Oedipus Rex (A Reaction Paper)

Humanities1-Y2

October 10, 2006

2006-14269

Oedipus Rex

(A Reaction Paper)

A man who blinded himself and ran off from his city, Oedipus, a man whose identity he himself did not know. He killed his father and married his mother, unknowingly fulfilling a prophecy. This is a story of a man written by Greek Tragedian Sophocles and presented by Professor Elmer Rufo at the University of the Philippines Los Banos from September 14, 2006 to September 15, 2006.

The play starts with the presenting of what is happening to Oedipus’ beloved city, Thebes . Oedipus consoled his people; Creon (Oedipus’ brother-in-law) told them that the solution is finding the murderer of the late king Laius, former king of Thebes . In investigating the murder, Oedipus learned about himself and the crime he have done. Queen Locaste (Oedipus’ mother and later wife) killed herself in anguish and Oedipus blinded himself, got away from Thebes and lived in exile.

While reading or watching Oedipus Rex, people may be wondered, amazed or somewhat puzzled. Oedipus Rex as written by Sophocles is an intricate and hard to be understood play. Sophocles may live long ago, write long ago, and think differently compared to us, but his play has traverse time, surviving years and withstood many criticisms. In the time of Sophocles, people in his particular place think that gods ruled them and they (the people) were only toys played by the gods, in other words, gods are superior to man. The Oedipus Rex acknowledge the supremacy of the gods, by showing, that defiance to the divine may brought afflictions; like in the case of King Laius and Queen Locaste, they liked to defy the divine prophecy, that their son would kill his father and marry his mother, by commanding their servant to left the child to a mountain; Oedipus also want to defy the divine by running away from his known parents so that the prophecy may not be fulfilled. The supremacy of the gods was shown in the fulfillment of the divine prophecy.

The concept of fate was shown in Oedipus Rex; fate is irrevocable and cannot be changed. Wisdom in suffering was also shown, like when Oedipus exiled himself from Thebes because it is good for him and because that was what he laid before him. Humility was also shown in the play; the lack of humility of Oedipus brought him his downfall. In Oedipus Rex we see the conflict between free will and determinism. The story concluded that what is determined will always happen.

The concept of guilt was also raised in Oedipus Rex; guilt is not based in intention but based on its result. Morality was also raised in connection with guilt. It told us that what is moral is not also based on what-you-know but is based on what-had-happened.

Reading Oedipus Rex is boring, because it does not contain much action but it seems to be a collection of debates, speeches and orations. Reading Oedipus Rex Raise many questions like: What is the main problem? Is it the identity of Oedipus? Is it the murder of ones father? Or is it the marrying of ones mother? We were not introduce with the real problem but we were continually surprised by the progress we were not given even a hint about the problem.

The end is also problematic, would Oedipus’ exile will answer the problem, and will it absolve him of his suppose sin. The concept of guilt raised but it’s not sufficient, we were not introduce to sin but was not told what sin is, we were told only that this is wrong and this is right, but the whole concept being introduce is not concrete. We were introduce to fate but as the story progresses we were told that we can escape fate but fate is also irrevocable, the story is paradoxical because of the concept of fate. We were told of the supremacy of the gods we were told of their hardheartedness, their seemingly being unfair in their relationship with humans, we were told that what gods say will always happen but they seem to be only prophesying and were not capable in driving human affairs.

In Oedipus Rex we were told of a Greek myth, I think it’s not appropriate to accredit the ideas of Oedipus Rex to Sophocles only because he is only writing a common story in his time and not supplanting it with anything, Sophocles was just writing a myth and the ideas did not come from him but were dictated by the society where he belong.

Oedipus rex as presented by Elmer Rufo in the University of the Philippines Los Banos, did not look like what the ancient Greeks watch in their auditoriums but look liked more on as a half-cook Elizabethan play. The lighting and the props were just right, the problem is the people in the play, some seems to be first-timers because the words they say are not clear and they say it in some funny way, some scenes in the play was not clearly spoken.

Oedipus Rex to Things Fall Apart

Oedipus rex and Things Fall Apart show some parallelism. The story of Oedipus was like the story of Okonkwo. They were both strong in the beginning and fall in the end. Oedipus was mighty like Okonkwo, because they were on the peak of their gloriousness in the beginning. The crisis in Oedipus Rex began to show itself when Oedipus was investigating the death of King Laius only on the middle like when Okonkwo was exiled. Okonkwo and Oedipus tried to overcome their problem, when Oedipus tried to reason with his full might that he was not the one who killed the late King, and when Okonkwo would like to terminate the Christians, but were unsuccessful and were drove by reality to their downfall. Reality is what Oedipus and Okonkwo did not understand they were both idealistic and believe that they were still mighty. In the end, Okonkwo killed himself and Oedipus blinded and exiled himself because they can’t accept reality. Things Fall Apart and Oedipus Rex run on the same way like all what Greek Tragedies, the downfall of a mighty man.