WORLD LITERATURE ESSAY

OEDIPUS REX S TIRESIAS: HIS ABSENCE AND REPLACEMENTS IN JEAN ANOUILH S ANTIGONE

ROSE DOMINIC 11C

WORD COUNT 1336

Tiresias is the blind prophet in Oedipus the King. He is the old prophet ofThebes. Tiresias knows all that is happening around him and all that has happened and all that is going to happen. Tiresias is a man with great knowledge and self respect. He is struck back in anger when Oedipus calls him a traitor and a villain: You criticize me with temper unaware of the one you live with, you revile me.

(line 384)

He prophesized all that is going to happen in Oedipus the King. Tiresias represents wisdom and knowledge. He is a person who talks like a prophet. Tiresias says to Oedipus not to mock him quickly by telling the Oedipus that he is the one who is blind: You with your precious eyes, youre blind to corruption of your life, to the house you live in, those you live with who are your parents?

(line 469 - 473)

In the end we can see whatever Tiresias says comes true. This means that we can see that Tiresias is important in Oedipus the King. Tiresias appears only for a short time in the play. But his appearance is significant. When Oedipus summons Tiresias to the palace, he greets him with great respect and trusts him deeply and asks him to find who t he murderer is, Tiresias objects. Oedipus starts to get angry and starts to mock Tiresias: Nothing! You, you scum of the earth, youd enrage a heart of stone, You wont talk? Nothing moves you? Out with it, once and for all

(lines 380 383)

Tiresias is trying to avoid the questions asked by Oedipus for his good and for Oedipus good: Just send me home. You bear your burdens, Ill bear mine. Its better that way, please believe me. (lines 354 356)

The blindness of Tiresias is opposed to the blindness of those who refuse to believe in the truth about them when they hear it spoken: So, you mock my blindness? Let me tell you this. You with your precious eyes, youre blind to corruption of your life, to the house you live in, those you live with - who are your parents?

(lines 468 473)

Tiresias words prove true in the end of the play showing that he is the mouth piece of God and an oracle to be trusted. The role that Tiresias plays in Oedipus the King is really important as it is from his prophecy that all comes true. This helps in understanding the whole of the play and understanding the role of the prophet in the play. He als o shows the power of the Gods which Sophocles audience perhaps doubted. The scene between Tiresias and Oedipus is intense creating tension to the revelations of the truth in front of Oedipus . If we compare Tiresias and Oedipus we can see that Tiresias is a blind prophet who can see the future and truth from the revelations from Apollo. While, Oedipus is the king of Thebes who can see the situation in Thebes quite clearly and yet he cannot see the truth about his own life. These two differences create a dramatic tension in the play and the audience gets the feeling of what is happening. As for Oedipus Tiresias has a short role, but he plays the important part, acting just like a God in some moments when he wants to speak the truth. In Anouilhs Antigone we can see that there is no Tiresias. The question that arises is that why did Anouilh remove Tiresias when he adapted the play? In my opinion this might be because in the twentieth century the audience would not have believed in prophecies and they thought that it never existed. In the original play Tiresias played an important role in Sophocles Antigone. Tiresias explained the future and the truth and changed Creons attitude. So, Anouilh might have not wanted the truth and the future to be revealed but might have wanted his spectators to anticipate till the end. But instead of Tiresias we can see that the Chorus in Anouilhs Antigone takes place of the removed Tiresias. We can see this in the beginning of the play where the Chorus tells us what all the people in the play are going to do when he finishes the narration. This can also be seen as we go further in the text. So, in this situation we cannot say that the presence of Tiresias is not the re but is replaced with the Chorus as the Chorus tells the truth and the things that are going to happen in the future of the play. The Chorus points out deliberately that we are watching a play. He also points out what is going to happen to Antigone in the end of the play and this never can change. There is only one and possible outcome in the play and that is Antigones death. He is also pointing out that Antigones idealism. She believe s in her thoughts and motives and thinks that nothing was true rather than her thoughts. You can see this when Antigone quarrels with Ismene talking if she is doing the right thing or not. The Chorus points out Antigones idealism and youth versus Creons age and compromise can only have one outcome which is the outcome of Antigones death. Tiresias is not in the version of Anouilhs Antigone; we can see the sympathy that Anouilh gives us for Creon as he tries to find a way to save Antigones life. In Sophocles version of Antigone Creon is stubborn as a mule and it is Tiresias who asks him to rethink what he is doing. This creates more irony.

In thinking why Anouilh did not include Tiresias in the play, another point that strikes is that he might have wanted to make the audience understand why he had rewritten the story in a different way with minor changes. In Anouilhs version of Antigone he has involved a nurse. She acts as a motherly person who cares for Oedipuss two daughters Antigone and Ismene. Because she is a nurse she acts as a mother to both the children as Eurydice cannot take care of them. In the scene where Antigone has a conversation with the nurse it is revealed that there is a close relationship between the nurse and Antigone. It is just like she is sharing her secrets and talking about the day s events just as talking like to her mother. The nurse fills in the gap in the relationship as a mother when both the sisters were children so that they do not feel the sadness of the broken relationship as in Sophocles Oedipus the king Jocasta is killed by killing herself and also Oedipus is expelled from the kingdom. so he cannot give the love that is required in the small age. The nurse is replacing both Jocasta and Oedipus as she is the one that gives love and nurses both the children just like a mother not giving them the feeling of losing them. The nurse softens Antigone so we can see and visualize that she is a girl who is in need of love and care as well as a strong idealist. In Oedipus the King the Chorus is a group of people who chant out in unison of what is going to happen. But in Anouilhs Antigone it is only one person who is doing the commentary of what is happening and what is going to happen which also accomplishes the role of Tiresias in the play as Tiresias is omitted out of Anouilhs Antigone. The Chorus that takes the place of Tiresias makes Creons decisions more human and the Chorus does its best to soften him, while in Sophocles Antigone you can see that Creon is the stubborn king who eventually takes in Tiresias pleas to stop hanging Antigone. Anouilhs Antigone softens the hard edges of both Antigone and Creon and makes them more psychologically and emotionally sympathetic to the modern audience.

Bibliography
y Jean Anouilhs Antigone y Sophocles The Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus Translated by Robert Fagles.