When Laius decided the herdsman should murder his son, he should have informed the man of the reasons death was required. The herdsman, who took pity on the poor infant Oedipus, was obviously never informed of the prophecy. This is proved by the herdsman allowing Oedipus to be adopted rather than murdering him. Laius’ explanation for his son’s murder would have emphasized the necessity of Oedipus’ death. If the herdsman had known, then he would have killed the child to save his master’s life. The destruction of many lives could have been spared and although absent from the play, Laius’ role in the destruction of his family’s life is significant.
In Greek theater, the chorus was a group of men acting as one character. The chorus was used to give exposition of the play from an outside view. While the characters would play emotional roles that the audience would react empathetically to, the chorus also represents the only calmness and stability shown. Throughout the Oedipus Cycle the chorus tries to prevent upheaval but the situation and characters ignore them enough to continue in doomed glory on their path to tragedy. The chorus is guilty of allowing tragedy to reach Oedipus, Antigone and Creon; in all three situations the chorus did nothing to prevent the tragedy befalling them.
In Oedipus the King the chorus is used to provide Oedipus’ history and details about the situation. Although the chorus’ role is serene, it is the chorus that encouraged Oedipus to find Laius’ murderer, by speaking of the plague that occurred because, “a good man is dead and one that was a king.”(Sophocles 20, 257) The chorus also offers no help or advice when it is needed most, at the moment the shocking truth is revealed and later encouraged Oedipus to leave the city, blinded by his own blindness.
In Antigone, the chorus defends the burial rights of the dead Polyneices to Creon, but does not defend Antigone’s actions until after she was sealed in the cave. By the time Creon is convinced that the chorus’ advice is sound, Antigone has committed suicide. After Haemon kills himself, Creon feels that he was to blame for both deaths. His overwhelming guilt and regret will ruin the rest of his life.
In the course of all three plays the chorus continues to voice ridiculous hope that the situation might find a solution; their words add an ironic humor to the tragic tale because they only told the tragic tale and did not take action of their own.
Although physically absent, Fate plays the most destructive role in all three Oedipus plays. From the moment Oedipus’ prophecy is predicted to the end when Creon exits the stage in the deepest regret, Fate battles the character’s free will. Whether Oedipus and his parents were passive or actively trying to change the prophecy, as long as Oedipus lived, at one point in his life, Oedipus would have killed his father and married his mother.
The three-way crossroads symbolizes a cross roads in Oedipus’ life where Oedipus can begin to fulfill the prophecy by killing his father and then continue his travels toward Thebes and his mother. The roads represent a choice but because Fate is interfering, the crossroads symbolizes fate and the power of prophecy (in this one instance) winning the battle over free will. If Oedipus had chosen either road, the outcome would have been the same, making Oedipus’ allusion of free will a paradox; the only difference in either choice would have been how Oedipus committed his heinous sins.
Tiresias is the only person who tries to help Oedipus after the possibilities of his crimes are known. Tiresias knows that the prophecy has been fulfilled but he understands that Oedipus does not need to discover the truth. This is evident when Tiresias says, “I will not bring this pain upon us both. . . I will tell you nothing.” (Sophocles 24, 132) Although he desperately tries to help Oedipus, Oedipus continues to be wooden-headed about finding the murderer. Eventually, he convinces the angered Tiresias to admit that, “[you are] the murderer of the king whose murderer you seek.”
Fate is cruel to prescribe such a fate to any person. Luckily for Oedipus, the version of the fate that occurred was possibly the kindest. Oedipus had not known the man he murdered to be his father nor the woman he married to be his mother. Since his great sin was unconscious and unintentional most of the blame for committing the crime can be forgiven. If he had not killed Laius at the crossroads, then it could be assumed that he would have killed him at a different time, possibly with the knowledge that he was his biological father. To the ancient Greeks, fate is an unstoppable force but in the Oedipus Cycle fate is only a force struggling to battle each character’s free will.
Greek theater was a source of entertainment and a lesson for ancient Greeks.
The Oedipus Cycle is the tale of the destruction of innocent lives by characters that seem of little importance in the play but are the source of all the tragedy. The devastation of Oedipus and his relatives are due to the inaction of Laius, the chorus, and Fate.
