Tragic Comedies of Humans: Following Sophocles’’s ＂Oedipus at Colonus＂

Tragic Comedies of Humans: Following Sophocles’s Oedipus at Colonus is a drama about the Greek mythological character Oedipus in the tercet stanza. The drama unfolds an imaginary trial of Oedipus at the divine court of the final judgment of the dead in Hades. How he is absolved from crimes he had committed inadvertently to avoid what the fake oracles falsely attributed to Apollo by his sly vile foes. Thus acquitted, Oedipus is invited by Apollo to re-enact his past in a play, ＂Tragic Comedies of Humans,＂ to be performed in Olympus for the gods to watch and appreciate. However, Oedipus politely declines it as he wishes to transcend into nobody. After Oedipus’s awe-inspiring sublime transcendence into nothingness at peace, Apollo gives up his plan in despair. However, Hermes offers Apollo that he will assume the crucial tragic role of Oedipus to perform the play in Olympus. Dramatis Personae (in the order of their appearance): Oedipus: the acclaimed king of Thebes. Hermes: the divine guide of the dead. Persephone: the queen of the Netherworld. Six divine judges of the final judgment of the deceased. Apollo: the god of prophecy. Acastus: Oedipus’s antagonist in Corinth, father of Arete. Laius: the king of Thebes, preceding Oedipus. Thrall of Laius and Jocasta. Tiresias: the seer of Thebes. Jocasta: the queen of Laius and mother/consort of Oedipus. Antigone: the daughter of Oedipus. Arete: Oedipus’s beloved maiden in Corinth, the surrogate mother of Oedipus’s children. The drama consists of 14 Scenes: [Scene 1] Hermes’s Guidance of Oedipus’s Ghost. [Scene 2] Judgment of Oedipus at Divine Court. [Scene 3] Fake Oracles Attributed to Apollo. [Scene 4] Oedipus’s Suspicion of Acastus’s Plot. [Scene 5] Acastus’s Confession of his Hoax. [Scene 6] Laius’s Confession of his Infanticide. [Scene 7] Testimony by Laius’s Thrall.[Scene 8] Tiresias’s Boast of his Divination. [Scene 9] Jocasta’s Testimony. [Scene 10] Antigone’s Sudden Appearance. [Scene 11] Arete’s Testimony. [Scene 12] Apollo and Hermes converse on Humanity and Divinity. [Scene 13] Antigone Acclaimed as a Divine Judge. [Scene 14] Departure of Oedipus into Nothingness.