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Oedipus Rex - Episode #2 - Irony, Tragedy, Oracles, Flaws And More! Hello, I’m Christy Shriver. I’m Garry Shriver and this is the How to Love lit Podcast. This is the second episode in our series on the two most popular works by the Greek playwright Sophocles. Last week, we traveled back the couple thousand years and across the ocean to Greece and tried to understand a little bit about the culture and customs that surrounded Greek Theater. We discussed the occasion for the plays, the set up of the amphitheaters, the organization of the drama and some of the things we can expect to see in every Greek play, things like masks, an orchestra, chorus, and a skene. We also told the story of Oedipus, the myth itself, a story that would be familiar to everyone watching the play. We discussed the fact, that nobody went to the theater to get a surprise or see a unexpected plot twist- the fun was in the retelling of the familiar story. How was Sophocles going to show this or that, and listen and enjoy the irony of the things the characters say and do. That is correct, and today we are going to go through much of that story. As we learned last week, Greek plays have an organizational structure that is somewhat easy to follow. There is a prologue, then a choral ode then an episode, then a choral ode, until the end. In this play, there are five episodes and five choral odes. We are going to take it all the way to the third parados or the third choral ode. Anyway, back to this, today, before we get into the story- which I know we need to do, there is one more thing we really need to nail down- and that is this idea of what is a tragedy. It’s a very Greek idea. Aristotle, who tells us everything we need to know, and with whom we dare not argue, defines tragedy as and I quote ‘an imitation of an action of high importance, complete and of some amplitude, in language enhanced by distinct and varying beauties, acted not narrated, by means of pity and fear effecting its purgation of these emotions’- and I know everyone has already checked their phone and thought about their next meal before I finished reading that. True- and let me add one more fun fact, What Aristotle did was not proscribe to playwrights how to write a play. What he did was go to enough of these plays to make observations about what he thought was going on. What he wanted to do is think deeply about theater and try to understand it and its appeal. So let me put it in different words- a tragedy must involve a person of high estate- a person that is better than we are. He is more powerful, more noble, have more character than us. If we don’t admire him, how can we feel sad when bad things happen. And for him or her to be a tragic hero they must fall and experience terrible suffering- really more than he deserved. The rxn you’re supposed to have is- well, I can see how that was bad, but come on…really…he has to experience all that??!?!?!. And in Greek tragedy- it’s because of something in the protagonist himself- the word they used for this is harmatia- which sometimes people translate as a tragic fall, in the Bible it’s translated as sin- but what it. Means is ‘miss the mark’- he didn’t get it right. He’s not a bad fellow. Sometimes, you may can say it wasn’t really his/her fault (this is really an issue in Antigone). Often its hubris or pride- which can lead to good things as well as bad- and I would argue, in Oedipus really definiting how pride can get you in trouble is what the play seems to be discussing from my vantage point- although there are many different interpretations about what this play is really all about. What almost everyone can agree, however, that there are some things in Oedipus’ character that really stand out as things that cause him problems. The first, and to me the most obvious In Oedipus, is that the man is clearly too rash and impulsive. Personsally, what I find pretty interesting about the confusing concept of harmatia is that it forces the hero to be responsible- and I see responsibility to be a big deal with the Greeks. You can be a hero if you have a flaw, but you can’t be a hero if you’re not resp9onsible or take responsibility both in glory as well as in doom. They seemed to admire that in all of its forms, and I kind of really like that. IT’s certainly not a modern idea. To the Greeks, it appears to me, that even if there was information you didn’t know (like you didn’t know you were married to your mother for 20 plus years, it didn’t matter, the gods still held you accountable for that- it was your job to know- and if you don’t…you suffer regardless. I see that too. And that’s why we can have sympathy for someone who has “missed the mark” or fallen short or has a terrible flaw- we can see that it could have been me. We’ve all missed the mark. We’ve all sinned, to say it that way. We all have things about us that make us