Family can be one of the most beautiful things in our lives. It can be filled with love and support and can even extend outside of blood relatives to include close friends.
However, family can also prove destructive. Manipulation, jealousy, and in-fighting within a family can cause resentment and estrangement. Sometimes, it can be so bad that we don’t even want to be associated with our family or with certain family members.
Then, what makes a family a family? Does family consist of mere blood relation, or does it go deeper?
Oedipus and His Family
We probably remember from the Sophoclean tragedies the complicated story of Oedipus and his family–especially that he killed his father and married his mother. But there is more to the story, and it’s helpful to see the emotions of this particular ill-fated family….