Oedipus The king
...ience of this play thousands of years ago, I would have screamed at the actors for being so blind to the obvious truth; but of course that blindness is what makes this story so ironic. The very way in which Jocasta and Oedipus treat the oracles is ironic. For example, Oedipus discovers from the Corinthian that his father has passed away and by no means of his; he exalts in the failure of the oracles saying that they have come to nothing. Oedipus. Ah me! Why then, Jocasta, should a man Or screaming birds, on whose authority I was to slay my father? But he is dead; The earth has covered him; and here am I, My sworn undrawn-unless perchance my loss Has killed him; so might I be called his slayer. But for those oracles about my father, Those he has taken with him to the grave Wherein he lies, and they are come to nothing. (964-973. Original emphasis) The surprising thing is that even though Oedipus condemns the oracles word he will not return to Corinth for fear of his mother and so says: “Back to my parents I will never go,” (1005) “Fearing Apollo’s oracle may come true.” (1011) This statement convinces me that Oedipus’s was fighting an inner battle. I think he subconsciously feared from the beginning that the oracles spoke the truth but he wanted so desperately to convince himself otherwise that he Oedipus does not value the power of the oracles but rather puts trust in himself as the finder of...