Oedipus among the voice, the listening, and the path

Abstract

This article aims to show how the relationship among the voice, listening, and the path is decisive for the Oedipal drama's tragic unfolding. From listening to the Apollinium oracle to the prophecies of the blind seer, Oedipus sets out on a journey, always in search of finding out truly who he is and what his destiny is. Based on the Foucauldian readings and in dialogue with other scholars of this millennial play, it is possible to see that the new judicial model implemented by the king of Thebes himself to discover the murderer of the former sovereign condemns him to listen to the word from which, for all time, he has evaded. And the salvation of the city? This is nothing more than an effect of lights and sounds: a way to make the truth emerge so that everyone can see and hear it and thus recover the lost order.