Sophocles' Oedipus the King: Comprehensive Study Guide on the Parodos and Royal Edict

Interactions and Opening Statements

• Tiresias's Arrival:
  • Tiresias states that he would never have come to the palace if Oedipus had not called him there.
• Oedipus's Dismissal:
  • Oedipus commands that Tiresias be taken away, calling him a nuisance and an irritation whose removal brings relief.

The Choral Parodos: Devastation of Thebes and Prayers for Salvation

• Entry of the Chorus:
  • The Chorus consists of the citizens of Thebes who enter without having heard the news brought by Creon.
  • They march around the altar, chanting their lamentations and prayers.
• The Atmospheric and Human Devastation of the Plague:
  • The Chorus suffers miseries beyond counting, continuous grief without end, and pervasive death across the city.
  • There is no intellectual or strategic recourse ("no sword of thought") available to deliver the populace.
  • Agricultural paralysis: the fruits of the famous Theban soil will not ripen.
  • Reproductive disaster: women cannot complete childbirth, screaming in pangs as children die within the womb.
  • Relentless decay of life: lives are lost rapidly, described as winging west like seabirds outracing the day's fire, moving irresistibly toward the shores of Evening Death.
  • Mass casualties: numberless deaths leave generations lying unburied and unwept on the ground, spreading further mortality without pity.
• Scenes of Public Mourning:
  • Young wives and gray-haired mothers stream in from all parts of the city to cling to the altars.
  • The city becomes one continuous funeral cortege filled with rising cries for mercy.
  • Wild hymns dedicated to the Healer blaze out, clashing directly with sobs and cries of mourning.

Divine Invocations and Calls for Deliverance

• Inquiry to Apollo and Zeus:
  • The Chorus addresses the welcome voice of Zeus coming from the gold vaults of Delphi to Thebes.
  • Racked with terror, they cry out to Apollo, the Healer of Delos, inquiring what price he demands, whether it be a new sacrifice or an ancient rite returning each spring.
• Invocation of the Triple Shield:
  • Athena: Called upon first as the deathless daughter of Zeus and a golden child of Hope.
  • Artemis: Athena's sister, enthroned in glory at the heart of the marketplace and serving as the guardian of the earth.
  • Apollo: The Archer astride the thunderheads of heaven.
  • The Chorus implores this divine trio to act as a triple shield against death and shine before them, recalling how in past times they stopped ruin launched against Thebes' walls and hurled away the flame of pain.
• Appeal to Banish the God of Death (Ares/Plague):
  • The fever and plague are identified as a raging god of death/war, operating without bronze armor or shields yet burning with battle cries.
  • The Chorus demands that this god be rout and blasted out of Theban borders:
    • Driven to the Sea-queen's chamber in the black Atlantic gulfs, or
    • Driven to the northern harbor where the Thracian surf crashes.
  • What the night spares, this deity comes by day to destroy.
• Specific Divine Appeals:
  • Zeus: Addressed as the lord of the stormcloud who twirls the lightning; asked to thunder the god of death to nothingness.
  • Apollo: Addressed as the lord of the light; implored to whip his longbow's golden cord and shower arrows of power to rout the enemy.
  • Artemis: Invoked as the Huntress with flaring torches over eastern ridges, called to ride Death down in pain.
  • Dionysus: Invoked as the god of the gleaming gold headdress, sharing his name with Thebes ("your name and ours are one"); asked to come with his face aflame with wine, accompanied by raving women's cries, an army on the march, lightning, and blazing torches to burn the god of death hated by all other gods.

Oedipus's Proclamation to Thebes

• Address to the Citizenry:
  • Oedipus emerges from the palace and promises that if the citizens listen to him and do what the plague demands, their prayers will be answered and relief will be granted.
  • He frames his position as a stranger to the story and a stranger to the crime, stating that had he been present during the murder, there would have been no long, mystery-filled search without clues.
• Edict Concerning the Murderer of Laius:
  • Addressing all native Thebans as their king, Oedipus orders anyone who knows who killed Laius (son of Labdacus) to reveal the complete truth.
  • Terms for the Guilty/Informant:
    • If the culprit denounces himself, he has nothing to fear regarding severe torture or execution.
    • He will suffer no unbearable punishment, receiving only exile from the land, remaining totally unharmed.
  • Terms for Information on a Foreign Perpetrator:
    • If anyone knows the murderer is a stranger from alien soil, they are commanded to speak up.
    • Oedipus promises a handsome financial reward and lasting personal gratitude.
• The Citizens' Reaction:
  • Silence follows the proclamation, with no one stepping forward to reply.

Oedipus's Edict of Excommunication

• Consequences of Silence or Protection:
  • If anyone panics and rejects the king's offer to shield themselves, a friend, or a relative, strict sanctions take immediate effect.
• Mandatory Actions for All Citizens:
  • Every citizen in the realm where Oedipus holds throne and power is ordered to:
    1. Banish the criminal completely.
    2. Never shelter him in any home.
    3. Never speak a word to him.
    4. Never allow him to participate in prayers or burnt offerings/sacrifices to the gods.
    5. Never let holy water touch his hands.
    6. Drive him out from every home across the state.
• Religious Justification:
  • Oedipus declares the culprit to be the very plague and heart of corruption in Thebes, as explicitly revealed by Apollo's oracle.
  • He commands obedience for his own sake, for Apollo's sake, and for the country blasted root and branch by heaven's anger.

Oedipus's Royal Vow and Dynastic Connections

• Rebuking Past Inaction:
  • Oedipus criticizes the city for leaving the murder uncleansed for so long, arguing that even without divine promptings, they were obligated to investigate the regicide of a noble king brought down in blood.
• Assertion of Sovereignty and Lineage Ties:
  • Oedipus asserts his authority as current king, holding the throne Laius once held, sharing Laius's bed, and marrying Laius's former wife (Jocasta).
  • He notes that their seed might have been identical and that children born of the same mother could have created shared blood-bonds between them had Laius's hope of offspring not met disaster when fate cut him short.
• Pledge of Investigation:
  • Oedipus vows to fight for Laius as if Laius were his own father.
  • He promises to stop at nothing and search the entire world to lay hands on the murderer.
• Geneology of King Laius:
  • Laius is identified as the son of Labdacus.
  • Labdacus was descended from Polydorus.
  • Polydorus was the son of Cadmus of old.
  • Cadmus was the son of Agenor, the original founder of the royal line.
  • Oedipus states that Agenor's royal power and his own power are now unified as one.

Decreed Curses and Blessings

• Curse upon the Murderer:
  • Whether the culprit is a lone man acting in secret or one among many accomplices, Oedipus curses him to drag out his life in agony, step by painful step.
• Conditional Self-Curse:
  • Oedipus explicitly curses himself: if the murderer proves to be an intimate of his own household, residing at his hearth with his full knowledge, Oedipus calls for the exact same curse to strike his own head.
• Curse upon Disobedient Citizens:
  • For any citizens who disobey these royal commands, Oedipus prays that:
    • The earth yields no crops for them.
    • Their women are shriveled and their sons killed.
    • They are burned to nothing by the active plague or a calamity even worse.
• Blessing upon Loyal Citizens:
  • For all loyal men of Thebes who approve of Oedipus's measures, he prays that Justice as their champion and all the gods remain with them and fight beside them to the end.