Introduction to the Ancient World: Greece

Oedipus Redeemed: Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus 

I. Relation to the earlier play 

A. Oedipus' self-defense (270ff., 431ff, 540ff., 960ff., esp. 991-994); external circumstance ("gods") vs. inner integrity 

B. Creon again (728-1043); Creon vs. Theseus 

C. anger (Polyneices scene - 1285ff.) 

D. savior, for real (387-390; 460ff.) 

E. inversions: beginning/end; hunter/hunted; identity and insight sought and found; leans on Antigone/leads Theseus; enters palace/enters grove; equated with a god (Oed. line 31) / Oedipus becoming a hero/god 

F. a new dimension: Oedipus' spirituality (1517ff., 1615ff.) 

II. Athens again 

A. Theseus (551ff., 885ff.) 

B. the choral ode about Colonus (668ff.) 

C. dejection and endurance (1225ff.) 

The line references are those in the most recent reprint of David Grene's Second Edition of Sophocles I (the one with Oedipus and the Sphinx on the cover). If you have the previous edition (no picture on the cover), go to Lecture 21.