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Outline I. Oedipus decency i. To daughters ii. To sons II.
Appearance i. Characteristics ii. Clothing iii. Blinded iv. Confident III. Sufferings i.
Murder of father / wed mother ii. Betrayed by sons iii. Exiled iv. Blinded / beggar IV. Divinity i. Prays to gods who are to punish him ii.
Chooses place of death V. Effect i. On Theseus ii. On man Essay The Greek tragedy Oedipus at Colonus was written by the great and renowned Greek playwright Sophocles at around 404 B. C. or so.
In the play, considered to be one of the best Greek dramas ever written, Sophocles uses the now broken down and old Oedipus as a statement of hope for man. As Oedipus was royalty and honor before his exile from his kingdom of Thebes he is brought down to a poor, blind old man who wonders, Who will receive the wandering Oedipus today? (Sophocles 283) most of the time of his life that is now as low as a peasants. Although former ruler of Thebes has been blinded and desecrated to the point where he is a beggar, he will not give up on his life and on the life of his two daughters Antigone and Ismene, and his two sons Eteocles and Polynieces who were supposed to help their sorrowful father like true sons and true men but instead they tend the hearth like girls. (304). Yet Oedipus still gives praise to those who have helped him, his daughters Antigone and Ismene, although he has no sight, is poor, and his life is of no meaning to him, he recognizes honor and loyalty when he sees it: Antigone from the time she left her childhood behind and came into full strength, has volunteered for grief, wandering with me, leading the old misery, hungry Hard labor, but you endured it all, never a second though for home, a decent life, so long as your father had some care and comfort. And you, child, in the early days, all unknown to Thebes you left the city, brought your father the oracles, and prophecy said to touch his life. You were my faithful guard, you took that part when I was an exile from the land (304).
It would be hard to think of any suffering more overwhelming than the suffering that was endured by Oedipus: At the summit of his power he discovered himself damned, by his own pertinacity [stubborn persistence] discovered that he had horribly offended against the decencies by which men must live. In one day he fell from sovereignty and fame to self- blinded degradation, and later was driven into exile. (Fitzgerald 145). In the eyes of all the people, Oedipus was looked at as no better than a slave and was treated as no better than one as well. When being led by his older daughter Antigone after 20 years of exile from his homeland Oedipus and Antigone stumble upon the city of Colonus, a beautiful city governed by King Theseus.
Oedipus entering the city in old rags, as a blind poor man is a contrast between Oedipus and the beauty of Colonus of which is easily revealed. (145). Here in the cities are where the Furies dwell. Those who commit severe sins, such as murder in Oedipus case, are pursued to these Furies. Oedipus, well aware that the Furies must punish him as an act of punishment from the gods, asks the chorus to tell him their awesome names so I can pray to them. (Sophocles 285). After all that Oedipus has suffered; after killing his own mother and having wed his mother, after being betrayed by his sons, after exile, after blinding himself so he would not have to look into the eyes of the horrors of life, why is he merely not an obsessed and vindictive old man? (Fitzgerald 148). Oedipus was and still is an intelligent man in the play, as wee see him going for the supreme importance of the pure man.
During the years in which Oedipus probed his own guilt he has come to terms with it. (148). Though he was guilty of murder and of incest relations he has redeemed his sins and is still hopeful for a second chance at life as an honest and noble man in the eyes of the gods. Oedipus is considered to be a large symbol of hope in Oedipus at Colonus. In the play, Oedipus is a protagonist, a good man, a former ruler, who wants to redeem himself for the dreadful sins he has committed some 20 years ago or so. Oedipus dress is quite significant in his mark of hope and him the protagonist because in the later years of Sophocles, he began to stage his men as beggared kings and heroes in rags (Whitman 146). Sophocles did this to his protagonists to express that true good men have benevolent inner and outer morals and it is hard to see how the supremacy of mans inner divinity could have achieved fuller expression than in the shimmering vision of Oedipus. (146).
The true purpose of Oedipus appearance and his purpose in life in Oedipus at Colonus really was to not show that god show mercy on men and men can redeem themselves heavenly in the eyes of the gods but the purpose was bring out the, so called, god and divinity, in men: Oedipus, beginning with that knowledge, now becomes a god- in the specifically fifth-century sense of a god such as man can become His anguished burden of tragic courage has by its very weight prevented him from turning into the shadow the gods would make for him; for his tragic courage is as divine and inviolable as they. (146 - 147). In the plays of Sophocles, the protagonist who is action-oriented is behaving as any hero should and does behave. In Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus does not lack action so he therefore can be regarded as a hero, although his triumph has halted years back. Oedipus would not be considered the best of Sophocles heroes if he achieved his success fulness by his own self-destructiveness. (147). After Creon comes to Colonus to take Oedipus back to Thebes and bury him right outside their borders so the city will not be plagued Oedipus refuses to go and yet persistent Creon does not withdraw. He captures Oedipus guide and beloved daughter Antigone so that Oedipus will suffer more than he already has.
But still Oedipus remains confident that he will get his revenge on those who harmed him most. Wandering around Greece for 20 years in exile has been a hard feat for Oedipus and for his young daughter but Oedipus still lives, not only because the gods let him live until he has f...
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