The curse placed on Oedipus is a hereditary curse. In the play "Antigone", Oedipus' sons die by killing each other, Antigone kills herself and Creon (the only one left of the family line now) is left to live alone, as his wife and son have also killed themselves. So, I think there is little Oedipus could have done to save himself or his family.
However, Oeidpus may have been able to save the city of Thebes from such political and social upheaval by listening to Teiresias when he first claims that Oedipus killed king Laius. Oedipus' hubris, or pride, will not even allow him to consider the idea that he, the King of Thebes, answerer of the Sphinx's riddle, could possibly have anything to do with the curse on his town. However, if he listened to Teiresias and investigated the matter further in Act I, the play would be much, much shorter, and the god much less angry when the punish Oedipus (and, subsequently, his family) for being so prideful.
No comments:
Post a Comment