The Tragedy of the House of Oedipus

Did you know that there was one unfortunate man in Greek myth who was fated to kill his father and marry his mother? Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia. My name is Kelly and today's video is all about the man who was fated to have probably the most unfortunate life in Greek myth, as immortalized by the playwright Sophocles. Today we are diving into the tragedy of the family of Oedipus. Don't forget the easiest way to support us is by giving this video a thumbs up, subscribing to our channel and hitting that bell icon for notifications so you don't miss out on any new uploads. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization and you can find us on Patreon, a brilliant site where you can support our work and receive exclusive benefits in return. Your support helps us create videos twice a week, so make sure to check it out via the pop-up in the top corner of the screen or via the Patreon link down below. Oedipus is probably one of the most recognizable figures from ancient Greek myth, although not as a hero or a god but as a mortal man bound to a terrible fate to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus's tragic story has survived to us today primarily through the works of Sophocles. Sophocles was a playwright during the 5th century BCE and lived in the deme of Colonus just outside of Athens between around 496 and 406 BCE. He was a celebrated and famous writer of tragedies, but despite having written over 120 plays during his life, only seven survive, including the three plays that make up the story of Oedipus, although the Sata play that would have been performed at the end of the tragedy trilogy does not survive. The three plays in this trilogy are Oedipus the King, also known as Oedipus Rex and Oedipus Tyrannos, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, and by the time it was being performed in competitions in Athens and being attended by the male citizens of Athens as part of their civic duty, the myth of Oedipus would have already been well known. As part of the festival of Dionysus, the Dionysia, the theatre competition, Sophocles won 18 competitions in comparison to Aeschylus, who won 13, and Euripides, who only won five. While watching the tragedy unfold, there would have been a sense of trepidation as the audience would have been aware that Oedipus had in fact already fulfilled the horrible prophecy, and they had to just watch as the truth got closer and closer to Oedipus. This device, known as dramatic irony, would have added another layer to the including the epic poems of Homer, who in his Odyssey has Odysseus in the underworld lay eyes on the mother and wife of Oedipus, Jocasta, who in Homer is known as Epicaste. I saw the mother of Oedipus, beautiful Epicaste, who committed great evil when in ignorance she married her own son, and Oedipus married her after killing his own father. The gods made all these things known to men right away. Oedipus remained as king in lovely Thebes, though suffering agonies through the destructive designs of the gods. But Epicaste went down to the house of Hades, the powerful warden of the gate. She fitted a noose on high from a lofty beam, overcome by her pain. She left behind many sorrows for him, as many as the orignies of a mother can bring to The figure of Oedipus is mentioned in later works in the ancient world, including the Roman playwright and author Seneca, who wrote a tragedy dealing with the misfortune of Oedipus, and later authors like Dryden and Voltaire. He is probably best known as the name in the phrase Oedipus Complex, coined by the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, a phrase to describe the developmental phase when a person experiences a desire for a parent of the opposite gender. However, it is interesting that Oedipus would be the namesake of this concept, when in fact he did his best to not fulfill the awful fate decided for him. With that, let's get into the plays. Oedipus the king begins in the city of Thebes, where Oedipus is the ruler, but the city has been beset with a plague. Prior to the beginning of the play, Oedipus kills a man in a chariot and his attendants in self-defense on his travels from his home city of Corinth, where he had learned of a prophecy that he was fated to kill his father and marry his mother, so he immediately left his home. Before being able to enter the city of Thebes, he comes upon the sphinx, a creature with the head of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle, and anyone who wanted to enter the city had to correctly answer the riddle she posed them, and if they got it wrong, they were killed. No one had correctly answered the riddle of the sphinx until Oedipus appeared, and after answering correctly, he rid the city of the troublesome monster and became