The Oedipus Plays: An Audible Original Drama by Sophocles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars “There are many strange and wonderful things, But nothing more strangely wonderful than man” The three Oedipus plays of Sophocles (from about the middle to the end of the 5th century BC) are absorbing and moving, beautiful and terrible, personal and political, and full of wisdom and irony. The Audible production of the three plays is excellent, with stellar voice acting by all the actors and cool "Greek" music introducing or ending the plays. I know no Greek, but the three English translations by Ian Johnston are tight, natural, elevated, poetic, passionate, and clear. I was struck when listening to the Audible production how much major action (e.g., Oedipus blinding himself) occurs off-stage and is recounted on-stage by eyewitness characters or Chorus. Thus much that happens occurs in our imaginations. Oedipus Rex begins with Oedipus as King of Thebes, having been given the position 15 or so years ago after he freed the city from the ravages of the Sphinx by solving her riddle. The people love and respect Oedipus. But all is not well, for an apocalyptic plague is being visited upon Thebes, blighting crops, killing livestock and people, and making women give birth to stillborn babies. Wanting to help his people, Oedipus has requested oracular advice, and when the oracle's message is delivered--punish the murderer of the previous king, Laius, whose empty throne Oedipus was given--Oedipus immediately curses the miscreant and vows to find him. Being a seeker after facts (and the solver of the Sphinx’ riddle), Oedipus then drives himself to find the truth, beyond reason and to his own destruction. It is morbidly fascinating to watch him unwittingly entangle himself more in his sins the more he tries to solve the mystery, adding one new piece of information at a time till it all locks into place around his neck. And because Oedipus quests in ignorance while we know his story from the start (killed his father, married his mother), this is the most dramatic irony filled play (or story) I've ever encountered. Until the truth is finally revealed, nearly every line that Oedipus and most of the characters speak radiates an appalling and appealing irony. In addition to demonstrating the impossibility of escaping fate, the play is about the extremes of human behavior: rage, love, violence, patricide, and maternal incest, but also forgiveness and pity. There are many great lines in the play, like these by the Chorus: For now we are afraid, just like those who on a ship see their helmsman terrified. By Teiresias: You may be king, but I have the right to answer you—and I control that right, for I am not your slave. And by Oedipus: If I could see, I don’t know how my eyes could look at my own father when I come to Hades or could see my wretched mother. The second play, Oedipus at Colonus, rehabilitates Oedipus’ image as it depicts his old age and death. It begins with the end of his years of wandering exile as a blind pariah, when his daughter Antigone leads him to the sacred grove of the Furies by the village of Colonus under the aegis of Athens. (The play is a celebration of Athens as the most god-respecting city/land.) We repeatedly hear that Oedipus killed his father and his father’s servants in self-defense, and that he committed his crimes (killing his father and sleeping with his mother) in ignorance. Interestingly, because Apollo has prophesied that Oedipus will bless the land he’s buried in, after years of shunning him, suddenly everyone wants him for his burial blessing. This in turn inflames his still lively anger (one of his tragic flaws in the first play), resulting in some choice curses for his son Polynices and uncle Creon. The play features many wonderful moments, as when Antigone describes the sacred grove: O father, poor tormented Oedipus, my eyes can glimpse, off in the distance, walls around the city. This place, it seems, is sacred ground clustered thick with grapevines, with laurel and olive trees. Inside the grove many feathered nightingales are chanting their sweet songs. Sit down and rest your limbs on this rough stone. For a man advanced in years you have come a long, long way. Or as when the Chorus recounts the off-stage death of Oedipus: Suddenly a voice called out to Oedipus. It made the hairs on all our heads stand up-- we were so terrified! Again and again the god cried out to him in different ways, “You there, you, Oedipus, why this delay in our departure? You have been lingering for far too long.” The third play, Antigone, is about the conflicts between male and female, society and individual, and state and family. Oedipus’ two sons have killed each other fighting a war over Thebes (more off-stage action recounted on-stage), resulting in a decree by Creon, ruler of Thebes, that the corpse of the older son Polynices (who brought an army from Argos to try to remove his usurping younger brother from power in Thebes) be left for the crows and dogs without receiving burial rites. Antigone determines to bury her brother anyhow, thus enraging Creon. So sympathetic in Oedipus Rex, Creon is tyrannical and misogynistic here. He says things like, "No woman is going to govern me," and “We must obey/ whatever man the city puts in charge,/ no matter what the issue--great or small,/ just or unjust.” There are many powerful lines in this play, as when Creon’s surprisingly wise young son Haemon tries to get his father to loosen up: For any man, even if he’s wise, there’s nothing shameful in learning many things, staying flexible. You notice how in winter floods the trees which bend before the storm preserve their twigs. The ones who stand against it are destroyed, root and branch. In the same way, those sailors who keep their sails stretched tight, never easing off, make their ship capsize—and from that point on sail with their rowing benches all submerged. So end your anger. Permit yourself to change. Anyone interested in the best and worst of families, cities, human nature, and life, and anyone who likes classic drama, should like this version of Sophocles’ trilogy. View all my reviews
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