Oedipus: Lit Topics. Journal 3.

Setting can say a lot about a story. This story is set in ancient Greece. In ancient Greek culture they epitomized the essence of a human being. The individual was the most important thing in their culture and they strived to have everyone be their own individual self. Also, it was hard to travel around because of all of the mountains and valleys so there were multiple kingdoms on this small country due to the difficulties of traveling. Traveling also played a role in the fact that it didn't just make everyone become specialists, it made them masters. This is because in each small region everyone had to play their part and play it well in order for the society to survive. In Greek culture family is very important, as is the class of that family. There is very much so a social hierarchy in the Greek life.

In the story of Oedipus, all of these things are demonstrated. Oedipus, along with everyone in this story, strive to please the Gods and to be the epitomy of humanity. When Oedipus finds out that his life is all a terrible series of unknown treacheries (i.e. killing his father and marrying his mother) he feels no reason to live and therefore gouges out his eyes. Also this is shown when he tries to push the blame on Creon early on when he claims that this is all Creon's fault and that Creon is trying to overthrow him. He does this to make himself look more honorable because he is supposed to be the person that everyone looks up to and everyone wants to be. Tragedies show the worst that could happen in the Greek culture.

Since Greece is a very small place everyone in the society plays an important role in each kingdom. The place is very tight knit. This is why when the prophet says that the person who killed the king was thought to be an outsider but is really from Thebes, and nobody has a clue to who it is, Oedipus gets angry and calls them all liars and cowards for not coming forward. Since the culture is so tight knit everyone knows everyone else's secrets and this is how Oedipus is uncovered as the murderer.

When Oedipus says that he doesn't care if his mother is a prostitute, he just wants to know who his mother is, he says this in hopes that it is not Jocasta and that he doesn't care how low she is as long as he hasn't coupled with her. This is a grand statement given the social hierarchy of the Ancient Greek society. He only wishes to preserve his name and even justifies this statement by saying that he is the chosen one and he is the lucky one etc.

I would have to say that setting is very important for this play because in order to know how much importance a simple statement or action holds, one must know the culture first.