the new king after their old king Laius was killed while traveling. Not only did he become the king, but he was married to the old king's wife, Jocasta. A priest of Thebes is reminding the king of how he saved the city of the sphinx all those years ago and pleads for him to figure out some way to rid the city of the blight causing its plants to wither and infertility in the animals and women. Oedipus is already one step ahead of the priest and has sent his brother-in-law Creon to the Oracle of Apollo to find out what they need to do. When Creon returns, he tells Oedipus and all who had assembled that to rid the city of the plague, they have to find the murderer of King Laius, who was living free in the city. Oedipus knows very little about the death of the former king and learns he was killed on the road by a band of robbers. So Oedipus speaks to the people of Thebes, asking for anyone who knows the murderer to come forward and they wouldn't be punished, just exiled. No one comes forward, and so he calls for the blind seer Tiresias to help. But when the man arrives, he fears for his life if he tells the truth. Oedipus, in an attempt to force the seer to talk, accuses him of being part of the murder and so, reluctantly, Tiresias is made to reveal that Oedipus himself is the murderer. Oedipus threatens the seer and then turns on Creon, calling him a traitor and accusing him of also plotting against him. At this point, Jocasta arrives on the scene and upon hearing that Oedipus thinks that Creon is plotting against him and that he has been accused of killing King Laius, Jocasta tells him to ignore the prophecy, since Laius was killed by robbers at a three-way crossroad and not by the hands of his son, like he was prophesied. Oedipus just keeps getting more interested in the details and asks how long ago he was killed and how old the king was and what he looked like. A servant that survived the encounter is fetched to give his account and if he agrees that it was robbers and not a single man, then Oedipus would be free of guilt. While waiting for the servant to return, a messenger arrives to tell Oedipus his father, the king of Corinth, is dead and also tells him that King Polybius of Corinth wasn't his birth father but had received Oedipus as a baby. At this, Oedipus starts getting anxious, for if Polybius isn't his father, then who is? The man sent to fetch the servant was the shepherd who had brought the baby Oedipus with his pierced ankles to Corinth. When the shepherd and servant return, all of Oedipus's fears are confirmed. When it is confirmed that he was the son of Jocasta and Laius and instead of being left exposed to die as a baby to prevent him from killing his father, he was saved and given to the king and queen of Corinth. At the realization that the man he killed in the chariot was his father and his wife and mother of his children was indeed his own mother, Oedipus cries out while Jocasta rushes into the palace and hangs herself. When Oedipus finds the body of his mother and wife, he takes the brooches of her robe to blind himself. Oedipus tells Creon to give Jocasta a proper burial and then asks to be driven out of the city. The second play, chronologically speaking, since Antigone was actually written first despite being after the events of Oedipus the king and Oedipus at Colonus, opens with the former king Oedipus and his daughter Antigone entering a grove in Colonus just outside of Athens where Theseus is king. It has been 20 years since his exile and the blind and weak Oedipus is guided to sit on a rock in the grove by Antigone who has stood by him through his long exile. The two are reprimanded for resting on the rock as it is considered holy. The pair are told to move on but Oedipus instead asks that Theseus be brought to him. As Antigone and Oedipus wait for the king of Athens, Ismene, Antigone's sister and Oedipus's second daughter, arrives with news from Thebes. Ismene tells her sister and father that her brother Polyneses has fled to Argos after being betrayed, stripped of his power and exiled. He plans to raise an army to take back Thebes from his brother Aetiocles, who is currently king. Oedipus acknowledges that he acted hastily when he asked Creon to exile him and realizes that his punishment has been far greater than his crime, especially considering he didn't choose to do any of the acts he was fated to do. He is warned by Ismene that Creon is also on his way to him to take him back to live near Thebes. Ismene leaves to conduct a ritual and when Theseus arrives at the grove, he recognizes Oedipus and asks what the blind old king wants. Oedipus tells Theseus how his own sons turned up their noses at him but it is only because of the Delphic oracle that his sons want him back in the city. Theseus tells Oedipus that he will not allow anyone to