Oedipus at Colonus: Dead Man Walking, Part II

Strangers come to town

As I wrote in my previous post, Sophocles wrote another, less famous play about the Theban king who killed his father and married his mother. Oedipus at Colonus is the story of the doomed hero’s last day on earth. His death was no ordinary one; Apollo foretold it, and Zeus sent his signs of thunder and lightning to confirm that the time had come. The legendary king of Athens, Theseus, accompanied Oedipus to his miraculous and mysterious end. Oedipus’ dead body, as promised by the gods, becomes a blessing for Athens. The play tells the story of how all this came to be.

It’s not what we expect to happen. How could the dreadful Oedipus end up as a protective spirit in Athens?

We know his story from Oedipus the King. That play ends as Oedipus, having blinded himself, begs to be exiled from Thebes forever. Creon, his brother-in-law and now de facto ruler, says that the gods will decide. He is led into the palace. The end. (Read my three posts about this play, starting here:) https://elizabethbobrick.substack.com/p/running-away-from-yourself-oedipus

About twenty years after Oedipus the King – the date is not exact -- Sophocles wrote Oedipus at Colonus. It’s generally agreed that it’s the work of his great old age, when Athens was staggering to its final defeat in the Peloponnesian War. It was produced in 401 BCE, a few years after the playwright’s death at age 90.

As the play begins, we learn that Oedipus was sent into exile with only his daughter Antigone to help him. Here we meet a changed Oedipus: an aged, wandering beggar, now furiously angry that Creon sent him away.

Both Oedipus and Antigone are in rags. After years of wandering, they have come to the countryside of Athens, just outside the city walls. Exhausted, he sits down on a rock. With this simple act, Oedipus, once again, has committed a terrible transgression

An unnamed townsman appears, shouting that Oedipus must leave, immediately. They are on sacred ground. To walk on it is taboo. Where have he and Antigone come to? The grove of the Eumenides, whose name means ‘The Kindly Ones.’ Once they were the Furies, terrifying goddesses of vengeance. They were long ago tamed by Athena and given a place of honor as protectors of Athens, but they are still to be treated with fear and reverence.

When Oedipus finds out where he is, he rejoices. This is the moment, as he says, “where everything falls into place.” He has met his destiny, and he refuses to move. He asks the man to send a message to King Theseus. The townsman agrees, but as he leaves says that he will summon a group of elders from Colonus. They will decide whether or not Oedipus can stay where he is.

Before the chorus arrives, Oedipus prays to the goddesses of the shrine, revealing a prophecy that he’d kept secret, even from Antigone. Apollo told him that he would meet his end when he came to the grove of The Kindly Ones. Oedipus does not name the goddesses, instead acknowledging their terrifying aspect and their power.

Powerful goddesses, terrible to look upon,

I’ve bent my knee at your shrine,

The first place I’ve come to in this land.

Do not treat Apollo and me as your enemies.

The god told me, when he predicted all that evil I would suffer,

That after many years, I would come to the land

Of my final resting place: the shrine of the dread goddesses,

And I would take shelter there, and round the final bend

Of the course of my long-suffering life. He told me

My presence would benefit those who take me in,

And bring ruin to those who sent me here, who had driven me away.

And he promised that signs would come to me,

An earthquake or the thunder and lightning of Zeus.

I knew that a trustworthy omen was sent by you

Leading me to this sacred ground; in no other way

Would I have first found you in my wandering,

Coming sober to you who drink no wine,

Nor would I have taken a seat on this sacred rock

That stands unaltered by human hands.

Goddesses, in accordance with Apollo’s words,

Give me a way out of my life

Unless I seem too unworthy, a mere slave

To the worst sufferings of anyone that ever was.

Come, sweet daughters of ancient darkness!

Come, Athens, the city of mightiest Athena,

The city most honored of them all!

Take pity on this shadow of the man Oedipus.

For this is not the body that was mine, long ago.

As he finishes the prayer, he hears the sound of the chorus arriving, and tells Antigone to hide him and herself.

Imagine now that the stage, empty except for these two crouching figures, is suddenly filled with fifteen actors, singing and moving in formation, searching for the man who violates sacred ground. They roust the pair from their hiding place, anxious to prevent even greater sacrilege from the intruder. Keeping to the boundaries of the shrine, they command the intruder to show himself, but not to speak. Speech is forbidden inside the boundaries.

Antigone persuades Oedipus to let her lead him closer to where the chorus stands, where speech is permitted. But before he will move, he extracts an oath that they will not turn him away. The chorus agrees.

As was customary when meeting a stranger, they asks him his lineage and the name of his father. He tries to avoid answering, dragging out his replies, but finally says, “Do you know of a son of Laius?” Then, “The royal family of Thebes?” And finally, his own name. With each answer, the chorus literally wails in horror and fear, calling upon Zeus. Finally they shout, “Get away! Leave this land!”

Oedipus is not afraid. He reminds them that they have taken an oath not to throw him out. Besides, he has taken sanctuary on sacred ground. Zeus punishes oath-breakers; and none of the gods, especially The Kindly Ones, appreciate a suppliant being torn from their protection.

Antigone intercedes. If you can’t pity him, she says, pity me. Imagine one of your own children begging. The gods set our paths as they will. But the chorus is still afraid.

Now the the helpless vagabond becomes more like the Oedipus we knew when he ruled Thebes. He’s angry. He scolds them for being afraid of him. I did what the gods made me do – a theme he will return to. And he’s clever. If you’re so pious that you can’t be in my presence, he asks them, then why are you breaking your oath by trying to drive me away? He ends by telling them that their ruler will be happy to see him when he comes.

This Oedipus has not been humbled in any way. As the play progresses, he gains strength. The hero is transformed, moving steadily from his state as an impoverished victim and transgressor to becoming a giver of blessings and a protector of the city that takes him in.

Like the townsman who first spotted Oedipus and Antigone, the chorus decides to defer to a greater authority. They name then only as “our lords.” Oedipus isn’t interested in whoever they may be; he wants to see the ruler of Athens, even though he doesn’t know his name. The chorus agrees to send for him. “But will he come and see an old blind man?” Oedipus asks. The chorus answers, “When he gets wind of your name, he’ll come.”

Suddenly Antigone cries out.  “O Zeus! What shall I say, what should I think, father!”

Someone is coming. A woman on horseback. Another stranger come to town.

TO BE CONTINUED