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There are several themes we can track in
Sophocles's Oedipus. some of the most

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prominent ones.
We're definitely seeing lots of riddles.

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The question of how to take some piece of
information that you have that's trying to

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send you a message, but it's doing it in
some oblique, non-straightforward way.

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How do you discern what the underlying
message is supposed to be?

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It places us in a position that I think
most of us are probably familiar with in

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life.
The world doesn't come with clear messages

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on it.
In fact, a lot of times, it comes with

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messages that are, just go ahead and tempt
you to misread.

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In Oedipus's case, he's put in a position
of great jeopardy in his inability to

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quite get to the end of what these riddles
are all about.

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He's, of course, famously good at riddles
when it comes to the Sphinx but messes up

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when it comes to the rest of the riddles
that come to him through his life.

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Also the question of blindness comes up.
Oedipus has a wonderful insight but he's

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blind to what certain truths are that are
coming to him.

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Even after he's told over and over again
by his messengers,

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People that he should trust, like
Tiresias,

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Oedipus turns a blind eye on what's going
to come.

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That blindness, he then visits on himself
in the very end through this horrific act

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of self-mutilation blinding himself.
And so, carries forward that theme.

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We're also going to see the question of
localness.

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Who belongs to some space?
That's very much at play in this story.

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Remember Odysseus is an elemental
wanderer.

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He is in some important rudimentary,
elemental way, a wandering soul.

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Well, Oedipus is, too.
But he's in this, as opposed to Odysseus

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who seems to embrace and relish in that
wandering spirit and treated it as a point

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of
Adventure,

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Oedipus 's dislocation is one of great
tragedy and misunderstanding.

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So, the dislocation that we're going to
find with Oedipus very, very strong piece

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of the story.
We're going to see this site that's behind

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me, Delphi show up in very important ways
in the story.

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The Delphic Oracle and it's interactions
with the rest of the world are going to

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be, the kind of mean way by which Oedipus
gets engaged in his action.

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It's a kind of continuous presence
throughout his life.

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It knows everything that's going to happen
to him but as the riddles come to him he's

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not quite able to get the message that he
should, so he can navigate his life.

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How Delphi comes across in this story is
very interesting, it's complex.

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Yeah, it's true. Oedipus should be very
respectful and humble in front of Delphi,

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and he's anything but that.
But then, on the other hand, there seems

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to be a certain kind of cruelty that's
built into this question of faith that's

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hankered to Oedipus's story.
He's trying hard to get himself out of

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trouble but he despite what he, his best
effort he's just quite unable to do that.

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And then here sits Delphi this whole time,
knowing full well what's going to happen

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but not quite giving that information over
to Oedipus in a way that he can fully

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understand.
It raises a final theme that Lisa and I

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wanted to pull out.
There are many others we can talk about

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and that is the theme of fate.
How does the theme of fate work in this

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story?
There's a, a question we could rephrase

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this as a question of Oedipus's tale.
Is he to blame for what happens or is he a

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victim of fate?
Is Oedipus does he bear responsibility for

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what happens in his in his life?
Well, first of all, he seems very much not

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to bear any responsibility.
When he, he seems like a decent person.

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He tries to escape the oracle that he
heard.

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Remember, he had heard tell that he would
kill his father and marry his mother.

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And instantly, when he does that, he runs
away from what he knows to be his own

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family in Corinth and get away from his
father and his mother.

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He then in this state of banishment, shows
himself to be very wise.

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He is able to unscramble the oracle of the
Sphinx, so he's intelligent and he's

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well-centered.
In doing that, he lifts an awful plague

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from a city, so he's kinda the savior of
that city.

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He's doing his level best and he accepts
the credit that's given to him.

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He also accepts what's offered to him.
The, the,

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The kingship of this new place which comes
with a consort the queen.

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He seems to be a good ruler, the people
seemed to like him.

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I mean, he seems as though what he's doing
is, is, is trying to sincerely deal with a

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disturbing piece of news and avoid a fate
that's coming his way.

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But, on the other hand, Oedipus also, as
he is diligently trying to stay away from

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what the oracle tells him he will do.
You might just wonder then, why in the

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world would he marry a woman just, that
just happens to be the age of his mother?

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Why marry someone that's one generation
older than you when you've got an oracle

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that says that you're going to marry your
mother?

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And then, we have to reflect, turn back
the clock a little bit more, why does he

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kill a man who's and one generation older
than he is, too.

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The story that goes with that murder of
Laius is a somewhat interesting one.

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You'll recall that Oedipus is coming this
way down the path and Laius is coming this

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way down the path and the two of them just
literally run into each other.

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And when they do, neither of them gives
way.

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Now, the highway is a scary place in
ancient Greece, sure there are robbers and

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thieves that are orbiting around out
there. But, when two reasonable people run

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into each other on a pathway, it's not
typical that they should turn to blows,

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let alone wind up with murder.
So, you have to put a little bit of a

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question mark around that.
And then, when you look into the details

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of the story, after they've run into each
other they have some words. Laius reaches

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out with a stick and bonks Oedipus on the,
on the head at which point, Oedipus kills

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everybody.
Something is a little wrong in the

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reaction there.
It's not like it's totally understandable

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that such a thing would have happened.
So, you have to wonder about Oedipus's own

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internal judgment. How good is he at
making judgments in these difficult

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questions.
Now, there's no question about his raw

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intelligence.
To be able to unscramble the riddle of the

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Sphinx makes him monumentally clever.
He's a very intelligent person.

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He's got the raw materials that it takes
to grind through complex problems and come

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to answers.
But the question of judgment is slightly

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different.
And Oedipus's judgment may be just a

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little bit off.
That together, that little sus, these

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little suspicions raised by the, the
events that happen around people that just

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happen to be a generation older than he
is.

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Those little suspicions get more and more
underlined as Oedipus starts to square off

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against the Delphic Oracle.
You'll recall that given the way his story

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unfolds, he continuously positions his own
salvation, security, safety, and happiness

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against the Delphic Oracle.
That's the wrong way to do it.

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When people run into problems, the Delphic
Oracle tells them something they don't

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want to hear, they have to stay in
conversation with the oracle.

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They may send back another messenger to
say, you know, we didn't like that oracle

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you gave.
Can you give us a different one?" but

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usually, you don't turn your back on the
oracle and say, it's clear. The oracle is

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wrong." Anyone who goes around saying the
oracle was wrong is setting themself up

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for a horrible, horrible failure.
And, Oedipus is definitely doing that in

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this story.
We're going to watch as this story unfolds

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and the messengers come past him.
Oedipus's reaction goes from denial to

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outright attack against the Delphic
Oracle.

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This is not going to be a smart thing for
him to do.