oedipus rex the three theban plays essay

Roland NIpps
Roland Nipps
Psyche in Literature, Period X
2 February 20121
Counting the Dead
Why does an author kill a character? I thought of that as I read Oedipus at
Colonus. Then I thought of the other specific dead bodies, like Oedipus, Polynices and
Antigone. If characters die, there must be a symbolic reason. That will be the subject of
my analysis.
I will start with Oedipus’s death. After such a rough time in the first play, and
much of Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus sounds as if he looks forward to his death.
Learning that he is resting on the sacred ground of the furies, he is convinced that his
fortune has turned for the better. “When the god cried out…he spoke of this as well. My
promised rest…I will reach my goal, my haven, where I will find the grounds of the
Awesome Goddess and make their home my home.” (105-111).
It appears that Oedipus is convinced that now he not only is relieved of his suffering,
but that he will ascend to the realm of gods. Sophocles suggests that this is an act of
redemption for Oedipus. And that his burial will benefit those who assisted him. Oedipus
says ”I come as someone sacred, someone filled with piety and power, bearing a great
gift…” (310-314). It’s starting to sound a bit like Oedipus is being portrayed as a Christ
figure, who serves on behalf of others, and that once dead, all the sins of the community
will be removed, while he joins the pantheon of the gods.But I can’t accept that interpretation when I recall a later part of the play, when
Oedipus sounds not like a Christ figure, but just another pissed off guy who felt people
treated him unjustly.
Oedipus “…this is the place where…”
Theseus: “What will you do here?”
Oedipus: “Where I will triumph over those who drove me out.” (730-735)
I want to inspect the word ‘triumph’. He doesn’t say he seeks revenge, or will
injure his antagonists. Does triumph simply mean he will have the satisfaction of saying
to his tormentors – ha, see – I am god-like. Maybe. But with Polynices, he sounds like a
cranky old man who has a list of grievances against his ungrateful children. “You
degenerate…you drove me into exile, your own father!” (1531-1534).
But he didn’t! He asked Creon to exile him. Talk about fake news. Apparently,
despite gaining some truth about his role in the oracle to murder Lauis, he remains quite
fuzzy on the past. And to me, it all suits Oedipus’s need to dictate the terms of what is
real. The death of Oedipus provokes more questions, than definite answers. With
Oedipus’s death, Sophocles clarifies nothing. We may have one idea, only to see it
contradicted. Maybe that’s Sophocles’ point: nothing is clear and definite, even a death.
So why kill Polynices?
I see many options:
– It helps fulfill the oracle
– He symbolically represents the Biblical story of Cain versus Abel
– He’s another power-man man who doesn’t know when to quit
These are all viable. However, I see something else at work.I think he wants to die. I’m going to apply some of Freud’s theory to his death.
First I’ll see how Thanatos – the death drive instinct – applies to Polynices. Now, one
student said that some type of trauma had to ignite the death drive. And Polynices had
a suitable traumatic experience (his father is also his brother). In an exchange with
Antigone, who tries to persuade him not to attack Thebes, Polynices tells her that “I am
the elder and being mocked so brutally by my brother-” (1611-1612). This sensitivity will
drive him to a losing battle against Thebes. She reminds him no one “would dare follow
you, hearing the oracles the man’s delivered…” (1620). He ‘won’t report them” to his
troops. If this isn’t a death instinct, I don’t know what is. So, what is Polynices after?
Again, with Antigone he requests that she take care of his dead body. “…don’t
neglect me, please, give me a burial, the honored rites of death.” I see this directly
connected to Oedipus. By dying out of “duty” (1647), he is ennobling himself. He’s trying
to make himself look something better than a pissed off brother and son. Here, I want to
bring in Freud’s Oedipus Complex: Polynices has a father problem too. He’s not going
to kill his father, but he’s going to try and outdo him in death. Oedipus is convinced he
will be embraced by the gods; Polynices is after something similar. His death will glorify
him. This is pure father/son competition. To the death.
Which brings us to the death of Antigone.
Has she lost her mind or is she a martyr to her beliefs?
I see three possible explanations. The first involves the ostensible reasoning: to
bury Polynices. At the end of Oedipus at Colonus, Polynices begs Antigone to “give me
burial/the honored rites of death.” (1599). After trying to reason Polynices out invading
Thebes, Antigone, now devastated by the loss of her brother, agrees to bury him. Andit’s clear that by doing so, she has more in mind than simply agreeing to her brother’s
last request.
For example, she is after glory. Pushing Ismene away, she says “I will suffer
nothing as great as death without glory.” (112). This she will obtain for violating the law
and burying Polynices’s body on Theban ground. This implies that Antigone is after
more. There appears a suicidal strain in this family. BUt why not? Having been
traumatized, each family member believes that death is preferable to living. There is
definitely something in the air – many characters willingly go to death rather than live.
That requires analysis, too.
We can find that answer in a scene with Creon. With Antigone Face-to-face,
clearly guilty, Antigone tells Creon that his edict is nothing compared to tradition. “Nor
did I think your edict had such force/that you, a mere mortal, could override the
gods,/the great unwritten unshakable traditions.” (503-505). This line bears scrutiny.
Creon, a human, writes laws to be used in the state in order to control its citizens. For
Antigone, though, there are higher laws, ones based on tradition. What I find
provocative – and explains a great deal about our heroine – is how, through her
argument, Antigone makes herself worthy of being with the gods. The gods represent
higher ideals, much higher than Creon’s edict. To follow her own ideals, Antigone
intends to not only give Polynices what he wants, but in the process she will live on with
the gods. Not a bad situation.
But when I think of people saying they will soon hang out with gods, my
skepticism kicks in. Here’s a question to consider: is Antignone out of her mind? I turn to
Ismene for an answer. While being abused by Creon, Ismene reminds him that “commit“commit cruelty on a person long enough/and the mind begins to go” (637). Now this is
something Antigone would never say; however, Ismene sides with reality. She doesn’t
seek glory and has no real desire to challenge Creon and the state. So, is Antigone out
of her mind because her sees a future with gods – where suffering ceases – or because
she has been traumatized as a result of being Lauis’s grand-daughter, and Oedipus’s
daughter/sister? A good psychologist could supply an answer to that question.
The commonality among all three characters is that each wants to die. When I
look at America, I see comparable examples: the Civil Rights protests of the 1950s-60s,
facing down white suprematcists. Martin Luther King, Jr. comes to mind. I don’t think he
wanted to die, but he was firmly convinced that he had god on his side. I see some of
the BLM protesors have a similar conviction. Can I put the Proud Boys, who stormed
the Capitol, in this? No, because they wanted to kill, not be killed. I wonder if that
woman shot during that protest embraced her death. None of these examples, however,
really work: Sophocles taps into something else – the fatigue of living. Suicides are up in
this country, with the pandemic magnifying the challenge to live. Unlike now, the ancient
Greeks had gods everywhere to embrace the sufferers, who now, to quote the Chorus,
can see their pain end. I don’t find this the most optimistic message, but I understand it.
For some, life is just too hard to bear.
1440 words
4-5 pages
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