King Oedipus Is Revealed

Author: Sophocles

Time Period: 999 BCE–1 BCE

Country or Culture: Greece

Genre: Myth

PLOT SUMMARY

When Oedipus is born, a prophecy states that he will kill his father, King Laius of Thebes, and marry his mother. In response, Laius abandons Oedipus on the side of a mountain. Through many turns of events, however, the prophecy comes true; Oedipus unknowingly kills Laius and takes his mother as his wife, fathering several children with her. When the truth of his union is revealed, Oedipus stabs out his own eyes and goes into exile, wandering with his daughter Antigone. Eventually, the exiled Oedipus and Antigone arrive at Colonus, a grove of trees outside of the city of Athens.

While Oedipus rests at Colonus, an Athenian man warns him that the grove is a sacred place to the Furies, vengeful and frightening winged deities. When Oedipus insists on staying rather than fleeing the Furies, the Athenian man sends for the king of his city, Theseus. Slowly, other Athenians realize that Oedipus is the cursed king of Thebes, and they urge him to leave their land rather than bring misfortune upon it. Oedipus, however, insists on staying, claiming that he has a message to give to Theseus and reminding everyone of his good intentions and of all the adversity he has suffered.

Oedipus’s second daughter, Ismene, arrives with terrible news: the sons of Oedipus have battled over who will become the ruler of Thebes, and the Oracle of Delphi has prophesied horrible tragedies in the city if Oedipus is not buried there. Theseus also arrives, but rather than banish Oedipus from the grove of the Furies, he welcomes him and offers sanctuary. Oedipus says that he will stay there, revealing that the site of his burial will bring great fortune to the city in which he dies and that he has chosen Athens for this honor rather than Thebes, where his sons foolishly war.

When Theseus leaves, several people arrive at Colonus and attempt to convince Oedipus to return to Thebes. First, Oedipus’s uncle and brother-in-law, Creon, tries to trick him into returning, but Oedipus knows that Creon seeks only selfish gains and so refuses. Creon then abducts Ismene and Antigone, intending to take them back to Thebes in an attempt to lure Oedipus there. Theseus, however, returns to the grove before Creon can depart and demands to know his intentions. Creon lies, claiming he is trying to save Athens from the curse that follows Oedipus, but Theseus sees through the deceit and rescues the daughters. Oedipus’s son Polynices also arrives and begs for his father’s blessing, but Oedipus turns him away, cursing his son to a violent death.

The thunder of Zeus sounds across the sky, and Oedipus knows that the time for his death has come. He makes Theseus promise to hide his body and keep its burial a secret so that he might bless Athens. With Theseus alone accompanying him, Oedipus at last dies. Afterward, Theseus urges the mourning daughters to return to Thebes and end the violence that has begun there.

SIGNIFICANCE

This rendition of the myth of the legendary Greek king Oedipus originated in the work of Sophocles, a Greek playwright whose tragedies form some of the foundations of Western literature. Sophocles composed the play Oedipus at Colonus (ca. 401 BCE) in the final days of his life, and it completes the story of Oedipus’s life as told in Sophocles’s famous trilogy of Theban plays, which also includes Oedipus the King (ca. 429 BCE) and Antigone (ca. 441 BCE).

While the other Theban plays are heavy on action and violence, Oedipus at Colonus is a more quiet and contemplative work. It primarily concerns Oedipus as a tragic figure facing a harsh fate. He is already beaten and beleaguered, having experienced the unimaginable trauma of murdering his father and sleeping with his mother, and by his arrival at Colonus he is blind, destitute, and elderly as well. He is also, however, a man of surprising strength and certitude. Throughout the play he continually insists that he is innocent, not of the crimes themselves but of the intent to commit them; Oedipus did not know that the man he killed was his father, nor did he know that the woman he married was his mother. In this way, he makes a careful distinction, taking responsibility for the horrible deeds he unwittingly perpetrated while also emphasizing the importance of intent. Broken in body but not in spirit, he has paid his dues.

Oedipus’s role is highlighted by the other characters and the environment in which he spends his final days. The grove is a home to the Furies, terrifying winged deities that carry out the dark deeds of fate and curse those who break their solemn oaths. Considering the prophecies that have haunted Oedipus throughout his life, the Furies could in theory be his most feared enemies. Instead, however, he finds safety and refuge in their grove, suggesting that he has already faced his fate and has no debt left to pay. Likewise, the Oracle of Delphi—a priestess who speaks prophecies given to her by Apollo—comments on his death, confirming that the city of his burial will receive protection, while those without his interned body will encounter destruction. Oedipus in death, then, is in many ways the inverse of Oedipus in life. His deceased body will function as a holy blessing and a boon to its city, while his living self was a cursed monstrosity, bringing destruction to wherever he lived. This echoes the fact that his sins in life were physical in nature but also somewhat spiritually pure, rendered so by his ignorance.

Oedipus at Colonus is a complicated and nuanced work, its message tailored to the audience of Sophocles, a people entangled in war, the selfish motives of their leaders, and the cruel mechanisms of fate in a violent society. As a figure supremely downtrodden, Oedipus rises out this grand tragedy to promise something like hope, his death a final demonstration that pure intentions and repentance might still hold some promise in an uncaring world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Sophocles. Oedipus at Colonus. Trans. F. Storr. Internet Classics Archive. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, n.d. Web. 29 May 2013.

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Weigel, James, Jr. “Oedipus at Colonus.” Masterplots. Ed. Laurence W. Mazzeno. 4th ed. Vol. 8. Pasadena: Salem, 2010. 4083–86.