I love the story of Oedipus. He is such an amazing character. I'll be the first to admit that he is blind at some points, and just plain dumb at others, but there is something about him that draws me to his story again and again. I have read all three of the novels about Oedipus and his family-- Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus the King, and Antigone-- and have heard of his story long before I read it. It facinates me so much, that he was ever imagined, that his audience was able to relate to him so well, and that his actions were possible. For these reasons, I wanted to write about Oedipus Rex for my monthly blog for October.
In class, we discussed fate. A question was posed to us: "Is Oedipus responsible for his actions, or is he simply a pawn of the gods, unable to control his own life?" Many of my classmates believe that it Oedipus's fate, or destiny, to kill his father, marry his mother, and be cast out of society. However, I feel differently, and I do not feel as if had ample opportuniy to explain my reasons in class, but with a computer in front of me, I feel as if I could spout my opinions forever.
I think there are many mistakes the character of Oedipus Rex made that led to their eventual destruction. Iocasta and Laios were told by an oracle that their son would kill Laios and marry Iocasta. Personally, I would rather not kill my son, but since they left their son out to die, I doubt that the King and Queen had such qualms, so in their case, I would make sure Oedipus was dead. I suppose that would have solved the problem quite early and easily. Many years later, Laios should have travelled with a larger guard. I know that he was going incognito, but as a king, he should protect himself not only for himself, but also for the sake of his people. That was pure, reckless stupidity. Iocasta should also have been very wary of any man seeking her hand. To be fair, she did not have a choice in the matter of her marriage, but a little bit of hereditary research would put an end to the wedding issue.
This is not to say that the parents are all to blame. Oedipus has his fair share of guilt. After Oedipus learned of the prophecy and began to doubt his parentage, he should have searched to the ends of the earth to find his true parents. If he loved his adopted parents enough to run away so as not to hurt them, he should have loved them enough to seek the truth.
And you cannot just go and kill any old guy on the road! That's not okay! That is what I consider to be the most serious Oedipus flaw. I am aware that people spent most of their time killing other people in those days, but that doesn't make it acceptable. Even if Laios wasn't Oedipus's father, he was someone's father. And that matters. Not to even mention that, since he was told he would kill his father and doubted his parentage, Oedipus should never have killed anyone. After killing the Sphinx(very cool,very cool), Oedipus should have been very careful with and future wives. He could at least look into Iocasta's past.
All in all, the characters in this play led the path to their own destruction. Did fate have a hand? Did destiny? Yes, but only because I believe in these ideas. Yet I also believe in a human's ability to stand up for themselves and dictate their own fate.
I really do love this play.
