Abstract

At the close of Oedipus at Colonus , the last extant play of Sophocles and his final treatment of the myth of Oedipus’ accursed family, a strange dramatic event occurs. As the thunder of Zeus peals overhead, Oedipus’ body, located somewhere offstage, disappears forever, simultaneously bestowing a remarkable power upon the site where he departs from earthly life. Perhaps stranger still, for the form of the drama, are the responses that Theseus and Antigone have to the catastrophe. According to the messenger who reports the details of Oedipus’ death to the chorus , the epic hero who alone among humans has permission to witness Oedipus’ passing actually fails to see the singular event: And when we had departed, after a short time we turned around, and could see that the man [Oedipus] was no longer present, and the king [Theseus] was shading his eyes, holding his hand against his head, as though some terrible, terrifying thing, unbearable to see, had been presented. ως δ’ απήλθομεν, χρόνω βραχεί στραφέντες, εξαπείδομεν τον άνδρα τον μεν ουδαμού παρόντ’ έτι, άνακτα δ’αυτόν ομμάτων επίσκιον χείρ’ αντέχοντα κρατός, ως δεινού τινος φόβου φανέντος ουδ’ ανασχετού βλέπειν. . In an odd twist of dramatic performance, Sophocles represents the catastrophe of Oedipus’ death by means of a messenger who is forbidden to see the occurrence. Thus the messenger must report upon what he saw of the only one who was allowed to see, Theseus – who himself fails to see because the sight presented is too terrible for seeing. In lieu of representation, then, in the place of what cannot be staged, the audience must turn to narrative language to gain knowledge of this event