The Last Scene of 'Oedipus Rex'

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In Exodus (the last scene) the chorus in the drama ‘Oedipus Rex’ sings about the insignificance of man. Oedipus wins fame when he answers the riddle of the sphinx. After sometime, he faces his own ruin. A messenger comes to him from the palace. He narrates to him what he had seen, as the Queen was in agony. He told him that she fell upon her bed. She shouted for her terrible fate and even remembered her first husband (Laius). On hearing what the messenger told him, Oedipus goes inside the palace. He finds that the room is closed but he opens it forcibly. He finds her hanging by the neck. He takes down her body hurriedly, takes away the broaches from her dress and blinds himself so that he may not see in future. Thus, by blinding himself he sees what he could not see while having his sight. He cries over his terrible fate, which was already determined by god Apollo. Even the chorus becomes melancholic that he was not saved when he was thrown from the mountain. He remembers all the things that he did and begs to the chorus to kill him. His wife’s brother, Creon removes from the palace. He meets the rude behaviour of Creon but requests him to send him to some mountain so that he may spend his last days there. The last scene of this play is pathetic and evokes the feelings of pity and fear.

The feeling that is aroused in the minds of the readers is that we are mere playthings in the hands of the gods, and our lives are completely governed by the pre-determined fate. There is a kind of helpless feeling in the last scene. It is as if we cannot do anything to avoid the inevitable. What the protagonist, Oedipus has to suffer far outweighs his sins. What we see as the play develops is how the events take place, what we refer to as the chance factor plays a very dominant role. And we are left only to wonder, how could this happen! But as in real life, sometimes the unexpected always happens. All the strings of the story are so well-woven that not even for a single moment do we feel that the events are not sequenced logically.