“for the contrivance34 of an envied life!445 Great store of jealousy fill your treasury chests, if my friend Creon, friend from this and loyal, thus secretly attacks me, secretly desires to drive me out and secretly suborns35 this juggling trick devising quack, 450 this wily beggar who has only eyes” I feel like this passage best portrays Oedipus’s insecurities after he sought out to become king by any means necessary. This is an excerpt from a conversation between Oedipus and Teiresias. Teiresias is wise to the fact that Oedipus is too emotionally immature and undeserving of this new status. A little into the conversation, Oedipus brings up his friend, Creon, out of nowhere in a fit of paranoia. I interpreted line 445 literally and I enjoyed the imagery of the jealousy store, i think it’s kind of funny. To think that someone (sane) would be jealous of his power and how he got to that point is pretty laughable as well. It goes well with his wildly ignorant character, along with all the hypocrisy.
Daily Archives: September 28, 2022
“This is a terrible sight for men to see! I never found a worse! 1490 Poor wretch, what madness came upon you! What evil spirit leaped upon your life to your ill-luck—a leap beyond man’s strength! Indeed I pity you, but I cannot look at you, though there’s much I want to ask 1495 and much to learn and much to see. I shudder at the sight of you.” I interpreted this quote as religious karmic payback. Combining the dynamic between Oedipus and Jocasta and Oedipus and Laius, all the morally questionable actions that happened throughout the play make it so that the life choices he made came back to bite him in the ass. In line 1493, “ill-luck” is very important to how like dominoes action after action is karmic. In exchange for these poor actions, they had to give up something to balance it out. For Oedipus, his father’s killing being unintentional makes everything more impactful. Even in lines 1493 through 1496, the chorus can’t look at him but are intrigued at how he got to this point. I think it’s a double meaning one for his sins and the other for his appearance with the gouged-out eyes, doing so with Jocasta’s own dress pins. He is a tragic hero, being the King of Thebes and having many flaws. Overall, the quotes from the chorus shame Oedipus not only for his crimes of incest and murder but also for his attempt to escape the reality he created, gouging his eyes out in shame and disgust at his own actions.
In this weeks reading “Oedipus the King” the passage I chose to analyze is “A blight is on the fruitful plants of the earth.” (Line 28), “A blight is on the cattle in the fields,” (Line 29), and “A blight is on our women that no children.” (Line 30). The reason I chose to analyze this passage is because the priest is claiming a disease if on the plants on the earth, a disease is on the cattle, and a disease is on the women that cannot bare children. I believe the priest is saying they’re being punished for something and they’re asking the god to help them. The priest is asking for his city to be lifted and saved. He called himself and everyone else “mortals” he also mentioned only the greek god Oedipus can help them through this situation. The priest feels as though since Oedipus saved the land they call him their savior so he must help them.
