Speachless

I feel reluctant to write this blog, not because I did not enjoy Oedipus, but because it is hard to analyze a story which has no apparent “happy ending”. It seems as though fate chose Oedipus to do such horrible things, and for some reason he rightfully deserves such a life. His father maintained hubris, so perhaps he was rightfully killed, but the fact that Oedipus should suffer more by being exiled blows my mind.

By today’s standards, Oedipus would have been punished for killing anyone, not just a king, but this is ancient Greece we are referring to, where this is of no consequence. The fact that it was self-defense gives even more leniency from me, but he killed one of kin, and more so, the king, and this did not go over very well. I pity Oedipus even though he did such twisted things. I feel as though he were set up since the beginning of his life to be doomed and it is not a comforting thing to think that life should really go this way. No one likes their life planned out for them, and it never ends up well. It must also be especially difficult to have to play to such humanistic and short-tempered Gods that plan someone’s life out for them. The monarchy, another power figure, is flawed; no one can trust a human to be flawless, and this story explains that the royal Laos family has a curse, which emphasizes the humanistic qualities of a ruler that rules under the gods, which leads us back to hubris. It does not seem fair, although it seems weird that such ideas as “fate” and “karma” are expressed hundreds of years later in novels, future religions, and daily life. This idea of existentialism is expressed here, in Ivan Ilyich, and in Metamorphosis , and the realization that life is out of our control. Each story displays extreme examples to get the point across to their readers of what happens when power is not in our control, and as a result inflicts on us whether we are prepared for such things. Would any of us really roll over and allow someone to turn us into a bug, or allow fate to lead to our ruin, or even allow death to succumb us all? If we had our choices, I am sure no one would want to welcome any of those things to take us over, but maturity is realizing that we are limited in our power just as Oedipus and his father, Gregor, and Ivan were.

We all have free-will, and where our free-will is limited, none of us are ready to be controlled. Sure, when it comes to being governed, or managed in our jobs and societies we accept, but when it comes to our personal self, not just our commands or actions, we know there is no way to have the opportunity to object. Sometimes we all forget that we have the opportunity to object commands; however, when such things as fate or karma intercept, there are higher beings at play, and it seems to be unavoidable. It is not a comforting feeling to be out of control, and this is simply the feeling I get as I read each of these three stories. I believe it reminds us all of something that we do not have control over. This can be a psychological propaganda, or a political piece of literature. I believe that Sophocles might have accentuated this story of Oedipus in order to draw the reader into feeling helpless, or perhaps sorry for someone who had done wrong. It seems weird to me that I should feel pity for someone who slept with his mother, and killed his own father, but I feel it was not fair that life has had this planned out for him, and this may be a reflection on myself and how I would react.

All religions state that when you do something bad, that bad things happen to you; everyone gets their means in the end. This mantra has been pushed down our throats for eons. It is against our teachings as humane and civil beings to accept the feeling of pity for bad things or people, but there is perhaps more to look at each situation.

This story is simply interesting. It hurts my mind to explore further into the plot. I feel it is laid out for us what happens, and it is a great drama. This might have been intriguing for many audiences, and drama’s are meant to be overdone. This story might have been some sort of a happy ending, as Oedipus is exiled, or the bad man goes away, and what makes it a drama is its feeling of grief at the end. This might be ironic to have a happy ending where the "bad guy" is defeted, but we are still not content. Not only are we grieving for Oedipus’s father and mother, but also himself and his children. Hubris from being a king, or solving the riddle of the sphinx may have led to both Oedipus and his father’s downfall, but as humans, we see more sympathy, and I am not sure if that is a difference between now and then, but a lack of free-will may also make this a drama. If only we could all jump into the story, we could altar the ending of the story, but in life there is no altering fate, or is there? No one will EVER know. This question will continue to scare, and plague many, since it will never be answered, but let us continue to read on for more pessimistic or optimistic views on the meaning, rules, and outcome of life itself. All anyone ever does is put spins on it, and this one truly made me surprised at my reaction to such a disastrous act. (832)