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“I want a girl, just like the girl, that married dear old Dad”—Oedipus
But, why accept a copy when you can get the real thing?!
I read this because 1) recently I had read (out of order) Antigone and thought I might reread the whole trilogy; 2) I plan to see a local production of the play and 3) I had some vague notion that the play, about a king, might throw some literary light on our current American King and kingly conduct. I listened to it, though I had to start over 3-4 times because the reader was literally the worst reader of a text I have ever encountered; I would have preferred hearing Siri read the text to this play. I thought he was deliberately doing a flat, comic interpretation at times. He made the already formal language especially stilted and dry. I already preferred Antigone, but this experience made me like the play a little less. But hey, it’s still a classical tragedy that has been read for centuries and a good story.
Oedipus is the first in the trilogy, also known as Oedipus Tyrannus. As you maybe know from the fact that even if you haven’t read the play, Freud’s “Oedipus complex” comes from this play: O became king of Thebes after fulfilling a prophecy made by blind Teresias that he would kill his father, Laius, and marry his mother, Jocasta (though he didn’t really know she was his mother, to his credit).
[Let’s pause here and consider this incest question with respect to the presidency; Trump said even if he murdered someone that his base would still vote for him; if he had married his, let’s say, daughter, Ivanka (and you’ve heard what he said about dating her, so this is not so far-fetched), would his base have still voted for him? Consider.]
[Another kingly reflection: Oedipus means “swollen feet,” as his feet had been tightly bound by Laius. Trump is known for having tiny appendages; write a 3-5 page paper reflecting on the implications of appendage size regarding kingly pride.]
So one serious theme the play takes up is the relationship of the individual to the state (as happens in Antigone, too, with King Creon). Each king makes a decision that his subjects question or disobey; each king misconstrues disagreement as rebellion. While Creon saw his mistake, Oedipus refuses to listen to anyone who disagrees with him. Question: Is listening a useful property in a leader?
The blind prophet Tiresias “sees” more than Oedipus, who cannot “see” the truth because his excessive pride has made him “blind.” I leave it to you whether this insight into political leadership from roughly two dozen centuries ago has trickled down to any political leaders we know, but “pride” is Oedipus’s tragic flaw (see Aristotle), which “goeth before his fall.” Discuss.
This play really builds up a lot of steam by its (tragic) end. And it's probably the greatest classical tragedy, by reputation, so in spite of the fact that I connected a bit better to Antigone (because I like that character in the play) better, I still this is a play well-worth reading about politics and human nature.
But, why accept a copy when you can get the real thing?!
I read this because 1) recently I had read (out of order) Antigone and thought I might reread the whole trilogy; 2) I plan to see a local production of the play and 3) I had some vague notion that the play, about a king, might throw some literary light on our current American King and kingly conduct. I listened to it, though I had to start over 3-4 times because the reader was literally the worst reader of a text I have ever encountered; I would have preferred hearing Siri read the text to this play. I thought he was deliberately doing a flat, comic interpretation at times. He made the already formal language especially stilted and dry. I already preferred Antigone, but this experience made me like the play a little less. But hey, it’s still a classical tragedy that has been read for centuries and a good story.
Oedipus is the first in the trilogy, also known as Oedipus Tyrannus. As you maybe know from the fact that even if you haven’t read the play, Freud’s “Oedipus complex” comes from this play: O became king of Thebes after fulfilling a prophecy made by blind Teresias that he would kill his father, Laius, and marry his mother, Jocasta (though he didn’t really know she was his mother, to his credit).
[Let’s pause here and consider this incest question with respect to the presidency; Trump said even if he murdered someone that his base would still vote for him; if he had married his, let’s say, daughter, Ivanka (and you’ve heard what he said about dating her, so this is not so far-fetched), would his base have still voted for him? Consider.]
[Another kingly reflection: Oedipus means “swollen feet,” as his feet had been tightly bound by Laius. Trump is known for having tiny appendages; write a 3-5 page paper reflecting on the implications of appendage size regarding kingly pride.]
So one serious theme the play takes up is the relationship of the individual to the state (as happens in Antigone, too, with King Creon). Each king makes a decision that his subjects question or disobey; each king misconstrues disagreement as rebellion. While Creon saw his mistake, Oedipus refuses to listen to anyone who disagrees with him. Question: Is listening a useful property in a leader?
The blind prophet Tiresias “sees” more than Oedipus, who cannot “see” the truth because his excessive pride has made him “blind.” I leave it to you whether this insight into political leadership from roughly two dozen centuries ago has trickled down to any political leaders we know, but “pride” is Oedipus’s tragic flaw (see Aristotle), which “goeth before his fall.” Discuss.
This play really builds up a lot of steam by its (tragic) end. And it's probably the greatest classical tragedy, by reputation, so in spite of the fact that I connected a bit better to Antigone (because I like that character in the play) better, I still this is a play well-worth reading about politics and human nature.
