Was Oedipus Culpable?

As I noted in an earlier post on Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, I am (very slowly) working my way through the ancient Greek tragedies.  I recently finished the sequel to Oedipus RexOedipus at Colonus.  One of the central questions in OC is the extent to which Oedipus was truly culpable for killing his father, King Laius, and sleeping with his mother, Queen Jocasta.  And, indeed, to modern sensibilities (or at least my modern sensibilities), Oedipus suffers far in excess of his blameworthiness.  After all, he did not know that Laius and Jocasta were his father and mother — he was raised by the King and Queen of Corinth, and they never told him that they were not his biological parents.  The whole patricide and incest thing was an accident.  So why should Oedipus suffer blindness, exile, and life as a wandering beggar — how he can deserve such a fate?

To be sure, Oedipus did massacre Laius and his attendants following a dispute over whose chariot had the right of way — what seems to be an ancient instance of road rage.  Even if he did not know that Laius was his father, we might say Oedipus was culpable for a hyper-violent overreaction to a minor slight.  

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Best of the Blogs: SVU, Carrots, and Yale Law

When I write the “Best of the Blogs” feature, I usually try to identify some common theme that ties together some of my favorite posts of the past week.  It doesn’t seem to be working this week.  I’ll leave it as a challenge to enterprising readers to see if they can connect the following dots in some way that is eluding me.

First, I stumbled across this fun blog called Prime-Time Crime Review.  The author is a real-life sex-crimes prosecutor named Allison Leotta.  She posts after each new episode of Law & Order: SVU with an evaluation of how realistic the episode was.  I could pitch this blog as a crim-pro supplement for law students, but really it’s much more entertaining than that would imply.  Sample comments on the October 14 episode:

What they got wrong: First, the dress the new ADA was wearing. Skin-tight red leather with ruffles? I don’t think so. But she did look amazing. But then she went over the top with her lawyering tactics. When the nutty professor came in to plea bargain with his high-paid lawyer, they argued and the prof asked, “Can I fire him?” The ADA answered, “Sure!” and got the prof a new (young, inexperienced) lawyer. That would never happen in real life. The criminal justice system is adversarial, which means the prosecutor cannot advise the defendant, hook him up with a defense attorney, or even talk to him alone once he has a lawyer. If a defendant asks a prosecutor for a new lawyer, she can set up a hearing where the judge can listen to his concerns and appoint a new lawyer for him. This was as realistic as Jennifer Aniston selecting the dress for Anglina Jolie to wear to the Oscars.

The blog reminds me of one of my favorite lines from my all-time favorite TV lawyer — while watching L.A. Law, Lionel Hutz sarcastically observed, “Oh, sure, like lawyers work in big skyscrapers and have secretaries. Look at him, he’s wearing a belt!”  

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Lawyer-Comedian Summoned Before the Final Grand Jury

Comedian-actor Greg Giraldo, 44, who recently died of a drug overdose, was a lawyer before he was a stand-up comic.  Belying his scruffy appearance and man-of-the-street manner, the New York native was a graduate of Regis (New York’s elite Jesuit High School), Columbia University, and Harvard Law School.  After a brief career in the New York office of the law firm Skadden Arps, Giraldo abandoned the practice of law for the world of comedy clubs and guest appearances on late-night talk shows.

Three years later (1996), he briefly returned to the law (at least in a manner of speaking) when he won the lead role as a bohemian lawyer in the ABC sit-com, Common Law.  Unfortunately, Common Law was watched by no one other than David Papke and Gordon Hylton, and the series was cancelled after five episodes.  Giraldo was probably best known for the rants that he delivered during his frequent appearances on Comedy Central’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Giraldo performed in Milwaukee a number of times during the past two decades.  An obituary that focuses on his early law-related career can be found on the Esquire Magazine website.

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