Biography and Historical Context

Sophocles was born in near Athens in 496 BC, in the town of Colonus. His ninety-year lifespan covered

the rise and fall of the Athenian Golden Age. A close friend of Pericles, Sophocles held several public

offices throughout his life in addition to being a leading dramatist. He was not much in favor of the

politician's life - he restricted his involvement with the state to his minor military and civil offices. Sophocles

was not interested in the intrigues or politics of the courts, either - he is thought to have refused several

invitations to stay with royalty.

Sophocles recieved the first prize for tragic drama over Aeschylus at the play competition held in 468. He

wrote well over one hundred plays for Athenian theatres, and won approximately twenty-four contests.

Only seven of his plays, however, have survived intact. From the fragments remaining, and from references

to lost plays in other works, scholars have discovered that Sophocles wrote on an enormous variety of

topics, and introduced several key innovations. Sophocles died in 406-5 BC.

Articles

An Exploration of Oedipus

In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is portrayed as a character of social conscience. He utilizes his

personal power as an individual wisely, his quick temper his only visible flaw. Aside from this, he is

a just sovereign and uses his judgment and reason in a manner he feels to best suit his people, with

little concern for either fate or his own well-being. However, his actions in the later play, Oedipus at

Colonus, are far less measured. Oedipus appears to be more a wounded scapegoat than a good

king – he has lost the greater consciousness of the earlier play. The progression of the character of

Oedipus, from a leader who disregards fate to a beggar whose life is dictated by it, reflects the role

of the individual against the deep-laid patterns of destiny.

Oedipus is first introduced as a savior. A priest, surrounded by a crowd of questioning children and

peasants, has come to ask Oedipus what may be done to alleviate the terrible blights which afflict the city

of Thebes. He comes to hear their story directly, instead of asking them to explain to a messenger: "I did

not think it fit that I should hear/of this from messengers but came myself … Indeed I'm willing to give

all/that you may need; I would be very hard/should I not pity suppliants like these" (p.11, 6-13). This role

is an extension of the heroic part that Oedipus plays in rescuing the city from the Sphinx in a riddling

contest. His first introduction to Thebes is his use of reason to defeat evil, and the people recognize his

abilities and respond accordingly: "we have not come as suppliants to this altar/because we thought of you

as a God,/but rather judging you the first of men" (p.12, l.31-33).

Despite their views about his personal humanity, they do not see his wisdom as originating from human

means. The people of Thebes blame the pestilence destroying their city upon the gods; so, too, do they

credit Oedipus's foresight and counsel as being of godly origin. Oedipus himself chooses to ignore this

popular conception of his power. He responds to this call for godly aid with an account of his own

personal attempts to unravel the problem, never once even making an allusion to immortals. He tells them,

"my spirit groans/for city and myself and you at once" (p.13, l.64-65), thereby signifying that he has

personally taken the problems of Thebes upon himself to solve, disregarding the usefulness of the gods.

It is Creon who introduces the idea of an oracle from Apollo as a viable solution to the epidemic of

disasters. Although Oedipus doesn't ask the gods for help himself, he, like the rest of the population, sees

the message from Apollo as factual information – much the way that a detective investigating a murder case

might admit an expert opinion. Oedipus relies more readily on his personal prowess than upon divine aid,

but his wish to help his people leads him to admit supernatural options. He wants to save the city again,

and his quest for the truth is efficient and just: "so stand I forth a champion of the God/and of the man who

died" (p.20, l.244-245). Oedipus is straddling two bridges with this statement. In his person, he unwittingly

links divine justice with individual conscience, and the result is a unique character: in his use of reason, his

fair-mindedness and his temper, his absolute power, and his doom.

To his great credit, Oedipus doesn't cease his pursuit of the truth and the old kings murderer, despite the

accumulation of events that weigh the scales toward Oedipus himself. In fact, the first instance in which his

temper is revealed is when he first encounters Teiresias, a seer who refuses to divulge the truth he admits

to knowing. Gently, the blind seer tries to warn Oedipus, "let me/go home. It will be easier for us both/to

bear our several destinies to the end/if you will follow my advice" (p.23, l.319-322). But Oedipus doesn't

want anything withheld from him, and he gradually becomes more heated in his wheedling, until the prophet

spits out the truth in disgust, and, cursing, takes his leave. An important character trait emerges in Oedipus

during this exchange. Teiresias, in his last attempt to be remotely civil, tells Oedipus "it is not fate that I

should be your ruin,/Apollo is enough; it is his care/to work this out" (p.27, l.376-378). However,

Oedipus's pride is hurt by this aspersion, and his patience is quite at an end. He responds with a caustic

and accusatory speech which angers Teiresias enough to provoke a similar response from the prophet –

and yet, Oedipus is not so much challenging fate as oblivious to it. He prioritizes the truth above his

personal well-being, and, by doing so, admits his view of fate as a lesser force in his consciousness than

the safety of Thebes.

