Oedipus Rex in Harry Potter
I was reading Oedipus Rex in language arts and had one of those "Aha!" moments. Why, you ask? I found Voldemort's mother's name. Merope, in Oedipus Rex, is the name of Oedipus's adoptive mother. I thought to myself: why, that is odd. Why would JKR use the name of Oedipus's adoptive mother, if she was trying to compare Voldie to Oedipus? She could have used Jacosta (the name of Oedipus's birth mother) who is a central character (Merope is only mentioned in passing) and would have made the allusion much more obvious. That was when I thought the comparison was between Oedipus and Voldemort. It certainly does make sense. Oedipus, like Voldemort, hears of this prophecy, and while trying to avoid it he makes it come true. However, the real comparison here is between Harry and Oedipus. Confused?
Let me explain.
Voldemort marks Harry as his equal, correct? In doing so, Voldemort gave some of his powers (specifically those related to being the Heir of Slytherin) to Harry, powers Voldemort inherited from his mother. Harry is Voldemort's counterpart and thus Merope is Harry's symbolic adoptive mother. This sets Harry up for more comparison between himself and Oedipus. To those of you who know the story of Oedipus Rex, you know that Oedipus goes on a quest and braves a series of challenges, one of which he saves a city from death by sphinx and is thus named king. One of the obstacles Harry faces in the maze is the sphinx. He solves her riddle (that's how Oedipus defeats her too, by the way) and thus becomes one of the Champions. JKR could have used any creature. Hell, she could have had a hobbit sitting in the maze reciting riddles about pockets, but she doesn't. She uses the sphinx. In my opinion, JKR does this on purpose to establish the similarity between her story and Oedipus Rex.
Also note all the emphasis placed on Harry's eyes. Not only does Oedipus Rex blind himself at the end of play, but the whole play has a theme of knowledge v. ignorance, physical sight v. seeing (seeing the truth, more specifically). We all know that Harry has a problem with seeing the truth. He is blindly prejudiced against certain people, Slytherins to be precise. He does not stop to think, "Hey, this HBP could be a bad guy." Or "Draco might not be Satin's spawn" (though Harry did turn out to be right in HBP, he has been wrong about Draco before). Or even "You know, Professor Snape isn't all bad. Maybe I misinterpreted Dumbledore's death." Harry lets his prejudices get in the way of his seeing, a very important theme throughout Oedipus as I've already said. Harry even wears glasses; JKR goes as far to point out that there is something physically wrong with his eyes so that we see that perhaps that there is something wrong with how he perceives things. This is also a good place to point out that Oedipus blinds himself because of his mother. Harry has his mother's eyes. Seeing the connection?
Furthermore, in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus marries his real mother, Jacosta (and has children with her...gross...but that has nothing to do with anything for our purposes). Obviously Harry cannot marry Lily since she's dead, but there is someone else he can marry. In fact, there is someone else he has shown romantic interest in who is very similar to his mother. Symbolically, he could marry his mother by marrying Ginny Weasley. Not only does Ginny have the red hair, but Harry did not know her romantically until HBP. In fact, he first knew her as Ron's little sister, as a member of the Weasley family he is practically a part of. In a sense, they are related. Not biologically, but the implication is still there. Why would JKR make Ginny a symbolic Jacosta? There are lots of conclusions we can draw here, but I'll share with you the one I am partial to. In order for the prophecy to come true in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus MUST MARRY HIS MOTHER. Is JKR implying that Harry's prophecy cannot come true without Ginny? Must he marry Ginny, and thus have love, for him to defeat Voldemort? I believe so. I personally thought Harry was totally missing Dumbledore's point when he broke up with Ginny at the end of HBP, and for me, the connect to Oedipus Rex only reiterates what a silly decision that was and that they will be together before the end.
