Oediups: An Analysis of Literary Devices
Literary DeviceQuoteAnalysisToneDictionIrony“I come to see it with my eyes, no messenger’s.” (Roche 5)Oedipus cannot see the truth with his own eyesOedipus thinks he is superior to suppliantsOedipus is honorable“We know you are no god, omnipotent with gods.” (Roche 6)Priest and suppliants do not know Oedipus is powerless against fateReverenceNot god, powerless“So, go, you best of men.” (Roche 6)Oedipus not best of men. Patricide & incest.A plea to the heroBest of men, not on par with gods“Your old devotion celebrates you still/as Defender of the State.” (Roche 6)Not defender, because of Oedipus that Thebes goes to ruins now (Laius must be avenged)“I know too well, you all are sick, yet sick, /not one so sick as I” (Roche 7)Oedipus does not know how “sick” he is, in that he is double cursedOedipus more important, above suppliantsSick (fate)“whatsoever he shall tell me from the god, /that to the hilt I’ll do – or I am damned.” (Roche 7)Oedipus already damned (and damning himself)Full of promise and honorRisk his own for others, overconfidence“So I’ve heard… A man I never saw.” (Roche 9)No self-knowledge that he killed Laius.“Then I’ll go back and drag that shadowed past to light.” (Roche 11)Oedipus is in the dark, he is the one to be cursed when it’s dragged to lightConfidenceDrag: unwanted truthShadowed past: Oedipus’ pastLight: truth“For who knows, tomorrow this selfsame murderer/may turn his bloody hands on me. /The cause of Laius therefore is my own.” (Roche 11)Oedipus killed Laius, ironic that he says the cause of Laius is his own. He is the cause, and will be the cause of his own downfall.Bloody hands: dirtied, Oedipus“I speak of course as stranger to the story/and stranger to the crime,” (Roche 14)He is no
stranger to the death of Laius, he is the murdererAccusatory, “if you don’t tell me, it’ll never be solved”Self-defensive words, “stranger” to both story and crime“Then on myself I call down every curse I’ve just invoked.” (Roche 15)Double cursed himself. He is the murderer and he is the avengerOedipus is honorable“Such ties swear me to his side/as if he were my father.” (Roche 15)He is Oedipus’ father.“And if you had your eyes/I’d say you played that chief part too.” (Roche 20)Oedipus is the murderer and is the “blind” one, not TiresiasAccusing Tiresias as a hand in the murder of Laius“if ...
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stranger to the death of Laius, he is the murdererAccusatory, “if you don’t tell me, it’ll never be solved”Self-defensive words, “stranger” to both story and crime“Then on myself I call down every curse I’ve just invoked.” (Roche 15)Double cursed himself. He is the murderer and he is the avengerOedipus is honorable“Such ties swear me to his side/as if he were my father.” (Roche 15)He is Oedipus’ father.“And if you had your eyes/I’d say you played that chief part too.” (Roche 20)Oedipus is the murderer and is the “blind” one, not TiresiasAccusing Tiresias as a hand in the murder of Laius“if you had your eyes” Oedipus is the blind one“The rotting canker in the State is you.” (Roche 20)Straight truth, Tiresias knows it but not Oedipus“I say that you and your most dearly loved/Are wrapped together in a hideous sin, blind to the horror of it.” (Roche 21)Again, Oedipus does not accept the truthDenies path to self-knowledge given by Tiresias“It is. But not for you, you purblind man:/in ears and mind and vision.” (Roche 22)Calls Tiresias blind where he himself is the blind one. Ears, mind and vision, Oedipus cannot see nor accept the truth.“Me or any man who lives in light.” (Roche 22)Oedipus lives in darkness. Light vs. dark imagery.“A ruin that saved the State.” (Roche 25)He is the ruin, ruined the state with murder.“You the murderer so self-proved”(Roche 29)Oedipus is the murdererSerious, unwilling to hear anything else“The sinner but a single day to bare his crime.” (Roche 34)Foreshadows Oedipus’ fast downfall.Wise words, a good speaker“My banishment or death preferred/to what you want for him?” (Roche 37)Ironic, Oedipus will banish and blind himself before CreonPleading for the crowd to see his POV“I’d rather disappear from man than see/myself so beggared, dyed so deep in sin.” (Roche 45)Oedipus will die metaphorical death in blindness and banishment, he is dyed deep in sinDesperation, beginning to realize truthHonorable words from Oedipus“All my advice is bankrupt; I address/myself to you Apollo” (Roche 49)Jocasta doesn’t believe in fate, is prayingAdvice is bankrupt: afraid for truthDesperate, turning away from chance“How dwindled are the grand predictions of Apollo!” (Roche 51)Ironic she says this, she plays a part in Apollo’s predictions. Also, she turns away from prayer immediatelyVictorious tone, overcome fate“How can a man have scruples/when it’s only Chance that’s king?” (Roche 52)All fated, Oedipus’ demise and her in the propheciesJocasta’s belief in Chance over fateCarefree, light-hearted, catalyst to Oedipus’ destruction“Good-bye, my poor deluded, lost and damned!