,
right?
Jocasta's story doesn't comfort Oedipus. As a child, an old man told
Oedipus that he was adopted, and that he would eventually kill his
biological father and sleep with his biological mother. Not to mention,
Oedipus once killed a man at a crossroads, which sounds a lot like the way
Laius died.
Jocasta urges Oedipus not to look into the past any further, but he
stubbornly ignores her. Oedipus goes on to question a messenger and a
shepherd, both of whom have information about how Oedipus was
abandoned as an infant and adopted by a new family. In a moment of
insight, Jocasta realizes that she is Oedipus’s mother and that Laius was
his father. Horrified at what has happened, she kills herself. Shortly
thereafter, Oedipus, too, realizes that he was Laius’s murder and that he’s
been married to (and having children with) his mother. In horror and
despair, he gouges his eyes out and is exiled from Thebes.
Oedipus at Colonus
After years of wandering in exile from Thebes, Oedipus arrives in a grove outside
Athens. Blind and frail, he walks with the help of his daughter Antigone. Neither
she nor Oedipus knows the place where they have come to rest, but they have
heard they are on the outskirts of Athens, and the grove in which they sit bears
the marks of holy ground. A citizen of Colonus approaches and insists that the
ground is forbidden to mortals and that Oedipus and Antigone must leave.
Oedipus inquires which gods preside over the grove and learns that the reigning
gods are the Eumenides, or the goddesses of fate. In response to this news,
Oedipus claims that he must not move, and he sends the citizen to fetch
Theseus, the king of Athens and its environs. Oedipus then tells Antigone that,
earlier in his life, when Apollo’s oracle prophesied his doom, the god declared
that Oedipus would die on this ground.
The Chorus enters, cursing the strangers who would dare set foot on the holy
ground of Colonus. The Chorus convinces Antigone and Oedipus to move to an
outcropping of rock at the side of the grove, and then interrogates Oedipus about
his origins. When Oedipus reluctantly identifies himself, the Chorus cries out in
horror, begging Oedipus to leave Colonus at once. Oedipus argues that he was
not responsible for his horrible acts, and says that the city may benefit greatly if it
does not drive him away. Oedipus expresses his arguments with such force that
the Chorus fills with awe and agrees to await Theseus’s pronouncement on the
matter.
The next person to enter the grove is not Theseus but Ismene, Oedipus’s second
daughter. Oedipus and the two girls embrace. Oedipus thanks Ismene for having
journeyed to gather news from the oracles, while her sister has stayed with him
as his guide. Ismene bears terrible news: back in their home of Thebes,
Eteocles, the younger son of Oedipus, has overthrown Polynices, his elder son.
Polynices now amasses troops in Argos for an attack upon his brother and
Creon, who is ruling along with Eteocles.
The oracle has predicted that Oedipus’s burial place will bring good fortune to the
city in which it is located. Both sons, as well as Creon, know of this prophecy,
and Creon is currently en route to Colonus to try to take Oedipus into custody
and thus claim the right to bury him in his kingdom. Oedipus swears he will never
give his support to either of his sons, for they did nothing to prevent his exile
years ago. The Chorus tells Oedipus that he must appease the spirits whom he
offended when he trespassed on the sacred ground, and Ismene says that she
will go and perform the requisite libation and prayer.
Please define the following terms in the context of ancient Greek Drama:
CHORUS:
CHORAGOS:
PROLOGUE:
PARADOS:
ODE:
SCENE:
PEAN:
EXODOS: