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Module 3 | Journal Entry 3 – Oedipus
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Assignment: Journal Entry 3
Instructions
In this module, you were introduced to Oedipus by Sophocles. Reflect on the learning materials assigned in this module.
Focus specifically on: dramatic Irony, the role of Fate in Greek tragedy, parental relationships, the role of plagues (real and symbolic meanings), and the psychological interpretation of Oedipus. How do each of these play out in the text?
Submission and Assessment Guidelines
The entry should be 600-700 words long. Each entry will be graded out of a possible 100 points. A high-scoring entry will demonstrate that you have read the text; do not, however, spend precious time summarizing it. We’ve all read the same text, but you can offer something unique by putting forward your personal opinion. Remember, when it comes to literary analysis, an “opinion” needs to be advanced and defended through reference to specific details in the text. So, if a passage leaves you feeling a sense of awe, or a deep discomfort, dig below the surface and find out why. It is not enough simply to give your initial response without offering analysis and evidence. Have specific passages or lines that you can reference. It is important to show that you have considered the text as a whole. In other words, entries that only mention the first few pages are suspect.
In your entry you may want to look at the devices the author uses to develop character or plot; you may consider the author’s use of imagery, metaphor, allusion or ambiguity. You can also discuss the philosophical, ethical or spiritual implications of the work. First person—“I” and “me”—point of view is appropriate, and the response can be free-flowing, and structured as you see fit. You are encouraged to develop your own voice, and can even bring in outside ideas from the contemporary world, and show how they relate to the themes in the text. Do remember, of course, that this is an academic setting and the tone should be appropriate.
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Journal Entries (2)
Journal Entries (2)
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Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
Oedipus the King
Sophocles (c. 420 BCE)
This translation, which has been prepared by Ian Johnston of
Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, BC, is in the public
domain and may be used, in whole or in part, without permission
and without charge, provided the source is acknowledged—
released August 2004.
Translator’s Note
The translator would like to acknowledge the invaluable help
provided by Sir Richard Jebb’s translation and commentary.
Sophocles (495 BC-405 BC) was a famous and successful
Athenian writer of tragedies in his own lifetime. Of his 120 plays,
only 7 have survived. Oedipus the King, also called Oedipus
Tyrannos or Oedipus Rex, written around 420 BC, has long been
regarded not only as his finest play but also as the purest and
most powerful expression of Greek tragic drama.
Oedipus, a stranger to Thebes, became king of the city after the
murder of king Laius, about fifteen or sixteen years before the
start of the play. He was offered the throne because he was
successful in saving the city from the Sphinx, an event referred to
repeatedly in the text of the play. He married Laius’ widow,
Jocasta, and had four children with her, two sons, Eteocles and
Polyneices, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene.
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
Dramatis Personae
OEDIPUS: king of Thebes
PRIEST: the high priest of Thebes
CREON: Oedipus’ brother-in-law
CHORUS of Theban elders
TEIRESIAS: an old blind prophet
BOY: attendant on Teiresias
JOCASTA: wife of Oedipus, sister of Creon
MESSENGER: an old man
SERVANT: an old shepherd
SECOND MESSENGER: a servant of Oedipus
ANTIGONE: daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, a child
ISMENE: daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, a child
SERVANTS and ATTENDANTS on Oedipus and Jocasta
1
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Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
[The action takes place in Thebes in front of the royal palace. The
main doors are directly facing the audience. There are altars
beside the doors. A crowd of citizens carrying branches decorated
with laurel garlands and wool and led by the PRIEST has
gathered in front of the altars, with some people sitting on the
altar steps. OEDIPUS enters through the palace doors]
OEDIPUS: My children, latest generation born from Cadmus,
why are you sitting here with wreathed sticks
in supplication to me, while the city
fills with incense, chants, and cries of pain?1
Children, it would not be appropriate for me
to learn of this from any other source,
so I have come in person—I, Oedipus,
whose fame all men acknowledge. But you there,
old man, tell me—you seem to be the one
who ought to speak for those assembled here.”
