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    Oedipus at Colonus – A monologue from the play by Sophocles Essay

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    A monologue from the play by Sophocles

    NOTE: This monologue is reprinted from Dramas. Sophocles. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1906.

    OEDIPUS: O front of impudence! Which thinkest thou
    Now to defile–My grey hairs, or thine own?
    Who hast spit forth out of thy mouth at me
    Murders and marriages and accidents,
    Which to my grief, not of free will, I suffered;
    Such was the will of Heaven, that had some cause
    For wrath, it may be, with out house, of old.
    Since for myself, I know you cannot find
    Any reproach of wrongfulness in me,
    That could have doomed me to commit these wrongs
    Against myself and mine; for, answer me,
    If to my father by an oracle
    The revelation came that he should die
    By his son’s hands, how can you justly tax
    Me with the fact, whom neither father yet
    Then had begot, or mother had conceived,
    Me, who as yet had not begun to me?
    And if thereafter proving–as I proved–
    Hapless, I did lay hands upon my sire
    And slay him, nowise knowing what I did,
    Nor yet to whom I did it, how, I ask,
    Can you with reason blame the unconscious deed!
    And for my mother–are you not ashamed,
    O miserable! at forcing me to name
    Her marriage, your own sister’s–as I will–
    I will not now be silent, you being grown
    To such a monster of outspokenness!
    She bare–ah, yes, unknowingly she bare
    Me–who not knew! Woe worth the while to me
    And having given me birth, she brought me forth
    Children–her own reproach! But of set purpose,
    For one thing, well I know, you spit this venom
    On her, and me; whereas I wedded her
    Unwitting, and unwillingly speak of it.
    But not for this my marriage, nor for that–
    That parricide, which you continually
    Throw in my teeth, bitterly upbraiding it,
    Do I consent to be called infamous.
    For answer me a question; but this one;
    If any person here upon the spot
    Drew near to kill you–you the just one–whether
    Would you enquire if he that sought your life
    Were your own father, or requite him straight?
    You would requite the offender, I conceive,
    If you love life; not look about for law.
    Just such was the misfortune I incurred,
    Led by the hand of Heaven; for which, I fancy,
    Not even my father’s spirit, were he alive,
    Could say one word against me. And yet you–
    (For just you are not, but think well to utter
    All things, both lawful and unlawful,) you
    Slander me with these sayings before them all!
    Yea, you make free to fawn on Theseus’ name,
    And upon Athens–how decorously
    She hath been ordered; and so lauding her,
    You miss out this, that if there be a land
    That knows what reverence to the Gods is due,
    ‘Tis she herein excels, whence to remove
    Me, the old suppliant, you assail my person,
    And seize my daughters, and make off with them.
    Wherefore these maiden Powers I invoke
    With supplications, and with prayers adjure
    To come, as aiders and auxiliaries;
    So you may learn what sort of men they are,
    By whom this city is defended.

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    Oedipus at Colonus – A monologue from the play by Sophocles Essay. (2017, Dec 29). Retrieved from https://artscolumbia.org/oedipus-colonus-monologue-play-sophocles-40284/

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