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Sophocles wrote 120 plays. Only 6 still exist.
Oedipus Tyrannos performed in 420s B.C.
Political:
Oedipus as metaphor for
Athens.
A real plague ravaged Athens after the
Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. The figure of Oedipus
may represent Athens at the height of its power, energy, daring,
intellectual curiosity, and confidence in human reason. Athens is the
tyrant, holding its maritime empire with an iron fist when necessary,
as it did during repeated attempts by the allies to revolt.
Oedipus as metaphor for
man:
Tyrannos, a ruler who has seized power not inherited it. Oedipus as
tyrannos, self-made ruler, is a symbol of civilized man, who was
beginning to believe in the fifth century B.C. that he could seize
control of his environment and make his own destiny
Oedipus as metaphor for the unconscious:
Psychological: Freud took the curse of
the play to represent the most basic, unconscious human desires, the
so-called Oedipal Complex. Jocasta expresses this when she tells
Oedipus, "What should a man fear? It's all chance,
chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth
can see a day ahead . . .
Better to live at random, best we can . . .
Many a man before you,
in his dreams, has shared his mother's bed.
Take such things for shadows, nothing at all --
Live . . . As if there's no tomorrow!" (lines
1069-87)
A tragedy not only of destiny but also of personal identity: the search for the origins and meaning of our life, our balance between one and many selves, our recognition of our dark selves. The play dramatizes, symbolizes, our search of self-discovery, as Oedipus separates his true self from an illusory self defined by the external kingship.
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