Thebes and Oedipus

November 10

Thebes
Leading city of

Boeotia
Cadmus
Citadel (Acropolis)
called Cadmeia

Cadmus founds Thebes

Brother of Europa
Instructions of

Delphi

Cadmus Family
Cadmus m. Harmonia
daughter of Ares and Aphrodite

Four daughters
Ino, Semele, Autono, Agave

Cadmus and Harmonia came to peaceful

end
Went northward and became serpents
Euripides Bacchae

Pentheus
Regent Lycus

Family of Lycus
Lycus + Dirce
Niece Antiope, loved

by Zeus
Amphion + Zethus

Antiope made to

suffer
Amphion and Zethus

return kill Lycus and

tie Dirce to bull
Amphion m. Niobe

Laius and the Curse of Pelops

Exiled to Elis
Pelops
abduction of

Chryssipus, son of
Pelops
I will give you a son,

but you are destined

to die at his hands.
Returns from exile
and becomes King of
Thebes
Jocasta

Oedipus
Mt. Cithaeron origins of name
Servant gives him to Corinthian shepherd

King Polybus and Queen Meriope of Corinth

Delphic oracle avoid your homeland!
Journey to Thebes
Fight with Laius and his servants

Oedipus and the Sphinx

King is dead, city

plagued by monster
Woman-lion-bird

Fatal riddle
Regent (Creon)

offers throne and

Jocasta
Four children
Ismene, Antigone,

Polyneices,
Eteocles

Oedipus Tyrannus
Sophocles
429 BCE

Takes place after

main events of
Oedipus story
Oedipus recognition

of his identity, his

actions, and fate

Plot and Characters

Plague is striking Thebes
miasma

Oedipus determined to find Laius murderer

Brother-in-law Creon
Prophet Tiresias
Wife Jocasta
Messenger from Corinth
Laius former servant

Jocasta murders herself, Oedipus blinds

himself, and the scene is set for his exile

Freuds take on Oedipus

Tyrannus
If the Oedipus Rex is capable of moving a modern

reader or playgoer no less powerfully than it moved the

contemporary Greeks, the only possible explanation is
that the effect of the Greek tragedy does not depend
upon the conflict between fate and human will, but
upon the peculiar nature of the material by which this
conflict is revealedHis fate moves us only because it
might have been our own, because the oracle laid upon
us before our birth the very curse which rested upon
him. It may be that we were all destined to direct our
first sexual impulses toward our mothers, and our first
impulses of hatred and violence toward our fathers; our
dreams convince us that we were.

Athenian Interpretation?
Freud concerned with primordial urges and

fears
BUT This concern is not exploited in the play
No supernatural events, no gods as characters
No focus on incest or father-son competition
Destiny, fate, and the will of the gods loom

large
Focus in on human action and choice

Contemporariness
Oedipus Rex performed in 429 BCE

(Peloponnesian War)
Plague at Athens
Disease infects fruit blossoms in our land,

disease infects our herds of grazing cattle,

makes women in labour lose their children. And
deadly Smintheus, that fiery god, swoops down
to blast the city, emptying the House of
Cadmus, and fills black Hades with groans and
howls. (CP 192)
Oedipus not a distant mythic king
magistrate

Free Will vs Fate

Classic contradiction in Greek (and later)

thinking
Not worded in this way
e.g., This wasnt my fault Aphrodite made me

do it!
Two extremes
Absolute Freedom: human will is free, there is

no order in the universe blind chance

Determinist: there is no freedom, all is fated,
humans must accept this
Chrysippus (dog tied to a cart)

Exceptional Structure of Play

Dangerous contradiction to present in drama
Drama requires that characters make choices

Oedipus Tyrannus external factors created,

but drama in how character deals with them

Prometheus Bound

In Oedipus Tyrannus, is Oedipus free?

Oed. brings tragedy on himself

Plot of the play is not fated actions, but

discovery

Jocasta
All is chance, there is no order, just our will
For Oedipus has let excessive pain seize on his

heart and does not understand whats

happening now by thinking of the past, like a
man with sense. Instead he listens to whoever
speaks to him of dreadful things. (CP 196)
Why should a man whose life seems ruled by
chance live in feara man who never looks
ahead, who has no certain vision of his future?
Its best to live haphazardly, as best one can.
(196)

Oedipus Choices
Tragedy Oedipus choices and character
Ignores Creons suggestion; insults him (CP 191)

Undertakes relentless pursuit of the crime

Ignores restraint of Teiresias, taunts him
You blame my temper, but do not see the one

which lives within you. Instead, you are finding

fault with me. (CP 195)
Ignores Jocastas caution
In the name of the gods, no! If you have some

concern for your own life, then stop! Do not keep

investigating this. (CP 198)
Foreknowledge vs. fate

Oedipus Recognition (CP 201)

Ah, so it all came true. Its so clear now. O

light, let me look at you one final time, a man

who stands revealed as cursed by birth,
cursed by my own family, and cursed by
murder where I should not kill.
You will no longer see all those atrocious
things I suffered, the dreadful things I did! No.
You have seen those you never should have
looked upon, and those I wished to know you
did not see. So now and for all future time be
dark!
= (I have seen = I know)

Oedipus Heroism
Sympathetic
Victim of circumstances beyond control
Tireless actor for the interests of truth, justice,

wellbeing of citizens
Not broken by his fate
It was Apollo, friends, it was Apollo. He brought

on these troubles the awful things I suffer. But

the hand which stabbed out my eyes was mine
alone. (CP 202)
Oedipus accepts fate; executes his own

command

Key Themes
Power of gods and prophesy reaffirmed
One cannot cheat fate

Ones own actions within the fated context

still important
Oedipus brings the tragedy onto himself
maybe makes it worse?

Perfect Tragedy (Aristotle)

anagnorsis (recognition)
peripeteia (turning around)