What feeling brings you to me—fear or desire?
You can be confident that I will help.
I shall assist you willingly in every way.
I would be a hard-hearted man indeed,
if I did not pity suppliants like these.
PRIEST: Oedipus, ruler of my native land,
you see how people here of every age
are crouching down around your altars,
10
some fledglings barely strong enough to fly
and others bent by age, with priests as well—”
for I’m priest of Zeus—and these ones here,
the pick of all our youth. The other groups
sit in the market place with suppliant sticks
or else in front of Pallas’ two shrines,
or where Ismenus prophesies with fire.2
For our city, as you yourself can see,
is badly shaken—she cannot raise her head
above the depths of so much surging death.
Disease infects fruit blossoms in our land,
disease infects our herds of grazing cattle, ”
makes women in labour lose their children.
And deadly pestilence, that fiery god,
swoops down to blast the city, emptying
the House of Cadmus, and fills black Hades
with groans and howls. These children and myself
now sit here by your home, not because we think
you’re equal to the gods. No. We judge you
the first of men in what happens in this life
and in our interactions with the gods.
For you came here, to our Cadmeian city, ”
and freed us from the tribute we were paying
to that cruel singer3 —and yet you knew
no more than we did and had not been taught.
In their stories, the people testify
2
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1 Cadmus: legendary founder of Thebes. Hence, the citizens of Thebes were often called children of Cadmus or Cadmeians.
2 Pallas: Pallas Athena. There were two shrines to her in Thebes. Ismenus: A temple to Apollo Ismenios where burnt offerings were the basis for the priest’s
divination.
3 cruel singer: a reference to the Sphinx, a monster with the body of a lion, wings, and the head and torso of a woman. After the death of king Laius, the Sphinx
tyrannized Thebes by not letting anyone into or out of the city, unless the person could answer the following riddle: “What walks on four legs in the morning, on
two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?” Those who could not answer were killed and eaten. Oedipus provided the answer (a human being), and thus
saved the city. The Sphinx then committed suicide.
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
!
Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
how, with gods’ help, you gave us back our lives.
So now, Oedipus, our king, most powerful
in all men’s eyes, we’re here as suppliants,
all begging you to find some help for us,
either by listening to a heavenly voice,
or learning from some other human being. ”
For, in my view, men of experience
provide advice which gives the best results.
So now, you best of men, raise up our state.
Act to consolidate your fame, for now,
thanks to your eagerness in earlier days,
the city celebrates you as its saviour.
Don’t let our memory of your ruling here
declare that we were first set right again,
and later fell. No. Restore our city,
so that it stands secure. In those times past ”
you brought us joy—and with good omens, too.
Be that same man today. If you’re to rule
as you are doing now, it’s better to be king
in a land of men than in a desert.
An empty ship or city wall is nothing
if no men share your life together there.
OEDIPUS: My poor children, I know why you have come—
I am not ignorant of what you yearn for.
For I well know that you are ill, and yet,
sick as you are, there is not one of you ”
whose illness equals mine. Your agony
comes to each one of you as his alone,
a special pain for him and no one else.
But the soul inside me sorrows for myself,
50
60
and for the city, and for you—all together.
You are not rousing me from a deep sleep.
You must know I’ve been shedding many tears
and, in my wandering thoughts, exploring
many pathways. After a careful search
I followed up the one thing I could find ”
and acted on it. So I have sent away
my brother-in-law, son of Menoeceus,
Creon, to Pythian Apollo’s shrine,
to learn from him what I might do or say
to save our city. But when I count the days—
the time he’s been away—I now worry
what he’s doing. For he’s been gone too long,
well past the time he should have taken.
But when he comes, I’ll be a wicked man
if I do not act on all the god reveals. ”
PRIEST: What you have said is most appropriate,
for these men here have just informed me
that Creon is approaching.
