Predestination is not typical of Greek popular thought. Fate is something which is usually spoken of in the past tense; where the future is concerned, there is usually an alternative or uncertainty. Sophocles places no emphasis on determinism in this play, but he does stress the infallibility of the oracle of Apollo. See the second stasimon and the speech of the conservative Creon to Oedipus near the end of the play (l.1445): Aye, for thou thyself wilt now surely put faith in the god. Like ghosts and witches in Shakespeare, oracles and prophecies are employed primarily for the purpose of foreshadowing, for dramatic irony and for creating tragic atmosphere.
The basic theme of Oedipus Rex is the irony of fate. No mortal man, no matter how powerful and wealthy, can be pronounced happy until he is dead; for no man, however wise, knows what tomorrow will bring. This is the burden of the last complete choral song and of the last lines of the play (which are sometimes called spurious).
Oedipus confesses that he slew a man at the crossroads in anger. He has angry clashes with Teiresias and Creon. Oedipus is guilty of pride and temper, injustice as a ruler and an unorthodox attitude toward seers and oracles. However (l.1329), after the catastrophe, although Oedipus cites Apollo as the author of his misfortune, he does not charge the god with cruelty or injustice.
Dramatic irony, the irony of fate, is the most important element in the play. It begins with the first appearance of Oepidus in his kingly robes and with his first words, I myself have come hither, Oedipus, famous among all men. The pitiful townspeople have appealed for aid to the one who is in reality the cause of their woe. Teiresias is the blind man who sees, Oedipus the seeing man who is blind. Oedipus welcomes the information Creon brought him from Delphi. His optimism, his zeal to carry out all the commands of Apollo and to punish the murderer of Laius is ironical. At the beginning of the next episode, Oedipus ironically curses the murderer of Laius (ll. 258-65).
Examining the structure of the play we notice the inevitability and rapidity of the plot s progression. Nothing can be omitted; nothing really pertinent can be added. Each incidence with the exception of the entirely plausible arrival of the messenger from Corinth follows naturally from what precedes and leads inevitably to what follows.
The play is marked off into six sections by five choral songs, These vary in length from 76 to 350 lines. The opening scene (the prologos, 150) opens in medias res; the small amount of exposition given is wholly incidental. The appeal of the townspeople to Oedipus really begins the play. Complication start with the entrance of Creon and with his report. The characterization of Oedipus is also an important function of this scene. Oedipus shows himself to be just, merciful, successful, religious, a prince, a father to his country.
Oedipus pride is evident in his first lines. After Creon s report Oedipus expresses his suspicions that bribery from Thebes emboldened the thieves who slew Laius, and he suspects the same party would like to put him out of the way in similar fashion. These suspicions prepare for the later erroneous conviction of Oedipus that an intrigue exists between Creon and Teiresias. The first section of the play ends with Oedipus resolve to search out and punish the murderer and with his command that the Thebans be summoned before him, a nice motivation for the appearance of the chorus. The chorus now enters (parados, l.65); they first express their trepidations at the messages from the oracles, and then invoke several gods to come to their aid. Then they describe the plague and the suffering and death which it brings, again they pray for help. They ask the god of death be driven out by Zeus, lastly invoking Apollo, Artemis and Dionysus to fight in their behalf, against the god who has no honor among the gods. These opening choral songs furnish what might be called the emotional exposition of the play.
The next section (the first episode, 247 lines) opens with Oedipus reassuring the chorus somewhat too confidently, as if he could answer their prayers now as he did when he solved the riddle of the Sphinx. Exhorting them to aid him in the search for the murderer of Laius, he proclaims his curse upon the murderer with dreadful irony, interdicts him from concourse with Thebans and emphasizes his own zeal in the cause. The chorus insist they are without a clue but they suggest Teiresias be consulted. Oedipus has already sent for Teiresias on the instigation of Creon, an important bit of information, for the fact that Creon first offers this suggestion later makes Oedipus, already suspicious of political intrigue, surmise that Creon is the latter and thus prepares for Creon s re-entrance.
Just before Teiresias enters the chorus praises his infallibility. This character preparation adds to his dignity and, by assuring us that Teiresias speaks the truth, emphasizes the irony of Oedipus skepticism and suspicions of treachery. The bitter quarrel that follows has several important effects. It brings out certain unattractive features in Oedipus character, his wrath and his unjust haste to condemn without evidence. The portrayal of these features is important, for they perhaps explain in part his slaughter of Laius, and they certainly furnish some moral justification for the downfall of Oedipus. The quarrel serves also to recall Creon into the action, who, in turn, naturally brings in Jocasta, his sister and wife to Oedipus, and it furnishes the motivation of Jocasta s all important story of the death of Laius. Most significant of all, perhaps, the dire predictions of Teiresias first name Oedipus himself as the slayer and prepare Oedipus to be thoroughly shaken when he hears that Laius was slain where three roads meet. Oedipus loses all patience and without the slightest shred of evidence accuses Teiresias of the murder. Teiresias responds by immediately accusing Oedipus. His accusation, therefore, seems not a seer s prophecy but the mere return of Oedipus angry abuse. So the chorus at this point interpret the accusations of both Oedipus and Teiresias as angry retorts (l. 404-5). The episode ends with Teiresias pronouncing his prophecy though for Oedipus this is essentially a repetition of the oracle given him long ago at Delphi. Now for the third time he hears the prophecy in language, which is as ominous as it is plain and unmistakable. Thus the emphasis of the whole episode is placed upon its most significant content.
