{"id":447,"date":"2022-04-21T21:41:40","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T21:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/?p=447"},"modified":"2022-04-21T21:41:40","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T21:41:40","slug":"symbolism-in-oedipus-the-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/?p=447","title":{"rendered":"Symbolism in Oedipus the King"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With an applause, the satisfied viewers steadily rose to their feet and turned toward the great stone doorways at the Theater of Dionysus. The rumble of voices grew louder as the crowd\u2019s thoughts shifted from their inward pensiveness toward outward discussion. “Oh the wretched manner in which he suffered!”<\/em> One Athenian would say. “The fates brought it upon him. There was no escape.”<\/em> Another would reply. “Can one run from a solemn end established by the stars? Can one deny a single prophetic word? Can one shun the authority of heaven?”<\/em> They would ponder together. “Surely there could not be predetermined malice toward men. What would tempt the gods to make play of such a fragile existence? Yet, look! The life of Oedipus!”<\/em> The conversation would endure as every spectator exited the grand Athenian theater, each with a revived opinion of their culture, beliefs, and heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophocles was a man of great significance in the Athenian world during the fifth century BC. He was born into a wealthy family and was brought up in classical Greek studies such as music, literature, philosophy, science, and drama. As time passed, he developed into one of the most well-known scholars of his time (Bloom). The influential position that he held gave way to an audience eager to hear his words and revere his teaching. It is evident, through the content of his works, that Sophocles\u2019 desire was to impart cultural understanding and rouse deep reflection in the mind of his audience. Many of his works are based on the common themes of the era regarding fate, supernatural influence on earth, religion, and heroism\u2014topics which were lauded in the Grecian communities, yet not entirely understood by them. Sophocles sought for ways to address this issue, to grasp the attention of his audience and draw them toward deeper understanding.\u00a0 To accomplish this, he often combined truth and fiction into his writing and used symbolism to connect the two. The strategic placement of symbolic features in his text was enticing to his audience and offered them a thoroughfare to pursuing deeper knowledge of their Greek heritage and culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the time of writing Oedipus the King<\/em>, Athens had just passed through a great plague. To draw the attention of the audience, Sophocles commences his story with a similar disaster striking the fictional city of Thebes. \u201cOur city\u2014look around you, see with your own eyes\u2014Thebes is dying.\u201d (Fagles). This act of integrating truth with fiction reflects Sophocles\u2019 desire to provide understanding and inspire deeper contemplation of his audience\u2019s lives. This provokes questions such as, from where does disaster originate?<\/em> And, are the gods in control of everything?<\/em> While the audience is aware of the story of Oedipus, they do not know the manner in which he will respond to the revelation of truth. Sophocles uncovers truth to the audience by feeding them symbolic gestures throughout the text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start of the play, Oedipus\u2014a man lifted to power through a cunning mind and a swift hand\u2014speaks to his desperate people, saying in lines 1-9 of the text, \u201cOh my dear children [\u2026] why are you here? Huddling at my altar, praying before me [\u2026] Here I am myself\u2014you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus.\u201d (Fagles). He brims with pride, completely sure of his position and his authority. He even elevates himself to a divine authority by offering to grant his subjects\u2019 prayers in line 245, \u201cYou pray to the gods? Come, let me grant your prayers.\u201d (Fagles). Oedipus has a skewed vision of who he is. He sees himself as \u201cApollo\u2019s champion\u201d as he states in line 155 of the text (Fagles). Sophocles\u2019 intent in this depiction is to symbolize the uninformed state of every human being. While Oedipus imagined himself to be honored by the gods, chosen, and greatly revered, he was, in fact, the opposite. He was destined for grief, and he lived in oblivion to that truth. This demonstrates to the audience that humans often speak of that which they do not know. He implies (and to a certain degree, he warns) that nothing can be sure\u2014except the oracles of their gods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divinity and supernatural influence of the gods in human affairs was a paramount idea in the Grecian culture at the time. They believed in the concept of fate, and that everything in life was predetermined. Unbelief in prophetic words and oracles was considered irreverent toward the religion and was very offensive to devoted Greeks (Bloom). Sophocles touches on this theme through the blind prophet, Tiresias, who unveiled truth to an unbelieving Oedipus. He exclaimed in line 401, \u201cYou are the curse, the corruption of the land!