Oedipus

“I’m ashamed to speak my fate.”

Oedipus has difficulty even reciting what the prophecy predicts for him, unaware that he has already fulfilled it by murdering his father and marrying his mother. His feelings of guilt and shame drive many of his actions throughout the play.

“In horror so deep / You think the impossible and dread it. / I fear all things and have no faith in me.”

Oedipus expresses his own ineffable feeling of guilt surrounding the state of Thebes. In contrast to Sophocles’s Oedipus, Seneca’s king immediately seems deeply concerned about the state of his own kingdom and his failure as a king to protect his citizens. These lines also foreshadow the upcoming tragedy that awaits him.

“Now, now fate fashions something for me.”

Oedipus worries that some immutable fate looms over him, though he is unsure of his sin. The audience understands the dramatic irony of the moment, as they are aware of what fate waits for Oedipus. Oedipus’s acceptance of the role of fate in his life contrasts with his tragic flaw: his prior attempts to avoid fulfilling the prophecy and to alter fate.

“Multitudes lie by the altars / Praying for death: / This alone gods readily grant” 

The chorus uses their first speech to viscerally describe the effects of the plague on the common people. The sick’s prayers for death parallel two different moments with Oedipus: his Act I prayer and his fate in Act VI. When Oedipus prays for death, he does it as a fully healthy ruler who wants to protect these same citizens. While the innocent common people’s prayers are answered with death, Oedipus’s guilt results in death not being the fate granted to him by the gods. Instead, he must live and suffer.

“When good and bad mix ambiguously / The unsure mind fears the knowledge it craves.”

Oedipus’s description of the mixture of good and bad unwittingly refers to his incestuous relationship with Jocasta. The split between knowledge and ignorance illustrates the internal conflict he suffers. Despite his ignorance, Oedipus expresses his worry that he is responsible.

“What I plan to do by the gods’ decree / was a duty owed to the dead king’s dust / To keep the sacred sceptre inviolate. / A king must protect the welfare of kings. / No subject probes the death of one he feared.”

Oedipus defines what being a king means to him. His philosophy informs his reaction to the climatic revelation that he is responsible for the former king’s murder and, thus, the plague. His ironic desire to honor the former king leads to the revelation that he himself is responsible for violating this decree.

“A great part of truth lies hidden from the blind.”

This line, spoken by the blind prophet Tiresias, expresses a key thematic idea. While Tiresias seemingly means this sentence literally, it also comments upon Oedipus’s metaphorical blindness to the truth about his parentage and his actions. The audience, whom Seneca expected to know the legend of Oedipus, would have heard this line as an example of dramatic irony, as they were fully aware of the truth Oedipus was blind to.

“A choice victim stands at the holy altar.”

Manto describes the bull that is about to be sacrificed, yet her description also applies to Oedipus. His high status as the king makes him a powerful sacrifice. His position at the holy altar foreshadows the reveal that he is responsible for the plague and must sacrifice himself for his city.

“The Bacchic libations turn to blood / And the dense smoke envelops the king’s head / Settling around his eyes more thickly / Its dense cloud blocking the filthy light.” 

Manto’s description of the results of the sacrifice foreshadows the revelation that Oedipus is responsible for the fate of Thebes. The smoke around Oedipus’s head and eyes also symbolizes his blindness to the truth, which is not presented as something pure. By adding a sighted character to interpret the sacrifice, Seneca increases the theatricality of this moment when compared to Sophocles’s version.

“The bull lifted his head high. / When placed before the newborn day, he flinched / Turning his face in fear, shying from the rays.”

Manto’s description of the bull the moment before the sacrifice continues the use of the bull as a symbol for Oedipus. Like the bull, Oedipus holds his head high as king. When confronted with the prophecy and the truth, corresponding to the daylight, Oedipus refuses to acknowledge this information and metaphorically looks away.

“Tell us to whom you trust this rite.”

Tiresias is preparing for the summoning of Laius’s ghost. Ie Tiresias asks Oedipus to send someone he trusts, Oedipus’s later paranoia about Creon becomes all the more striking. This line is another piece of evidence that Oedipus’s accusations about Creon’s disloyalty are absurd.

“Ignorance is a weak remedy for evil.” 

Oedipus expresses one of the central paradoxes of the play: he needs to know what he does not want to know. He implicates himself, reflecting the play’s argument that ignorance does not absolve someone of their crimes. His ignorance leads to him committing two of the worst sins—murder and incest.

