LITR 5831
World / Multicultural Literature: Tragedy & Africa
Lecture Notes
Oedipus at Colonus
The Gospel at Colonus
Five Blind Boys, African American culture as tragic beauty
Nightingale song p. 4, p. 26
Five Blind Boys / Oedipus x Chorus pp. 8-9
Ismene p. 13 see you through my tears
Discussion questions:
1. How does it change the Tragedy to have it sung? Or preached [narrator / chorus]
2. What effect of mixing gospel style with classical content? How well do they mix & match?
Discussion questions:
Oedipus at Colonus: The Furies are back! (These spirits of revenge pursued Orestes in the Oresteia. Here, the grove where Oedipus & Antigone rest is sacred to Furies, who would naturally be scandalized by Oedipus's crimes.)
1. Compare the chorus's and audience's potential catharsis of "pity and fear" for Oedipus to our reactions to the same character in Oedipus the King. Since modern audiences typically have a hard time caring about Oedipus as King, what changes our attitudes to him in this play?
2. Oedipus acts helpless, but how helpless is he really, and how much is he controlling the action? How convincing are his speeches justifying his past sins? Evidence of tragic flaw?
2a. Continuing #2, what about Oedipus's character is revealed by his cursing of Polyneices? Why is the scene so powerful and meaningful? Compare to Bible's parable of the Prodigal Son? (Potential contrast of Abrahamic and Classical Greek-Roman ethics)
2b. Since Antigone is Oedipus's true child, compare her character in Oedipus at Colonus to her character in Antigone.
3. How does Oedipus's death resemble the conclusion of a romance as transcendence? (narrative genres)
3a. Compare conclusion to conclusion of the Oresteia trilogy in The Eumenides?
4. Discuss spectacle in Oedipus at Colonus's finale or elsewhere in play? What advantages to showing or not showing rescues, divine actions, etc.?
5. Not to press comparisons to diminishing returns, but how might Oedipus's resolution appear Christ-like or compatible with the Christ story? (This potential analogy is partly encouraged by the translator's use of biblical language.)
Notes for Oedipus at Colonus
6 I am taught by suffering to endure, [tragic theme: suffering > wisdom]
14
ANTIGONE: Long-suffering father
Oedipus, the towers
That fence the
city still are faint and far;
[the city =
But where we stand is surely holy ground;
64 OEDIPUS: You say people live in these parts?
STRANGER:
Surely; they bear the name
of yonder god.
[yonder
god=Athena>Athenians]
104
Hear, gentle daughters of primeval Night,
[daughters = Furies]
Hear, namesake of great Pallas;
Of cities, pity this dishonored ghost,
[shade = ghost, memory]
The shadow of him who once was Oedipus.
110 contrast Oed's previous nature
OEDIPUS:
I will be mute, and you
shall guide my steps
110
Into the
covert from the public road,
[covert =
thicket, hiding place]
Till
I have learned their drift. A prudent man
Will ever shape his course by what he learns.
[learning
theme of tragedy]
158 OEDIPUS: Daughter, what counsel should we now pursue?
ANTIGONE: We must obey and do as here they do.
OEDIPUS: Your hand then! 160
170
CHORUS:
In a strange land, strange
thou art; [cf. Exodus 2:22]
170
To her will, incline thy
heart;
[her will = the laws of the
land]
Honor whatsoever the State
Honors, all she frowns on hate.
[she = the State]
186 ANTIGONE: Thy steps to my steps, lean thine aged frame on mine.
192
OEDIPUS:
Strangers, I have no
country. O forbear—
[forbear = hold back, lay
off]
CHORUS: What is it, old man, that you would conceal?
OEDIPUS: Forbear, nor urge me further to reveal—
204 OEDIPUS: Know you of Laius's—
CHORUS: What? Who!
OEDIPUS:
Seed of Labdacus—
[Laius, Oedipus’s
father, was son of King Labdacus of
CHORUS: Oh Zeus!