OEDIPUS:
Lord Apollo,
as he returns may fine shining fortune,
bright as his countenance, attend on him.
70
PRIEST: It seems the news he brings is good—if not,
he would not wear that wreath around his head,
a laurel thickly packed with berries.4
OEDIPUS: We’ll know soon enough—he’s within earshot.
[Enter CREON. OEDIPUS calls to him as he approaches]
4 berries: a suppliant to Apollo’s shrine characteristically wore such a garland if he received favourable news.
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
3
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Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
My royal kinsman, child of Menoeceus, ”
what message from the god do you bring us?
100
CREON: Good news. I tell you even troubles
difficult to bear will all end happily
if events lead to the right conclusion.
CREON: Here in Thebes, so said the god. What is sought
is found, but what is overlooked escapes. ”
CREON: If you wish to hear the news in public,
I’m prepared to speak. Or we could step inside.
110
CREON: They all died—except for one who was afraid
and ran away. There was only one thing”
he could inform us of with confidence
about the things he saw.
CREON:
By banishment—
or atone for murder by shedding blood again.
This blood brings on the storm which blasts our state.
OEDIPUS: I have heard that, but I never saw the man.
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
CREON: He was abroad, on his way to Delphi—
that’s what he told us. He began the trip,
but did not return.
OEDIPUS:
Was there no messenger—
no companion who made the journey with him
and witnessed what took place—a person
who might provide some knowledge men could use?
OEDIPUS: What sort of cleansing? And this disaster—
how did it happen?
CREON:
Before you came, my lord,
to steer our ship of state, Laius ruled this land.
130
OEDIPUS: When Laius fell in bloody death, where was he—
at home, or in his fields, or in another land?
CREON: Then let me report what I heard from the god.
Lord Phoebus clearly orders us to drive away
the polluting stain this land has harboured—
which will not be healed if we keep nursing it.
OEDIPUS: And the one whose fate the god revealed— ”
what sort of man is he?
CREON: Laius was killed. And now the god is clear:
those murderers, he tells us, must be punished,
whoever they may be.
OEDIPUS:
And where are they?
In what country? Where am I to find a trace
of this ancient crime? It will be hard to track.
OEDIPUS: What is the oracle? So far your words
inspire in me no confidence or fear.
OEDIPUS: Speak out to everyone. The grief I feel
for these citizens is even greater ”
than any pain I feel for my own life.
4
120
OEDIPUS:
What was that?
We might get somewhere if we had one fact—
we could find many things, if we possessed
some slender hope to get us going.
140
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Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
CREON: He told us it was robbers who attacked them—
not just a single man, a gang of them—
they came on with force and killed him.
OEDIPUS: How would a thief have dared to do this,
unless he had financial help from Thebes? ”
the Theban people to assemble here.
I’ll do everything I can. With the god’s help
this will all come to light successfully,
or else it will prove our common ruin.
150
CREON: That’s what we guessed. But once Laius was dead
we were in trouble, so no one sought revenge.
180
[The PRIEST and the CITIZENS leave. Enter the CHORUS OF
THEBAN ELDERS]
CREON:
It was the Sphinx—
she sang her enigmatic song and thus forced us
to put aside something we found obscure
to look into the urgent problem we now faced.
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
[OEDIPUS and CREON go into the palace]
PRIEST: Let us get up, children. For this man
has willingly declared just what we came for.
And may Phoebus, who sent this oracle, ”
come as our saviour and end our sickness.
OEDIPUS: When the ruling king had fallen in this way,
what bad trouble blocked your path, preventing you
from looking into it?
OEDIPUS: Then I will start afresh, and once again
shed light on darkness. It is most fitting ”
that Apollo demonstrates his care
for the dead man, and worthy of you, too.
And so, as is right, you will see how I
work with you, seeking vengeance for this land,
as well as for the god. This polluting stain
I will remove, not for some distant friend,
but for myself. For whoever killed this man
may soon enough desire to turn his hand
in the same way against me, too, and kill me.
