NOTES
our darkness.]—This ghastly line does not show hardness of heart, it shows only the terrible position in which Oedipus and Jocasta are. Naturally Oedipus would give thanks if his father was dead. Compare his question above, p. 54, l. 960, “Not murdered?”—He cannot get the thought of the fated murder out of his mind.
P. 57, l. 994.]—Why does Oedipus tell the Corinthian this oracle, which he has kept a secret even from his wife till to-day?—Perhaps because, if there is any thought of his going back to Corinth, his long voluntary exile must be explained. Perhaps, too, the secret possesses his mind so overpoweringly that it can hardly help coming out.
Pp. 57, 58, ll. 1000–1020.]—It is natural that the Corinthian hesitates before telling a king that he is really not of royal birth.
Pp. 64, 65, ll. 1086–1109.]—This joyous Chorus strikes a curious note. Of course it forms a good contrast with what succeeds, but how can the Elders take such a serenely happy view of the discovery that Oedipus is a foundling just after they have been alarmed at the exit of Jocasta? It seems as if the last triumphant speech of Oedipus, “fey” and almost touched with megalomania as it was, had carried the feeling of the Chorus with it.
P. 66, l. 1122.]—Is there any part in any tragedy so short and yet so effective as that of this Shepherd?
P. 75, l. 1264, Like a dead bird.]—The curious word, ἐμπεπληγμένην, seems to be taken from Odyssey xxii. 469, where it is applied to birds caught in a snare. As to the motives of Oedipus, his first blind instinct was to kill Jocasta as a thing that polluted the
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