The chorus now sing their first song after completing their entrance (first stasimon, 50 lines). In spirited measure they wonder who the murderer may really be and poetically imagine his futile efforts to escape the inevitable revenge of Apollo. In more passionate strain, they confess they are dreadfully troubled by the words of Teiresias but know nothing that confirms the charge. The gods have true knowledge but there is no certain evidence the seer knows more than other men; and they will never condemn Oedipus without proof, for he has formerly been the savior of the state.
The second episode (350 lines) begins with a quarrel between Creon and Oedipus. Here Oedipus expresses a very tyrannical and offensive theory of autocratic rule. The injustice of Oedipus here is very different from the calmness and justice of Creon in the final scene of the play. Although the quarrel seems to threaten a complication extraneous to the basic plot, it really advances the plot, for Jocasta naturally comes in as an arbiter between her brother and her husband.
The scenes of the quarrel differ in tone and subject from the revelations of Jocasta, but all three scenes are properly included in one section of the play. If they had been divided by a choral song the play s movement would have been retarded.
Jocasta s intervention leads to Oedipus reviewing his case against Creon, especially the declaration by Teiresias that Oedipus is the murderer of Laius. The other prophecies are not related. They might more quickly suggest the true identity of Oedipus to Jocasta. Mention of Teiresias prophecy leads to Jocasta s ironic effort to prove the prophecies and oracles are all untrustworthy by citing the oracle given to Laius. In her story Jocasta mentions one fact that strikes Oedipus forcefully: Laius was murdered at a place where three roads met. Oedipus optimism has been checked by the quarrels with Teiresias and Creon; but now, though Jocasta s tale was designed to allay all these fears, he conceives his first real apprehension. Now he realizes he is within the toils and the remainder of the play is taken up with the frantic and pitiful efforts of Jocasta and himself to free him. But with growing horror the audience realize that every move, though it may seem to promote release, really binds the victim more tightly. If Jocasta had not long ago resolved to put no faith in oracles and if Oedipus had not been so prejudiced and infuriated at the pronouncements of Teiresias, one or both must have seen that the oracle which which Oedipus now relates supplements the oracle given to Laius. It also agrees with the prophecy of Teiresias; but this fact might have caused Oedipus to be even more skeptical of Teiresias, as if the seer was repeating an old oracle to embarrass him. Now, however, Oedipus has begun to suspect that he is the murderer of Laius; the time, the place, and the appearance of Laius and his followers all coincide, but Oedipus was traveling alone and thought he had killed every man in the party, whereas Laius was said to have been slain by a band of robbers or wayfarers (l. 292) and one member of the party escaped. Even the language in which Creon has first reported the oracle suggests that more than one man was responsible for the murder (l.107). Oedipus still believes himself the son of Polybus and Merope of Corinth. Oedipus, thoroughly shaken, anticipates his wretchedness if the man whom he slew was akin to Laius. His anxiety naturally leads to the summoning of the surviving witness. Jocasta, however, insists that the man s story, known to all, cannot now be changed; and, instead of recognizing the truth, she here sees further proof of the untrustworthiness of oracles, for Apollo said Laius must die by the hand of his own child. Here on a note of false and ironic optimism, and as we await the story of the witness of Laius death, the second episode ends.
(Second stasimon, 48 lines) In a reflective mood, the chorus now pray they may ever keep the divine and deathless laws of heaven. Insolence begets the tyrant, but at the very moment of its triumph insolence is hurled to utter destruction. Here the manner is reflecting on the insolent manner in which Oedipus has brought his unfounded charges against Creon, upon the unorthodox attitude of Jocasta toward oracles and prophecies and upon discussions of the pollutions of blood guilt and incest. In their second strophe and antistrophe, they curse those who show no reverence for the gods.
