There are several themes we can track in
Sophocles's Oedipus. some of the most prominent ones.
We're definitely seeing lots of riddles. The question of how to take some piece of
information that you have that's trying to send you a message, but it's doing it in
some oblique, non-straightforward way. How do you discern what the underlying
message is supposed to be? It places us in a position that I think
most of us are probably familiar with in life.
The world doesn't come with clear messages on it.
In fact, a lot of times, it comes with messages that are, just go ahead and tempt
you to misread. In Oedipus's case, he's put in a position
of great jeopardy in his inability to quite get to the end of what these riddles
are all about. He's, of course, famously good at riddles
when it comes to the Sphinx but messes up when it comes to the rest of the riddles
that come to him through his life. Also the question of blindness comes up.
Oedipus has a wonderful insight but he's blind to what certain truths are that are
coming to him. Even after he's told over and over again
by his messengers, People that he should trust, like
Tiresias, Oedipus turns a blind eye on what's going
to come. That blindness, he then visits on himself
in the very end through this horrific act of self-mutilation blinding himself.
And so, carries forward that theme. We're also going to see the question of
localness. Who belongs to some space?
That's very much at play in this story. Remember Odysseus is an elemental
wanderer. He is in some important rudimentary,
elemental way, a wandering soul. Well, Oedipus is, too.
But he's in this, as opposed to Odysseus who seems to embrace and relish in that
wandering spirit and treated it as a point of
Adventure, Oedipus 's dislocation is one of great
tragedy and misunderstanding. So, the dislocation that we're going to
find with Oedipus very, very strong piece of the story.
We're going to see this site that's behind me, Delphi show up in very important ways
in the story. The Delphic Oracle and it's interactions
with the rest of the world are going to be, the kind of mean way by which Oedipus
gets engaged in his action. It's a kind of continuous presence
throughout his life. It knows everything that's going to happen
to him but as the riddles come to him he's not quite able to get the message that he
should, so he can navigate his life. How Delphi comes across in this story is
very interesting, it's complex. Yeah, it's true. Oedipus should be very
respectful and humble in front of Delphi, and he's anything but that.
But then, on the other hand, there seems to be a certain kind of cruelty that's
built into this question of faith that's hankered to Oedipus's story.
He's trying hard to get himself out of trouble but he despite what he, his best
effort he's just quite unable to do that. And then here sits Delphi this whole time,
knowing full well what's going to happen but not quite giving that information over
to Oedipus in a way that he can fully understand.
It raises a final theme that Lisa and I wanted to pull out.
There are many others we can talk about and that is the theme of fate.
How does the theme of fate work in this story?
There's a, a question we could rephrase this as a question of Oedipus's tale.
Is he to blame for what happens or is he a victim of fate?
Is Oedipus does he bear responsibility for what happens in his in his life?
Well, first of all, he seems very much not to bear any responsibility.
When he, he seems like a decent person. He tries to escape the oracle that he
heard. Remember, he had heard tell that he would
kill his father and marry his mother. And instantly, when he does that, he runs
away from what he knows to be his own family in Corinth and get away from his
father and his mother. He then in this state of banishment, shows
himself to be very wise. He is able to unscramble the oracle of the
Sphinx, so he's intelligent and he's well-centered.
In doing that, he lifts an awful plague from a city, so he's kinda the savior of
that city. He's doing his level best and he accepts
the credit that's given to him. He also accepts what's offered to him.
The, the, The kingship of this new place which comes
with a consort the queen. He seems to be a good ruler, the people
seemed to like him. I mean, he seems as though what he's doing
is, is, is trying to sincerely deal with a disturbing piece of news and avoid a fate
that's coming his way. But, on the other hand, Oedipus also, as
he is diligently trying to stay away from what the oracle tells him he will do.
You might just wonder then, why in the world would he marry a woman just, that
just happens to be the age of his mother? Why marry someone that's one generation
older than you when you've got an oracle that says that you're going to marry your
mother? And then, we have to reflect, turn back
the clock a little bit more, why does he kill a man who's and one generation older
than he is, too. The story that goes with that murder of
Laius is a somewhat interesting one. You'll recall that Oedipus is coming this
way down the path and Laius is coming this way down the path and the two of them just
literally run into each other. And when they do, neither of them gives
way. Now, the highway is a scary place in
ancient Greece, sure there are robbers and thieves that are orbiting around out
there. But, when two reasonable people run into each other on a pathway, it's not
typical that they should turn to blows, let alone wind up with murder.
So, you have to put a little bit of a question mark around that.
And then, when you look into the details of the story, after they've run into each
other they have some words. Laius reaches out with a stick and bonks Oedipus on the,
on the head at which point, Oedipus kills everybody.
Something is a little wrong in the reaction there.
It's not like it's totally understandable that such a thing would have happened.
So, you have to wonder about Oedipus's own internal judgment. How good is he at
making judgments in these difficult questions.
Now, there's no question about his raw intelligence.
To be able to unscramble the riddle of the Sphinx makes him monumentally clever.
He's a very intelligent person. He's got the raw materials that it takes
to grind through complex problems and come to answers.
But the question of judgment is slightly different.
And Oedipus's judgment may be just a little bit off.
That together, that little sus, these little suspicions raised by the, the
events that happen around people that just happen to be a generation older than he
is. Those little suspicions get more and more
underlined as Oedipus starts to square off against the Delphic Oracle.
You'll recall that given the way his story unfolds, he continuously positions his own
salvation, security, safety, and happiness against the Delphic Oracle.
That's the wrong way to do it. When people run into problems, the Delphic
Oracle tells them something they don't want to hear, they have to stay in
conversation with the oracle. They may send back another messenger to
say, you know, we didn't like that oracle you gave.
Can you give us a different one?" but usually, you don't turn your back on the
oracle and say, it's clear. The oracle is wrong." Anyone who goes around saying the
oracle was wrong is setting themself up for a horrible, horrible failure.
And, Oedipus is definitely doing that in this story.
We're going to watch as this story unfolds and the messengers come past him.
Oedipus's reaction goes from denial to outright attack against the Delphic
Oracle. This is not going to be a smart thing for
him to do.