Thus, in avenging Laius, I serve myself. ”
But now, my children, as quickly as you can
stand up from these altar steps and take
your suppliant branches. Someone must call
5
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170
CHORUS:
Oh sweet speaking voice of Zeus,
you have come to glorious Thebes from golden Pytho—
but what is your intent?
My fearful heart twists on the rack and shakes with fear.
O Delian healer, for whom we cry aloud
in holy awe, what obligation
will you demand from me, a thing unknown
or now renewed with the revolving years?
Immortal voice, O child of golden Hope, ”
190
speak to me!
First I call on you, Athena the immortal,
daughter of Zeus, and on your sister, too,
Artemis, who guards our land and sits
on her glorious round throne in our market place,
and on Phoebus, who shoots from far away.
O you three guardians against death,
appear to me!
If before now you have ever driven off
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Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
a fiery plague to keep away disaster ”
from the city and have banished it,
then come to us this time as well!
Alas, the pains I bear are numberless—
my people now all sick with plague,
our minds can find no weapons
to serve as our defence. Now the offspring
of our splendid earth no longer grow,
nor do our women crying out in labour
get their relief from a living new-born child.
As you can see—one by one they swoop away, ”
off to the shores of the evening god, like birds
faster than fire which no one can resist.
Our city dies—we’ve lost count of all the dead.
Her sons lie in the dirt unpitied, unlamented.
Corpses spread the pestilence, while youthful wives
and grey-haired mothers on the altar steps
wail everywhere and cry in supplication,
seeking to relieve their agonizing pain.
Their solemn chants ring out—
they mingle with the voices of lament. ”
O Zeus’ golden daughter,
send your support and strength,
your lovely countenance!
200
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And that ravenous Ares, god of killing,
who now consumes me as he charges on
with no bronze shield but howling battle cries,
let him turn his back and quickly leave this land,
with a fair following wind to carry him
to the great chambers of Amphitrite 5
or inhospitable waves of Thrace. ”
For if destruction does not come at night,
then day arrives to see it does its work.
O you who wield that mighty flash of fire,
O father Zeus, with your lighting blast
let Ares be destroyed!
O Lyceian lord,6 how I wish those arrows
from the golden string of your bent bow
with their all-conquering force would wing out
to champion us against our enemy,
and the blazing fires of Artemis, as well, ”
with which she races through the Lycian hills.
I call the god who binds his hair with gold,
the one whose name our country shares,
the one to whom the Maenads shout their cries,
Dionysus with his radiant face—7
may he come to us with his flaming torchlight,
our ally against Ares,
a god dishonoured among gods.
[Enter OEDIPUS from the palace]
5 This part of the choral song makes an important distinction between two forms of self-assertive action: the first breeds self-aggrandizement and greed; the
second is necessary for the protection of the state.
6 lord of Lyceia: a reference to Apollo, god of light.
7 … among gods: Dionysus was also called Bacchus, and Thebes was sometimes called Baccheia (belonging to Bacchus). The Maenads are the followers of
Dionysus.
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
6
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240
!
OEDIPUS: You pray. But if you listen now to me,
you’ll get your wish. Hear what I have to say ”
and treat your own disease—then you may hope
to find relief from your distress. I shall speak
as one who is a stranger to the story,
a stranger to the crime. If I alone
were tracking down this act, I’d not get far
without a single clue. That being the case,
for it was after the event that I became
a citizen of Thebes, I now proclaim
the following to all of you Cadmeians:
Whoever among you knows the man it was ”
who murdered Laius, son of Labdacus,
I order him to reveal it all to me.
And if the murderer’s afraid, I tell him
to avoid the danger of the major charge
by speaking out against himself. If so,
he will be sent out from this land unhurt—
and undergo no further punishment.
If someone knows the killer is a stranger,
from some other state, let him not stay mute.
