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A review by knz_edmo
The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone by Sophocles
5.0
Big take away: Men talk so much in Greek Lit, which I suppose makes sense, given the times, but they talk so much.
“Is anyone in all the world safe from unhappiness?”
This is the fourth time I’ve read this trio of plays and this will be my first review of it. Perhaps it is better that way. 17 year old me who read this first had never even experienced heartbreak, much less the immense pain of leaving someone you love to complete an education you didn’t necessarily want to pursue in the first place.
Regardless, the pain and loss I’ve experienced in my 23 years of life pales in comparison to that of our dear Oedipus. A man who tried so hard to run from fate, that he ran straight into it, leading ultimately to the death of his entire family (besides Ismene? that part was somewhat unclear).
I find it interesting that we see Oedipus in two very different stages of his life, but the grief he incurred during our first picture of a reigning King is no less when we find him as an old blind wanderer.
Rest in peace, Antigone. Could those men have shut up for two seconds and realized how their pride was impacting their choices? Realistically if one man, in the entire play, had just shut up for two seconds, how many people other than Oedipus and Iocaste would have had to die?
This was not the review I was hoping to write, I think. But it is the review that has been written.
Maybe one day humanity will universally recognize our hubris and avoid the fall that many individuals have taken before. Or maybe not.
“Is anyone in all the world safe from unhappiness?”
This is the fourth time I’ve read this trio of plays and this will be my first review of it. Perhaps it is better that way. 17 year old me who read this first had never even experienced heartbreak, much less the immense pain of leaving someone you love to complete an education you didn’t necessarily want to pursue in the first place.
Regardless, the pain and loss I’ve experienced in my 23 years of life pales in comparison to that of our dear Oedipus. A man who tried so hard to run from fate, that he ran straight into it, leading ultimately to the death of his entire family (besides Ismene? that part was somewhat unclear).
I find it interesting that we see Oedipus in two very different stages of his life, but the grief he incurred during our first picture of a reigning King is no less when we find him as an old blind wanderer.
Rest in peace, Antigone. Could those men have shut up for two seconds and realized how their pride was impacting their choices? Realistically if one man, in the entire play, had just shut up for two seconds, how many people other than Oedipus and Iocaste would have had to die?
This was not the review I was hoping to write, I think. But it is the review that has been written.
Maybe one day humanity will universally recognize our hubris and avoid the fall that many individuals have taken before. Or maybe not.