МИФ ОБ ЭДИПЕ: СЮЖЕТ МЕСТИ И СТУТУЯ МИТИЯ

Abstract

Object of the article: This study focuses on the revenge plot in the story of Oedipus. Subject of the article: The author argues that the revenge scheme based on the story about “the statue of Mitys at Argos, which killed the man who caused Mitys's death falling on him”, described by Aristotle, is in fact implemented in the story of Oedipus in a hidden way. The author draws a parallel between a role of the statue of Colonus in “Oedipus at Colonus” by Sophocles (which the author considers as an inseparable part of the Oedipus story – along with “Oedipus Tyrannus”) and a role of the statue of Mitys. Purpose of research: The article describes the structure of the story of Oedipus in the light of the revenge motif. Results: The author argues that the plot structure of the Oedipus story is based on the inversion of the roles of “murderer” and “avenger”, when “murderer” becomes “victim” and “victim” becomes “murderer”. This inversion happens as a result of “splitting” of the “victim”, when the act of vengeance is performed not by the “victim” proper, but their double. Oedipus is split into two different figures, thus becoming a double of himself. Oedipus in the role of “murderer”, who kills Laius in a quarrel at the crossroads, symbolically is a double of Oedipus in the role of “victim”, who, as Laius believes, had been killed by him as a newborn baby. Furthermore, Oedipus in the role of “avenger”, who “avenges” the murder of Laius by blinding the murderer in a symbolic act of suicide, already knows that he is a parricide, while Oedipus in the role of “murderer”, who kills Laius, does not yet know that he kills his father. Field of application: literary studies, structural poetics, classics. Conclusion: The story of Oedipus is based on the revenge plot, which unfolds through prophecies and foreshadowing, prefiguring the alternation of the acts of murder and revenge. For their great assistance and helpful advice, I am indebted to Dan Whitman and Svetlana Gracheva.