1. Bad Blood? Kindred Curses and Contamination in Sophocles’ Theban tragedies

2. We will cover… Summaries of the Theban plays in plot order Evaluate the role of blood imagery in each Consider how this affects viewing the plays as a “Theban Cycle”

3. The Plays Antigone 442BC Oedipus Rex c430 BC Oedipus at Colonus 401 BC

4. The Plays Oedipus Rex 430 BC Oedipus at Colonus 401 BC Antigone 442 BC

5. Guilt of the Bloodline Antigone (Antigone) “Ismene, my sister, true child of my own mother, do you know any evil out of all the evils inherited from Oedipus that Zeus will not fulfill for the two of us in our lifetime?” (Antig.1-2) King Oedipus (Oedipus Rex) “My children, latest-born wards of old Cadmus, why do you sit before me like this with wreathed branches of suppliants, while the city reeks with incense, rings with prayers for health and cries of woe?” (Rex.1-2) Old Oedipus (Oedipus at Colonus) “Child of a blind old man, Antigone, to what region have we come, or to what city of men? Who will entertain the wandering Oedipus today with scanty gifts?” (Col.1-2)

6. Guilt of the Bloodline Antigone= pious King Oedipus= ignorant Old Oedipus= destitute Guilt of the bloodline= Programmatic

7. Curses: Antigone Creon: “the edict which I have now published to the citizenry concerning the sons of Oedipus: Eteocles, who fell fighting for our city and who excelled all in battle, they shall entomb and heap up every sacred offering that descends to the noblest of the dead below. But as for his brother, Polyneices, I mean, who on his return from exile wanted to burn to the ground the city of his fathers and his race's gods, and wanted to feed on kindred blood and lead the remnant into slavery—it has been proclaimed to the city that no one shall give him funeral honors or lamentation, but all must leave him unburied and a sight of shame, with his body there for birds and dogs to eat.” (Antig.190-206)

8. Edict Creon “the edict which I have now published to the citizenry concerning the sons of Oedipus: Eteocles, who fell fighting for our city and who excelled all in battle, they shall entomb and heap up every sacred offering that descends to the noblest of the dead below. But as for his brother, Polyneices, I mean, who on his return from exile wanted to burn to the ground the city of his fathers and his race's gods, and wanted to feed on kindred blood and lead the remnant into slavery—it has been proclaimed to the city that no one shall give him funeral honors or lamentation, but all must leave him unburied and a sight of shame, with his body there for birds and dogs to eat.” (Antig.190-206)

9. Curses: Rex Oedipus “I pray solemnly that the slayer, whoever he is, whether he alone is guilty or he has partners, may, in the horrible way he deserves, wear out his unblest life. And for myself I pray that if he should, with my knowledge, become a resident of my house, I may suffer the same things which I have just called down on others. And I order you to make all these words good, for my sake, for the sake of the god, and for the sake of our land, thus rendered unfruitful and ungodly[…] I will uphold this cause, as though it were that of my own father.” (Rex.245-55, 264)

10. Curses: Colonus Oedipus “Take these curses which I call down on you, most evil of evil men: may you never defeat your native land, and may you never return to the valley of Argos; I pray that you die by a related hand and slay him by whom you have been driven out. This is my prayer. And I call on the hateful darkness of Tartarus that your father shares, to take you into another home; and I call on the divinities of this place, and I call on the god of war, who has set this dreadful hatred in you both. Go with these words in your ear; go and announce to all the Cadmeans, and to your own faithful allies, that Oedipus has distributed such portions to his sons.” (Col.1386-96)

11. Contamination: Antigone Creon: “Killing and being killed by the polluting violence of one another” (Antig.172.) Guard: “[…]we swept away all the dust that covered the corpse and bared the damp body well. We then sat down on the brow of the hill to windward, fleeing the smell from him, lest it strike us. […]And then suddenly a whirlwind lifted from the earth a storm of dust, a trouble in the sky, […]We closed our eyes, and endured the plague from the gods. […] So she, too, when she saw the corpse bare, broke into a cry of lamentation and cursed with harsh curses those who had done it. (Antig.410- 21)

12. Contamination: Rex Creon I will tell you what I heard from the god. [95] Phoebus our lord clearly commands us to drive out the defilement which he said was harbored in this land, and not to nourish it so that it cannot be healed. Oedipus With what sort of purification? What is the manner of the misfortune? Creon By banishing the man, or by paying back bloodshed with bloodshed, since it is this blood which brings the tempest on our city. (Rex.97-100)

13. Contamination: Colonus Oedipus “Then one day my slumbering and buried corpse, cold in death, will drink their warm blood, if Zeus is still Zeus, and Phoebus, the son of Zeus, speaks clear.” (Col.621-4)

14. Conclusions Symbolic nature of blood= shared theme in separate plays Antigone= blood ties vs. state politics Oedipus Rex= blood guilt, blood shed and shared blood Oedipus at Colonus= foresaken blood ties, paternal revenge and cursing kin