If you haven't read Oedipus Rex (and I commend you if you made it to the end of this essay if you haven't) and you have an urge to, then you can find the full text of it at sparknotes.com. There are some things I left out in this essay because I was focusing on the relationship between Harry and Oedipus, but there are also similarities between other HP characters and other characters in Oedipus Rex. For example, the people who originally take the rap for Oedipus's little killing spree are known as the marauders (coincidence? not likely), and I personally believe that Trelawny is meant to be a Teiresias, but we'll leave that for another essay. :)
Let me explain.
Voldemort marks Harry as his equal, correct? In doing so, Voldemort gave some of his powers (specifically those related to being the Heir of Slytherin) to Harry, powers Voldemort inherited from his mother. Harry is Voldemort's counterpart and thus Merope is Harry's symbolic adoptive mother. This sets Harry up for more comparison between himself and Oedipus. To those of you who know the story of Oedipus Rex, you know that Oedipus goes on a quest and braves a series of challenges, one of which he saves a city from death by sphinx and is thus named king. One of the obstacles Harry faces in the maze is the sphinx. He solves her riddle (that's how Oedipus defeats her too, by the way) and thus becomes one of the Champions. JKR could have used any creature. Hell, she could have had a hobbit sitting in the maze reciting riddles about pockets, but she doesn't. She uses the sphinx. In my opinion, JKR does this on purpose to establish the similarity between her story and Oedipus Rex.
Also note all the emphasis placed on Harry's eyes. Not only does Oedipus Rex blind himself at the end of play, but the whole play has a theme of knowledge v. ignorance, physical sight v. seeing (seeing the truth, more specifically). We all know that Harry has a problem with seeing the truth. He is blindly prejudiced against certain people, Slytherins to be precise. He does not stop to think, "Hey, this HBP could be a bad guy." Or "Draco might not be Satin's spawn" (though Harry did turn out to be right in HBP, he has been wrong about Draco before). Or even "You know, Professor Snape isn't all bad. Maybe I misinterpreted Dumbledore's death." Harry lets his prejudices get in the way of his seeing, a very important theme throughout Oedipus as I've already said. Harry even wears glasses; JKR goes as far to point out that there is something physically wrong with his eyes so that we see that perhaps that there is something wrong with how he perceives things. This is also a good place to point out that Oedipus blinds himself because of his mother. Harry has his mother's eyes. Seeing the connection?
Furthermore, in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus marries his real mother, Jacosta (and has children with her...gross...but that has nothing to do with anything for our purposes). Obviously Harry cannot marry Lily since she's dead, but there is someone else he can marry. In fact, there is someone else he has shown romantic interest in who is very similar to his mother. Symbolically, he could marry his mother by marrying Ginny Weasley. Not only does Ginny have the red hair, but Harry did not know her romantically until HBP. In fact, he first knew her as Ron's little sister, as a member of the Weasley family he is practically a part of. In a sense, they are related. Not biologically, but the implication is still there. Why would JKR make Ginny a symbolic Jacosta? There are lots of conclusions we can draw here, but I'll share with you the one I am partial to. In order for the prophecy to come true in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus MUST MARRY HIS MOTHER. Is JKR implying that Harry's prophecy cannot come true without Ginny? Must he marry Ginny, and thus have love, for him to defeat Voldemort? I believe so. I personally thought Harry was totally missing Dumbledore's point when he broke up with Ginny at the end of HBP, and for me, the connect to Oedipus Rex only reiterates what a silly decision that was and that they will be together before the end.
If you haven't read Oedipus Rex (and I commend you if you made it to the end of this essay if you haven't) and you have an urge to, then you can find the full text of it at sparknotes.com. There are some things I left out in this essay because I was focusing on the relationship between Harry and Oedipus, but there are also similarities between other HP characters and other characters in Oedipus Rex. For example, the people who originally take the rap for Oedipus's little killing spree are known as the marauders (coincidence? not likely), and I personally believe that Trelawny is meant to be a Teiresias, but we'll leave that for another essay. :)