“Here I am myself,.. you all know me; the world knows my fame: I am OEDIPUS!”
(Oedipus by Linda Mota)
What do scholars say of him, a Greek King of 400 B.C.E? He is chronicled as being confident, interrogative, a bully, demanding, and a liar.
He lived up to his name, OEDIPUS TYRANNUS.
It is profoundly interesting to what sunset such a man would experience: glory; a whaling of the people of THEBES for his passing, or burning effigies of him?
He ultimately suffered from a self-inflicted wound to his eyes, and rode off into exile with his daughter ANTIGONE. He no doubt died unceremoniously.
I have just succinctly summarized a play by the Greek poet Sophocles. This play had a virtual presentation on Thursday May 7th, 2020. Plays are picked to confront social issues affecting current communities. This one was chosen to promote discussion of the pandemic engulfing us today. The city of Thebes was once faced with a plague, and no one but OEDIPUS, was able to save it. The panelist discussion following the play, concentrated on COVID-19 (CORONA-VIRUS) as a modern-day equivalent of a plague; affecting us, the modern day residents THEBES.
OUR savior, is a combination of nurses, EMT s, doctors, first respondents, and a host of volunteers. No one man.
I see more to the play. The opening quote of this article, is parallel to something we have all heard coming out of a modern leader who is 6’ 3” 243 pounds, overusing the catch words “terrific…tremendous!”; sexual proclivities in his profile.
“LOL”, Oedipus, was also accused of sexual misconduct!!!
Our world of THEBES, (7.8 billion people) is not confined to 50 states, but as combined, it is looked upon as the epicenter for relief.
November 2020 could see OEDIPUS, and his daughter ride into eternal exile.
Theculturepagedotcom 