Oedipus Rex - The Leader of the Chorus

But what man can force the gods to act against their will?

May I suggest a second course of action?

Not if you have more.

Tiresias is the man whose power of seeing shows him most nearly what Apollo sees. If we put our questions to him, King, he could give us the clearest answers.

I find it strange that he still hasn't come.

There were rumours - too faint and old to be much help.

I'll examine every word.

They say Laios was killed by travellers.

No-one sees him.

If fear has any hold on him, he won't linger in Thebes, not after he hears threats of the kind you made.

If murder didn't scare him, my words won't.

There's the man who will convict him: god's own prophet led here at last. Apollo gave him what he gave no-one else, the truth, it's living in his mind.

I'd make you suffer exactly what you planned for me.

He spoke in anger, Oedipus, but so did you, if you'll hear what we think. We don't need angry words. We need insight - how best to carry out the god's commands.

you believe I'm a traitor.

He could've spoken in a flash of ill considered anger.

Did he say I persuaded the prophet to lie?

That's what he said. What he meant wasn't clear.

Did he seem sane?

I can't say. I don't question what my rulers do. Here he comes now, out of the palace.

You can know a bad man in a day.

That's good advice my lord, for someone anxious not to fall. Quick thinkers can stumble.

It's mine as well!

My lords, stop this. Here's Jokasta leaving the palace - just in time to calm you both. With her help end this feud.

Do it for my sake too, and for these men.

Give in to him, Lord, we beg you. With all your mind and will.

What do you want me to do?

Believe him. This man was never a fool. Now he backs himself up with a great oath..

You realise what you're asking?

I do.

Then say it to me outright.

Groundless rumours shouldn't be used by you to scorn a friend who swears his innocence.

You ask for my exile, or my death.

No! We ask neither! By the god outshining all the others - the sun - may I die the worst possible death, die godless and friendless, if I want those things. This dying land grinds pain into my soul - grinds it more if the bitterness you stir up adds to our misery.

But these men see that I'm right.

Lady, why the delay? Take him inside.

I will, when you tell me what happened.

They had words. One drew a false conclusion, the other took offence.

Both sides were at fault?

Both sides.

What did they say?

Don't ask that. Our land needs no more trouble. No more trouble! Let it go.

You do realise where it will lead?

King, I have said this more than once. I would be mad, I would lose my good sense, if I lost faith in you - you who put our dear country back on course when you found her wandering, crazed with suffering. Steer us straight once again, with all of your inspired luck.

Tell me if you know where he is now.

There's the house where he lives, stranger. He's inside. This woman is his wife and mother…of his children.

Speak up now.

I believe he means that same herdsman you've already sent for. Your wife would be the best one to ask.

None other, forever!

Why has she left like that, Oedipus, driven off by savage grief? I'm afraid something horrendous will break the silence.

Some of you will know him by sight.

I do know him. He is from Laios' house, a trustworthy shepherd if he ever had one.

The griefs that punish us the most are those we've chosen for ourselves.

We already know more than enough to make us grieve. Do you have any more to tell?

Our royal lady Jokasta is dead.

That pitiable woman. How did she die?

Whatever misery we have a name for is here.

Has his grief eased it all?

You will witness a vision of such suffering even those it revolts will pity.

Your pain is terrible to see, pure, helpless anguish, more moving than anything m eyes have ever touched. O man of pain where did your madness come from? I cannot look at you, though there's so much to ask you, so much to learn, so much that holds my eyes - so strong are the shivers of awe that you send through me.

O god, how far have you thrown me?

To a hard place. Hard to watch, hard to bear.

One deep wound.

It is no wonder you feel nothing but pain now, both in your mind and in your flesh.

Even in my darkness I know your voice.

You terrify us. How could you put out your own eyes? What god drove you to do it?

Nothing in this world could I see now with a glad heart.

That is so.

The most god-hated man who ever lived.

You're broken by what happened, broken by what's happening in your own mind. I wish I had never even known you.

I would have caused no great grief to my people and myself.

I wish he had let you die.

It is my evil, the life god gave to Oedipus.

I wish I could say you acted wisely. You would have been better off dead than blind.

No other man, only myself, can be afflicted with my sorrows.

Here's Kreon. He's come when you need him, to take action or to give you advice. He is the only ruler we have left to guard Thebes in your place.

You won the power once, but you couldn't keep it to the end of your life.

Thebans, that man is the same Oedipus whose great mind solved the famous riddle. He was a most powerful man. Which of us, seeing he glory, his prestige, did not wish his luck could be ours? Now look at what wreckage the seas of savage trouble have made of his life. To know the truth of a man, wait till you see his life end. On that day, look at him. Don't claim any man is god's friend until he has passed through life and crossed the border into death - never having been god's victim.