“The right of silence / Harms king and kingdom—often more than speech.”

In his attempt to get Creon to speak, Oedipus transforms himself into a tyrant. Here, he defines silence as an affront to his kingly power. Unwittingly, Oedipus asks for speech that does harm the king, though it does in fact protect his kingdom.

“Power dissolves when the silent refuse to speak.”

Oedipus continues to try to compel Creon to speak and debate the meaning of kingship. Here, Oedipus seems to argue for the king as an all-knowing figure dependent on his ability to make his citizens and advisers speak. Ironically, Oedipus’s power as king disappears once he hears the message and abdicates his throne.

“‘They hear me,’ cried the seer, / ‘My words have power. Blind chaos bursts open / Subjects of Dis have passage to our world.”

In Creon’s recounting of the ritual, he recites the words of Tiresias as he opens the divide between the living and the dead. The use of the word “seer” reflects the play’s interest in sight and blindness. Despite his blindness, Tiresias can see the truth. In contrast, the chaos is blind, reflecting the negative impact of ignorance.

“‘O savage house / Of Cadmus, whose joy is ever kindred blood / Shake the thyrus, rip sons with hands of god / Rather than this. The greatest sin in Thebes / Is mother love.”

Creon reports Laius’s words after summoning the ghost of the murdered king. Laius alludes to the mythological suffering experienced by the founding family of Cadmus. Some of the tragedies were justified and others were unmerited. Their family included two different mothers who killed and mutilated their sons’ bodies. By alluding to these crimes and “mother love,” Laius emphasizes the severity of Oedipus’s crime, with incest being the worst sin. This ranking explains why Jocasta is also incriminated, but Laius does not acknowledge his own culpability in having abandoned baby Oedipus.

“Are you really asking me to lay down / Freely this heavy crown?”

Oedipus’s question reflects his descent into tyranny. In contrast to his opening monologue where he feels the pressures of kingship, he here wields his power to control Creon. In this moment, Oedipus attempts to assert his lack of free will through his role as king. Ironically, he will be forced to lay his crown down at the end of the play.

“Truth often harms the man who digs it out.”

Jocasta warns Oedipus of the dangers of seeking the truth. She argues that ignorance protects him. This tension between the protection of ignorance and the destruction caused by knowledge is at the center of the play.

“The welfare of the state and king conflict / Each equally matched. Keep your hands out of it. / Don’t interfere. Let fate unravel itself”

At this moment in Act IV, Jocasta seems to be aware of what the shepherd Phorbas will say and tries to prevent Oedipus from also learning the truth. She subverts the idea of accepting fate here to protect her earlier rejection of fate. The conflict between the well-being of Thebes and Oedipus illustrates the tension between the public life and the private life.

“‘Is this it? So brief / A penalty for monstrous crime, all debts paid / With one thrust?’”

As Jocasta dies by suicide, she comments upon the brevity of her punishment. Her comments support Oedipus’s belief that his crimes require a bigger, longer-lasting punishment than death, especially as he not only committed incest but also murdered his father. Her reference to the “thrust” of the sword also echoes the sexual nature of her incestuous crime.

“Fate is our master: yield to fate / Anxiety cannot alter / The destined spindle’s threads / What we mortals suffer / What we effect, comes from above.”

The chorus states the play’s perspective on fate and reveals why Oedipus falls. His resistance to fate creates an anxiety that cannot prevent the tragedy that befalls him. However, accepting fate does not guarantee a good life, as humans are at the mercy of the gods above. The placement of this lesson toward the end of the play underscores its importance, as Oedipus’s downfall has illustrated the chorus’s point.

“Who stops the joy of darkness? / Who restores eyes?”

Oedipus subverts the play’s motifs of light/dark and seeing/blindness. When he becomes aware of the knowledge about his own crimes, he is illuminated and able to “see.” As Creon predicted, Oedipus seeks to forget this knowledge and return to a blind darkness. When Jocasta calls him “son,” she breaks the illusion that he tries to create for himself.

“Fate is to blame. No guilt stems from fate.”

After the revelation that she has married her son, Jocasta frantically tries to absolve herself. This line, delivered moments before her own moment of recognition, is rejected by a now-aware Oedipus. Oedipus’s rejection of this excuse suggests that the play is critical of this idea. Moments later, Jocasta realizes she bears some blame and dies by suicide.