Oedipus At Colonus, 4

A storm rises, and Oedipus recognizes that the end of his life is at hand.  He calls for Theseus to fulfill one last task.  The Chorus is terrified that the wrath of the gods might befall them at last.

Instead, Oedipus grants protection to Theseus and his city if his instructions are carried out.  Theseus must follow Oedipus to his final resting place, but keep its location a secret.  They leave with Antigone and Ismene for the final journey, with Oedipus leading the way.

The Chorus sing a song of requiem, and of praise to Hades and Persephone, gods of the underworld.

A messenger arrives to describe the final actions.  They walked to the very entrance of the underworld itself.  Oedipus said his final goodbyes and granted his daughters to the protection of the city of Colonus.  Then the gods called him home, a final step witnessed only by Theseus.  It was a peaceful passing.

The girls arrive, devastated.  Antigone, especially, does not wish to go on with her life, and wishes instead to follow her father to death itself.  Ismene reminds her that it is impossible.  Theseus will not budge and will keep the secret as instructed.  Antigone resolves, then, to return to Thebes and do what she can to protect her brothers, an act of Love that flows from her father's own love for her.

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Oedipus has said what needed to be said in his life, and goes truly at peace.  So it is with Sophocles.

Oedipus At Colonus, 3

Oedipus clamors for the protection of Theseus, who denounces Creon for flouting the laws and customs of the city he has entered.  Creon throws it back at him, denouncing Theseus for harboring such an awful, twisted man as Oedipus-- simultaneously gladhanding Theseus for his city's stellar reputation, now at risk.  Oedipus can't take it, and once again protests his innocence.  He cannot be guilty of wrongdoing if all the events were fated, if he was unaware that it was his father who he killed and his mother who he married, and if anyone in his position, knowing what he knew, would have been justified in doing the same.  Theseus sends Creon away, along with a party to retrieve Antigone and Ismene, and threatens Creon with further reprisal if he interferes, or if his co-conspirators don't cooperate.

The Chorus describe the hunt in song, praising the gods of Athens who aid the effort.

The girls are returned to their father, and Oedipus praises Theseus again, almost embarrassed at his devotion.  Theseus tells him he is welcome again, then leaves to take care of urgent but mysterious business.  A stranger from Thebes has arrived to speak with Oedipus, who recognizes immediately that his son is here to draw him back to the family conflict, again in fulfillment of the prophecy.  He greatly desires not to have that conversation, but Antigone convinces him to give his estranged son another chance.

Polynieces enters, bemoaning his father's reduced state.  But down to business.  Polynieces was driven from the city by his younger brother Eteocles.  He then raised an army to take the city back.  He is asking Oedipus to join him to ensure that justice-- the rights of the older brother-- may be established.  Oedipus finally gets to respond to his son, an opportunity he has been waiting for for many years, and he takes full advantage [and it's awesome]:

You trustees of this realm,   since Theseus sent him here
  and asked me to reply, I will.
Nothing less would let him hear my voice.
But now he shall be graced with it
  in accents that will bring him little joy.

Liar!
When you held hte scepter and the throne
  which your brother at the moment holds in Thebes,
  you drove me out,
  drove this your father out,
  displaced me from my city.
You are the reason for these rage--
  rages that make you cry to see,
  now that you have reached rock bottom too.
The season for condolences is past.
What I must bear must last as long as life,
  last in my thoughts of you as my destroyer.
Oh yes, it's you that dragged me down!
You expelled me, you arranged
  that I should beg my daily bread.
But for my two girls
  I should not even be alive if left to you.
It's they who tend me, they preserve me.
They are the ones who play a man's and not a woman's part.

But you, you and your brother-- bastards--
  are no sons of mine.

