Clarendon cue card deck Flashcards
(3 cards)
Oedipus declares to his “children”, the people of thebes: “Here I am myself-/ you all know me, the world knows my fame:/ I am Oedipus.”
O to Priest in the presence of the prsotrate supplicants: “I am ready to help, I’ll do anything. I would be blind to misery not to pity my people kneeling at my feet”
-O shown = nobel king @ start of play- beneveolantly + earnestly acknowledges his ppl’s desperate suplications + pitiful pleas
- Suppliants’ physical position in implicit contrast with O’s nobel and kiingly nature
O’s remedy is decisive action:
“You haven’t wakened me–/ I have wept through the nights… labouring over many paths of thought. /After a painful search I found one cure”
-O as a man of action scorns inactivity, yet he behaves with careful deliberation and reflection when he seeks the Delphic oracle as the best recourse to alleviate the people’s suffering
- Not a distant ruler but one who is empathetically in touch with his people: “wept”, “painful search” - their suffering pains him
- Additional
