Thursday, April 30, 2020

Oedipus Rex Essays (1338 words) - Greek Mythology, Vocal Music

Oedipus Rex At the start of the play, the city of Thebes is wasting away under a plague that leaves its fields and women barren. Oedipus, king of Thebes, has sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to ask the house of Apollo to ask the oracle how to put an end to the plague. Creon returns, bearing good news: once the killer of the previous king, Laius, is found, Thebes will be cured of the plague (Laius was Jocasta's husband before she married Oedipus). Hearing this, Oedipus swears he will find the murderer and banish him. He asks Creon some questions: where was Laius murdered? did anyone see the crime? how many men killed him? Creon answers: Laius was killed outside the city by a group of robbers, and the only witness was a shepherd who still lives nearby. Hearing this, Oedipus asks the people of Thebes if any of them know any information about the king's death. The Chorus (representing the people of Thebes) suggests that Oedipus consult Teiresias, the blind prophet. Oedipus tells them that he has alre ady sent for Teiresias. When Teiresias arrives, he seems reluctant to answer Oedipus's questions, warning him that he does not want to know the answers. Oedipus threatens him with death, and finally Teiresias tells him that Oedipus himself is the killer, and that his marriage is a sinful union. Oedipus takes this as an insult and jumps to the conclusion that Creon paid Teiresias to say these things. He also mocks Teiresias, telling him that he is no prophet; a prophet should have been able to answer the Sphinx's riddle, but Oedipus himself was the only one who could. Teiresias counters that although he has no sight, Oedipus is the one who is blind to the truth. He asks him whose son he is and reminds him of the curse on his parents' heads. He tells him that he will leave Thebes in shame. Furious, Oedipus dismisses him, and Teiresias goes, repeating, as he does, that Laius's killer is right here before him ? a man who is his father's killer and his mother's husband, a man who came seeing but will leave in bl indness. Creon enters, asking the people around him if it is true that Oedipus slanderously accused him. The Chorus tries to mediate, but Oedipus appears and charges Creon with treason. The men fight until Jocasta, Oedipus's wife, arrives. They explain the nature of their argument to Jocasta, who begs Oedipus to believe Creon. The Chorus also begs Oedipus to be open-minded, and Oedipus unwillingly relents and allows Creon to go. Jocasta asks Oedipus why he is so upset and he tells her what Teiresias prophesied. Jocasta comforts him by telling him that there is no truth in oracles or prophets, and she has proof. Long ago an oracle told Laius that his own son would kill him, and as a result he and Jocasta gave their infant son to a shepherd to leave out on a hillside to die with a pin through its ankles. Yet Laius was killed by robbers, not by his own son, proof that the oracle was wrong. But something about her story troubles Oedipus; she said that Laius was killed at a place where three roads meet, and this reminds Oedipus of an incident from his past, when he killed a stranger at a place where three roads met. He asks her to describe Laius, and her description matches his memory. Yet Jocasta tells him that the only eyewitness to Laius's death swore that five robbers killed him. Oedipus summons this witness. While they wait for the man to arrive, Jocasta asks Oedipus why he seems so troubled. Oedipus tells her the story of his past. Once when he was young, a man he met told him that he was not his father's son. He asked his parents about it, and they denied it. Still it troubled him, and he eventually went to an oracle to ask. The oracle told him that he would kill his father and marry his mother. This so frightened Oedipus that he left his hometown and never returned. On his journeys, he came across a haughty man at a crossroads and