Oedipus

5/25/07

After hearing the story of Oedipus I wanted to look more into it. I was very intrigued by what I heard, and I find it hard to believe that someone could hear the plot of this story and not be the least bit curious as to how exactly this happens.

In the story I was taken back by all the myths that people used to live by. I thought about how someone would react if they were told such a story of their unborn child today. I think that such magic and beliefs are what make this story so interesting in the first place. I was taken back by a poem I read in the book about Oedipus by Edwin Muir, pg. 1107.

I, Oedipus, the club-foot, made to stumble,
Who long in the light have walked the world in darkness,
And once in the darkness did that which the light
Found and disowned-too well I have loved the light,
Too dearly have rued the darkness. I am one
Who is in innocent play sought out his guilt,
And now through guilt seeks other innocence,
Beset by evil thoughts, let by the gods.

There was a room, a bed of darkness, once
Known to me, now to all. Yet in that darkness,
Before the light struck, she and I who lay
There without thought of sin and knew each other
Too well, yet were to each other quite unknown
Through fastened mouth to mouth and breast to breast-
Strangers laid on one bed, as children blend,
Clear-eyed and blind as children-did we sin
Then on that bed before the light came on us,
Desiring good to each other, bringing, we thought,
Great good to each other? But neither guilt nor death.

The poem continues, but this first part is what really stuck out to me. From the very beginning we see Oedipus as this interesting, and in some ways, disgusting, character. He is thrown into guilt before he is even born, and upon his birth, he is automatically judged. He did not ask for the life that he lived, he was dragged into it by those who should have loved him the most. Yes, he did do something so bad, but the fact that he was totally oblivious to it makes the story all that more interesting. This poem shown the sad life that he lived, never knowing where he belonged. I find it interesting that when he finally feels as if he belongs to the new kingdom, he has just done something so bad, by killing his father and marrying his mother.

In the first line he is defined as a club-foot man, instead of just simply a man. He is hated by those who know is story, and he even begins to view himself as the monster that he was made out to be. He speaks so sweetly of finding love and being at peace with himself, and suddenly all that was taken away from him. He was determined to find the beast who killed the king, when all along, it was him. This makes me thing of the demons that are in all of us. We build our lives around fighting these demons and making ourselves whole...but really, once they are gone, what is left of us?