ABSTRACT
The culminating symbol of Oedipus’ life is when the “gift” of his “battered body” is received by the state of Athens as an act of grace. Oedipus takes over the quest from Haemon, the growing part of the personality whose forward-looking faith takes the form of a strong identification with the feminine. Oedipus’ feminine identification leads him onwards; his boyish one looks backwards. Theseus is tested against both Creon and Polynices. The quest of Oedipus’ selfhood is for the “facts” about his birth; the quest of his internal daimon or poetic spirit is for the mystery of his growth and identity. Oedipus Tyrannos is a minefield of linguistic puns and ambiguities, through which the Greekless reader has to stumble more blindly than Oedipus himself, led by the hand of scholarly exegesis. Oedipus, contrasting his daughters with his sons, repeatedly affirms that they are “like men”, while his sons are “like Egyptians” in their addiction to an easy life.
