Journal #7

Reading Oedipus by Sophocles

Before I get into the Iliad I figure I should start by doing a journal on Oedipus, it only seems fitting. I remember learning in psychology class about the ‘Oedipus complex’ and after reading it I started to wonder whether Freud even read Oedipus himself. I thought “he didn’t kill his father and have children with his mother because he wanted to; he did it because he was cursed by fate”. However, I then realized that Oedipus willingly suppresses suspicions that his adopted parents may not be his biological parents, despite being told the contrary by a drunkard and receiving a worrying prophecy. He also disregards glaring similarities between the prophecy of Laius and his own prophecy. He uses the singular when talking about the incident where Laius was killed despite everyone else using the plural. So maybe he chose willful ignorance of the facts of his life. However, that still does not change the fact that he was absolutely devastated at the news and went so far as to blind and exile himself, so I still think that Freud picked the wrong story to base his odd theories off of.

I really enjoy Greek tragedies, but it’s hard for me to identify with their purpose exactly. There’s always some deus ex machina or fate that comes into play that start to bug me occasionally. It just doesn’t seem fair for someone to not be in control of their fate, and yet still be punished for it. It also seems like a cop out today for someone to add divine intervention into their story. Nowadays if someone did that they would be accused of lazy storytelling. I do like thinking about all of the “what ifs” in the story, however. If Laius had never received the prophecy, he wouldn't have tried to kill Oedipus; they would never have met at the point where the three roads meet and Oedipus would not have gone on (back) to Thebes and become king, thus marrying his mother. Prophecies and divine intervention are a giant part of Greek tragedy however, so I should try and get used to them before heading into the Iliad.