Thursday, October 17, 2019
What If?
When reading the play Oedipus Rex, I wondered what would have happened if people knew Oedipus killed Laius before he became king of Thebes. Would they still accept him even though he saved the city? Would Jocasta still wanna hook up? What would happpen?!?! I think they would just exile him but still be heralded as the man who saved the city. I want to know your thoughts. Yes YOU, the reader of this blog post. I want your thoughts pLeAsE.
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3 comments:
I feel like if they knew it was Oedipus who killed the king they would not have let in come to Thebes in the first place. And if he realized who he had killed then he would not have even gone to the city where the Sphynx lived. Either way the crime of killing the king would be too much. He may have been thanked for saving the city, but he would has also committed a serious crime so he would have been exiled .
I agree with Andreas on this one. I feel like if the people knew that Oedipus was the one who killed their King Laius they would have never even let him enter their city. As we talked about a lot in class, one big cultural value of this time was devotion to your city and being prideful for you city and its leaders, and Laius was one of those leaders. So, if they knew Oedipus killed their leader then they would most likely have hated him from the start and might have even tried to kill him themselves. I think he possibly would have been thanked by a few people for saving the city, but ultimately I think he would be hated by the majority. The act of killing their king way outweighs the act of solving the riddle of the Sphinx.
I think that this is a very interesting question, however I don’t think that there would be a play or the plot would have to be very different if the people of Thebes knew Oedipus killed Laius before he became king.
The unknown of who killed Laius is what drives the plot of the novel. If the people already knew that Oedipus was the killer, there would be no “hunt for the killer” or element of surprise. Also with that said, the significance of the prophecy would cease to hold any meaning. One of the main ideas or themes of the play is that prophecies dictate what is to happen and are the truth. Since the people of Thebes already know that Oedipus is the killer, it would no longer serve as a “true” prophecy.
Furthermore, the plot of the play would have to be changed dramatically or else the play would only be about 300 words. Everything prior to Oedipus finding out that he was the killer would be cut out, leaving the play without much depth. The recognition that Oedipus himself is the killer serves as the climax of the play. In this hypothetical situation, the play would lack key elements of exposition, rising action, and the climax itself. I think that without the “suspense” of the killer, there would be no play.
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