This is a
tricky question because the women in the play are mostly offstage, with the exception of , 's
mother/wife. The other women specifically mentioned in the text include Merope, Oedipus's foster
mother, Ismene and , his daughters, and, as another educator cannily noted, the Sphinx (who,
although not human, is female). Finally, the ordinary women of Thebes should also be
considered.
The women of Thebes form a large
part of the crowd of supplicants at the palace at the opening of the play. Theof Elders speaks
on their behalf, telling Oedipus of the suffering of the Thebans in the plague and how "by
no birth of offspring do women surmount the pangs in which they shriek." Their babies are
dying, along with their husbands, brothers, sisters, and friends:
With such deaths, past numbering, the city perishes. Unpitied, her children lie on the
ground, spreading pestilence, with no one to mourn them. Meanwhile young wives and grey-haired
mothers raise a wail at the...
No comments:
Post a Comment