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sbenzell 's review for:
Oedipus Rex
by Sophocles
Not as tearful for me as the other great Greek tragedies. Oedipus sort of refuses sympathy and wants to master everything with his intellect. This goes awry when understanding becomes his downfall. Clearly, imho, his investigations aren’t mainly about saving Thebes, but mainly about satisfying his own curiosity and frustration with ambiguity/uncertainty/white lies.
Was Oedipus stupid to continue pulling this string? It seems at one point he is eager to prove he was an orphan, a child of fortune and entirely self made (vs being the son of of King Polybus — and that name is an interesting connection too, being the name of a mind destroying mythical arcade game; perhaps the eponymous connection is how Oedipus destroyed himself by digging deeper into his Polybus connection?). It’s unclear how early he suspects he is his fathers murderer, but it is clearly well before the very end. He could have stopped as Jocasta suggested. And while his arrogance is self defeating, maybe it ultimately helps his city by getting the perpetrator into exile (himself).
And what of the incest? It’s strange how he’s way more upset by this than killing his father. For me the key is when he observes that he slept with his “hard” mother — a mother heard enough to try to have him killed - to have personally handed him over to his assassin. The fact that he slept with a classically bad mother is what makes this so extra fucked up for him (bc people with bad moms and fathers have a sublimated desire to oedipize them?) one interesting thing is that I think it’s mentioned that sure everyone thinks of incest sometimes….
Lots to think about but I prefer Ajax and Antigone.
Was Oedipus stupid to continue pulling this string? It seems at one point he is eager to prove he was an orphan, a child of fortune and entirely self made (vs being the son of of King Polybus — and that name is an interesting connection too, being the name of a mind destroying mythical arcade game; perhaps the eponymous connection is how Oedipus destroyed himself by digging deeper into his Polybus connection?). It’s unclear how early he suspects he is his fathers murderer, but it is clearly well before the very end. He could have stopped as Jocasta suggested. And while his arrogance is self defeating, maybe it ultimately helps his city by getting the perpetrator into exile (himself).
And what of the incest? It’s strange how he’s way more upset by this than killing his father. For me the key is when he observes that he slept with his “hard” mother — a mother heard enough to try to have him killed - to have personally handed him over to his assassin. The fact that he slept with a classically bad mother is what makes this so extra fucked up for him (bc people with bad moms and fathers have a sublimated desire to oedipize them?) one interesting thing is that I think it’s mentioned that sure everyone thinks of incest sometimes….
Lots to think about but I prefer Ajax and Antigone.