Selections from Antigone by Sophocles

Transcription

1 The Oedipus Trilogy L. Kalmanson. "The Oedipus Trilogy: Introduction." Epics for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 0. Detroit: Gale, enotes.com. January January < trilogy/introduction>. The three plays can be studied together or individually. Each is complete in itself, and ancient audiences knew the rough outlines of the plot from long oral traditions that preceded formal theatrical productions of these stories. flowed first from Sophocles hand, and was seen first by ancient audiences, but it comes last in the lives of the characters, wrapping up the final disasters of their histories. The first play in the characters lives is Oedipus the King, which is the story of a man unwittingly moving ever closer to the unhappy fate he is struggling mightily to avoid. The child Oedipus is born to the royal couple, Laius and Jocasta, but a grim prophecy hangs over the Theban palace. The old king is warned that his son will kill him. In order to thwart fate, Laius and Jocasta abandon the infant Oedipus, with his feet bound, to starve on a barren mountainside. Rescued by the shepherd who was supposed to leave the baby to starve, and delivered to the royal palace at Corinth by a Messenger, Oedipus is raised as the son of the royal house. Life there is good, until Oedipus learns that a prophecy has named him as the murderer of his father and the husband of his mother. Determined to outwit fate, the young man flees the only home and the only father he has known. Soon, the wandering Oedipus meets and kills a stranger at a crossroads, and part of the oracle s prophecy is fulfilled. Oedipus doesn t know it, but the murdered stranger is Laius, his real father. The wanderer has committed one of the very acts he fled Corinth to avoid. Continuing his journey, Oedipus enters Thebes his forgotten first home as a hero, having solved the riddle of the murderous Sphinx. The evil creature murdered travelers who could not solve its riddle; What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three legs at night? Oedipus is the first person to figure out the answer: As crawling infants, people travel on four limbs in the mornings of their lives. As adults, they travel upright on two limbs in the bright middays of their lives. As frail and elderly people tapping canes before them, they travel on three limbs in the twilights of their days. Oedipus reward for solving the riddle is marriage to Jocasta, the Queen of Thebes. She is the widow of the recently murdered king, Laius, whose slaying is an unsolved crime at the time. Unfortunately, Jocasta doesn t recognize Oedipus as her abandoned son, and this ill-fated marriage goes forward. This much of the plot is background, which is revealed in pieces later in the story. The history was well-known to ancient Greek audiences, and the story was part of their canon of stories and legends.

2 The action of Oedipus the King begins during a time of plague in Thebes. The gods demand vengeance for the death of Laius as the price of lifting the city s punishment. Oedipus, who has been a wise and just ruler of the people who made him their king, is determined to seek justice. Through his efforts, he discovers that he is the murderer of Laius. Before this search for the truth is complete, Jocasta figures out the secret and kills herself. When he discovers her body, Oedipus puts out his own eyes. The play closes with Oedipus mourning the destruction of his family, apologizing to his daughters, and begging, the new king and Jocasta s brother, for banishment. His wish is granted. The girls become their uncle s wards, but their ill-fated brothers are left to look out for themselves. The storyline continues in Oedipus at Colonus, which features the blind former king as a shattered old man. His daughter,, is his loyal companion. Wandering together, they come upon a sacred grove that is protected by the Furies, who are also known as the Eumenides the protectors of Athens. When he discovers where he is, Oedipus realizes that the last piece of the prophecy foretelling his life is about to be fulfilled. If he is granted shelter there and dies there, on Athenian soil, his body will draw the blood of the enemy in this case, the invading force of Thebes, his former home. Before that happens, other curses and prophesies are cast and fulfilled. Back home in Thebes, his two sons are quarreling over the throne Oedipus abandoned, and one comes to him seeking help. Oedipus greets his son, Polynices, with the curse of mutual fratricidal murder. When the play ends, that curse has been fulfilled. Polynices and Eteocles have killed each other in battle. The final tragedy of the family cycle will unwind in, when their doomed sister meets her own fate., the play that wraps together the final events of these characters sad lives, begins in Thebes. After her father s death, has returned to the royal palace where she was raised. Her family s tragedies have been compounded by her brothers Eteocles and Polynices, who have killed each other in war, as foretold by their father. The ruling king,, gives an honorable burial to one of his nephews, Eteocles, but there is no such mercy for Polynices. Declaring him a traitor, forbids burial of his corpse and promises death to anyone who disobeys this order. Grief-stricken and defiant, performs burial rites for her brother, saying that the gods demand no less of her. Her sister, Ismene, tries to prevent yet another tragedy, without success. upholds his decree, and condemns to be buried alive. later rescinds this order, but his second thoughts come too late. has already committed suicide by the time changes his mind and decides that sentencing her to death was wrong. Haemon, her lover, who is s son, takes his own life when he discovers that he can only join his wouldbe bride in the kingdom of the dead. The destruction of the two royal families is now concluded.

