TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF OEDIPUS REX OR KING OEDIPUS BY SOPHOCLES

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 INTRODUCTION

In this unit, you will be introduced to a classical tragedy-Oedipus Rex. We will use this play to illustrate the Aristotelian elements of drama. The text is also called King Oedipus.

3.1 Synopsis of the Play Oedipus Rex

In the city of Delphi, a son is born to King Laius. The oracle of Delphi reveals that this child is doomed to commit an abomination. He is to kill his father and marry his mother. The King and his wife are sad with this prophecy. Consequently, they take steps to avert its fulfillment. They drive a peg through his two ankles, give him to a shepherd to expose him at the hillside, apparently for him to die there.

The shepherd gives him to the servant of the King of Corinth, Polybus. This child grows up with them and takes them as his parents. One day he is told that he is not actually what he claims to be. He goes to the oracle to find out the truth. He is told he is fated to kill his father and marry his mother. He tries to defeat the oracle by running away. He resolves to stay out of Corinth until his parents are dead.

On his way, he meets an entourage and there is a quarrel over the right of way. He kills everybody except one person who escaped. The city he enters is besieged by a Sphinx who kills the citizens because they cannot answer a particular riddle. Oedipus solves the riddle and is made the king. Consequently, he marries the queen who, unknown to both of them, is his mother. He lives with her and they have children.

The city is again besieged by a plague. The general belief is that the city is not clean, so it is being punished by the gods. They inquire from the oracle and they are told that the unknown assassin of the former king, Lauis, is in their midst and unless he is discovered and punished, the plague would continue.

Oedipus sets out in search of the killer and eventually finds out that he is the killer. The queen tries in vain to stop the quest. She commits suicide as the reality dawns on her that she had married her own son. King Oedipus gouges out his two eyes and leaves Thebes with the children.

3.2 Themes

The main theme of the play is fate or destiny. The play dramatizes the helplessness of man in the hands of the gods or in the hands of Fate. It upholds belief in destiny and the fact that what is destined to happen to anybody must happen to that person irrespective of what the person does.

Another theme of the play is man’s search for identity. It shows that, sometimes, we are not what we think that we are. If we, therefore, decide to search, we might discover our true identities. In the play, Oedipus’ search for his true parents leads him to kill his father and marry his mother while his search for the plague in his kingdom and the murderer of King Laius leads to his search for his true identity.

3.3.1 Plot

The play has a single unified plot. It is presented like a detective play which is like an investigation into the cause of the plague. The play therefore commences as a search and proceeds as a search until the messenger from Corinth arrives. The events of the play run chronologically and causally from the beginning to the end. The incidents have causes and consequences (interdependence of incidents). Oedipus assures his subjects that he will solve their problems by ensuring that the killer of Lauis is found and punished. He therefore sends Creon to the oracle to inquire and also sends for the seer, Teiresias. Creon returns with the news that the killer they seek is in their midst. The seer confirms this information and goes a step further out of provocation to accuse Oedipus of being the killer he seeks.

The queen tries to refute the seer’s claim and unwittingly tells Oedipus the story of his birth. However, this fact is further revealed as the messenger from Corinth arrives to inform Oedipus of the death of his father. He explains the circumstance that took Oedipus to Corinth. This circumstance is that Oedipus is not the prince of Corinth as he had hitherto believed. The truth is that the Oedipus was given to him by the shepherd who was asked to abandon the baby in the forest to die. He, the messenger, gave the baby to his master who was childless then. Oedipus was then brought up and treated like a prince. Thus the arrival of the messenger provides a basis for revealing the true story. The shepherd corroborated his story and this leads to the resolution of the play. This section of the play is replete with dramatic ironies. It is ironical that the killer which the king seeks is himself. Try to identify other ironies in the play.

The play opens with a search. The first search is for the cause of the plague in Thebes. This leads to the search for a murderer and the search continues until the messenger from Corinth arrives with his news. The information from him and the accusation from the seer leads to another kind of search – the search for an identity. The revelations about the true identity of King Oedipus lead to the resolution of the play.

The plot is also ironic because Oedipus sets out to secure peace and tranquility in his kingdom by tracking the cause of the plague. He realizes that this can only be achieved through the discovery and punishment of the killer of King Laius. He becomes the killer he is searching for. The major ironic twist in the play is that, it is believed that the discovery of his true identity will lead to the solution of his problems. Unfortunately it becomes the beginning of his problems. It is also expected that the discovery of the murderer he is looking for will end the plague in the land but he leaves the city as a blind man who does not know if the plague ended or not. The play conforms to the Aristotelian plot structure of beginning, middle and end.

Exposition - The play opens with a problem. There is a plague is the land and the people are suffering.

Complication - Creon returns and tells him that the oracle says that the killer is in their midst. There is a conflict. He quarrels with Creon and the seer. The search for his identity introduces more complications.

