Oedipus Tyrannus

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Oedipus Tyrannus

• The Human Plague

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• A plague has stricken Thebes. The citizens gather
  outside the palace of their king, Oedipus, asking
  him to take action. Oedipus replies that he
  already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the
  Oracle at Delphi to learn how to help the city.
  Creon returns with a message from the Oracle the
  plague will end when the murderer of Laius,
  former king of Thebes, is caught and expelled
  the murderer is within the city ...

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• ... Oedipus sends for Tiresias, the blind
  prophet, and asks him what he knows about the
  murder. Tiresias responds cryptically, lamenting
  his ability to see the truth when the truth
  brings nothing but pain. At first he refuses to
  tell Oedipus what he knows, but eventually gives
  in ...

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• ... Realizing who he is and who his parents are,
  Oedipus screams that he sees the truth and flees
  back into the palace. Jocasta has hanged herself,
  and Oedipus, finding her dead, has pulled the
  pins from her robe and stabbed out his own eyes.
  Oedipus now emerges from the palace, bleeding and
  begging to be exiled. He asks Creon to send him
  away from Thebes.

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The Metaphors

• Thebes The Human Body
• The Citizens The Human Cells
• Oedipus The Disease

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Thebes The Human Body

• We have metaphors such as my body is a temple,
  if this is the case, then why cant our body be
  a city?
• City Human Body
• Houses People Houses Cells
• The city is personified and given human
  qualities, in this case illness.
• When describing the plague within the city, the
  citizens are not described as ill, but rather the
  city itself.
• e.g. City is Plagued, Purge the city of its
  illness, driving out this infection from the
  city, etc.

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The Citizens The Human Cells

• A city is made up of its citizens A body is made
  of cells
• Pain, Misery beyond reckoning
• My people, all my people, sick with plague.
• I search my mind for defence . (Line 168)
• It is the cells and organs that are affected by
  illness and causes the body to be sick.
• The people are the plagued, not the city.
• The city is ill due the people, much like the
  body sick as a result of irregularities within
  the body, e.g. Cancer cells.

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Oedipus The Disease

• Oedipus is the cause of the illness in the city
• A disease is the cause of illness in the body
• When confronted by Oedipus, Tiresias declared
  Oedipus is in fact the cause of the plague
  Oedipus is the murderer of the King.
• Tiresias tells Oedipus, the murderer you seek is
  you.
• Tiresias takes on the role of the Doctor, and he
  detects the cause of the illness.
• Oedipus evidently becomes the cause of the
  illness to the city.

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Construction

• Line 156 Thebes is struck down with a plague.
• The symptoms are described by the Chorus.
• Line 57-101 Creon come back from seeing the
  oracle at Delphi with the new of a cure.
• Line 103-131 The hunt for the murderer of King
  Laius begins. It is the cure for the plague
  that is desolating the city.

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• Line 132-296 The investigation begins, and
  Oedipus is determined to find the Murderer
  and save the city.
• Line 297-462 Tiresias is brought in to help solve
  the mystery, and Oedipus is implicated.
• Line 463-1054 Oedipus and Jocasta both try to
  discredit Tiresiass Claim.
• Line 1055-1179 Tiresias's clam becomes
  undisputable when both the Shepherd and
  Herdsman tells Oedipus of his Origins.

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• Line 1180-END Oedipus is finally recognises the
  truth, and gouges out his eyes. He is then
  banished from Thebes, taking with him the
  plague.

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The BODY A Journey from Illness to Well-being

• Symptom
• Diagnosis
• Treatment

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Symptom

• Telltale Signs of Cancer include  A lump or
  thickening in the breast or testicles a change
  in a wart or mole a skin sore or a persistent
  sore throat that doesn't heal a change in bowel
  or bladder habits a persistent cough or coughing
  blood constant indigestion or trouble
  swallowing unusual bleeding and vaginal
  discharge.
• Desolation wastes away the harvest, destroys our
  herds grazing in the field, blights the women and
  makes them barren. (Line 25)

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Diagnosis

• If Cancer is suspected based on a person's
  symptoms, the results of a physical examination,
  and sometimes the results of screening tests will
  determine it.
• I have already sent Creon, my own wifes
  brother, to the oracle, Apollo's shrine at
  Delphi. There he will learn the will of the gods
  ... (Line 69)

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Treatment

• Chemotherapy is the use to treat cancer.
  Chemotherapy affects cell division. Tumours with
  high growth fractions are more sensitive to
  chemotherapy. Large portions of the targeted cell
  can be eradicated by chemo.
• Then hear the words I heard from the god. Lord
  Apollo has made his will clear drive out
  defilement nurtured in your land. Cherish it no
  longer it must be purged. (Line 95)

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Conclusion

• Not only is Sophocles's Oedipus Tyrannus a
  metaphor for the human body in dealing with
  illness (cancer), but the play itself becomes a
  metaphor for the journey of the human body from
  illness to well-being.

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Works Cited

• Sontag, Susan. Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and
  its Metaphors. New York Picador- Farrar, Straus
  and Giroux, 1990.
• Sophocles. Oedipus Tyrannus Theban plays
  translated, with introduction and notes, by Peter
  Meineck and Paul Woodruff. Indianapolis Hackett
  Pub., c2003.
• The Cancer Cure Foundation http//www.cancure.org
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