Oedipus Rex: Reference to Contexts & Their Explanations
Oedipus Rex was written by the famous Greek writer, Sophocles, around 429 B.C. The play is a tragedy and deals with the downfall of the king, Oedipus, who unknowingly brought disgrace to his family by marrying his mother and killing his father. In today’s article, you will learn about some famous Oedipus Rex passages and their explanations so that you can properly understand these passages.
Famous Passages of the Play with Explanations:
The following are the popular passages of the play, Oedipus Rex:
1. O holy majesty of heavenly powers!
May I never see that day! Never!
Rather let me vanish from the race of men
Than know the abomination destined me!
The passage is taken from the scene in which Oedipus tells Jocasta how he murdered a man and most of the attendants on the way to Thebes. Only one attendant escaped death. Also, he informs her about the prophecy that he received from Apollo’s oracle that he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Because of this prophecy, he leaves Corinth and sets out on a journey to Thebes. As he is searching for Laius’ killer, who resides in Thebes and is the source of the city’s plague, he is afraid that he might be the unpunished murderer. Well, as the oracle states that the plague can be removed after the killer is put to death or exiled from Thebes, Oedipus fears that he might be the unknown killer himself. Therefore, Oedipus wishes that he could never see that day when he finds that he is responsible for the plague. Rather, he wants to die instead of knowing the cursed destiny.
2. Ah! Dear friend,
Are you faithful even yet, you alone?
Are you still standing near me, you will stay here,
Patient to take care for the blind?
The blind man!
Yet even blind, I know who it is attends me,
By the voice’s tone-
Though my darkness hide the comforter.
The passage is from Oedipus Rex that comes after the play’s climax. When the truth is revealed that Laius’ killer and son is Oedipus, Oedipus blinds himself, and Jocasta commits suicide in the play. Then, the spokesman of the chorus, Choragos, comes and comments on the tragic fall of the king, Oedipus. When Oedipus senses the chorus leader, he asks whether Choragos is still faithful to the blind king and present there to take care of Oedipus in this condition or not. He says that he cannot see his comforter but can recognise him through his tone.
3. Let every man is mankind’s frailty
Consider his last day, and let none
Presume on his good fortune until he find
Life, at his death, a memory without pain
The above lines are spoken by the leader of the chorus in Oedipus Rex, Choragos. He states that no man should feel proud of his wisdom and command over conditions until his last breath. He actually refers these lines to Oedipus, who was proud of his wisdom and fortune, but he faces a tragic downfall because of the cursed destiny. Oedipus gives us a lesson through his story that a person’s fate is unavoidable for them.
4. Do not counsel me anymore. This punishment that I have laid upon myself is just.
If I had eyes,
I do not know how I would bear the sight of my father, when I come to the house of death, or my mother, for I have sinned against them both.
So vilely that I could not make my peace
By strangling my own life.
The passage is taken from the scene in which the truth about the parentage of Oedipus is revealed. So, in response to Choragos, who feels sorry for Oedipus’ blindness, Oedipus says that he has justly blinded himself because he would not be able to meet his parents after death with his sight. The sins which he committed are so grave that he cannot see his parents. Therefore, there is no need for Choragos to advise him on this matter, as he knows clearly that the death penalty is not better than the punishment he decided for himself. Through the passage, we can say that Oedipus accepts responsibility for his actions despite the fact that he committed the sins unknowingly. There is a reason behind Oedipus’ remorse here. Despite the path laid out by destiny, it was Oedipus who acted on the path according to his will. He chose the options to act that were available on the path for him. He killed an old man and married an aged queen after solving the riddle of Sphinx in Thebes. So he took the full responsibility for his actions like a true tragic hero in the play.
5. To have been a man they
Call his mother’s husband
Oh accurst! Oh child of evil
To have entered that wretched bed-the self same one!
More primal than sin itself,
This fell on me.
The passage is from the scene in which Oedipus is talking to himself in front of Choragos about how he feels after knowing the truth about his parentage. He expresses his deep pain here by saying that he is a cursed person or an evil man who married his mother unknowingly. He is so deeply hurt by the fact that he feels he is more wretched than the sin itself.
6. At a feast, a drunken man maundering in his cups
Cries out that I am not my father’s son!
I contained myself that night, though I felt anger
And a sinking heart. The next day, I visited
My father and mother and questioned them.
They stormed.
Calling it all the slanderous rant of a fool;
And this relieved me.
The passage is from the scene in which Oedipus tells Jocasta that one drunken man cries out in front of all guests at a feast that he is not the real son of the king, Polybus. Oedipus said he controlled his anger that night but was so troubled by the statement that he met his parents the next day to inquire about what the man told everyone. They told him that the statement was nothing but a lie. This relieved Oedipus for a while. But he was not fully sure about what they told him, so he visited the shrine of Apollo at Delphi and asked the oracle a question to learn the truth about his parentage. But the oracle told him a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. This made him feel so tense that he left Corinth and came to Thebes. After hearing the prophecy, Jocasta said that the prophecy of Laius’ murder by their son was false, as he was murdered by several raiders on his way, not their son. So she does not want to waste her time on the prophecies of oracles. Plus, she consoles Oedipus that even if he had murdered Laius, he did not murder his father at least.
7. How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be
When there’s no help in truth! I knew this well.
But did not act on it! Else, I should not have come.
In the first scene, when Oedipus asks Teiresias to inform him through the prophetic gift who killed Laius, the prophet utters the above lines. Oedipus told the prophet before these lines that the plague of Thebes can be removed only if the killer of Laius is put to death or banished from Thebes. But the prophet answers that there is no use of the dreadful truth as it cannot assist anyone. He also says that he knew about the aspect of such truth but did not act accordingly. Otherwise, he should not have come before Oedipus regarding the issue of the plague. His refusal to speak the truth leads to a heavy verbal fight between Oedipus and Teiresias, and the prophet goes away after uttering the true words about Oedipus’ parentage and marriage that the king remains unable to understand at that time.
Conclusion:
So that is all what I have to share with you about the passages of Oedipus Rex and their explanations. I hope you got what you came here for. And if you think that my piece is useful, then please share it with your connections. In this way, they can also know about the play’s main passages and relevant explanations.