OEDIPUS: The hapless Oedipus.
224
ANTIGONE:
. . .
[ruth = mercy]
Knowing the deeds he wrought, not innocent,
But with no ill intent;
Yet heed a maiden's moan
245
And shelters the
troubled stranger, so men say.
Have I
found so?
258
am I then
A villain born because in self-defense,
Stricken, I struck the striker back again?
276 A holy and god-fearing man is here
Whose coming purports comfort for your folk.
[purports comfort =
signifies blessings]
And when your
chief arrives, whoever he be,
[chief = king, later id. as Theseus]
Then
shall ye have my story and know all.
280
SCENE 3
302
ANTIGONE:
I see a woman
Riding upon a colt
323 OEDIPUS: O children—sisters!
327 OEDIPUS: What brought thee, daughter?
ISMENE: Father, care for thee.
330 news . . . brothers
354 bring thy father all
the oracles
Concerning Oedipus
369 now some god and an infatuate soul
[infatuate soul = crazed spirit]
Have stirred betwixt them a mad rivalry
[betwixt them = between Eteocles & Polyneices] 370
To grasp at sovereignty and kingly power.
387 What has been uttered, child?
ISMENE:
Thy country (so it runs)
shall yearn in time [Thy country = Thebes]
To have thee
for their weal alive or dead.*
[weal = well-being, protection]
393 ISMENE: The gods, who once abased, uplift thee now. [romance of transcendence?]
406
OEDIPUS:
Mean they to shroud my bones
in Theban dust? [shroud . .
. dust? = bury my body in Theban soil?]
ISMENE:
Nay, father, guilt of
kinsman's blood forbids.
[Oedipus can’t be
buried in
412 [Instructor's
note: In
following passages here omitted, Ismene
tells
Oedipus of a recent prophecy that previews the blessings Oedipus's
burial will bring to Athens; that Theban invaders of Athens will some day be
routed in a battle near the grave of Oedipus.]
421
may the gods never
quench their fatal feud,
And mine
be the judgment of the fight,
[arbitrament = right to decide]
For which they now are arming, spear to spear;
That neither he who holds the scepter now
[he = Eteocles]
May keep this throne, nor he who fled the realm
[he = Polyneices]
Return again.
[SCENE 4]
523 CHORUS: Grant my request, I granted all to thee.
OEDIPUS:
(Antistrophe
1) [Chorus moves right
to left]
Know then
I suffered
ills most vile, but none
(So help me Heaven!) from acts in malice done.
539
OEDIPUS:
Sprang from the wife and
mother's travail-pain.
[travail-pain= childbirth, labor]
540 then thy offspring are at once— 540
OEDIPUS:
Too true.
Their father's very sisters too.
546 CHORUS: Thou hast endured—
OEDIPUS: Intolerable woe.
CHORUS: And sinned—
OEDIPUS: I sinned not.
563 OEDIPUS: I slew him who otherwise would have me slain;
[SCENE 5]
566 CHORUS: Behold our sovereign, Theseus, Aegeus's son,
597 THESEUS:
What
profit dost thou proffer to have brought?
[What’s
in it for me to inherit responsibility for your body in death?]
OEDIPUS:
Hereafter you shall learn, not yet, methinks.
653
he can claim the hospitality
To which by mutual contract we stand
pledged:
. . .
But grant him the full rights of citizen;
674 What is it thou fearest?
[SCENE 6]
753 of all Thebans I have most
bewailed,
Being his kinsman, his most grievous
woes. [Creon claims to have been
on Oedipus's side all along]
774 Creon's hypocrisy puts us on Oedipus's side
835 OEDIPUS:
What power do you have to execute this threat?
CREON:
One
of thy daughters is already seized,
The other I will carry off
soon.
846
CREON (to his guards)
:
If she refuses of her
free will to go.
