E.M. Forster.pptVIP

The oracle has predicted that Oedipus’s burial place will bring good fortune to the city in which it is located. Both sons, as well as Creon, know of this prophecy, and Creon is currently en route to Colonus to try to take Oedipus into custody and thus claim the right to bury him in his kingdom. Oedipus swears he will never give his support to either of his sons, for they did nothing to prevent his exile years ago. The Chorus tells Oedipus that he must appease the spirits whom he offended when he trespassed on the sacred ground, and Ismene says that she will go and perform the requisite libation and prayer. explanation Forster anchors this story in Greek tragedy, explicitly identifying Mr. Lucas with Oedipus and Ethel with his daughter, Antigone. Establish the common characteristics: P. 195 Mrs. Forman always referred to her as Antigone, and Mr. Lucas tried to settle down to the role of Oedipus… He had this in common with Oedipus, that he was growing old. Even to himself it had become obvious. He had lost his interest in other people’s affairs, and seldom attended when they spoke to him. The story’s meaning lies largely in its departure from the Greek one. After discovering the horrible truth of his parentage and putting out his own eyes (at the end of Oedipus the King), Oedipus leaves Thebes and he and Antigone wander until they reach Colonus. He refuses to leave the place and dies there. For Oedipus there is no road from Colonus. In Forster’s version, Mr. Lucas is forced to relinquish(放弃） his vision of meaning and the dramatic death he desired and which was, evidently, awaiting him in the tree’s fall. He must return to England, to be abandoned by his Antigone, and to age and die slowly and without much dignity. In return, he abandons his glimpse of meaning and his dream of a good death, becoming disaffected and selfish and lonely. The Greek kind of tragedy with its heroism and its sense that the world is intelligible even when most painful is replaced by a mo