/There’s nothing else that I can call you now.” (Roche 60)Everyone but the public and Oedipus have realized the truthLost hopeAs a mother that abandons her child“I do not blush to own I’m Fortune’s pampered child.” (Roche 60)Anything but pampered, cursed child. And Fortune refers to Chance, what Jocasta believes in. Jocasta is the mother.Proud“I ordered it to stir again your old delight.” (Roche 78)Ironic because those were days that led to his downfall and fulfilling prophecy“Stop this striving to be master of all./The mastery you had in life has been your fall.” (Roche 80)That Oedipus must be reminded of his hubrisImagery“The ineffectual womb rotting with its fruit.” (Roche 6)Weakness and rotting. The fruit cannot be harvested, death.Desperation“By banishment. Or blood for blood. /The city frets with someone’s blood” (Roche 9)Blood for blood, revenge. Violent imagery. “frets with someone’s blood”, will not die down until avengedBanishment and blood spilled for Oedipus“I’ll ask the gods to curse/with fields that never sprout/and wombs that never flower” (Roche 16)Already happeningChaos, no sustenanceDeath imagery, rottingCondemnationWombs that never flower: his cursed children“So choose your rage and fume away.” (Roche 20)A side of Oedipus not seen before, short-temperedStubborn old manFume away: vent your anger, nothing will change“Yes safe. For truth has made me strong.” (Roche 20)Contradicting images: weak old man, strong at heart and mind“Will one day scourge you with its double thongs/and whip you staggering from the land./It shall be night where now you boast the day.” (Roche 24)Light vs. dark imagery. To be punished for his sins. Double thongs: double cursed (by fate and himself)Foreshadows Oedipus gouging out his eyes“At last it’s blazing clear./Light of my days, go dark. I want to gaze no more.” (Roche 67)Light vs. dark. Ironic imagery. Light of his days are false, he lived in darkness. Foreshadows blinding himself. Moment of realization – too late.Despairing“Go dark for all time blind/to what you never should have seen, and blind/to the love this heart has cried to see.” (Roche 70)Ironic that in blinding himself, he attains (a limited) truth and self-knowledge“There’s none, my children, no not one,/and life for you is all decline/to doom and empty spinsterhood.” (Roche 79)Dark imagery, dark spinsterhood – alone and unwanted. Doom and decline, the future.Despairing for his childrenSymbolism“His eyes are bright. O great Apollo, /bring him here effulgent with success!” (Roche 7)Eyes (to see the truth)Bright, light – truthHopeful and expectant“The old blind prophet TIRESIAS is led in by a boy” (Roche 17)Blind: prophetic, insight to truthOld man: wisdomBoy: youth, innocence, naivetyLed in by a boy: physical weakness“Where three highways meet,/and secondly, the son, not three days old” (Roche 40)Number 3 symbolic of unity, wholeness and spirituality“I’m sure he won’t forget the slopes of Cithaeron/where for three half-years we were neighbors,/he and I; he with two hers, I with one:/six long months, from spring to early autumn.” (Roche 63)Number 3 again, unity, wholeness, spiritualityAllusion/Allegory“The ineffectual womb rotting with its fruit.” (Roche 6)Jocasta’s womb “rotting with its fruit”, children of Oedipus“Ineffectual womb” – weak, cannot change fateDisdain“Womb”, alluding to Jocasta being Oedipus’ mother, bringer of disaster“to the place Apollo haunts at Pythia” (Roche 7)Alluding to the mountain, mountain represents rise of leader and great fall“The old blind prophet TIRESIAS is led in by a boy” (Roche 17)Archetypal seer, prophet, oracle“Discovered… in a woody mountain dell of Cithaeron” (Roche 56)Mountain, rise to power and quick fall from power – archetypalMetaphors and Similes“A fever-demon wastes the town/and decimates with fire, stalking hated/through the emptied house where Cadmus dwelled.” (Roche 6)Describing the disease through the landIt’s Oedipus’ future, stalking hated through the streetsDisdainStalking, unnoticed, Oedipus not known to be murderer“I do not blush to own I’m Fortune’s pampered child.” (Roche 60)Fortune refers to Chance, what Jocasta believes in. Jocasta is the mother.Foreshadowing““Here,” says the god. “Seek and you shall find./Only that escapes which never was pursued.”” (Roche 9)Oedipus not pursued as suspectOedipus in Thebes“I say you see and still are blind – appallingly” (Roche 23)Oedipus will not see truth until it’s too late“In the name of heaven, don’t proceed!/For your own life’s sake, stop!/And I’ve been tortured long enough.” (Roche 59)Jocasta realized truth, tries to be catalyst for Oedipus back to ignorance