response paper Oedipus

Finn McNally
LIT 2000 MW 3:00-4:15
Response Paper
Oedipus

The text “Oedipus” was written about 2,500 years ago. Although it is very old, the characters are still people and behave in ways that people did and still do today. The characters of this story do indeed behave in believable ways considering what happened in the story. Oedipus is a great man but still ends up blinding and exiling himself when he learns that he killed his father and married his mother. As harsh as it is, it is very believable because of the fact that Oedipus was a great man and leader and felt that he deserved this fate for what he had done. The fact that his wife and mother Jocasta killed herself is believable as well because of the extreme severity of what she learns at the end of the story. Everyone in the story behaves as normal people would, especially since the context of the story takes place so long ago when this story would be more believable.
The driving force of the dramatic energy of this text would have to be dramatic irony. The audience knows things that characters do not. There are many allusions to Oedipus being blind and the things he has done long before he actually figures these things out in the story. The greatest shift in the tone and mood of this story takes place when Oedipus questions the Shepard that found him and it is discovered that he did, in fact, kill his real father and marry his mother. When this takes place everything clicks in their heads as to what happens and that is when the plot of the story changes and everything goes downhill for Oedipus.
This story is full of Irony. It is dramatic irony because the audience knows what the characters do not learn until late in the story. It is very ironic that Oedipus can see but cannot see the truth while the prophet Tiresias is blind and is telling Oedipus the truth. The fact that in the end Oedipus pokes out his eyes enhances and adds to this theme of blind truth and irony.
Oedipus’s name translates to “Swollen Foot.” This is fitting because of the fact that Oedipus does indeed have a limp due to the fact that his ankles were bound and pierced when he was younger. This was done by his parents when they tried to kill him. For this reason Oedipus’s name helps reinforce his actions but also his revelations when it is revealed to him that his wife/mother actually did that to him, there is no doubt that his wife really is his biological mother.
This story reminded me a lot of the movie “The Matrix.” It contains oracles and prophecies. Most importantly though both texts contain one main character that must sacrifice themselves for the good of their civilization. In “Oedipus,” Oedipus must exile himself in order to rid the city of Thebes of the plague and hard times that is prevalent. In “The Matrix,” Neo must sacrifice himself and put himself in harm’s way in order to save the whole world.