Oedipus Rex, Medea and Lysistrata

Are you ready for some horror? Maybe a tragedy, involving some gouged-out eyes, or a murderous mother would suit you? Or perhaps you'd rather enjoy a comedy about women trying to stop a war by going on a sex "strike"? Then, take a time machine back to ancient Greece, and go to the theatre there... OR...

Go to a theatre nearby, because these plays are still being played, and often. The three plays? Oedipus Rex by Sophocles Medea by Euripides And Lysistrata by Aristophanes These are exciting stories but they have other aspects, too, that speak to us today. Imagine not knowing that you lived with foster parents - who found you in the wilderness. And suddenly learning that your fate was to kill your father and marry your mother.

What would you do? Maybe what Oedipus does. He flees his home town to avoid his destiny. That certainly feels like a normal thing to do. But the Greeks didn't think that.

To try to escape your destiny: "the will of the gods", was seen as trying to be equal to the gods, and that was called hubris! Hubris was a very important concept in ancient Greece. And this is why everything goes so wrong for Oedipus. When he tries to escape his destiny, he actually fulfills it! Because when Oedipus flees from home he heads for the city of Thebes.

On the way, he gets into an argument and kills a stranger - without knowing that it is the king of Thebes and also... his real father! Later, in Thebes, Oedipus marries the king's widow, Queen Jocasta... Uh-huh! ... but keep in mind that he doesn't know that she was his mother NOR that it was he who murdered her husband!

But Thebes is burdened by a mysterious illness and Oedipus must save the city by finding the king's murderer. When Oedipus discovers that it is he, himself who is the murderer, and that he has married his own mother he gouges out his eyes! But why would he do something like that? Well, to show that he finally realises how blind he has been. He tries to purify himself.

For the Gods to forgive hubris, one must purify in front of the gods. Whether today, we believe in God or gods, or in nothing at all, we can recognise not always wanting to live up to everyone's expectations about how we should act, or live. So we can identify with Oedipus' story. We, like him, want to decide our own destiny. But we don't have to gouge our eyes out over that.

And Medea? Well, she had left her homeland, and done everything to be able to live with her beloved, Jason. But... she found out that Jason was planning to marry a princess, Glauce. Medea avenges this by poisoning Glauce and...

killing her own, and Jason's sons. Medea is the one greek tragedy that has been played the most in modern times. Today, many interpret Medea as criticism against a male-dominant and woman-oppressed society: a patriarchy. Whether Euripides really meant to highlight the unjust situation for women is an open question, but he is very good at it. This is also apparent in some of his other plays.

In Lysistrata, the women of Sparta and Athens were tired of the war: a war that had been going on for 10 years when this play was written. That is why Lysistrata suggests that the women should go on a sex strike to end this war. In this play there is plenty of sexual humour, like... the soldiers burdened by their tormented, eh... organs.

Lysistrata is also seen as a feminist play today, as well as being anti war and violence. But Aristophanes actually describes women, except Lysistrata herself, as if they only want to have sex, and are in need of protection from themselves... Not very feminist! Neither was Aristophanes a very peace-loving man, but all Greeks were tired of this particular long-lasting war. Regardless of what the playwrights wanted to say with their plays, there is a lot in them that we can identify with today.

But of course, it is up to you how to interpret them.