The Character of Oedipus in Oedipus and The Infernal Machine

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The Character of Oedipus in Oedipus and The Infernal Machine

The stories of Oedipus, as told through Seneca's Oedipus and Cocteau's The Infernal Machine, contain both similarites and differences. Both authors portray the character of Oedipus as being obstinate, ignorant, and inquisitive. Yet Seneca and Cocteau differ on their interpretation of the motives that propelled these characteristics of Oedipus. Seneca portrays Oedipus as a mature man who, in seeing the troubles of the plague that has descended upon Thebes, feels true sorrow for his dying people and wishes to cure his moribund city. On the other hand, Cocteau's Oedipus is a pretentious, immature, and overweening young adult who seeks to indulge himself in the fast and wealthy lifestyle of the royal class.

Seneca and Cocteau seem to agree that Oedipus is a very persistent, curious, and yet unwitting character. Furthermore, they believe that it these qualities that ultimately bring about his demise. In Seneca's tale, Tiresias tries to warn Oedipus that only bad will result from his need to know the identity of Laius's killer-"Avid your hung er for such knowledge now , but you will come to rue the things you know." (Sen. Oed. p. 22) Even when his horrible actions are discovered by all the other characters, Oedipus, oblivious to the truth, persists with the search. Creon describes the area in which the King Laius was slain, yet Oedipus seems to realize nothing and instead, continu es to demand the identity of Laius's killer.

Oedipus. . . .Whom did I murder? Through a blunder, a pure blunder, an old man on the road- a stranger.

Tiresias. Oedipus, your blunder killed the husband of Jocasta, King Laius.

Oedipus. The two of you. Now I see the shape of you...

... middle of paper ...

...presence of his mother at his side. In the end, Oedipus, according to Cocteau, doesn't even solve the riddle, but instead is told the answer by the Sphinx herself.

Both Seneca and Cocteau regard Oedipus as a stubborn and curious man whose necessity to identify the killer of King Laius, despite warnings from Jocasta, Tiresias, and Creon to leave it be, lead him to his horrible fate. Yet there is a distinct difference between the motives of the authors' characters. Seneca's wise and gracious Oedipus persists in his quest to find the killer in order to free Thebes of its pollution. While Cocteau's puerile and arrogant character must know the identity of the killer, simply for personal knowledge.

Works Cited:

Cocteau, Jean. The Infernal Machine and other plays. New York:New Directions, 1963

Seneca. The Tragedies Volume II. Baltimore:Johns Hopkins, 1995

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