Oedipus In Folktale Tradition

Abstract

This paper deals with one of the most famous narratives in Western civilization. Its fame is due primarily to Sophocles’ play ‘Oedipus the King’. The story tells about a royal couple who learn that their expected child, when reaching manhood, will kill his father and marry his mother. Accordingly, they expel the newly born infant. The prediction, however, becomes a reality. At learning the horrific secret, the mother commits suicide, and Oedipus pierces his eyes. Many studies and theoretical assumptions in diverse fields of knowledge have been formulated around this tale, including Classics, Comparative Literature, Natural Sciences, Psychology, Anthropology, Linguistics and Folklore. Some consider the story of Oedipus as myth, while others look at it as legend. It is only Folklorists who would know that there are oral tales cognate to the Oedipus legend.

Against this backdrop, the main goal of this study is to compare the ancient Greek legend to its counterparts in folk tradition. In order to do that, one should differentiate between two kinds of tales. One kind is the versions of Aarne-Thompson tale type 931, and the other kind is the tales which only have an Oedipus theme. Scholars believe that the second kind is probably an independent creation.