vulnerable to the powers of fate. The final idea in Aristotle’s definition is this idea of catharsis. Garry, that’s a bit of a psych term- explain that in an abbreviated sense. Yes, it’s the idea that in some psychological way, we can experience an emmotinal relief from watching the downfall of someone and that somehow makes us feel better about ourselves and our lives. Life is difficult for everyone. We all make mistakes, and when we see great people or heros fall perhaps it gives us some sort of feeling like, “well, if it can happen to him, maybe I shouldn’t feel so bad about my lot.” Or maybe it’s the idea that we can actually feel and relate, and it is in the feeling of deep emotions that our soul connects with other people- we experience the build up of thw anxiety of the hero, but then we can feel relief that it’s not us. (talk more about this idea). Aristotle believed that catharsis relieves us of pity and fear- and somehow provides relief in our own lives from anxiety. In other words, we feel better leaving the movie then when we went into the movie- whether we can explain why or not. There’s more to a couple of other things about tragedy- like reversals and recognitions, but we will do that next week when we read them. For the moment, our take away from all of this is the following- we can admire a great hero- but we can also learn from him/ her- in some way, we can avoid making the horrific error in judgement they made because we too are good people- and even though we may not be as grand as they are- we can improve on WHO they are in ourselves and hopefully make out better than there horrible fate. So on that note-Let’s get into our story. Now remember, the play is going to open with a prologue The chorus is going to come out, Oedipus addreses the chorus and basically asks what the problem is. A priest responds with this very famous simile, “The city is like a ship rolling dangerously.” Basically, everyone is dying, there’s a horrible plague and they need his help. He helped them before, they feel that the gods are with him. He says this, “You are a man of expeirnece, the kind whose plans result in effective action.’ yOu saved us once- save us again. And of course, Oedipus responds and we get into our first choral ode. He says- I’m on it. In some ways, he accepts glory as if he were almost a god himself. But honestly, he’s not on it. By on it, he means and in his words, “in my ceaseless reflection, I have followed many paths of thought.’ And he’s going to send his brother in law to the oracle to see what Apollo has to say about this. That is not action-driven problem solving. In fact, personally, I HATE when people say to me- I’m on that, I’m going to send a email up the chain and see what they can do for you. Garry- tell us about the oracle Sure, well first, let me tell you where they are. Thebes was a large city during the days of ancient Greece, an important city. IT was located in Central Greece. It’s 89 km from the oracle and 93 from Athens- so basically it’s halfway between Athens and Delphi. Delphi is on the North side of the main island of Greece- look into this. So, Creon comes back from the oracle in our first episode. And let me point out that each one of these episodes is a tightly constructed cause-effect chain. All the bad stuff has already happened, and we’re just going to see it unfold. Anyway, he basically wants to have a private conversation- and Oedipus- in typical Oepius fashion is going to say, “Whatever you have to say to me- you can say in front of everyone/’. And here we see some great examples of verbal and dramatic irony. Creon says a series of things- some true and some are not true- not even Creon knows that, but we, the audience know it. He thinks he’s bringing good news. We kmow it’s bad news. He thinks Lauis was killed by an band of robbers. We know it was one guy. And Oedipus in his rashness says a bunch of ironic things., he says, “I shall rid us of this pollution not for the sake of a distant relative, but for my own sake,’ Not true. He also says, “So acting on behalf of Laius, I benefit myself, too.’ Which is again not true. In the first choral ode we have found out that thigns are really really bad in Thebes. Everyone is sad and devastated. The city truly is dying. They need a god to help. In our first episode which is nothing by irony from top to bottom- and this is what is delightful for the audience. WE KNOW!!. The very first thing we see is rash Oedipus coming out and saying “speaking as one who has no connections with this affair nor with this murder0- and we know that’s not true. And then come these famous lines- read the curse- page 15 - and of course he ends this monologue with the line- I shall fight for him as if he were my own father. So, is rashness his tragic flaw? It’s definitely part of it. It’s certainly not doing him any favors. It’s actually how he got into this mess to begin with. Who