“25 out of the depths, out of the bloody surf.
A blight is on the fruitful plants of the earth.
A blight is on the cattle in the fields,
a blight is on our women that no children
are born to them; a God that carries fire, ”
This whole passage speaks of death and the toll that the city’s citizens are facing. They had come to Oedipus hoping for help. The belief in their gods that they would be saved was something that they had sincerely believed in because everyone loved Oedipue so much that they had no doubts about him and they saw him as a great leader. A focal point in the play is finding out who killed the king before Oedipus his late father. When he comes and finds out that he was the one that had killed his own father and married his mother he is appalled. As the plague that is affecting his entire kingdom is caused by himself. I chose this passage because it exemplifies exactly what he is causing to his own people. Blight is a rapid spread of disease. That word alone tells me that the people of Oedipus is suffering and they are looking for his help, showing their undying loyalty to him.
One thought on “Matthew Hui Discussion 6”
Hey Matthew, great choice for this weeks discussion. I found it interesting that the people of Thebes wanted to remain so loyal to their king and wanted the cold hard proof to be put in front of them before they made any decision. Comparing this situation to todays day and age, I feel like many are quick to believe or spread random information we see on the internet even with no confirmation of whether its true or not. I think of our presidents and the things that social media accounts might post of them and how people will get a good laugh at it. The people of Thebes didn’t have social media, just word of mouth from the other people in the town so maybe because they only heard things directly from one person to the next it left less room for exaggerating the truth of what Oedipus did.