872
ANTIGONE:
Ah, woe is me, they drag me hence, O friends.
[hence
= away]
903
to thee and all thy cursed race
May the great Sun,
whose eye is everywhere,
Grant length of days and old age like to mine.
[curse predicts Creon’s fate in
Antigone]
[SCENE 7]
947 now the
laws to which himself appealed,
[himself
= Creon]
These and none others shall apply.
954 a State that
champions right and asks
[a
State that champions right = Athens]
For every action warranty of law,
[*Instructor's note:
Theseus chides Creon by saying that if Theseus were visiting Creon's Theban
territories, he would never take military action without consulting with the
leaders of Thebes. Beginning at line 982 below, Creon tries to turn the argument
by saying he couldn't imagine that Theseus would object to actions taken against
a moral outcast like Oedipus.]
986 Nor would
they harbor, so I stood assured,
A godless parricide, a reprobate
[parricide
= parent-murderer; reprobate = troublemaker—i.e.,
Oedipus]
Convicted of incestuous marriage ties.
1104
OEDIPUS:
O
shameless big-mouth, do you think this abuse
Defames my grey hairs—rather than your
own?
Murder
and incest, deeds of horror, all
You blurt forth against me, all I have borne,
No willing sinner; so
it pleased the gods,
1116 And if
When born to misery, as born I was,
I met my sire, not knowing whom I
met or what I did,
and slew
him, how can you
With justice blame my
all-unconscious hand?
And for my
mother, wretch, be ashamed,
As she was your sister,
1131
Knowingly you vilify
her and me;
But I unknowingly wed, and unwilling speak.
1136 if thou canst:
If one should presently attempt to kill you,
Would you, O man of
justice, first inquire
If the assassin was by chance thy father,
Or turn on him?
1152
If any land knows how to pay the gods
Their proper rites,
it is
1192 I would like to see that fight; [sorry, no spectacle, please]
1246 For lo, an escort with the maids draws near.
[SCENE 8]
Enter Antigone and Ismene with Theseus
1250
ANTIGONE: O
father, father,
Would that some god might grant thee eyes to see
This best of men who
brings us back again.
OEDIPUS: My
child! and are ye back indeed!
ANTIGONE:
Yes, saved By Theseus and his gallant followers.
OEDIPUS:
Come to your father's arms, O let me feel
A child's embrace I never hoped for
more.
ANTIGONE:
Thou askest what is doubly sweet to give.
1268 Now tell me of your
adventures, but in brief;
Brief speech suffices for young maids like you.
The
gods deal with you after my desire,
With you and with this land!
[i.e., consequences of justice, positive consequences to good actions
1303
I would like to have
Thy counsel
1335
fail not in
due reverence to the god.
1339
For our sake also let our brother come.
On all the woe thy sire and mother brought thee;
1357
nor he that takes
[importunate =
nagging]
A favor lack the grace to make return.
1360
Let it be, then; have your way
1380
Not to be born at all
Is best, far best that can befall,
Next best, when born, with least delay
To trace the backward way.
For when youth
passes with its giddy train,
Troubles on troubles follow, toils on toils,
Pain, pain forever pain;
[Instructor's note: The following scene of Oedipus's repudiation of Polynices might be compared / contrasted to Christ's Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15: 11-32]
1417
All this too late I
learn, wretch that I am,
Alas!
I own it, and am proved most vile
In my neglect of you: I scorn myself.
1425
Why silent? Father, speak. Don’t turn away,
Have you no word?
1444
I have been banished from my native land
Because by right of primogeniture
[primogeniture =
first-born son inherits all]
I claimed possession of thy sovereign throne
From which Eteocles, my younger
brother,
Ousted me,
1450 the prime cause
[popular
= populist; mob-pleasing]
Of this I
deem the curse that rests on thee.
1457
levy with their aid that sevenfold host
Of spearmen against
1472
victory, if oracles speak true,
Will fall to those who have you for their ally.