As well as a reward, he’ll earn my thanks. ”
But if he remains quiet, if anyone,
through fear, hides himself or a friend of his
against my orders, here’s what I shall do—
so listen to my words. For I decree
that no one in this land, in which I rule
as your own king, shall give that killer shelter
or talk to him, whoever he may be,
or act in concert with him during prayers,
or sacrifice, or sharing lustral water.8
8 lustral water: water purified in a communal religious ritual.
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
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Ban him from your homes, every one of you, ”
for he is our pollution, as the Pythian god
has just revealed to me. In doing this,
I’m acting as an ally of the god
and of dead Laius, too. And I pray
whoever the man is who did this crime,
one unknown person acting on his own
or with companions, the worst of agonies
will wear out his wretched life. I pray, too,
that, if he should become a honoured guest
in my own home and with my knowledge, ”
I may suffer all those things I’ve just called down
upon the killers. And I urge you now
to make sure all these orders take effect,
for my sake, for the sake of the god,
and for our barren, godless, ruined land.
For in this matter, even if a god
were not prompting us, it would not be right
for you to simply leave things as they are,
and not to purify the murder of a man
who was so noble and who was your king. ”
You should have looked into it. But now I
possess the ruling power which Laius held
in earlier days. I have his bed and wife—
she would have borne his children, if his hopes
to have a son had not been disappointed.
Children from a common mother might have linked
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Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
Laius and myself. But as it turned out,
fate swooped down onto his head. So now I
will fight on his behalf, as if this matter
concerned my father, and I will strive ”
to do everything I can to find him,
the man who spilled his blood, and thus avenge
the son of Labdacus and Polydorus,
of Cadmus and Agenor from old times. 9
As for those who do not follow what I urge,
I pray the gods send them no fertile land,
no, nor any children in their women’s wombs—
may they all perish in our present fate
or one more hateful still. To you others,
you Cadmeians who support my efforts, ”
may Justice, our ally, and all the gods
attend on us with kindness always.
to let me know.
310
CHORUS LEADER:
Our lord Teiresias,
I know, can see into things, like lord Apollo.
From him, my king, a man investigating this
might well find out the details of the crime.
OEDIPUS: I’ve taken care of that—it’s not something
I could overlook. At Creon’s urging,
I have dispatched two messengers to him
and have been wondering for some time now”
why he has not come.
320
CHORUS LEADER: My lord, since you extend your oath to me,
I will say this. I am not the murderer,
nor can I tell you who the killer is.
As for what you’re seeking, it’s for Apollo,
who launched this search, to state who did it.
OEDIPUS: That is well said. But no man has power
to force the gods to speak against their will.
CHORUS LEADER: May I then suggest what seems to me”
the next best course of action?
8
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340
CHORUS LEADER:
Apart from that,
there are rumours—but inconclusive ones
from a long time ago.
OEDIPUS:
I’m looking into every story.
What kind of rumours?
CHORUS LEADER:
It was said
that Laius was killed by certain travellers.
OEDIPUS: Yes, I heard as much. But no one has seen
the one who did it.
CHORUS LEADER:
Well, if the killer
has any fears, once he hears your curses on him,
he will not hold back, for they are serious.
OEDIPUS:
You may indeed,
and if there is a third course, too, don’t hesitate
9 Agenor: founder of the Theban royal family; his son Cadmus moved from Sidon in Asia Minor to Greece and founded Thebes. Polydorus: son of Cadmus, father
of Labdacus, and hence grandfather of Laius.
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
!
OEDIPUS: When a man has no fear of doing the act,”
he’s not afraid of words.
Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
350
but it had slipped my mind. Otherwise,
I would not have journeyed here.
CHORUS LEADER:
No, not in the case
where no one stands there to convict him.
But at last Teiresias is being guided here,
our god-like prophet, in whom the truth resides
more so than in all other men.
OEDIPUS: What’s wrong? You’ve come, but seem so sad.
[Enter TEIRESIAS led by a small BOY]
OEDIPUS:
What you are saying
is not customary and shows little love
toward the city state which nurtured you,
if you deny us your prophetic voice.
