Oedipus Journal 3: Stylistic Techniques

Throughout Oedipus, it has been apparent that there is a constant occurrence of this idea of light. This motif of light helps highlight how the characters don't have complete control over themselves. This is especially highlighted when the Chorus says, "But now for all your power Time, all seeing Time has dragged you to the light, judged your marriage monstrous from the start" (1340-1342). This quote reveals how once something is brought into the light, it's as if it is out of the person's control because judging is something that is always existent. When one judges another person or thing, the initial owner loses the ability to completely determine his/her own opinions or decisions regarding that and this fact is especially illuminated when it is brought into the light. Another example of this is shown when the messenger says, "what a heavy weight of sorrow you will shoulder...[...] I tell you neither the waters of the Danube nor the Nile can wash this palace clean. Such things it hides, it soon will bring to light-terrible things, and none done blindly now, all done with a will" (1353-1360). This idea of the hidden things coming into the light and being terrible shows how certain aspects of characters and their lives are uncontrollable. The reader connects the image of rivers, which are extremely powerful, with the light and it convinces him/her how much more forceful something can be over a human.