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Oedipus

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Fictional Character

The Resume

    Name literally means 'swollen foot'
    Variations of the name are Edipo, Edipos, Edipus, Oedipe, Oedipe Rex, and Oedipais
    Mythical Greek king of Thebes; Tragic hero
    Earliest origins are rooted in the folk traditions of Albania, Finland, Cyprus, and Greece
    Earliest account of the myth is recorded in Homer's famous epic poem, 'The Odyssey' (XI.271)
    Son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta; Famously killed his father and married his mother
    Wife/mother hanged herself when the truth of their marriage was revealed; soon after blinded himself and went into exile in the desert along with his daughters, Ismene and Antigone (although some versions have him remain King)
    Inspired the Theban tragedies of Sophocles; 'Oedipus the King,' 'Oedipus at Colonus,' and 'Antigone'
    Also inspired literary works by Hesiod, Pindar, Aeschylus, Euripides, Nichomachus, Xenocles, Ovid, Seneca, John Dryden, Voltaire, Andre Gide, Jean Cocteau, Pierre Corneille, Immanuel Velikovsky, Ola Rotimi, and Frank McGuinness
    Was appropriated by famed psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, and later Carl Jung, to term and contextualize his theory of the Oedipus Complex
    Saved the city of Thebes from the Sphinx by answering a riddle ('What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon and three at night?'; the answer, 'Man as an infant, he crawls on all fours; as an adult, he walks on two legs and; in old age, he uses a walking stick')

Why he might be annoying:

    He had four kids with his own mother.
    He is the poster-child for self-fulfilling prophecy.
    Linguists debate as to whether or not his name even really translates to 'swollen foot' (as it is, non-thespians have trouble enough pronouncing his name).
    He was the subject of a crappy 'gladiator movie' starring Christopher Plummer.
    Classical artwork tends to depict him as naked when answering the Sphinx's riddle (why...?)
    He found out he wasn't biologically related to the King & Queen of Corinth while out drinking with his buddies.
    He killed three men (including his father in disguise) over traffic dispute, and forgot about it for years.
    He became King by, basically, winning a lottery (just by answering a riddle and prompting a monster to commit suicide, he gets to marry into royalty).
    He was the indirect reason his kingdom was devastated by a plague, on his watch.
    He is referenced in the 1997 Disney-fied butchering of the 'Hercules' story when, presumably after seeing 'Oedipus Rex' performed, 'Herc' exclaims 'Man, I thought I had problems!' (incidentally saying this to the woman he would eventually marry and kill, along with her kids, in the actual legend).
    He is the namesake for a term designating a son’s love of his mother/hatred of his father, but he committed neither incest nor patricide willfully.
    Nonetheless, this has resulted in his name being freely thrown out by art critics, forensic psychiatrists and pop culture aficianados, like they really know what it means (Hamlet anyone? Or Norman Bates? Or Ed Gein?)
    His defeating of the Sphinx frequently figures into children's anthologies on mythological heroes (usually leaving out the whole 'murdering his father/marrying his mother/purposefully blinding himself after learning about it' thing!)

Why he might not be annoying:

    He inspired an extremely cool Igor Stravinsky opera.
    Actors of all stripes still vie for the chance at portraying him.
    Aristotle, in his 'Poetics,' called Sophocles' 'Oedipus the King' 'the great exemplar of Greek tragedy.'
    Julius Caesar penned a play about him, but it was never recovered.
    His father ordered his servant to kill him shortly after his birth, when he learned of the Oracle's prophecy that his own son would kill him (in other words, the old dick probably had it coming).
    His feet and ankles were pierced, as a baby, to prevent him from returning when Laius' servant abandoned him on the mountaintop (he would be taken in by a shepherd, eventually to be adopted by the King and Queen of Corinth).
    He unwittingly affirmed the Oracle of Delphi's prophecy by actively working to avoid doing so (he was fleeing from his adopted parents when he killed his birth father).
    When he discovered that he had unintentionally fulfilled the prophecy, he snatched two pins from the dress of his then-dead wife and gauged his eyes out in shame.
    He is the namesake for a medicinal term for a serious self-inflicted eye injury (known for being extremely rare).
    Three of his four kids were put to death by his uncle/brother-in-law, King Creon (most versions spare Ismene anyway).
    The cause of his death varies depending on the legend. Usually, he is either swallowed into the earth or struck by lightning (either way becoming a guardian hero of the land, called to live on Mt. Olympus with the gods).
    He has been historically grouped with fellow blinded 'fallen heroes' Samson, Homer, and Belisarius; all of them icons of Classical art and drama.
    He is referenced in The Doors' psychedelic raga rock classic, '[This is] The End,' or at least the Live recording which had Jim Morrison 'reenact' the Greek tragedy as an aside ('Father / Yes son? / I want to kill you / Mother, I want to [inaudible]!!')

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 32 Votes: 96.88% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 88 Votes: 53.41% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 30 Votes: 86.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 174 Votes: 43.68% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 94 Votes: 51.06% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 130 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 19 Votes: 52.63% Annoying