Teiresias, the seer of Oedipus the King - Leeds International ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

HANNA M. ROISMAN, TEIRESIAS, THE SEER OF OEDIPUS THE KING meaning of the statement stems from the association between physical blindness and spiritual sight on which Sophocles’ Teiresias had played. Sophocles had his Teiresias maintain that his physical blindness conferred on him knowledge of hidden truths, while Oedipus’ sight of the physical world was coupled with a basic ignorance of those truths (OT 412-28). Seneca takes the paradox out of the oxymoron of the ‘blind seer’ and presents the audience with a Teiresias who is not only unable to see the world of objects, but whose ability to discern hidden truths is limited as well. 25 At the end of the scene, Teiresias will tell his hearers that his divining arts will not yield up the murderer’s name and that the murdered man must be consulted for that (390-9). The next two sentences reiterate yet again the dual motifs of Teiresias’ eagerness to help and limited ability to do so. ‘Where my country, where Phoebus calls, I shall follow’ (sed quo vocat me patria, quo Phoebus, sequar, 296), Teiresias assures Oedipus, but then apologizes again, stating that: ‘if my blood were fresh and warm, I would receive the god directly in my heart’ (si foret viridis mihi/ calidus sanguis, pectore exciperem deum, 297f.). The precise meaning of this statement is not entirely clear. Töchterle and others have suggested that it means that if he could, Teiresias would discern the god’s messages directly by inspiration instead of through divination. 26 Yet whatever its precise meaning, the statement conveys clearly enough that Teiresias’ old age is not only a source of physical weakness but also reduces his ability to ‘see’ as a seer should. The second scene in which we hear of Teiresias is the incantation to Bacchus. Before leaving the stage at the end of the divination scene, Teiresias proposes that Laius be consulted to identify his murderer and that, in the meantime, the chorus—or ‘folk’—‘chant the praises of Bacchus’ (401f.). In having Teiresias introduce the paean to Bacchus, Seneca draws on his role, developed in Euripides’ Bacchai, as the seer who welcomed Dionysus as a somewhat late-coming god to the Theban pantheon. Euripides had depicted Teiresias as a worldly-wise priest, who had the perspicacity to accept the divinity of the powerful god of the vine, even though the ruler of Thebes, the rather dour Pentheus, had rejected him. 27 The celebratory tone of the paean is rather disconcerting in a play that draws on the dark themes of plague, incest, and filial murder, and scholars have long debated Seneca’s purpose in introducing Bacchus. 28 For our understanding here, what is of interest is that while Seneca draws on the Euripidean figure, he takes nothing from Euripides’ characterization, for, other than making the proposal, his Teiresias plays no role at all in the paean. 29 25 For the absence of the imagery of ‘seeing’ and ‘knowing’ in the Senecan version see also Motto and Clark (1988) 148f. 26 Töchterle (1994) on line; Häuptli (1983) on line. Cf. Henry and Walker (1983) 135. 27 For a discussion of the Euripidean Teiresias see Roth (1984) and bibliography. 28 Motto and Clark (1988) 158-62 show how the ode to Bacchus ties in with the unnatural fate of many of the Cadmean family. Dionysus along with Apollo plague the Cadmean line, cf. Henry and Walker (1983) 137f. The underlying irony in the ode to Bacchus leads Boyle (1997) 94 to identify Sophocles Ant. 115-54 as the ‘model’ for the Senecan choral ode. 29 Mastronarde (1970) 309-11 sees in Teiresias the reverse of Bacchus, and points out that ‘themes of the Theban past link the necromancy and the Bacchus-ode’ (310). 14
HANNA M. ROISMAN, TEIRESIAS, THE SEER OF OEDIPUS THE KING In the third depiction, in the Otherworld meeting with Laius, Seneca harks back to Teiresias’ Homeric role as Odysseus’ guide to Hades. Homer’s Teiresias had enabled Odysseus to meet, first of all, with his mother. Seneca has his Teiresias conjure up Oedipus’ father. Other than this vague connection, there seems to be no further borrowing from Homer. What is notable is that Teiresias’ depiction here is rather different from that in the divination scene. Although Seneca once again notes Teiresias’ old age, he now has Creon describe him as a power in the Otherworld. Creon tells how, draped in a funeral pall, waving a branch, and his white hair wreathed in ‘death-bringing yew’ (551-5), Teiresias summons the shades using a magic formula and pouring libations onto a coal fire. He describes his voice as sonorous, and his summons as effective and tells how, in contrast to himself, whom the ‘spirit left’ (595), and Manto, who was ‘stunned’ (595f.) by the fearful sight of Dis, Teiresias remained undaunted and unfazed (596-8). The disconnection between the depictions of Teiresias in his upper world mode and his Otherworld mode suggests that Seneca suited his depictions to the ‘dramatics’ of the scene. In other words, for Seneca, an old and weak seer made for an interesting and compelling dramatic figure in the context of the upper world, but did not fit Teiresias’ role in summoning the ghosts of the Otherworld. 30 This brings me to Teiresias’ function in Seneca’s play. As is well known, Seneca was fond of spectacles, whether acted out or rendered through verbal description. 31 The three scenes in which Teiresias figures, albeit rather differently in each, are all spectacles, in the sense of extravagant and fantastic displays. Teiresias, whose identity as a seer allowed him to preside over the divination, who was associated with the cult of Bacchus in Thebes, and who was Odysseus’ guide to the Otherworld, was suited by virtue of his various roles in the Greek canon to usher in the successive spectacles. Having stated this, I now take a closer look at Teiresias’ function in the divination scene, the only spectacle in which he is actually on stage. Teiresias’ first acts in this scene are to order the sacrificial animals to be driven to the altar and to direct Manto to guide him and report what she sees. In the course of the scene, he directs her how to perform the rite, asks questions, and makes interpretations. As Manto answers the questions, she regales the audience with lurid descriptions of the distorted and unnatural behaviors of the flame and of the flesh and blood of the sacrificial bull and heifer. The gory sensationalism of these descriptions probably provided much of the drama and interest of the scene for Seneca’s audience. 32 30 Schiesaro (1997) 93-8 sees the Senecan Teiresias in this scene as the equivalent of a vates (552), the poet himself (the word can mean both: ‘a poet’ and ‘a prophet’): ‘The vates who through his song can bring to life the frightening creatures buried in the Underworld is like the poet who, on the strength of his inspiration, gives life to the characters of tragedy’ (95). 31 Dupont (1995) 189-93, who assumes that Seneca wrote his tragedies to be staged and that they were staged, makes the point that the spectacles described and acted out had a double effect, in that they were presented to both the inner and outer audiences. 32 For the discussion of the grotesque, the unnatural and the gory in the spectacles see Motto and Clark (1977/78); (1988) 146-8, 152f. 15
Page 1 and 2: Leeds International Classical Studi
Page 3 and 4: HANNA M. ROISMAN, TEIRESIAS, THE SE
Page 13: HANNA M. ROISMAN, TEIRESIAS, THE SE

Teiresias, the seer of Oedipus the King - Leeds International ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?