Linda's Reviews > Oedipus at Colonus

3.5

"We long to have again the vanished past, in spite of all its pain."

Oedipus at Colonus begins with Oedipus and Antigone's arrival at Colonus, a sacred area outside of Athens. Oedipus has lived for years as a poor wandering blind beggar, his self-inflicted punishment for unknowingly killing his father and marrying his mother. He wishes for admission to Cololus, which leads to the tragedy's central philosophical debates on morality and fate. Since the Gods decreed Oedipus's actions and he did not know the identity of his biological parents, were his actions immoral? Furthermore, if he did not know that the man who attacked him on the road was his father and thought he was acting in self-defense, does that make him a monster?

These arguments are embedded cleverly in a multilayered plot which I appreciate more as I struggle to capture my feelings about the play. It is slower and more philosophical than the other Theban plays, Antigone and Oedipus Rex, and while I loved those plays, this did not resonate with me in quite the same way. I don't know why. Perhaps it was the pacing or that I don't believe in fate. However, I admire Sophocles's skill as a playwright and innovator in the emerging genre of tragedy.