Myth-making in Oedipus Rex -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 20:16:50 03/13/08 Thu
Author: Shannon
Subject: Myth-making in Oedipus Rex

It seems like Sophocles plays with ideas of mythologizing in order to veil truth within Oedipus Rex, especially with the character of Iocaste. For one, Iocaste is often the voice persuading Oedipus to leave things hidden: "Why think of him?/ Forget this herdsman. Forget it all./ This talk is a waste of time." Sophocles also reveals Iocaste's tendency to "rewrite" her own story. When she recounts the oracle and the subsequent exposure of her infant, she lays all the action on Laos, her husband, "His child had not been three days in this world/ Before the King had pierced the baby's ankles/ And left him to die on a lonely mountainside." She completely distances herself from the action; indeed, later she emphasizes her grief over her slain child. Yet, according to the servant, it was Iocaste herself that gave up the child. This isn't to say that her grief was false or that she is intentionally lying; it is just an interesting example of an individual's attempt to distance themselves from violence by, in a sense, retelling the original event.

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