Summary
The Chorus anticipates that a glorious battle between
Colonus and Thebes will be fought in which Colonus, strong and blessed,
will triumph. Theseus returns, leading Antigone and Ismene, whom
Oedipus embraces. He thanks Theseus for rescuing his daughters,
but Theseus demurs from describing his valiant struggle to save
the girls, stating that he prefers to prove himself through actions
rather than words. Yet he does report that a man has recently arrived
from Argos. Theseus saw the stranger praying on the altar of Poseidon, and
rumor has it that the stranger wishes to speak with Oedipus.
Oedipus pleads with Theseus to drive the stranger out
of Athens, realizing that it is his son Polynices, but Theseus and
Antigone convince Oedipus to hear what his son has to say. They
insist that one should listen to reason rather than bear old grudges.
Although Oedipus disagrees in principle, he consents to listen to
Polynices if Theseus promises to protect Oedipus from possible abduction.
Theseus gives Oedipus his word and exits. The Chorus gathers around Oedipus
and sings that to never be born is best, but that if one must be
born, a short life is preferable to a long one, for life is unbearable and
only death brings peace. Polynices then enters the scene.
Polynices cries out in pity at the family’s fate and swears
that he regrets allowing Oedipus to be sent away from Thebes. He
tells of how his brother, Eteocles, bribed the men of Thebes to
turn against him, and how he now plans to regain his throne by force,
sending seven armies against the seven doors of Thebes. Oedipus
refuses to answer his son, but the Chorus pleads for him to speak.
He responds that he wishes he had never set eyes upon Polynices,
and that it is quite fitting that Polynices now suffers the same
exile and sorrow to which he condemned his father. Eteocles and
Polynices will each die by the other’s hand, he says, for that is
the curse Oedipus put on them when they exiled him from Thebes.
Polynices, realizing that he’ll never win his father’s
support, turns to his sisters, whom he asks only for a proper burial
if he is killed in battle. Antigone asks her brother to call off
the war, but Polynices argues that his sense of honor prevents him
from such a gesture. Antigone embraces Polynices, saying that he
is condemning himself to death, but he declares that his life rests
in the hands of the gods. He prays for the safety of his sisters,
then departs for Thebes.
Analysis
The Chorus gives what can be likened to a “summary” of
the central theme of Oedipus at Colonus: “Not to
be born is best / when all is reckoned in, but once a man has seen
the light / the next best thing, by far, is to go back / where he
came from” (1388–1391).
Of course, to treat this statement as a Sophoclean “motto” would
be overly simplistic: to do so would be to ignore the poetry of
the passage—the way it ranges from the joys of ceremony to the horrors
of war to the invincible strength of nature. Furthermore, within
the context of a play about Oedipus, this passage is colored with
irony, because, all too literally, Oedipus went “back” precisely
“where he came from”—Jocasta’s womb.
The clash between father and son is all we see of Polynices
in the trilogy, though his name will be brandished repeatedly in
the play. Our fleeting glimpse of him here suggests a man
driven by honor and duty but lacking Theseus’s good judgment and
pragmatism—a man who, it seems, greatly resembles Oedipus before
his fall. His crusade is motivated by pride and self-interest, although
he is not without regard for the gods. He embraces his fate with
absolute forthrightness.