OEDIPUS:
Teiresias,
you who understand all things—what can be taught
and what cannot be spoken of, what goes on
in heaven and here on the earth—you know,
although you cannot see, how sick our state is.
And so we find in you alone, great seer,”
our shield and saviour. For Phoebus Apollo,
in case you have not heard the news, has sent us
an answer to our question: the only cure
for this infecting pestilence is to find
the men who murdered Laius and kill them
or else expel them from this land as exiles.
So do not withhold from us your prophecies
in voices of the birds or by some other means.
Save this city and yourself. Rescue me.
Deliver us from this pollution by the dead.”
We are in your hands. For a mortal man
the finest labour he can do is help
with all his power other human beings.
TEIRESIAS: Alas, alas! How dreadful it can be
to have wisdom when it brings no benefit
to the man possessing it. This I knew,
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
9
TEIRESIAS: Let me go home. You must bear your burden”
to the very end, and I will carry mine,
if you’ll agree with me.
380
TEIRESIAS: I see your words are also out of place.
I do not speak for fear of doing the same.
360
OEDIPUS: If you know something, then, by heaven,
do not turn away. We are your suppliants—
all of us—we bend our knees to you.”
390
TEIRESIAS: You are all ignorant. I will not reveal
the troubling things inside me, which I can call
your grief as well.
370
OEDIPUS:
What are you saying?
Do you know and will not say? Do you intend
to betray me and destroy the city?
TEIRESIAS: I will cause neither me nor you distress.
Why do you vainly question me like this?
You will not learn a thing from me.
OEDIPUS: You most disgraceful of disgraceful men!
You’d move something made of stone to rage!”
400
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Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
Will you not speak out? Will your stubbornness
never have an end?
OEDIPUS:
Who taught you this?
It could not have been your craft.
TEIRESIAS:
You blame my temper,
but do not see the one which lives within you.
Instead, you are finding fault with me.
TEIRESIAS:
You did.
I did not want to speak, but you incited me.
OEDIPUS: What do you mean? Speak it again,
so I can understand you more precisely.
OEDIPUS: What man who listened to these words of yours
would not be enraged—you insult the city!
TEIRESIAS: Did you not grasp my words before,”
or are you trying to test me with your question?
TEIRESIAS: Yet events will still unfold, for all my silence.
OEDIPUS: Since they will come, you must inform me.
TEIRESIAS: I will say nothing more. Fume on about it,
if you wish, as fiercely as you can.”
OEDIPUS: You dare to utter shameful words like this?
Do you think you can get away with it?
TEIRESIAS: I am getting away with it. The truth
within me makes me strong.
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
430
OEDIPUS: I did not fully understand your words.
Tell me again.
410
OEDIPUS: I will. In my anger I will not conceal
just what I make of this. You should know
I get the feeling you conspired in the act,
and played your part, as much as you could do,
short of killing him with your own hands.
If you could use your eyes, I would have said
that you had done this work all by yourself.
TEIRESIAS: Is that so? Then I would ask you to stand by
the very words which you yourself proclaimed
and from now on not speak to me or these men.”
For the accursed polluter of this land is you.
10
TEIRESIAS:
I say that you yourself
are the very man you’re looking for.
OEDIPUS: That’s twice you’ve stated that disgraceful lie—
something you’ll regret.
TEIRESIAS:
Shall I tell you more,
so you can grow even more enraged?
OEDIPUS: As much as you desire. It will be useless.
420
TEIRESIAS: I say that with your dearest family,
unknown to you, you are living in disgrace.”
You have no idea how bad things are.
OEDIPUS: Do you really think you can just speak out,
say things like this, and still remain unpunished?
TEIRESIAS: Yes, I can, if the truth has any strength.
440
!
Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
OEDIPUS: It does, but not for you. Truth is not in you—
for your ears, your mind, your eyes are blind!
TEIRESIAS: You are a wretched fool to use harsh words
which all men soon enough will use to curse you.