The eye of Fate is on you now.
Her glance is mild to what it soon shall be
  if once your armies march on Thebes.
Never shall you topple down that city.
Instead, you'll trip up headlong into blood,
  your brother too,
  spattering each other.
Long ago I cursed you both,
  and now once more I summon up those curses,
  let them battle for me.
Let them teach you reverence
  for those that gave you birth.
Let them teach you what contempt is worth
  of an eyeless Father
  who had such worthless sons.

My daughters did not treat me so.
Therefore, if Justice is still seated
  side by side with Zeus
  in ancient and eternal sway,
I consign to perdition
  your sanctimonious supplications
  and your precious throne.
So, leave my sight.  Get gone and die:
  you trash-- no son of mine.
Die,
  with these my curses
  ringing in your ears:
Never to flatten your motherland beneath your spear,
Never to set foot again in Arvgive's vales,
Instead you die,
  die by a brother's blow
  and make him dead by yours
  who drove you out.

That's my prayer for you.
I summon the pitchy gloom of Tartarus
  to gulp you down
  to a new paternal home.
I summon the holy spirits of this place.
I summon Ares the Destroyer,
  who whirled you into hatred and collision.
With these imprecations in your ears, get out.
Go publish them in Thebes.
Go tell your bellicose and trusty champions
  the will and testament
That Oedipus bequeaths to his two sons.

The Chorus suggests that Polynieces leave.

Polynieces is devastated.  He'll be destroyed by his own army if they learn the truth.  He begs his sisters to take care of his grave when he inevitably loses his life.  Antigone asks that he not return to the war at all, but his sense of honor demands that he go back.  He makes her promise again to take care of his grave.  Polynieces exits.

Ismene remains silent.

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The plot is an interesting retrospective on Oedipus's life.  Characters enter, say their peace, and leave.  It allows Oedipus to say what must to said to each.  The structure, actually, calls to mind The Dark Knight Returns, in that individual villains enter, are dealt with, and then Batman moves on to the next.

Tried to find a good performance of Oedipus cursing out Polynieces.  It doesn't appear to have been a part of The Gospel of Oedipus.  There was one made-for-TV version from the '80s that didn't seem to capture the moment very well.  But there was also this:

Oedipus At Colonus, 2

The Chorus wants to hear Oedipus's tragic story from the source himself.  He doesn't want to talk.  He gives the details little by little, and the Chorus is horrified, but he also insists once again that he is no sinner.  He additionally confirms that he killed his father Laius, but is innocent of wrongdoing here as well.

Theseus arrives to play let's make a deal-- he has some pity and respect for Oedipus.  Oedipus asks that he be protected and buried in Athens.  He knows his sons are coming to carry him back to Thebes, but he will not go with them-- not after they banished him while he desired to remain.  He knows they are only coming at the urging of an oracle that Oedipus will help them in battle.  Oedipus is offering to remain in Athens and so to aid them in battle against Thebes.  Theseus finds this silly.  There is peace between the cities!  But Oedipus explains that all peace is fleeting in the affairs of men.  Theseus is happy to oblige Oedipus, but Oedipus begs him to swear an oath for his protection.  Done.

Chorus sings the praises of Athens.

Creon arrives to force Oedipus back to Thebes.  [He speaks with a nastiness uncharacteristic of him in Oedipus the King, but all too characteristic in Antigone.]  Oedipus curses him out for his duplicity.  The fight, and Oedipus laughs that he has the protection of all Athens behind him.  So Creon changes tactics and seizes the girls Antigone and Ismene instead.  Caught completely off guard, the Chorus begs for help.  No one saw this coming.

Words exchanged between the men of Thebes and the men of Athens.  Creon: "Then it's Thebes and Athens on the battlefield."  Oedipus gets a little too excited that his prediction from six pages earlier was correct.  Oedipus loses hold of Antigone, his only guide through his dark wanderings.  Creon sticks around to put down Oedipus one last time, but when he turns back the men have taken Antigone away and Creon himself is surrounded by the Athenians.  He's screwed.

Creon makes one last lunge at Oedipus, but the Athenians hold him back.  Theseus arrives with backup.

