Oedipus Rex (Edipo re)

OEDIPUS REX

THEBES

How beautiful the lady is.

- Good morning. - Hello.

- How are you? Hello. - Fine.

You’re here to take my place in the world,

send me back into the void,

and rob me of all I have.

Come along, ma’am.

She’ll be the first thing you steal from me,

she, the woman I love...

You already steal her love!

He’s asleep.

Let’s go.

Stop it.

Mama!

What swollen little feet! Tied up so tight.

Don’t cry, don’t cry.

- What have you brought me? - He was alone on Mount Cithaeron.

- Son of Fortune. - I found him there.

He was crying, so I brought him here, thinking you...

Give him to me, idiot!

Son of Fortune.

See him? He squeals like a goat.

This Son of Fortune shall be King of Corinth one day.

Queen!

Queen, look!

The king! The king!

- Queen! - The king!

The king! The king!

Queen, look what I have!

A gift from the gods!

He’s cute, his eyes look like stars.

A gift from the gods!

Why this look, so sad and grave? Laugh, instead!

Give thanks to the gods. We have found a son today.

Give him to me. How you hold him! Do you want to kill him?

Without the slightest delicacy.

Come, Little Swollen Feet.

Little Oedipus, my son.

I won!

I won! Crown me!

I won!

Oedipus kicked the disc ahead.

You can see the mark in the dust!

Foundling!

Son of Fortune! False son of your father and mother!

Mother...

I had a bad dream, but I don’t remember it.

I woke up crying and trembling in the dark, like when I was a child.

The gods meant to tell me something.

But what if I don’t remember, if I can’t remember it?

I lay awake with chills till dawn came,

afraid of the silence and the darkness.

Mother, Father, I’d like to go to Delphi

to ask the Oracle of Apollo about my dream,

about what I can’t remember.

Of course, my son.

All make a pilgrimage at least once in their life to Apollo’s shrine,

rich and poor to ask about their dreams,

and you haven’t gone yet.

It’s beautiful there.

I went there with your father when I was young.

Didn’t I? Do you remember?

It’s a real feast, better than ours.

Very well.

If you want to go, then go.

You’ll have an incomparable escort.

- No, Father. I want to go alone. - But...

Yes, of course. Our son is right.

The gods don’t care for display, they want sincerity.

When will you leave?

- Tomorrow at dawn. - So soon? At once?

Why should I wait?

I don’t want that dream to come and torment me again.

Don’t cry. I’ll be back in a few days.

Goodbye, son.

Goodbye, Little Swollen Feet.

Goodbye, Father. Goodbye, Mother.

CORINTH

In your fate it’s written you shall kill your father

and make love with your mother.

You understand? It’s written in your fate.

You shall kill your father and make love with your mother.

This says the god, and it will surely come to pass.

Now go away.

Don’t taint these people with your presence.

Where are you going, my youth? Where are you going, my life?

Out of the way!

Out of my way, beggar!

Get out of the way!

Off the road! Watch out!

Boy, what happened?

Why are all these people leaving the city...

...and camping here like a tribe of gypsies?

Do you know?

Of course I know. I’m the messenger, I bring the news.

I have to know.

And?

Come with me.

That’s Tiresias, the prophet.

Your brothers and fellows suffer, weep,

searching for salvation...

And you’re here alone, blind and singing...

I wish I were you! You sing what’s beyond destiny.

Our city’s misfortune is up there.

It came up from a deep abyss to frighten us.

We were all doing fine before.

Who could have imagined that?

Nobody dares drive it back to the abyss,

even though the man who does will marry Jocasta,

the queen of Thebes.

And so our city’s lost.

Everyone’s leaving. There’s no point in staying.

Where are you going?

Don’t go! It’s no use!

You’ll die.

Come back! What are you doing?

Come back!

There’s an enigma in your life. What is it?

I don’t know. I don’t want to know.

It’s useless.

I don’t want to see you.

I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to hear you!

It’s useless. The abyss where you’re thrusting me is inside you.

The sphinx is dead!

Come! Come!

The sphinx is dead!

The sphinx is gone!

Come to Creon! Come to the queen!

Whoever kills the sphinx becomes the queen’s husband! I told you!

You’ll be king!

Come!

There she is.

My love.

These boys and I are here to beseech you,

not because we look upon you as a god.

When you came here,

didn’t you rid us of the sphinx?

You didn’t perform this act because you were wiser than us,

but rather with the help of a god.

Therefore Oedipus, our king, we beg you on our knees,

find a solution, it doesn’t matter what,

whether prompted by a god or a man.

You who are the best among us,

give life back to us.

Don’t let your reign be remembered

because you raised us up

and then let us fall again.

I am aware of the wishes you bring,

oh, unfortunate citizens.

I know how you suffer,

but no one suffers more than I.

Because your sorrow touches one of you alone,

while mine is the sorrow of all, mine and yours.

You haven’t awakened me.

I was not sleeping, I was crying,

seeking ways to escape my thoughts.

There is only one course.

I have taken it.

I have sent my brother-in-law Creon to Apollo’s shrine

to learn what to do.

And having counted the time since Creon left,

I am anxious.

What’s he doing?

Why is he so late? Why hasn’t he returned yet?

Creon is here. He’s at the city gates.

God, may he bring us a fate of salvation!

Creon, my brother-in-law, my friend!

What is the answer?

Good news!

Even the most horrid things can end well.

But the answer. We want the answer.

Shall I tell it before all or alone inside the house?

Before all.

I suffer for them.

This is what I heard from the god.

"To defeat the disease which plagues Thebes,

"the man who spread it must leave the town."

What is he charged with? What can his sentence be?

Death or exile.

A murder is the cause of what’s happening here.

Who might the victim be?

Before you, the king was Laius.

So I was told.

I never met him.

He is the victim. The gods want his murderer to be punished.

How can we find him?

Where can we find the traces of a crime which took place so long ago?

Here, the god said.

Here.

And he added,

"What we don’t want to know does not exist,

"but what we want to know...

"...exists."

Was Laius killed in the palace?

In the country? Abroad?

He was going to Apollo’s shrine...

...and he never returned.

No guard or travelling companion witnessed the murder?