Climax - The climax begins with the arrival of the messenger from Corinth and culminates in the revelation of his true identity.

Discovery - He discovers his true self and real parents.

Reversal - There is a reversal of fortune as a man who was once a famous king is brought down and expelled from the society he once ruled. The king leaves his city as a wandering blind beggar. In the catastrophe, the Queen hangs herself while the king blinds himself and goes on self-exile. The killer of Lauis is found and punished, so the plague is expected to stop. Thus the conflicts are resolved.

3.3.2 Characterization

The characters are consistent and well-motivated. Oedipus remains resolute and exhibits his bravery and arrogance throughout the play. This aspect of his character is manifested more at the end of the play when he gouges out his eyes. Only a brave man can inflict such pain on himself. Each character’s action helps to advance the theme and propel the plot. For instance, the insistence of the king on the search for the killer of the late king sustains the play from the beginning to the end. The chorus is used as a character. However, it speaks in an impersonal way. It therefore does not participate in the action. It makes statements or comments on man and the forces against him which he cannot understand. Sometimes it thinks aloud as it expresses its fears on a particular issue. A good example is when the messenger from Corinth arrives with the news that Polybus is dead. The chorus is apprehensive and wondered aloud. It feels that if the gods have failed, then the whole system is destroyed. In the end, the gods did not fail. The truth is revealed and the chorus reviews the entire action. The chorus acts as the interpreter of events in the play.

Jocasta is an obedient wife. She obeys her husband as she agrees to hand over her son to be killed. She marries Oedipus apparently in obedience to the laws of the land. She is encountered briefly as she pleads with her husband to stop the search. Her husband refuses to stop the search and she does not confront him, instead she leaves quietly to hang herself.

3.3.3 Diction

The language is in verse. It is condensed but accessible. The language is used to delineate characters. For instance, Oedipus speaks with the authority and arrogance of a king. The words are well chosen to reveal both characters and incidents. The Blind Seer also speaks with the authority of someone who possesses some supernatural powers. Other characters speak in simple language as people speaking before their king.

3.3.4 Music

There is an alternation of dialogue and songs. The chorus sings part of its lines and dances in accompaniment of the song. The larger part of the play in which the chorus sings is called the choral song or the strophe. The practice is that as they sing the strophe, they dance. The movement from right to left is called the anti-strophe.

3.3.5 Spectacle

The stylized acting, the costume and make-up, and the dance of the chorus, all contribute to the spectacle of the play.

3.4 Tragic Hero/Tragic Flaw

Oedipus is a typical classical tragic hero. He is of a noble birth. Even when circumstance would have forced him to the lower class, he leaves Corinth, arrives at Thebes and is made the king.

His tragic flaw is arrogance and irascibility. In arrogance, he decides to outwit the gods by running away from Corinth. In arrogance, he refuses to concede the right of way to king Lauis and his men. In arrogance, he challenges both Creon and Teiresias. In arrogance, he refuses to listen to a plea, to stop the quest, from Jocasta. In arrogance he refuses to ask for mercy or any other solution but gouges his eyes and leaves the city.

He is also temperamental which is why he kills King Lauis and his men. He also threatens to deal with Creon and Teiresias. He pursues the goal he believes in to its logical conclusion even to the detriment of his life

SELF-ASSESMENT EXERCISE 1

i. What is the thematic concern of Oedipus Rex

ii. Oedipus is doomed to kill his father and marry his mother. Discuss.

4.0 CONCLUSION

Oedipus Rex is a good example of an ideal classical play that is still relevant in our own times. It meets the Aristotelean postulations on tragedy. It contains a single integral plot which is presented in one single setting within a very short period of time. It presents the story of how Oedipus killed his father and married his mother. The setting is in front of the palace. To maintain this single setting, indoor actions and violence are reported. For instance Jocasta’s hanging of herself is reported and not presented on stage. Oedipus, the tragic hero, is a king who is not preeminently good, virtuous or vicious but he commits an error of judgment. Towards the end of the play, he discovers the truth about himself and his fortune reverses from good to bad. His catastrophe is caused by his tragic flaw which is arrogance.

5.0 SUMMARY

You have seen in this unit, through a study/ reading of Oedipus Rex, that man is helpless in the hands of the gods. For those who believe in destiny, this play will be very relevant.

With it one can easily understand the Aristotelean postulations on tragedy. He opines that tragedy should treat a single subject that concerns a hero who must be of noble birth. The tragic hero has a flaw which makes him to commit an error of judgement that leads to his fall. The play must have a beginning, middle and an end. Can you identify them in the play?

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Describe King Oedipus as a tragic hero

2. What is the distinctive feature of the plot of Oedipus Rex?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS

Sophocles, (1978). King Oedipus in Three Theban Plays.

Harmondsworth: Penguin.