Oedipus scholars

Fate and Responsibility

“This is not a play of crime and punishment” - Rutherford
“Oedipus is not only free, but also responsible for his actions, for strictly speaking, the gods and Fate do not force his individual choices, his own internally driven actions” - Knox

Pity and Motivation

The search for the killer of Laius turns into “the search for his own identity. Laius is forgotten, as is his earlier determination to save the city from the plague.” - Garvie

Oedipus’ ignorance

Oedipus’ declaration of intent at the start: “The gap between seeming and reality is nowhere clearer than here, where the man who thinks that he knows, or can find out, everything, is in fact ignorant even of his own identity.” - Garvie

Oedipus’ ‘fall’

“It is not so much his crimes as his discovery of them that leads to his fall.”

“In one sense, Oedipus does not fall at all. He sets out to uncover the truth, and by the end of the play he has succeeded in his quest.” - Garvie

Fate?

the audience identifies with the hero, sharing vicariously in the horror of the reversal he suffers and acknowledging the power of destiny.” - Higgins

Fate!!!

“Oedipus is his own destroyer.” - Fagles

What does Finglass say Oedipus’ hamartia is?

“a tragic virtue”(rather than a hamartia) - “his humane concern for others” “courage” “leads him to persist in finding out the truth and therefore to his own destruction”

What does Wyles’ say Oedipus’ hamartia is?

arrogance, leading to hubristic behaviour (e.g almost accepting worship from his people, attitude towards oracles, treatment of the seer) and his horrible temper (e.g treatment of Tiresias, the shepherd and Jocasta)

What does Knox say Oedipus’ hamartia is?

“Aristotle does not mean us to think of hamartia as a “fatal flaw.” A hamartia is a mistake. Oedipus does have moral flaws but his hamartia is his offence (killing his father, marrying his mother)”