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INTRODUCTION
"Know Thyself" is sage advice. "All Things
in Moderation" is also a wise saying. King Oedipus, subject of
the most tragic story ever written, brought about his own
downfall because of his excessive obsession to know himself.
And, try as he might, the more he tried to escape his tragic
Fate, the closer it got...
Thus, some say that the moral of the story is, Even
if you try to thwart your destiny, you won't succeed. The
concept of predestination plays
a large role here. For example, if
the gods know what will happen, and events are pre-ordained, how
can people make free choices or have any semblance of free will?
If the gods put challenges in our way that we fail to rise to,
are we responsible for the consequences? Would knowing the
future, as Oedipus does, cause us to act or behave any
differently?
The ancient scribe Sophocles wrote
"Oedipus the King" (between 441-427 B.C.E.) for the annual
festival where playwrights competed for prizes. These festivals
were major civic occasions, with attendance expected of all
noted writers. In his play Sophocles goes out of his way to
present Oedipus as an extremely capable, beloved ruler. It
should be noted that Sophocles never suggests that Oedipus has
brought his destiny on himself by any "ungodly
pride" (hubris)
or "tragic flaw" (hamartia),
common themes in Greek tragedies. Sophocles also makes a special
effort to explain that Oedipus killed King Laius in
self-defense, and a major theme in the tragic play is whether
one can believe in oracles and seers.
The title of the play, from which is derived the story, is often
given in its Latin translation ("Oedipus Rex"), rather than in
its original Greek ("Oedipus Tyranneus"), since the Greek term
for king is the English "tyrant", which means a monarch who
rules without the consent of the people.
THE TRAGEDY BEGINS
Laius and his wife Jocasta (or Iocasta)
were King and Queen of Thebes, a prosperous and famous city
state in ancient Greece. King Laius, as many people did those
days, consulted Apollo's revered oracle of Delphi for advice and
to find out what the future held for him.
What the oracle announced shocked the royal couple -- The
Delphic oracle said that the King's son would grow up and kill
him! To make matters worse, it was prophesized that the son
would marry his mother and produce offspring by her. King Laius
and Queen Jocasta were understandably aghast!
A short time later Queen Jocasta became pregnant and gave birth
to a darling little baby boy. Remembering with fear the oracle
of Delphi's words, the royal couple of Thebes had the infant's
feet pierced and tied together -- that's the meaning of the name
Oedipus, "swollen feet".
(Myth Man's note: this mythical detail makes no sense. It must
have been introduced to explain the hero's name.
(Hold everything, I stand
corrected. Here is an informative note sent by reader Adam
Johnston on July 1, 2011.)
Hey there,
Just thought I'd let you know that the 'pointless mythical
detail' about Oedipus' feet being pierced and tied together
actually has dual function. It was to ensure that the baby would
not survive when exposed to the wilderness. But, more
importantly, it is a detail that helps him decipher the answer
to the sphinx's riddle later in life. He is a crippled man who
walks with a cane, and scholars see this as the assistance he
needed to understand the part of the riddle regarding the 3
legs. Just thought you should know! ~Adam
(Many thanks to Adam for taking time to
bring this to my attention.)
Laius and Jocasta knew that their baby son had to be destroyed,
but they didn't have the heart to do so themselves. They
instructed their most trusted slave to expose the hapless baby
on Mount Cithaeron, a wild and beast-filled place where the
infant surely would perish. In those days, it was usual to leave
an unwanted or defective baby in the wilderness.
However, the slave glanced down at the innocent
child and took pity on it. Knowing that the royal couple of the
nearby city state of Corinth was childless, and desperately
desired a son, the slave left the crying infant, its feet still
pierced and bound by a pin, in a place sure to be found.
Sure enough, a kindly shepherd discovered the baby and brought
the foundling for adoption to King Polibus and Queen Merope of
Corinth.
Oedipus was raised as a son by Polibus and Merope and grew to be
a handsome, clever and brave young man, even though he walked
with a slight limp from the wounds he suffered when his real
parents pierced his feet. One day, while playing with his
adolescent friends, he got into an argument with them. They
insisted, as mean children sometimes do, that he was a fake son,
and not the real child of Polibus and Merope.
When Oedipus confronted his "parents" about this, they denied
that he was adopted and swore that he was their legitimate
child. They told Oedipus to forget what the mean kids had said,
but now he was intrigued.
To discover the truth for himself, Oedipus journeyed to Delphi
and asked of the oracle, "Who am I?" The oracle, cryptic as
always, replied: "You are the man who will kill his father and
breed children by his mother."
Confused and devastated, the young man started to head back
home. Nearing the crossroad, Oedipus decided never to return to
Corinth and go to Thebes instead. He dearly loved his parents
and thought that by never returning home he would keep them safe
and thus overcome his Fate according to Apollo's oracle.
As he was approaching the crossroad between Delphi, Thebes and
Corinth, distraught and deep in thought, Oedipus came upon an
old man in a chariot, escorted by a few attendants. It was a
narrow passage between two rocks and hard to navigate safely.
The crabby old man in the chariot shouted: "Get lost! Go away!
Get off this road!", striking Oedipus with his long scepter.
Adding further injury, the rude, regal old man ran over the
young man's sore foot with his chariot wheel.
Oedipus angrily grabbed the staff from his tormentor's hands and
hit him on the head, killing the old man. The same fate befell
the attendants, who tried to attack and arrest Oedipus - he
valiantly fought and killed them too, save for one servant, who
ran away in panic when the battle broke out.
Hey, he just wanted to cross the narrow passage, that's all!
Besides, Oedipus was simply defending himself, and he got there
first!
Little did Oedipus suspect that the old man he had just slain
was his own father, and that the first part of the oracle's
prophecy had come true...
GO TO OEDIPUS
PAGE TWO:
THE TRAGEDY GETS WORSE
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