Summary
Mr. Lucas, an Englishman, is growing old. He has always wanted to visit Greece and has finally achieved this, accompanied by his unmarried daughter, Ethel, who will, it has been assumed, dedicate her life to taking care of him in his old age. In
Greece, Mr. Lucas becomes restless and resistant to the idea of an expected passive, peaceful death from old age. He wants to "die fighting." Something mysterious happens: he finds a great old hollow tree from which a spring of water flows. He climbs into the tree and experiences an epiphany: he suddenly
".
sees all things as "intelligible and good
But when the rest of his party find him, he is oddly repelled by them. He does not feel that anyone can share the revelation he has experienced, and he becomes afraid that if he leaves the place he will lose the feeling himself. He decides not to leave, and says he plans to stay at an inn near the old tree, but the
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others are horrified, and force him to leave with them
Back in England, some time later, Ethel is now about to be married. Mr. Lucas has become a perpetually disgruntled old man, complaining about everything (especially the sound of water in the plumbing--the mystical Greek spring has been reduced to this annoyance--he says, "there’s nothing I dislike more than running water"). His sister, Julia, whom he hates, is
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going to take care of him once Ethel is married
Then a gift arrives from a friend in Greece, wrapped in a Greek newspaper. In it Ethel reads the news that on the night they left, the old tree was blown down, and fell on the family who kept the inn nearby, killing them all. Ethel is upset, and says how lucky it was that they hadn’t stayed there that night, calling it a "marvellous deliverance," but Mr. Lucas dismisses the story without interest. He no longer cares.

Commentary
Forster anchors this story in Greek tragedy, explicitly identifying Mr. Lucas with Oedipus and Ethel with his daughter, Antigone. The story’s meaning lies largely in its departure from the Greek one. After discovering the horrible truth of his parentage and putting out his own eyes (at the end of Oedipus the King), Oedipus leaves Thebes and he and
Antigone wander until they reach Colonus. He refuses to leave the place and dies there (see Sophocles’s Oedipus at Colonus).
.
For Oedipus there is no road from Colonus
In Forster’s version, Mr. Lucas is forced to relinquish his vision of meaning and the dramatic death he desired and which was, evidently, awaiting him in the tree’s fall. He must return to
England, to be abandoned by his Antigone, and to age and die slowly and without much dignity. In return, he abandons his glimpse of meaning and his dream of a good death, becoming
.
disaffected and selfish and lonely
The Greek kind of tragedy with its heroism and its sense that the world is intelligible even when most painful is replaced by a more modern kind of tragedy, where meaning is lost to failed communication and social dictates (the English party won’t stay at the inn because they consider the Greek family dirty and
.) foreign and low-class
A powerful reminder of the importance of respecting the insights and needs of the aging. The others patronize Mr.
Lucas because he seems unreasonable, even incompetent. They think they have rescued him. Instead he has been diminished, fatally.

Plot
The Road from Colonus, the protagonist, Mr.
Lucas, traveled to Greece with his daughter,
Ethel, and two other English travelers, Mrs.
Forman and Mr. Graham. They passed through a small village and Mr. Lucas was attracted to the environment and a family who ran a country inn there. Mr. Lucas decided to stay at the country inn, but was forced to leave by Ethel. The result
.
was a spiritual degeneration for the protagonist
¦ theory, we find that Mr. ، According to Greimas
Lucas is the subject and the object is the moment of escape he was searching for. I think escape here means an escape from social
¦ case, the convention ، conventions; in Mr. Lucas that he ought to be taken care of by Ethel and abide by what Ethel said. This convention was solidified after Mrs. Forman constantly compared Lucas to Oedipus and Ethel to
¦t just start ، Antigone. The idea of escape didn't during their trip to Greece, but started forty
§caught the fever of ، years ago, when Mr. Lucas
¨ and he thought his life would not be ، Hellenism, in vain if he had a chance to visit Greece. In a

broader sense, Mr. Lucas also wanted to escape from the social convention that an old person
¦t be independent from his caretaker and ، couldn would be considered absurd and unreasonable if
.
he tried to act independently
¦ daughter, Ethel, seems to be his ، Mr. Lucas helper, but actually she is not. Ethel, along with
Mr. Graham and Mrs. Forman, are all opponents
¦s search for escape. Ethel ، to the protagonist hindered Mr. Lucas from acting independently by treating him like a child. She was praised that she could manage her father well and once she even complained to others that her father was
¨ When Mr. Lucas ، §absolutely unmanageable.
،
¨ Mr. Graham would give a ، §unmanageable, ، was hand to Ethel, e.g., when Mr. Lucas refused to continue the trip with them, Mr. Graham forced
.
him to sit on the mule and to leave
Seemingly, Graham is the hero in this story
¦t ، because he solved the problems Ethel couldn handle alone. But I think he is a false hero,
¦ escape ، because his intervention makes Lucas impossible. Seemingly, Graham saved the protagonist from the Greeks, but because of his intervention, Lucas failed to seize the moment of escape and that led to his spiritual degeneration
.
eventually

