The Story
In a time before recorded history, when stories told around the campfire or cooking hearth (oral tradition) provided people local news, entertainment, history, and moral/religious guidance, the story of Oedipus was one not to be forgotten. It began this way:
Oedipus, only son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes, was banished as an infant because of a terrifying prophecy told to Laius by the Oracle of Apollo (a mystic seer). Upon hearing that his son (Oedipus) was destined to kill him (Laius) and wed his mother (Jocasta), Laius had the child's ankles pinned together and asked that it be left in the wilds to die. But the servant who bore the burden of this task had too kind a heart and, instead, brought the injured baby to a shepherd (Dydistipus) who, in turn, brought the child to the childless royals, King Polybus and Queen Merope, of Corinth. This is where OEDIPUS ALPHA begins. After many happy years under the love and care of his adopted parents, Oedipus grew into a strong and noble young man. The truth of his past unknown to him, he would have easily become a great king when it was his time and perhaps his name would never be known to us today. But that was not to be. One evening at a royal banquet, a stranger to Corinth decided to mock Oedipus' good fortune, informing everyone in attendance that the boy was not a royal of Corinth at all. King Polybus and Merope quickly 'covered up' this inconvenient truth, putting young Oedipus' mind at ease...but not for long. In the world of the play, all young boys looking to become men must travel to the Oracle of Delphi/Apollo as a rite of passage. Here is where the trouble really is to begin as Oedipus and his childhood friend, Elpenor, make their journey to seek out their destiny...a journey from which neither will ever be the same. |