Jocasta s orthodox prayer to Apollo, which begins the third episode (175 lines) shows that she has faith in the gods themselves and adds a necessary corrective after the extreme criticism of the chorus. The joyful messenger from Corinth appears almost immediately, as if in answer to the prayers. Some preparation for his appearance has been made in the repeated mention of Polybus and of Corinth and in the story Oedipus relates of his early life. Jocasta is elated at the news of the death of Polybus, father of Oedipus and king of Corinth, for she interprets the news as releasing Oedipus from his predicted fate. Now for the third time Jocasta has cited such proof, and with each repetition the irony of her words has become more apparent and more dreadful. But Oedipus is convinced that she is right, though he still fears wedlock with his mother. Jocasta again attempts to reassure him by pointing out that many men in dreams have lain with their mothers but such dreams are best disregarded, forgotten (l. 981-82). This is the only hint of an Oedipus Complex in the play, and the adoption of this ugly phrase by modern psychology is unfortunate and misleading.
The joy at the news at the death of Polybus is stifled when the messenger, like Jocasta earlier and with similarly ironical result, attempts to reassure Oedipus and to remove his fears concerning his mother. Oedipus is not the son of Polybus and Merope. He was exposed by a servant of Laius on Mount Cithaeron with his ankles pierced. The effect which these words have on Oedipus stands out in sharp contrast with that which they produce on Jocasta, since this information constitutes full recognition for her, and she rushes into the palace with ominous words. Such an exit was a favorite device with Sophocles. So Eurydice withdraws in Antigone just before her suicide, and Deianeira does so in the Trachiniae.
For the moment Oedipus is saved by his pride. Curiosity about his birth has been a primary motive in his life. It caused him to leave Corinth; it made him for an instant forget his wrath at Teiresias (l.437), and now in his turmoil of spirit, it prevents him from recalling Jocasta s story of Laius child and its exposure on a lonely mountain with his ankles pierced. This episode ends with Oedipus rejecting the ominous warning of Jocasta and expressing his determination to solve the riddle of Laius death.
Thus the subject of Oedipus inquiry has shifted from the identity of Laius murderer to his own identity. But the audience hardly realizes this, for they know the answer to both questions is the same. The change is almost imperceptible, furthermore, because the preparation for this has been so subtle. Reference has been made to Oedipus birth by Teiresias. Then too Oedipus himself has related his history. But most important of all the dramatist has facilitated this shift by making the servant who exposed the infant identical with the surviving attendant who witnessed Laius death. Thus the resolving character of both inquiries is the same person and both inquiries are solved at the same time so that an earlier and unnecessary discovery is avoided and the plot is more neatly unified. Sophocles has also made the shepherd who gave the infant to Polybus identical with the messenger from Corinth. This could be rationalized by assuming the man who originally found Oedipus would be most interested in his future welfare and in bringing good news to him. Simplification of minor details adds greater emphasis to major ones.
The third stasimon (24 lines), the following choral song is very short since Oedipus remains on the stage, tensely waiting the arrival of the shepherd who exposed him at birth and who witnessed the death of Laius. To a gay and lively measure, the chorus dances and sings of Mount Cithaeron as the nurse of Oedipus, and then they speculate on which of the gods was his sire and who was his mother. An ironically joyful song just before the catastrophe, such as this, is a favorite device of Sophocles.
The fourth episode is the shortest section of the play (76 lines). Jocasta is gone and Oedipus faces his cruel destiny alone a magnificent climax to the play. The tortured reluctance of the herdsman), nicely contrasting with the eagerness of the messenger from Corinth, is finally overcome. The iambic lines at the climax are divided between speakers, and most skillfully divided. Of the first divided line, Oedipus is given two-thirds and the reluctant slave only two words; the next two lines are divided approximately in halves; but of the following line the horrified Oedipus has only one word, while the slave completes the recognition with the rest of the line. Oedipus winces in this scene, but nowhere is his masculine honesty more clearly portrayed. Unlike Jocasta in her final words, Oedipus is determined to have the whole truth, no matter how disastrous the truth may be. His recognition of his identity constitutes the reversal of his fortune (peripety). From his final lines, in which he prays now for the last time to look upon the light of day, we might expect his suicide if we had not heard the prophecy of Teiresias.
The chorus begins the lament for the fate of Oedipus in unusually weighty and solemn measure (fourth stasimon, 37 lines). As frequently in Greek tragedy, the fate of the hero is generalized into the fate of all mankind. No human can be counted purely blessed if such a one as Oedipus, after achieving the pinnacle of worldly good fortune and saving the state, is thus destroyed. The second part of the song is a dirge over the dreadful fate of Oedipus, ending in a wish they had never laid eyes on him; for though he once saved them, he has not brought them to grief.
The final section (exodos, 308 lines) is essentially an epilogue to the main plot, for the tragedy is practically complete with Oedipus discovery of his identity. The messenger reveals the house is polluted with such ills that not even the great rivers of the Danube and the Rion (Phasis) could wash it clean, a simile that flows through Seneca to Macbeth (II, ii, 60). This report prepares for the shocking sight of the blinded Oedipus.
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