Oedipus Rex is the part
of the trilogy written by the legendary poet and dramatist Sophocles who
belongs to the Greek time period. The play focuses on the themes of fate, free
will, determination , quest for knowledge and blindness vs sight. Sophocles
incorporates these themes beautifully in the play and so frequently that the
whole play is a synchronized piece of incredible literature. According to a
definition, “Literature is the depiction of life”, through the play Oedipus Rex
we learn the reality of the life and the boundaries of human knowledge and his
free will.
Fate
and Free Will:
The audience already
knows about the legend of Oedipus and also about how the play ends and their
sympathy for Oedipus is inevitable when the mystery starts to unfold in the
play. However, the quest between Oedipus’s fate and his free will is
interesting throughout the play. Sophocles plays with the idea of human free
will and its consequences while limiting it with the boundaries of fate and
destiny. Oedipus, when he finds out about the prophecy that he is going to kill
his father and marry his mother, makes a decision to leave the city of Corinth
and go as far as possible; this is his free will. He kills a person on his way
and ends up becoming the king of another city Thebes where he marries the queen;
this is his fate. He’s not aware of the fact that he has killed his father and
has married his mother. Sophocles explains that nature and its laws are fixed
and one cannot escape his or her destiny. Many critics have argued that Oedipus
faced the consequences because of his head strong nature and his continuous
search for truth, but the involvement of his destiny is a major factor in the
causing his doom as Tiresias says, “Well, it will come what will, though I
be mute.” So Oedipus’s
quest for truth and knowledge has somewhat little to do with his downfall,
which directly leads us to our next topic of discussion.
Quest for Knowledge:
In Oedipus Rex,
Oedipus is a seeker of knowledge and truth. He struggles to uncover Laius’s
murder and his own identity, despite numerous warnings that he should leave the
truth alone. His pursuit of knowledge and truth, however, results in ruin as
Oedipus uncovers his destiny, which he was better off not knowing. This
suggests that knowledge is futile and limited in its ability to bring happiness
to those who seek it. Sometimes knowledge brings disaster instead of
spirituality. When a person becomes too knowledgeable he also becomes
responsible and the burden of awareness is a difficult one to bear. As Oedipus
himself says, “ignorance is a bliss.”
Oedipus’s quest for the ultimate truth about his linage pulls him out of the
blindness, about which we are going to talk in the next section.
Blindness
Vs Sight:
This imagery/theme has
been used in the play several times, especially when Tiresias, the blind poet,
is called in the palace and is rebuked by Oedipus for not telling the truth.
Sophocles draws a neat comparison between Oedipus’s metaphorical and Tiresias’s
literal blindness and vice versa. Although Tiresias is blind he can see Oedipus’s
past, present and future clearly and is positive about his knowledge whereas
Oedipus on the other hand is completely oblivious about his reality despite of
the fact that he can see clearly and interpret things better, after all he is
the genius king. When Oedipus
finally sees the terrible truth of his life, Sophocles hammers home his
metaphor by having the king stab out his own eyes. Oedipus says he does this
because he can no longer look on the horrors that his unwitting actions have
created.
Power:
Not necessarily a
dominant theme but a significant one in the Oedipus Rex, Power plays an
important role in the play proceedings. The desire for retaining the power Oedipus
has as a king makes him blame Creon for trying to betray him and overthrow his
monarchy, he does not for a moment hesitate to put all the blame on his friend
when he himself is unable to resolve the mystery. More over the theme of power
can be fully seen in the part of the play Oedipus is questioning the shepherded
about his lineage and orders him to answer his questions otherwise he might
have to face consequences. And assuming that other characters (Creon and
Tiresias) are trying to steal is power he does not listen to their arguments
and thus becomes skeptical of their wisdom and loyalty. But as we move on the
play further towards the end there is a shift in the powerful character of Oedipus
and he has become a humble in fact a distressed man, his authoritative nature
has changed and he no longer desires the power he once wanted to retain at any
cost. His determination leads him towards his doom.
Determination:
The word determination,
generally used in positive connotations, is a mode of self-injury in the play
Oedipus Rex. It is his determination and curiosity that leads him towards his
doom and the proud King becomes a blind peasant all because of his
determination for the truth. Sophocles has made this thing very ironical
because determination is generally a positive trait in the protagonists.
Oedipus gets affected by it in a completely different way and renders all our
ideas about being focused and determined void. This theme can also be related
to the theme of free will and fate. No matter how much a human tries to achieve
his goals and fulfill his hopes no amount of determination can get him through
the storms of fate and destiny. However, if we try to look at the idea with
another perspective we can say that there is a great deal of difference in
determination and self-deception. Oedipus was not determined he was deceiving
himself by constantly reassuring himself that his quest for the truth may prove
his fears wrong.
