Oedipus Complex

Everyone knows the story of Oedipus. An orphan prince kills his birth father and marries his birth mother. Only, he does not know it until it is too late. His mother/wife hangs herself and Oedipus blinds himself and loses the throne. That is how the story goes. Everyone knows it too well. But how is the story when it is in script form? There is only one way to find out. One has to break down the script piece by piece and examine it closely. It is tough, but it can be done with the right effort.

The drama takes place in ancient Greece. It is around the summer and most of it takes place in the daytime. The play is in the kingdom of Thebes. Oedipus is king so the action takes place in a palace of some sort. The attitude goes from joyful and grand into an adventurous hunt for the old king’s murderer and tragic to the very end. Oedipus is king and married to the lovely Jocasta. He is well-respected because he saved a city from an evil sphinx by answering a riddle. The city was in trouble until Oedipus cam along and saved the day. The whole script spells it out from the very beginning.

The action heats up when the people search for the old king’s murderer. Creon and the people want to know what happened to their old leader. The end results are not pretty. It turns out Oedipus killed his father and married his mother according to prophecy. As a result, Jocasta hangs herself and her son/husband blinds himself out of sorrow. He not only loses all of his power and the throne, Creon takes over and sends Oedipus off with his two small daughters. It is all a tragic mess indeed.

As I have stated before, the main conflict is Oedipus fulfilling the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother. This is where the Oedipus complex came from. There are no real subplots in the whole drama. The characters are all typified. Oedipus is the tragic charming hero. Jocasta is the beautiful tragic queen. Teiresias is the wise old prophet. The characters are typical productions of a Greek play of the time. They are all willing to do anything to get what they want. Oedipus unwittingly killed his father to marry his mother. He kept the kingdom together while he was in power. He was just willing to go that extra mile for his people. Everyone else is not really explained in their motives and goals.

The tone of the play is a serious and ironic one. It is a tragedy. Oedipus again kills his father and marries his mother. The play is ironic because his parents tried to get rid of him when he was a baby after they were told the prophecy. But after Oedipus is grown up and hears the prophecy for himself, he runs away from his adopted parents and acts on the prophecy unwittingly. Both tones are consistent throughout the whole play. The tone makes itself known just by the action of the characters and the whole story.

Once again, the prophecy comes into play in this drama. Knowing what it says sets the stage for something to go awry. There is this instinct of something is off throughout this whole play. The whole drama is as clear as here. The language only follows the language of the time. The tempo and rhythm are normal. The style of the whole play just sets up the key elements to help a play look really good. The words give strong clues about what time period it is. It is all in the language. The play is written for an open theatrical space. It was meant to be outdoors. Most of the play times place outside. Something about Oedipus Rex should be out in the open and free.

Overall, Oedipus is an amazing play. I have always loved Greek mythology. This is no acceptation to the rule. The Oedipus trilogy is a powerful and unforgettable one.