Opinion

The Furies

By Douglas Lummis

Of course, I'm not superstitious, and I wouldn't invite readers to become so. We shouldn't take ancient myths and legends literally. But why, when I read about the terrible hurricanes hitting America's Gulf Coast, do I keep thinking about the Furies?

The Furies, in ancient Greek and Roman mythology, were three dread goddesses, Tisiphone, Megaera and Alecto, whose job was to avenge crime. When a crime was committed and human justice failed to punish the criminal, the Furies, terrifying figures with snakes in their hair, would carry out the punishment themselves. Sometimes this punishment was not against the criminal only. When the crime was great, the gods might punish the whole country that had failed to punish the criminal, as Thebes was made to suffer for failing to punish the crime of King Oedipus.

Yes, King Oedipus. Reality is not a play, so why do I keep thinking about King Oedipus? Even if you haven't read it, you probably know the outline of Sophocles' great play "Oedipus Rex." The kingdom of Thebes has come under a curse. Crops will not grow, and men, women and children are dying from pestilence. King Oedipus sends a messenger to the Oracle at Delphi to learn why. The Oracle answers: Thebes is cursed because it has failed to punish the killer of the former king, who was murdered years ago.

Oedipus, acting the just king, vows to avenge the murder. Using all his sacred powers as king, he lays a fearsome curse on the murderer. If the murderer is Theban, then no matter who he is, he shall be banished from the city, deprived of all rights, banned from religious rituals, forbidden to speak with any other Theban. (Doesn't this sound a little like the fate of the people imprisoned at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay?)

What King Oedipus doesn't know (what he is trying desperately to avoid knowing) is that he is laying this curse on himself. (In psychological terminology this trick, whereby the person who has a guilty secret manages to hide this secret from himself by vigorously accusing others of his crime, is called "projection.")

As the play progresses, King Oedipus gradually "remembers" that it was he himself who committed the crime. The curse he has put upon the criminal returns. Reduced in a day from king to beggar, he leaves the city, to wander through Greece an exile and an outcast. With this the gods are satisfied, and the curse on Thebes is lifted.

Why do I keep remembering this? When the U.S. president or the people around him rant about how just they are to carry on their war against terrorism, and about what terrible criminals the terrorists are ("They are murderers! They don't respect the law! They kill people!"), am I the only one who keeps hearing the voice of King Oedipus laying a curse on the criminals who brought down a blight on the land? Am I the only one who keeps thinking of the hurricane disasters as Gulf Storm III? (505 words)

Shukan ST: Oct. 14, 2005

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