3 Selections from by Sophocles Eteocles and Polynices, the sons of Oedipus, killed each other in war. Eteocles, who fought on the side of King, was given a proper burial. Polynices, labeled as a traitor, was left outside the city to rot. buried her brother but was caught by s guards. Guard Guard Guard (holding and speaking to King ) Here is this woman. She is the guilty one: We found her trying to bury him But this is! Why have you brought her here? She was burying him, I tell you! Is this the truth? I saw her with my own eyes. Can I say more? And you,, you with your head hanging- do you confess this thing? I do. I deny nothing. Tell me, tell me briefly: had you heard my proclamation touching this matter? It was public. Could I help hearing it? And yet you dared defy the law. I dared. It was not the Gods proclamation. That final Justice that rules the world below makes no such laws. Your edict, King, was strong. But all your strength is weakness itself against the immortal unrecorded laws of the Gods. They are not merely now; they were, and shall be in effect for ever, beyond man utterly. I knew I must die, even without your decree. I am only mortal. And if I must die now, before it is my time to die, surely this can be no hardship. Can anyone, living as I live, with evil all about me, think death less than a friend? This death of mine is of no importance; but if I had left my brother lying in death unburied, I should have suffered. Now I do not. You smile at me, ah, think me a fool if you like, but it may well be that a fool convicts me of folly. Chorus Like father, like daughter: both headstrong, deaf to reason! She has never learned to yield. She has much to learn. The inflexible heart breaks first, the toughest iron cracks first,

4 and the wildest horses bend their necks at the pull of the smallest curb. Pride? In a slave? This girl is guilty of a double insolence. Breaking the given laws and boasting of it. Who is the man here, she or I, if this crime goes unpunished?, what more do you want than my death? Nothing. That gives me everything. Then I beg you, kill me. This talking is great weariness. Your words are distasteful to me, and I am sure that mine seem so to you. And yet they should not seem so: I should have praise and honor for what I have done. All these men here would praise me were their lips not frozen shut with fear of you. Ah, the good fortune of kings, licensed to say and do whatever they please! You are alone here in that opinion. No, they are with me. But they keep their tongues in leash. Maybe, but you are guilty, and they are not. There is no guilt in reverence for the death. But Eteocles was he not your brother, too? And you insult his memory? The dead man would not say that I insult it. He would: for you honor a traitor as much as him. His own brother, traitor or not, and equal in blood. He made war on his country. Eteocles defended it. Nevertheless, there are honors due all the dead. But not the same for the wicked as for the just. Ah,. Which of us can say what the gods hold wicked? An enemy is an enemy, even dead. It is my nature to join in love, not hate. Go join them, then. If you must have your love, find it in hell!

5 After his proclamation, King talks with his son,., engaged to, faces a dilemma: honor his father or be loyal to his future bride. Son, you have heard my final judgment on that girl: have you come here hating me, Or have you come with deference and with love, whatever I do? I am your son, father. You are my guide. You make things clear for me, and I obey you. No marriage means more to me than your continuing wisdom. Good. That is the way to behave: subordinate everything else, my son, to your father s will. That is what a man prays for, that he may get sons attentive and dutiful in his house So you are right not to lose your head over this woman. Of all the people in this city, only she has had contempt for my law and broken it. Do you want me to show myself weak before the people? Or break my sworn word? No, and I will not. The woman dies If I permit my own family to rebel, how shall I earn the world s obedience? I ll have no dealings with law- breakers, critics of the government: whoever is chosen to govern should be obeyed must be obeyed, in all things, great and small, just and unjust! Oh, son, the man who knows how to obey and that man only, knows how to give commands when the time comes. You can depend on him, no matter how fast the spears come, he s a good soldier. Anarchy, anarchy! Show me a greater evil! This is why cities tumble and the great houses rain down, this is what scatters cities! Chorus Unless time has rusted my wits, what you say, King is said with point and dignity. Father, reason is the Gods crowning gift to man, and you are right to warn me about not losing mine. I cannot say - I hope that I shall never want to say that you have reasoned badly. Yet there are other men who can reason, too, and their opinions might be helpful. You are not in a position to know everything that people say or do, or what they feel: your temper terrifies them everyone will only tell you what you want to hear. I have heard them muttering about this girl. They say no woman has ever, so unreasonably, died so shameful a death for a generous act. They say she covered her brother s body, is that indecent? She kept him from dogs and vultures, is this a crime? Death? She should have all the honor that we can give her. This is what they say in the city. Father, I beg you, do not be unchangeable; do not believe that you alone can be right. It is not reason never to yield to reason! In flood time you can see how some trees bend, and because they bend, even their twigs are safe. While stubborn trees are torn up, roots and all. Forget you are angry! Let yourself be moved! I know I am young, but please let me say this: the ideal condition would be, I admit, that men should be right by instinct, but since we are all too likely to go astray, the reasonable thing to do is to learn from those who can teach.

6 You think it right to stand up for an anarchist? Not at all. I pay no respect to criminals. Then she is not a criminal? The city would deny it. The city proposes to teach me to rule? My voice is the one giving orders in this city! It is no city if it takes orders from one voice. The state is the king! Yes, if the state is a desert. You are in a public brawl with justice! With justice, when I do what is within my rights? You have no right to trample on the Gods rights. Now, by the gods, I swear, by all the gods in heaven above us, you ll watch it, I swear. Bring her out! Bring the woman out! Let her die before his eyes! Here, this instant, with her bridegroom beside her. Not here, no, she will not die here, King. And you will never see my face again. Go on Raving as long as you ve a friend to endure you. Resolution: is to be buried alive. She hangs herself. arrives and finds her body, and in his grief, kills himself. decided to lift s punishment, but arrives too late - and are dead. When his wife hears the news, she goes mad. The royal house is in ruins, due to the hubris of. Abridged and adapted from Fitz, Dudley and Robert Fitzgerald. The of Sophocles: An English Version Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: New York, 1967.