Sunday 7 July 2013

What happens to Oedipus's children at the end of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles?

andhave
four children, two boys and two girls; Oedipus's children are also his half-siblings. Obviously
this is a horrific truth, and of course neither Jocasta not Oedipus would have been in this
relationship if they had known the truth. In  by , this truth is not
revealed until the end of the play. 

When Jocasta realizes the truth, she
hangs herself; when Oedipus realizes the truth, he gouges his eyes out as punishment and
immediately demands even more punishment from his brother-in-law/uncle , who is now
king.

The blind, broken Oedipus calls for his children; when he hears crying,
he knows they are his daughters (I'll just call them that, since it gets a little complicated to
identify their relationship accurately every time I reference them) and he calls them to him. He
says this:

      I weep for you. Although I cannot see,
      I
think about your life in days to come,
      the bitter life which men will force on
you.
      What citizens will associate with
you?                                      
      What feasts will you attend and not
come home
      in tears, with no share in the
rejoicing?                                                
      When youre mature
enough for marriage,
      who will be there for you, my children,
      what
husband ready to assume the shame
      tainting my children and their children,
too?....
                                             
      Who, then, will
marry you? No one, my children.
      You must wither, barren and unmarried.


The story ends before we can know whether the things Oedipus predicted came true, but
we know that what he says is probably the girls' new reality. They will be treated as monsters
by others and will have to endure shame and insults from everyone because of what Oedipus and
Jocasta did. Oedipus is afraid that no one will ever want to marry them, which is probably true;
and he sees a dire future of barren singleness for the daughters he loved. He does not say this,
but remember that, until just a few moments ago, these girls were princesses, daughters of a
king. Now they are the object of scorn, ridicule, and shame for all to see.


Oedipus then makes an appeal to Creon, both as king and as uncle to the
girls:

      Do not let them live as vagrant paupers,
     
wandering around unmarried. You are
      a relative of theirsdont let them
sink
      to lives of desperation like my own.
      Have pity. You see them
now at their young age                      
      deprived of everything except a
share
      in what you are. Promise me, you noble soul,
      you will extend
your hand to them. 

Notice that he asks Creon to take care of them, not to
find them husbands or raise their social standing. This, Oedipus believes, is the best his
daughters can hope for in these circumstances. His last words to the girls are as
follows:

      pray that you may live as best you can
      and lead
your destined life more happily
      than your own father.

We do
not know, at the end of this play, what happens to his daughters; we do learn the fates of three
of Oedipus's children in .

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