goes around killing random men in the street? Who runs away from home beczuse they think they’re going to marry their mother? There is already a lot to think about thematically up to this point, and it is worth thinking about. One question that people always ask when it comes to the Greeks, and zi really don’t know the answer- I didn’t know the answer to this when I watched the movie the MATRIX (which was the first time I ever saw an oracle. What is the role of the oracle? The gods in Greek mythology don’t have power to create peoples fates. That is something that is above even their paygrade. I’m not sure who does that. The gods can KNOW your fate. They can manipulate you and trick you- if you let them. But ultimately humans are responsible for whatever they do and are accountable . And often these prophecies seem unfair, or are they- and that’s not just in Sophocles’ plays? In reality the oracle really doesn’t DO anything. The oracle is the challenge- and then what people do with that is what creates the craziness. And in some sense some of this stuff is hard to think through- does Oedipus believe in oracles, because if he did, why did he marry an older woman? He knew the oracle. Why did he kill around his dads age? He knew about that one too? Isn’t the short answer because he wanted to? Exactly, he got angry. He wanted to be king of Thebes. Whatever it was. But he’s not the only one? Why did Jocasta marry him? She knew the oracle too. Why did she even have kids? The oracle told her this would happen. And this is where the Greeks seem smarter than us. They let these kind of crazy questions swirl around in our minds and they don’t answer the questions. They just ask them. And this kind of brings us back to the play because with these questions in mind, we can meet our next character- Tiresias. Oh yes, The blind prophet- and yet ironically- the one who can see. And Oedipus is horribly rude to him. Heou is. And let me say that seeing and blindess is a motif from beginning to end here- and there’s all kind of irony about the fact that the blind guy is the only one who can see. I t’s also ironic that Tiresias doesn’t want to tell Oedipus anything. It seems he’s always known what the deal was with Oedipus and Jocasta. He has always known one day their world would come crashing down and ironically, it was his compassion that has kept Oedipus’ world together up to this point. But again, Oedipus doesn’t know. Tiresias says he’s not telling and this makes Oedipus mad. You could say that the words that come out of his mouth are again- rash. Yes- you could definitely say this. And Tiresias brings up this great line, “Wisdom is a dreadful thing when it brings no profit to its possessor. Hence the existential question- To know or not to know you own destiny? Which is better? Another question the Greeks pose with no true answer. Well, if you don’t know then you can’t do anything about it. yOu’re not responsible. Except that’s not true. Life will hold you responsible for what you do and what you DON’T know. If you rashly dive head first into a lake that is not deep and break your neck, not knowing will not keep you from getting paralyzed. And that seems to be what Oedipus has done. Oedipus clearly of bringing the curses on Thebes and Tiresias knows it. Oedipus is going to get really hateful to Tiresias and go as far as to accuse him of murder. To which Tireasias fires right bnak and says, ok- if you really want to know. Let me quote him, “From now on do not presume to speak to me or to any of these people. You are the murderer, you are the unholy defilement of this land.” He says it a couple of times, ‘I say that you are the murderer you are searching for” And with each line, everyone in the amphitheater knows he’s exactly right. And of course, Oedipus responds by bragging on himself ‘I can, know-nothing Oedipus. I stopped the sphinx. I answered the riddle with my own intelligence- the birds had nothing to do with it, and now you try to drive me out, you think you will stand beside Creon’s throne.” oH yes, and he drags Creon into it full on. And Tiresias brings up the seeing motif- he says this “Without knowning it, you are the enemy of own flesh and blood, the dead below and the living here above. The double-edged curse of your mother and father…. You see straight now but then you will see darkness. You will scream aloud on that day. . He makes a prediction that everyone in the audience knows is true – read page 31. Well, Oedipus insults both Creon and Tiresias accusing his brother in law of plotting against him. He is so rude, the chorus leader interjects with our second choral ode. True- they are totally confused. No one knows why you would want to take down Oedipus. Why would Tiresias go after Oedipus? What does Oedipus have to do with the murder of Laius some twenty years ago? Oedipus is such a great guy!! They believe the oracle, but they can’t imagine Oedipus being who Tiresias is saying. “The wise prophets words have brought me terror and confusion. I cannot agree with him, nor speak against him.” In the second episode Creon comes in. And Oedipus just goes off on him. Well, Creon tries to logically explain that there is no good reason for him to be king. He likes the no responsibility rich kid life he’s living. What would he gain by being king? It would just be more work. True- and let me point out that the chorus leader at least twice tries to tell Oedipus- stop being so rash. He flat out says, “Quick decisions are not the safest.’ And that is your life-lesson to the audience. That’s so true- and I have to admit, I have a tendency in my own life to jump the gun and be a bit rash. I also have to admit that I’ve said things in anger, or written emails in anger- that I probably should have put in the draft box for a day or two. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to do that. More. I think that’s a lot of people- and the Chorus leader does try to bring things to a calmness- like the way an email in an inbox might do. “This sort of talk is not what we need- what we must think of is how to solve the problem set by the god oracle.” And Jocasta will kind of say a similar thing now that she walks in. But, Oedipus for the moment doesn’t seem to listen to her either. He throws out Creon.- oh, and another small detail-speaking of rashness-apparently, if I’m not wrong, Oedipus has been in front of the entire town throwing these tantrums? You’re not wrong- the chorus is even going to say, “Jocasta- get him inside. This is bad. And she does and finally gets the truth out of him. She hears the story about the accusation of Oedipus killing Laius- and the prophet. And she says- oh- well let me put your mind at ease. Read page 50. And again we have more irony- because just as Oedipus hears this story- he begins to get concerned that Tiresias may be right. And the audience gets to watch him slowly begin to guess at what we already know to be true. There is something enjoyable about watching that sort of thing. Indeed and this conversation brings us to another interesting thematic development in this play- and its on this last idea that I think we should conclude for today. It’s this idea of speaking or NOT speaking. Why didn’t Polybus and Merope ever tell Oedipus the truth about who they were? Why did Jocasta and Oedipus, after all these years, never talk about her history, his history? Why not ask? Is this fear? Overconfidence? Embarrassment/ What is the value of full disclosure? Is it better to tell things that we’re embarrassed of or ashamed of or even afraid of? Even if we don’t want to? Most people would say- I’m just going to keep it to myself- but is this our ego talking and is this a tragic flaw? Sadly, Jocasta and Oedipus talk too late. Jocasta comes in with Oedipus going off on Creion wanting to kill him. Creon is trying to explain that there is zero logical reason for him to kill Oedipus. And he’s not lying about what the oracle says. Jocasta in an attempt to comfort Oedipus actually condemns him. She says- ha!! You’re worried about an old oracle- don’t worry about those. I was told I’d marry my son and my son would kill him- so much for that. I left my son to die with these ankle pins in his feel and my husband was killed by robbers at that spot where the road meets. And then the details start coming out. And it’s disturbing. And to his credit, instead of running from the truth Oedipus runs to it. But is it in his best interest to know his future? He wants to track down the old shepherd. Oedipus asks Jocastas- where’s the old shepherd- and she says- when he saw you ruling in town he took one look and ran away. And finally- Oedipus tells Jocasta a story he should have told her perhaps before they got married- one of those full-disclosure things- and maybe a Greek life lesson-boys and girls!!! If you have a secret like I killed a dude on the way to our first date- lay it out before you get married- if it should crash and burn- earlier is better than later.- tips to avoiding tragedy. And remember, if Sophocles wants to do anything, he wants to teach. How can do a little bette than Oedipus? What is wrong with this guy? Well, he’s rash. He acts without thinking. He accuses without thinking. He acts without talking. Was his life fated to be what it was? Is my life fated to be what it is? Do I have control? To what extent can I “see”? And sight is a motif. Tiresias can’t see- but he can. Oedipus can see but he cant. I don’t want to be either one of those guys – it’s the irony- the blind could see and the seeing people were blind…until they weren’t. And these are going to be the big ideas next week. Next week we we get to the next characteristics of a Greek tragedy- the recognition and reversal. We will also talk about this very Greek idea of Hubris- super-arrogance if you want to think of it that way.