"A man's anger can never age and fade away, not until he dies. The dead alone feel no pain."
— Creon, Oedipus at Colonus
— Creon, Oedipus at Colonus
Paperback || 105 pages
In this sequel play by Sophocles, Oedipus, once a beloved king of Thebes, is now a self-blinded old man full of regret. He has suffering years alone in self-imposed exile. Now though, his endless torment has led him to a small city outside Athens, called Colonus, where he may be cleansed of his double-blood crime.
There is a sacred grove near Colonus with an altar to the gods for rituals to be performed. If he would be permitted to complete them by King Theseus of Athens, an enemy of his former kingdom, then perhaps Oedipus would achieve divine forgiveness for accidentally killing his father and marrying his mother.
Will Theseus and the Athenians help him, and if so why? Or will King Creon, the new ruler of Thebes and Oedipus' uncle and brother, stop him first? And where do the alliances of Oedipus daughters/sisters and son/brother lie? Will Ismene, Antigone, and Polynices help or hurt him?
This conclusion to Oedipus' tragic transgressions is a tense tug-of-war between brothers and sisters and Athenians and Thebans, with the old man's broken soul in the balance. I loved the Greek Chorus' monologues, which gave voice to the unimaginable, heavy regrets of Oedipus: "Not to be born is best, when all is reckoned in...what griefs won't stalk [my] days? Envy and enemies, rage and battles, bloodshed and last of all despised old age..."
This second play was a part of Sophocles' famous Three Theban Plays. The last one is titled Antigone, after Oedipus' daughter, who is an enduring hero in her own right. I loved this one in high school and am grateful to have now read the two plays about the family from which she came. All three are powerful tragedies, but most tragic to me is that their author wrote over 100 plays in his life, yet only seven still remain.
Read Sophocles. Read plays (here are eight of my favorites). They're brief, powerful, and some of the best stories I've ever read. [JG]
There is a sacred grove near Colonus with an altar to the gods for rituals to be performed. If he would be permitted to complete them by King Theseus of Athens, an enemy of his former kingdom, then perhaps Oedipus would achieve divine forgiveness for accidentally killing his father and marrying his mother.
Will Theseus and the Athenians help him, and if so why? Or will King Creon, the new ruler of Thebes and Oedipus' uncle and brother, stop him first? And where do the alliances of Oedipus daughters/sisters and son/brother lie? Will Ismene, Antigone, and Polynices help or hurt him?
This conclusion to Oedipus' tragic transgressions is a tense tug-of-war between brothers and sisters and Athenians and Thebans, with the old man's broken soul in the balance. I loved the Greek Chorus' monologues, which gave voice to the unimaginable, heavy regrets of Oedipus: "Not to be born is best, when all is reckoned in...what griefs won't stalk [my] days? Envy and enemies, rage and battles, bloodshed and last of all despised old age..."
This second play was a part of Sophocles' famous Three Theban Plays. The last one is titled Antigone, after Oedipus' daughter, who is an enduring hero in her own right. I loved this one in high school and am grateful to have now read the two plays about the family from which she came. All three are powerful tragedies, but most tragic to me is that their author wrote over 100 plays in his life, yet only seven still remain.
Read Sophocles. Read plays (here are eight of my favorites). They're brief, powerful, and some of the best stories I've ever read. [JG]
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