This is significant because of the sheperd's involvement in the royal palace affairs. Sophocles juxtapositions the lower class of the sheperd and the royalty of Oedipus to show how even the lowest sheperd has more insight than the king himself.
On top of Matt's comment, I think that the image of a shepherd is very appropriate for the storyline. This shepherd is caring for this "lost truth" like he would care for a flock of sheep. I almost wanted to make a biblical reference, but I realizes that this Greek stuff doesn't exactly tie in to the Bible. I wonder if there are any shepherd-like gods in ancient Greek mythology? This could tie into my idea that the story of Oedipus is putting weak men in their place next to the powerful gods. They could have a man with a godlike quality (if there is a shepherd sort of god) to set him apart from the rest of mankind, giving him a higher level of intelligence.
Plus to support both your assertion and mine, the sheperd is so detached from the beginning scenes, which could indicate that Sophocles needed a character just to tie everything together and finalize Oedipus' fate. His detachment and how the events just fell together can indicate a divine force working behind the scenes, possibly working through the sheperd.
This is significant because of the sheperd's involvement in the royal palace affairs. Sophocles juxtapositions the lower class of the sheperd and the royalty of Oedipus to show how even the lowest sheperd has more insight than the king himself.
ReplyDeleteOn top of Matt's comment, I think that the image of a shepherd is very appropriate for the storyline. This shepherd is caring for this "lost truth" like he would care for a flock of sheep. I almost wanted to make a biblical reference, but I realizes that this Greek stuff doesn't exactly tie in to the Bible. I wonder if there are any shepherd-like gods in ancient Greek mythology? This could tie into my idea that the story of Oedipus is putting weak men in their place next to the powerful gods. They could have a man with a godlike quality (if there is a shepherd sort of god) to set him apart from the rest of mankind, giving him a higher level of intelligence.
ReplyDeletePlus to support both your assertion and mine, the sheperd is so detached from the beginning scenes, which could indicate that Sophocles needed a character just to tie everything together and finalize Oedipus' fate. His detachment and how the events just fell together can indicate a divine force working behind the scenes, possibly working through the sheperd.
ReplyDelete