Recognizing the Underlying Message in Oedipus
The story of Oedipus is a drama that delves into the experience of self-discovery. Here Sophocles creates a compact story line where all of the dramatic action is contained in one single day where Oedipus discovers the true events surrounding his birth and his ultimate destiny.
The message is slowly revealed in much the same way as a detective novel would gradually introduce all of the facts. And the fact that the audience already knows the truth can do nothing to diminish the suspense as he goes about his own journey of discovery.
The Plot
The plot of the story carefully integrates Oedipus’ character as he moves the action forward through his own personal concern for Thebes. Still, his own ignorance of the past, his personal defaults – his quick temper and his tendency to be impulsive – can almost be considered as characters in and of themselves. Without those flaws, his quest to get answers would never happen. (1)
Here Sophocles shows us that fate is not something external that happens to people but instead is a part of them. While it carefully reveals the will of the gods in relation to Oedipus, it is truly the individual who gives the story its power. We learn that even though the gods may have chosen a certain path for each of us, there is a kind of freedom of choice that can overpower what the gods have chosen for each of us in our lives. Humans can choose to surrender to fate, plead their case for a better option, or they can accept responsibility for their own actions.
A pivotal point in the play comes when Oedipus, completely unaware of the fact that he has caused his own father’s death and gone on to marry his mother learns that he is the very cause of the plague that has infected Thebes. When he vows to hunt down the murderer of Laius and send him into exile he is completely unaware that he has literally pronounced judgment on himself. He believes in his own innocence and is therefore incensed at being accused of such a heinous crime.
The audience then gets to see his own irrational behavior as he fails to do his own investigation of the events. Instead, he jumps to conclusions and believe that Teiresias and Creon are co-conspirators against him. While every act in the story seems rational, over the course of the play we begin to see just how irrational he truly is. His murdering Laius, how he eventually investigates the murder, his violent attempt to blind himself, and the decision to be sent into exile show that he is a man with both pride and passion. His motive, while he may not recognize it immediately is his strong desire to serve and protect Thebes.
The Irony
The irony of the whole story is that the very people who want the best for him are the ones that are able to gradually reveal the truth to him. Every character that comes from a place of comfort ends up leaving him with information that will damn him even further. The character Jocosta for example, points out the Oracle actually states that his own son would kill him also consoles him at the same time by encouraging him to disregard the prophecies as many of them have gone unfulfilled in the past. This triggers in him a memory of drunkard he had met that accused him of being a coward. From these utterances, Oedipus begins to put all the evidence together so that he could eventually uncover the truth.
In fact, Oedipus is an excellent ruler and posses the very qualities needed to meet the needs of his people. On the other hand, he also can be seen as an irrational person that reacts on impulse without the benefit of getting all of the facts. The result can be a tragedy of epic proportions. The final message, ‘count no man happy till he dies,’ literally leaves the viewer with a sense that even with fate, there is no way to determine with certainty the outcome of any event until it has reached its conclusion. (2)
Resources:
http://www.enotes.com/topics/oedipus-rex/critical-essays
http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/oedipus/canalysis.html