In Oedipus the King, Oedipus shows sound reasoning, if laced with fantastic anger when provoked. He

displays an independence from the culture of polytheism and fate in his unbound manner of

problem-solving. He tells the chorus "I account myself a child of fortune" (p.58, l.1080), and he proves

through his actions that he is willing to defy even a prophet of Apollo to find the truth for himself and his

city. Once the horror is fully understood, he has the strength to follow through on his initial promise – he

saves the city of Thebes a second time by leaving it. The situation has changed in Oedipus at Colonus.

Although he makes the statement, "my sufferings have taught me to endure" (p.79, l.7), and disobeys

custom by seating himself in the sacred grove of the Eumenides, Oedipus is no longer the controlling force

that he appears in Oedipus the King. He is not able to see for himself, and the loss of his eyes represents

the more crucial loss of Oedipus's individual character. Antigone must translate the world to him s it seems

to her; there is no opportunity for Oedipus to practice the personal discernment he shows at the start of the

previous play. She tells him to follow her unquestioningly, to "do as other citizens do here" (p.86, l.174)

and he but rarely offers even a gentle objection to her directions. As the play progresses, Oedipus

becomes gradually more frantic. His wise counseling of his daughters and courteous treatment of strangers

slowly dissolves as each encounter he makes only worsens his condition. Now, he blames his predicament

upon outside forces, unlike the Oedipus of the earlier play, who would have taken all fault upon himself.

Creon's entrance gives Oedipus even more cause to bemoan his existence, and his anger at his old advisor

spills over to Polyneices, when the son enters to succor his father.

Creon's character, as it is portrayed in each play, presents a useful vehicle for the analysis of Oedipus

himself. Creon is very much a lesser character in Oedipus the King. However, in the later play, Creon has

usurped both of the roles Oedipus formerly filled: as king, and as a character of personal strength. Though

Theseus reprimands Creon for excessive use of power, there is no question that his power is real. He

dominates scenes the way Oedipus does in the earlier play, without the same personal asceticism. Creon is

filling a vacuum left by Oedipus, and the extent to which his character must grow to complete the space

Oedipus leaves is a crucial observation in understanding Oedipus's character change. In Oedipus the

King, Oedipus's personal scope is of an enormity to encompass a city, his personality is the extent of the

play: boundless. Oedipus as an individual holds minimal power in the concerns of Oedipus as a ruler. It is

the loss of this consciousness in the second play which leads to an acceptance of fate, and therefore an

acceptance of himself as a tool of fate. The world of Oedipus at Colonus, while still revolving around

Oedipus, has been severely limited. Characters enter and leave the scene of their own volition, where

before Oedipus summoned or sought, now he is a passive onlooker. The grove becomes the entirety of

Oedipus's world, which once spanned two cities and the breadth of his own mind.

Oedipus, who in the first play blithely tells the uncooperative Teiresias "I came,/I Oedipus, who knew

nothing, and I stopped her./I solved the riddle by my wit alone" (p.27, l.397-399), in Oedipus at Colonus

feels compelled to reiterate the tragedy of his life as if he might forget who he is. Jocasta's exclamation, "O

Oedipus, God help you!/God keep you from the knowledge of who you are!" (p.57, l.1067-1068) – and

indeed each warning given to the zealous Oedipus along his path to the truth – has been proven correct.

Oedipus, who attempts to engage fate in a fight for truth, wins the battle only to lose the war. What he

thinks is knowledge of himself has become a myth, which he repeats in the futile hope of understanding

what has become of his wider world. The gods and fates have truly smashed their unwitting adversary,

giving his life an infamy beyond compare. But Oedipus's bloody story does have a saving grace: his fame is

somehow restored in death to its former luster. His fate is once again tied to a city, this time the city of the

man who pitied him, Athens. For Oedipus, to chase truth was to destroy his world: his power,

accomplishments, and family name are all lost. Perhaps Oedipus's unique departure from the world

signifies a godly recognition of his achievement, and the resurrection of his individual power and scope in

his corpse homage to yet another Daedalus whose wings were burnt from flying too close to the sun.