Another pattern of binary opposition evolves around two groups of people. One group is the
Greek family who ran the country inn; the other group consists of the English travelers. The image of Greek family changed dramatically.
When Lucas, alone, discovered the Greek country inn, the Greek family presented a harmonious, peaceful image to him. He found a meaning in every move of every member in the inn. But later, as Lucas left the inn with his companions, the Greeks tried to attack them violently. These two images of the same group of Greeks form a
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vivid binary opposition
As for the English travelers, they were the most familiar people to Mr. Lucas during this trip, compared to the Greeks in the inn whom Mr.
¦t talk with. After Lucas ، Lucas actually didn formed the gracious picture of the Greek family, he felt that his English companions suddenly became unfamiliar. This is another binary opposition: the opposition between familiarity
.
and unfamiliarity
¦ ، Several binaries could be found in Mr. Lucas attitude toward the Greek family and his intimate relations. Throughout his visit to the country inn, he never spoke to anyone there, but
§loved them as he loved everything that ، he

¨ However, when he ، K ، moved or breathed thought of his relations in England, for instance, his sister and his children, he felt indifference,
¦ love toward ، fear, and even hatred. Mr. Lucas the Greeks and his indifference toward his
English relations might be one more binary, but I still have doubts how he could love a group of people whom he never spoke to. In fact, I think his love toward the Greek family was owing to an illusion he made up in his mind about the beauty
.
around the country inn
¨ ، §water.
، An important symbol in the story is
In the Greek village, Mr. Lucas was attracted to the running water from a tree in a shrine. After he returned to England, he complained about the noise of the running water in the pipe. Water from a tree and water in a pipe could also be a set of binary because they convey contrary meanings. Water from a tree symbolizes the source of mystery and the power of nature.
Water in a pipe reminds us of some industrial, unnatural invention. This binary indicates that
Mr. Lucas still had a zest for life when he was in
.
Greece, but back in England, his zest was lost
In conclusion, the protagonist in The Road from
Colonus is quite a helpless character, especially with the helper also being the opponent (Ethel),

and the hero who turned out to be a false hero
(Mr. Graham). When Mr. Graham saved Mr. Lucas from the Greeks, he actually pushed Mr. Lucas into degeneration. At the end of the story, Ethel informed Mr. Lucas that if he had stayed in the
Greek country inn, he would have been killed by the same accident that killed the Greek family.
But Mr. Lucas reacted indifferently to this piece of news. What Ethel said was true; by preventing her father from staying with the Greeks, she saved his life, but is Mr. Lucas spiritually alive? I
¦s more likely that Mr. Lucas ، ¦t think so. It ، don had become a living dead.
Characters the protagonists
1- Mr. Lucas
Mr. Lucas was attracted to the environment and a family who ran a country inn there. Mr. Lucas decided to stay at the country inn, but was forced to leave by Ethel. The result was a
.
spiritual degeneration for the protagonist
¦ theory, we find that Mr. ، According to Greimas
Lucas is the subject and the object is the moment of escape he was searching for.

Mr. Lucas is forced to relinquish his vision of meaning and the dramatic death he desired and which was, evidently, awaiting him in the tree’s fall. He must return to England, to be abandoned by his Antigone, and to age and die slowly and without much dignity. In return, he abandons his glimpse of meaning and his dream of a good death, becoming disaffected and selfish and lonely
Ethel:
She is the daughter of Mr.
Lucas.
Ethel, seems to be his helper, but actually she is not. Ethel, along with Mr.
Graham and Mrs. Forman, are all opponents to the
¦s search for escape. Ethel hindered Mr. ، protagonist
Lucas from acting independently by treating him like a child. She was praised that she could manage her father well and once she even complained to others
¨ ، §absolutely unmanageable.
¨ Mr. Graham ،
، that her father was
§unmanageable, ، When Mr. Lucas was would give a hand to Ethel, e.g., when Mr. Lucas refused to continue the trip with them, Mr. Graham forced him to sit on the mule and to leave.
Mrs. Forman:
He is an English traveler. He passed through a small village with Mr. Lucas.
Mr. Graham:
He is an English traveler. He passed through a small village with Mr. Lucas. Graham saved the protagonist from the Greeks, but because of his intervention, Lucas failed to seize the moment of

escape and that led to his spiritual degeneration eventually.
Best wishes
نانح ةميغ