OEDIPUS: You live in endless darkness of the night,
so you can never injure me or any man”
who can glimpse daylight.
450
TEIRESIAS:
It is not your fate
to fall because of me. It’s up to Apollo
to make that happen. He will be enough.
OEDIPUS: Is this something Creon has devised,
or is it your invention?
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
480
CHORUS LEADER: To us it sounds as if Teiresias
has spoken in anger, and, Oedipus,
you have done so, too. That’s not what we need.
Instead we should be looking into this:
How can we best carry out the god’s decree?
TEIRESIAS:
Creon is no threat.
You have made this trouble on your own.
OEDIPUS: O riches, ruling power, skill after skill
surpassing all in this life’s rivalries,
how much envy you must carry with you,
if, for this kingly office, which the city”
gave me, for I did not seek it out,
Creon, my old trusted family friend,
has secretly conspired to overthrow me
and paid off a double-dealing quack like this,
a crafty bogus priest, who can only see
his own advantage, who in his special art
is absolutely blind. Come on, tell me
how you have ever given evidence
of your wise prophecy. When the Sphinx,
that singing bitch, was here, you said nothing”
to set the people free. Why not? Her riddle
was not something the first man to stroll along
could solve—a prophet was required. And there
the people saw your knowledge was no use—
nothing from birds or picked up from the gods.
But then I came, Oedipus, who knew nothing.
Yet I finished her off, using my wits
rather than relying on birds. That’s the man
you want to overthrow, hoping, no doubt,
to stand up there with Creon, once he’s king.”
But I think you and your conspirator in this
will regret trying to usurp the state.
If you did not look so old, you’d find
the punishment your arrogance deserves.
11
460
470
TEIRESIAS: You may be king, but I have the right”
to answer you—and I control that right,
for I am not your slave. I serve Apollo,
and thus will never stand with Creon,
signed up as his man. So I say this to you,
since you have chosen to insult my blindness—
you have your eyesight, and you do not see
how miserable you are, or where you live,
or who it is who shares your household.
Do you know the family you come from?
Without your knowledge you’ve become”
the enemy of your own kindred,
those in the world below and those up here,
and the dreadful feet of that two-edged curse
490
500
!
Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
from father and mother both will drive you
from this land in exile. Those eyes of yours,
which now can see so clearly, will be dark.
What harbour will not echo with your cries?
Where on Cithaeron10 will they not soon be heard,
once you have learned the truth about the wedding
by which you sailed into this royal house—”
a lovely voyage, but the harbour’s doomed?
You’ve no idea of the quantity
of other troubles which will render you
and your own children equals. So go on—
keep insulting Creon and my prophecies,
for among all living mortals no one
will be destroyed more wretchedly than you.
OEDIPUS: Must I tolerate this insolence from him?
Get out, and may the plague get rid of you!
Off with you! Now! Turn your back and go!”
And don’t come back here to my home again.
TEIRESIAS: I would not have come, but you summoned me.
OEDIPUS: I did not know you would speak so stupidly.
If I had, you would have waited a long time
before I called you here.
TEIRESIAS:
I was born like this.
You think I am a fool, but to your parents,
the ones who made you, I was wise enough.
OEDIPUS: Wait! My parents? Who was my father?
TEIRESIAS: This day will reveal that and destroy you.
10 Cithaeron: the sacred mountain outside Thebes.
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
OEDIPUS: Everything you speak is all so cryptic—”
like a riddle.
12
530
TEIRESIAS:
Well, in solving riddles,
are you not the best there is?
510
OEDIPUS:
Mock my excellence,
but you will find out I am truly great.
TEIRESIAS: That quality of yours now ruins you.
OEDIPUS: I do not care, if I have saved the city.
TEIRESIAS: I will go now. Boy, lead me away.
OEDIPUS: Yes, let him guide you back. You’re in the way.
If you stay, you’ll just provoke me. Once you’re gone,
you won’t annoy me further.
