After reading Oedipus Rex, I realized that not all "happy endings" are necessarily happy. In Oedipus Rex, the end of the play consists of the queen committing suicide, Oedipus stabbing his eyes, exiling himself, and the people of Labdakos in general disbelief as of who the actual murderer of their former king was.
It seems as though most people after reading about such events as I just listed would take the pessimistic view that this ending was not only unhappy, but dead aweful. On the contrary, after discussions in class about Oedipus's fate, I realized that the ending to the play was quite the opposite of aweful.
Maybe the events weren't exactly what the reader would want to happen, but the fact is that they HAD to happen. You can't escape your fate, and that is what this play is trying to tell us. I felt bad for Oedipus at the end of the play, but this was because his fate was determined for him before he could even walk. However, I understand now that although it is his fate, he is still in control of it. Basically, he still possesses free-will within his fate.
With Oedipus in exile, the great plague in Labdakos would be lifted and the people would once again be able to live happily. Sure, some crazy stuff had to happen to make that possible, but that's a pretty happy ending to me.
"Oh my God, a freshman!" -Larry Munson
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2 comments:
Do you really think that it is an optomistic ending? I mean, ya, I agree that we all found out you can't escape your fate, and that Oedpius found that out as well, but is that a positive thing? To me I kind of think that is a very scary idea, that no matter what we do we will end up how we are supposed to. It is one of those things that I guess it just depends on how you look at it, it could be glass half full or glass half empty.
It wasn't really an optimistic ending for Oedipus, no... but for the town and the people in it, it was extremely optimistic. You're right that it is a scary thought that no matter what you do, your fate is going to take precedent, and it is not that i believe that, it is just that i came to terms with that belief in my analyzation of the play.
I think it is essential to just go with the belief of fate over free will to really understand what happened in Oedipus Rex and why the ending had to be that way. He didn't want to kill his father, he didn't really try to, it all just had to happen one way or another.
So, I see what you're saying in that it is scary to think you have no free will, and I would like to not think like that... but I think you have to if you want to really understand why things went down the way they did in the play.
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