James: Something to Teach Us

The dramatic genius of Sophocles is evident both in his intricate plots and strong yet subtly complex characters, as found in Oedipus Rex. This is the story of inescapable fate, hubris, arrogance, and pervasive yet unrealized hopes. Sophocles' play has much to teach historians and philosophers, just as it is possible for unorthodox thinking to make incredible contributions to the mainstream society surrounding it. What is this quality that makes certain minds, real or imagined, stand out from the multitudes? This characteristic can be defined as liminality. A liminoid is a person in a state of transition; one temporarily stripped of personal identity, societal structure, and self- knowledge during an initiation ritual or experience; or one just outside the rules, definitions, or boundaries of society. King Oedipus has liminoid characteristics in respect to his changing social roles, a three stage initiation experience shared with his people, and an internal nonconformity to society’s norms.

Throughout his life Oedipus experiences a number of shifts in political and social position. As a baby, he was cast away on a mountain to die because his parents feared Apollo’s prophecies of how Oedipus was to kill his father and marry his mother. Later, Oedipus becomes King of Thebes by answering the riddle of the Sphinx, after unknowingly killing his father while traveling and then marrying his mother. Finally his misdeeds are revealed, expelling him from Thebes as a blind, mentally and physically crippled outcast. Thus Oedipus experiences several transitions through markedly different social locations. Ms succeeding transitions characterized him as similar to a liminoid.

While Oedipus' transitions aren't ritualized into initiation rites there is a comparison to a three stage group trial through the main plot of the story. At the beginning of the play, Ins city and family life seem to be stable until the plague and famine occur. He has power and friends. These are taken away him. Oedipus experiences the first stage of an initiation; separation from what he knows. In a word, this is the "dying" stage. Taken quite literally, Oedipusworld crumbles as his people die. He can be heard benevolently announcing how he knows "only too well that you are all sick, but sick though you may be, there is not one of you as sick as 1. Your pain torments each of you alone, by himself, but my spirit within me mourns for the city, and myself, and all of you (4). " Searching for a solution, he ends up hearing, "You are the murderer [the former king’s unpunished killer caused the plague], you are the unholy defilement of the land (23), " from the respected prophet Tiresias, and in angry denial and confusion banishes his best advisor and brother in law Creon for alleged conspiracy. Oedipus' self image as the paragon and source of justice has been challenged, leaving him adamantly determined that he "will find out the whole truth." This is the liminal stage, because Oedipus has just been separated from his previous self -image and social status and is now being "remade" through a search for truth. . Meanwhile, the city's people going through this with him are in a turmoil, as voiced in this passage by the chorus: "The wise prophets' words have brought me terror and confusion. I cannot agree with him, nor speak against him. I do not know what to say. I waver in hope and fear; I cannot see forward or back (32)." This confusion of hope and fear is a very definite characteristic of transition through initiation

The significance of this speech is that it exemplifies the citizens' confusion and Oedipus' confusion during the "remaking" stage of the neophytes. The confusion of hope and fear is characteristic of the liminal stage. Afterwards, the mental rebirth of the people and their king is their reincorporation into the truth. They learn about Oedipus' past, and a new realization of the utter futility of dodging fate. All the characters, including Oedipus, have now collectively experienced a complete three-stage specific initiation within the plot of the play.

The definition of a liminoid includes meanings of one who is in a stage of transition and of one who is a participant in the liminal stage of rites of passage, both of which describe Sophocles'protagonist. The third meaning of a liminoid is someone who is perpetually just outside the border of common society. This person does not conform to common boundaries, standards, rules or definitions. He/she may be "weird" or insane. Often this liminoid has original qualities or insights that are most likely to benefit or test the beliefs of the organized conformists living inside those boundaries.

At first glance, Oedipus doesn't seem to have many of these characteristics as he is a respected king. Though he undergoes a series of transitions in social role, he fits into the standards of each. His conformity is not only unnatural, it is almost a downright lie. Pretending to be a paragon of justice, he finds he has caused the torment of the city, and throws out his brother- in-law in denial. He marries his own mother and has children with her! These are not actions society condones. Even without being aware of it, Oedipus continually, obliviously, and innocently breaks rules, eludes definitions, upsets social standards and boundaries throughout the play. Just because the supporting characters don't realize this
immediately and reject him, and just because he is unaware of the social offenses he commits, doesn't mean he is as proper a king as he thinks he is. This lack of self knowledge, or hubris, is yet another of the internal flaws that characterize him as similar to a liminoid at the edges of what is acceptable. Liminoids lack self knowledge because this specific initiation stage always robs them of their previous individual identities.

Oedipus might also be considered insane by the end of the story. He puts his own eyes out with clothing pins, crying "Oh God! It has all come true. Light, let this be the last time I see you (89). " He renounces everything pleasant and dementedly leaves the palace, finally externally acknowledging and, in a way, adopting true liminoid characteristics as a blind, wandering outcast.

Finally, a liminoid usually has the best chance of teaching the common society something about itself or life in general. What does Sophocles' Oedipus have to teach Thebes in the play, and fiirthermore, the ancient and modem worlds? He is an epitome of the dangers of hubris, arrogance rooted in ignorance of ones'proper place and real self in relation to the gods and the world. He reminds the ancients not to doubt the gods or try to escape fate. He is an omnipresent example of the fallibilities of leaders. Most importantly, his liminoid state adds to the depth and century-spanning popularity of the play.

Tragic king Oedipus has liminoid characteristics for three reasons. He undergoes a series of sequential transitions in his life, participates in an internal group initiation with his subjects, and most importantly is found to be outside societies' boundaries because of the series of rules he breaks. Yet he shares with those conventional citizens moral lessons, shocking realizations, and broadly edifying reminders of mortal fallibility. These lessons, descending from the protagonists liminoid characterization, contribute indescribably to the eternally classic appeal of Sophocles' parable.