-------------------------

More and more, Oedipus is proclaiming his innocence of any wrongdoing.  It's a respectable defiance in the face his fate, in a way.

Oedipus At Colonus, 1

Oedipus, old and feeble, wanders with his daughter Antigone.  They come upon a town of Athens and ask a passerby their current location.  He first chastises them for spoiling the holy ground of the Eumenides [?]-- the "Kindly Ones".  At this, Oedipus senses he is at his journey's end.  The passerby explains they are in Colonus, ruled by King Theseus.  Oedipus asks to speak to some of the townspeople, and the citizen departs.

Alone with Antigone, Oedipus tells of the secret prophecy that he would end his life in a place such as this.

A group of townspeople-- the Chorus-- approaches Oedipus and scolds him for spoiling the holy ground.  Antigone helps him outside of the sacred boundary, where he converses with the Chorus.  They ask his name, but he is hesitant to make it known.  Finally, he mentions Laius, and the Chorus recognize him as the wretched, cursed Oedipus-- and instantly want to banish him from their land.  Antigone pleads his case and asks for pity on what is now simply a broken old man.  The Chorus demures, and Oedipus stands up for himself-- in the intervening years he has gained some perspective on the horrible fate that befell him.  The Chorus is content to allow the city's leader to come and decide what to do.

Oedipus's other daughter Ismene suddenly arrives.  She is happy to see her father and sister-- they have had contact over the intervening years-- but brings disturbing news out of Thebes.  Both of Oedipus's sons are jealous of Creon's control over the city, and are at war with him and with each other for the throne.  The younger Eteocles is in power while the elder Polyneices prepares an army for invasion.  They also have an oracle saying Oedipus will return to hand the power of the city to one of them once and for all.  Oedipus is incensed-- fie on that!  He curses them both.  Moreover, he's not too pleased with the whole city of Thebes either.  After his initial despair when he blinded himself, he actually got used to the fate that he had been dealt and was somewhat ready to move on.  At that moment, the city banished him while his sons sat by and did nothing.

So Oedipus is done with Thebes, and is willing to belong to the city of Colonus now.  The Chorus explains a rite of purification he must perform for trespassing on the holy ground, and the prayer he must say to the Eumenides.  Ismene performs the rite for him.

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Very dramatic, formal, and ceremonial so far.  The action might pick up, but it is certainly a more mellow narrative than Sophocles's earlier works.

Sophocles

A bit of research shows that only seven of Sophocles' 123 plays have survived.  Somehow, I managed to collect the whole set.  Huzzah!

The first book contains Ajax, The Women of Trachis, Electra, and Philoctetes.  Translations are by John Moore, Michael Jameson, and David Greene-- all unknown to me, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I'm pretty sure I originally bought this for my freshman seminar, but it's possible that I got it for my Ancient Philosophy course at the University of Chicago, along with the Iliad.  In either case, I can't remember actually reading anything out of it.  Shame on me.

The second book contains the Theban plays: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone.  I picked this up at Half Price Books when I bought my Aeschylus.  Translations are by Paul Roche again.  Solid.

The overall chronology of authorship, it seems, is Ajax - Antigone - Women of Trachis - Oedipus the King - Electra - Philoctetes - Oedipus at Colonus, so that's the order I'm going in.  That means I'm reading the book with the Theban plays out of order, but they weren't written together anyway, so what's the dif?  We'll see what Roche's introduction has to say about it, though.

Incidentally, what I do remember from freshman seminar is watching a bizarre video  in the library on a crummy VHS and old tube TV starring Morgan Freeman in some sort of retelling of the Oedipus saga in a church or something.  (Which would seem to imply that I got the first Sophocles book there-- but that book doesn't have the Oedipus plays in it.  So now I don't know what happened.)  Anyway, I finally managed to track down what in the hell that was all about.  Feast your eyes on "The Gospel at Colonus" starring, indeed, Morgan Freeman.