take him away against his will and after Theseus leaves, Creon arrives. Creon asks the old blind man to return home and then calls it a disgrace that Antigone is not yet married but has spent her life as a beggar with him. Creon tells of how he has already taken Ismene captive and his soldiers grab Antigone and drag her away but as Creon grabs Oedipus, Theseus returns with the small army and tells Creon he will not be allowed to leave Attica until he sees with his own eyes the two girls released. Ismene and Antigone are released but Oedipus' happiness is short-lived as he is told a relative of his has been asking for him in Athens and then his son Polyneses arrives who had been praying at the altar of Poseidon in the city. Polyneses tries to relate to his father telling him that he's been banished from their home as and that he has raised an army in Argos and hopes to take Thebes back. He not only asks for his father's forgiveness but also if he will return to Thebes with him where he can have a home again after Aeteocles is defeated. Oedipus however rejects the offer and tells him that he will kill Aeteocles and his brother will kill him. Neither will survive the battle. Polyneses leaves still planning on fighting a battle he cannot win and then Athens is wracked with thunder from the god Zeus. Oedipus recognizes that it is his time to die and that Theseus must take him to the place he will leave the mortal world and that the place has to be kept a secret. Oedipus leads his daughters to where Hermes and Persephone, two gods of death, bring him. Oedipus' death happens offstage in the presence of Theseus alone who will not disclose the location of his final resting place to anyone, not even his daughters who beg him to tell them. Oedipus is finally at rest dying with a restored sense of dignity after realizing he was actually a victim of his fate. Reluctantly the daughters of Oedipus agree to honor their father's wish and they plan to return to Thebes in the hopes of stopping their brother's war. In Sophocles' Antigone, Oedipus is dead as are both of his sons who were fated to kill each other in the battle for the city and now Creon is king. Although Creon has awarded Aeteocles a warrior's burial since he died defending Thebes, Polyneses is seen as a traitor and has been refused a proper burial. If anyone is found trying to bury the body of the traitor which has been left to be eaten by carrion birds and wild animals they will be killed for breaking the law. Antigone though has already decided that she will go against the law of her uncle and bury her brother as he deserves and although she asks her sister to join her, Ismene is too afraid of the punishment and refuses to help. Ismene tries to convince Antigone not to attempt to bury their brother but she refuses. When Creon hears that dirt has been spread on the body and the burial rites have been completed, he orders that the culprit be found immediately. The man who was guarding the body is threatened but quickly returns with Antigone who says that it was she who buried her brother. She tells Creon she understood the law but chose to challenge it and follow through with the burial anyway. She further says she could not live with herself if her brother was left unburied. Antigone stands by her decisions and accepts her fate. Creon then goes further and charges Ismene for the crime as well despite her having nothing to do with it. Antigone tries to free her sister saying that her death is enough but Ismene tells the king that her life is nothing without her sister and reminds him that by killing Antigone he will be killing his son Haman's bride. Haman then confronts his father about his decisions. He tries to reassure his father that he still loves him but that the city is grieving for Antigone. Creon dismisses his son blaming lust for controlling his mind and Haman in return tells his father that Antigone's death will bring about another. Creon orders that Antigone be taken away and locked in a cave with minimal food and water. After she is taken, Tiresias the blind seer comes to tell Creon that he has made a mistake. He needs to free Antigone and bury the boy. Creon asks the chorus what they think and after agreeing with Tiresias, Creon changes his mind but he is too late. When Creon arrives at the cave, Antigone has already hanged herself and Haman refuses to return to the city with his father and instead kills himself with his own blade. As he dies, Haman embraces Antigone and Sophocles notes that he found his marriage in celebration in the halls of Hades. After learning of her only son's death, Eurydice, Creon's wife, kills herself in grief leaving Creon king of thieves and completely alone. Do you think there could have been a way for Oedipus to escape his fate? 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