1505
they are men
Not women in true service to their father;
But
you are bastards, no sons of mine.
Therefore the justice of Heaven watches thee
1512
That city you can
never storm, but first
You and your brother shall fall
1516 That you might learn to honor those who bear thee
1522
This curse I leave
thee as my last bequest:—
Never to win by arms thy native land,
No, nor return to
But by a kinsman's hand to die and slay
Him who expelled thee.
1541
I dare not whisper this curse to my allies
Or turn them back, but mute must meet my doom.
My sisters, . . grant me burial
and due funeral rites*.
1552
ANTIGONE:
Turn back
thy host to
And ruin not thyself and Thebes as well.
Polynices:
That
cannot be.
How could I lead again
An army that had seen their leader quail?
ANTIGONE:
But,
brother, why should you be wish to fight again?
What profit comes from thy country's ruin?
Polynices:
To live in
exile is shameful, and shalI
[shame/honor]
an
elder brother bear a younger brother's insults?
1562
Polynices:
Aye, so he
wishes:—but I cannot yield.
1588
Ills on ills! no pause or rest!
Come they from our sightless guest?
Or may we now see fulfilled
What fate long time hath willed?
1598
Hark! How the thunder rumbles! Zeus defend us!
[thunder =
sublime +
spectacle]
1611
OEDIPUS:
Daughters, for
me the predestined end
Has come;
no turning from it any more.
1627
OEDIPUS:
For all his
benefits I would perform
The
promise made when I received them first.
[Enter
Theseus]
1644
OEDIPUS:
Our fate hangs
in the balance. I would do all
I
promised thee and thine before I die.
1655
Bequeath a treasure age cannot corrupt.
[transcendence >
romance?]
I myself without a guiding hand
Will take thee soon to the place where I must end.
This secret never reveal to mortal man,
1662 But those dread mysteries speech may not profane [sublime as what cannot be defined or expressed?]
1676
But to the spot—the god within me impels—
Let us set forth; no longer hesitate.
Follow me, daughters, this way. Strange that I
Whom you have led so long should lead you now.
Oh, touch me not
1684
O light, no light to me, but mine a while,
Now the last time I feel thee palpable,
For I am drawing near the final gloom
Of Hades.
Blessing
1700
Wrongfully in life oppressed,
Be he now by Justice blessed.
[Enter
Messenger]
1712
Oedipus is gone, but the event
Was not so brief, nor can the tale be brief.
1716
he has passed away from life to death.
1742
"My children, you will lose your father today,
For all of me has perished, and no more
Have ye to bear your long, long ministry;
A heavy load, I know, and yet one word
Wipes out all score of tribulations—love.
1752
A moment there was silence; suddenly
A voice summoned him;
1762
promise me
Thou never wilt forsake them
1772
Theseus stay,
Our ruler, to behold what next shall happen."
1775
After brief space we looked again, and lo
The man was gone, nowhere to be seen;
Only the king we saw with upraised hand
Shading his eyes as from some awful sight,
1786
It was a messenger from heaven, or else
Some gentle, painless cleaving of earth's base;
[cleaving = opening]
For without wailing or disease or pain
He passed away
[Enter
Antigone and Ismene]
1846
ISMENE:
Alas, my sister, what new fate
Befalls us orphans desolate?
1870
ISMENE:
Tombless he died, none near.
ANTIGONE:
Lead me
there; slay me there.
[willingness
to die anticipates tragedy of Antigone]
1882
ANTIGONE:
How again
to get us home
I know not.
CHORUS:
Why must you roam?
ANTIGONE:
Troubles
overwhelm us—
1894
THESEUS:
Dry your
tears; when grace is shed
On the
quick and on the dead
By dark
Powers beneficent,
Too much grief
they would resent.
1912
let us go
Back to
1923 CHORUS:
Wail no more,
let sorrow rest,
All is ordered
for the best.