520
TEIRESIAS:
I’m going.
But first I shall tell you why I came.”
I do not fear the face of your displeasure—
there is no way you can destroy me. I tell you,
the man you have been seeking all this time,
while proclaiming threats and issuing orders
about the one who murdered Laius—
that man is here. According to reports,
he is a stranger who lives here in Thebes.
But he will prove to be a native Theban.
From that change he will derive no pleasure.
He will be blind, although he now can see.”
He will be a poor, although he now is rich.
He will set off for a foreign country,
540
550
!
Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
groping the ground before him with a stick.
And he will turn out to be the brother
of the children in his house—their father, too,
both at once, and the husband and the son
of the very woman who gave birth to them.
He sowed the same womb as his father
and murdered him. Go in and think on this.
If you discover I have spoken falsely,”
you can say I lack all skill in prophecy.
560
[Exit TEIRESIAS led off by the BOY. OEDIPUS turns and goes
back into the palace]
CHORUS: Speaking from the Delphic rock
the oracular voice intoned a name.
But who is the man, the one
who with his blood-red hands
has done unspeakable brutality?
The time has come for him to flee—
to move his powerful foot
more swiftly than those hooves
on horses riding on the storm.”
Against him Zeus’ son now springs,
armed with lightning fire and leading on
the inexorable and terrifying Furies.11
Like a wild bull he wanders now,
hidden in the untamed wood,
through rocks and caves, alone
with his despair on joyless feet,”
keeping his distance from that doom
uttered at earth’s central naval stone.
But that fatal oracle still lives,
hovering above his head forever.
570
From the snowy peaks of Mount Parnassus12
the message has just flashed, ordering all
to seek the one whom no one knows.
That wise interpreter of prophecies
stirs up my fears, unsettling dread.
I cannot approve of what he said
and I cannot deny it.
I am confused. What shall I say?
My hopes flutter here and there,
with no clear glimpse of past or future.”
I have never heard of any quarrelling,
past or present, between those two,
the house of Labdacus and Polybus’ son,13
which could give me evidence enough
to undermine the fame of Oedipus,
as he seeks vengeance for the unsolved murder
for the family of Labdacus.
Apollo and Zeus are truly wise—
they understand what humans do.
But there is no sure way to ascertain”
if human prophets grasp things any more
than I do, although in wisdom one man
13
580
590
600
11 Zeus’ son: a reference to Apollo. The Furies: goddesses of blood revenge.
12 Parnassus: a famous mountain some distance from Thebes, but visible from the city. [
13 Polybus: ruler of Corinth, who raised Oedipus and is thus believed to be his father. The house of Labdacus is the Theban royal family (i.e., Laius, Jocasta, and
Creon).
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
!
Sophocles – Oedipus the King!
may leave another far behind.
But until I see the words confirmed,
I will not approve of any man
who censures Oedipus, for it was clear
when that winged Sphinx went after him
he was a wise man then. We witnessed it.
He passed the test and endeared himself
to all the city. So in my thinking now”
he never will be guilty of a crime.
CHORUS LEADER: That’s what was said. I have no idea
just what that meant.
CREON:
Did he accuse me
and announce the charges with a steady gaze,
in a normal state of mind?
610
[Enter CREON]
CREON: You citizens, I have just discovered
that Oedipus, our king, has levelled charges
against me, disturbing allegations.
That I cannot bear, so I have come here.
In these present troubles, if he believes
that he has suffered any injury from me,
in word or deed, then I have no desire
to continue living into ripe old age
still bearing his reproach. For me”
the injury produced by this report
is no single isolated matter—
no, it has the greatest scope of all,
if I end up being called a wicked man
here in the city, a bad citizen,
by you and by my friends.
(CC) BY-NC-SA, Ian Johnston 2004
CHORUS LEADER:
I do not know.
What those in power do I do not see.
But he’s approaching from the palace—
here he comes in person.
[Enter OEDIPUS from the palace]
620
CHORUS LEADER:
P