\u201d (Fagles). In response to this accusation, Oedipus began to mock the man\u2019s blindness\u2014a symbolic foreshadowing of his spiritual blindness throughout the story, and his physical blindness yet to come. The manner in which this angle of the play unfolds conveys the message that no one can deny the word of the gods; and the denial of such words is wicked and will ultimately be punished. These concepts, in Sophocles\u2019 mind, offered the audience a depiction of true doctrine and knowledge worth pursuing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another value in the Ancient Grecian society was heroism. Heroism, to the Greeks, was a human disposition to accomplish something great, receive glory, boast in it, and ultimately incur one\u2019s own downfall. \u201cA self-destruction in the search for glory is at the very core of the Greeks\u2019 understanding of the heroic temperament\u201d (Mueller).\u00a0 While Greek heroes did embody honorable characteristics like bravery, sacrifice, and valor, the majority of heroic Greek tales end in the downfall of great figures. Sophocles leverages this ideology in the telling of Oedipus\u2019 story. Oedipus entered Thebes in success and was lauded by all the people as portrayed in lines 1678 through 1689: \u201cPeople of Thebes, my countrymen, look on Oedipus. He solved the famous riddle with his brilliance, he rose to power [\u2026] who could behold his greatness without envy?\u201d (Fagles). A hero in every respect. As the story unraveled, and mystery was unveiled, Oedipus recognized that he was actually the \u201ccurse of the land\u201d (Fagles). His eyes were opened to see just how wretched he was\u2014punished by the gods, destined for sorrow and pain. The interesting point of Sophocles depiction of Oedipus\u2019 downfall is his response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oedipus does not shrink back from uncovering truth, even when every voice of counsel advises him to let go of his pursuit. His wife in line 1168 cries, \u201clisten to me, I beg you, don\u2019t do this.\u201d (Fagles). He, however, is determined even through the suspicion of it causing difficulty and pain in his life. \u201cI must know it all, I must see the truth at last.\u201d (Fagles). He replies to his wife in line 1169. Not only does he seek it out, but he takes responsibility for it after it was revealed. This act is a symbolic depiction of true heroism, which only surfaced after the introduction of loss and pain. The scene is a perfect juxtaposition to the former manner in which Oedipus viewed himself\u2014flawless and powerful\u2014and it offers again deep thought to the audience. It introduces the idea of honor in the midst of disgrace. While Odipus\u2019 life as he knew it was over, and all he had was stripped from him, he held himself accountable and accepted the consequences of his fate. \u201cIt\u2019s mine alone, my destiny\u2014I am Oedipus.\u201d (Fagles).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophocles was a thinker\u2014a man with great opinions and the means through which to share them. In his play, Oedipus the King<\/em>, he sought to captivate his audience through integrating truth and fiction into the story. While the audience was able to relate to the incorporated truth they were also introduced to foundational and profound perspectives of the Greek heritage and culture. Through intricate symbolism, Sophocles grasped the attention of his audience, and implanted underlying themes and ideas that were foundational to Grecian tradition. He encouraged loyalty to oracles and religion, recognition of the divine influence in life, acceptance of fate, and recognition of heroism. Through the symbolic work of Sophocles, Athenians were provided with highly educated Grecian topics which provoked a dedicated culture of thought and profundity. The evident desire to share the depths of Athenian culture and heritage was made manifest in the completed and revived work of this great dramatist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

October 24, 2017<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fagles, Robert. Sophocles: The Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at<\/em> Colonus. <\/em>Penguin Group, New York. 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mueller, Carl R. Sophocles in an Hour. <\/em>In An Hour Books, Hanover. 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloom, Harold. Comprehensive Research and Study Guide: Bloom\u2019s Major Dramatists:<\/em> Sophocles. <\/em>Chelsea House Publishers, Broomall. 2003.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With an applause, the satisfied viewers steadily rose to their feet and turned toward the great stone doorways at the Theater of Dionysus. The rumble of voices grew louder as the crowd\u2019s thoughts shifted from their inward pensiveness toward outward discussion. “Oh the wretched manner in which he suffered!” One Athenian would say. “The fates…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[350,388,387,397,389,392,349,398,399,35,396,395,385,386,394,393,170,400,390,391],"class_list":["post-447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critical-analyses","tag-ancient-greece","tag-athenian","tag-athens","tag-blindness","tag-drama","tag-fate","tag-greek","tag-greek-heritage","tag-greek-history","tag-greek-plays","tag-hero","tag-heroism","tag-oedipus","tag-oedipus-the-king","tag-omens","tag-oracles","tag-religion","tag-sophocles","tag-symbolism","tag-theater-of-dionysus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=447"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":512,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}