Oedipus Journal #4

"Not rounding off, but opening out." Comment upon the way the writers deal with the ending in relation to the whole.

In the end of Oedipus the King, Jocasta has committed suicide after finding out that Oedipus is her son, Oedipus has stuck brooches in his eyes to make himself blind as a punishment for never truly seeing what was in front of him, and Creon is apparently assuming the role of King of Thebes. The way Sophocles wrote this ending does not "round off" the play because it does not really tie up all the loose ends and satisfy the reader. Instead, it "opens out", meaning that it simple opens the door for many possibilities regarding what could happen next. For example, after reading the end of the play, the reader is left not knowing what will happen to Oedipus' children (will Oedipus' prophecy move down to them?), what kind of leader Creon will be, if anything will be done about the state's plague, and even what will happen to Oedipus if he lives the rest of his life in exile. By creating an ending such as this one in which questions remain unanswered, Sophocles has left the fate of the characters fairly open-ended, leaving the reader to interpret the possibilities for themselves. In a way, this kind of ending is unsatisfactory, because as a reader I would rather leave a book once all the loose ends have been tied up, not before things have been completed.

In The Crucible, Miller also creates an unsatisfying ending. Although Proctor has agreed to confess to witchcraft - a crime he did not commit - in order to save his life, he soon changes his mind and in turn gets hanged for his decision. While Proctor does this to save his honor, it is not what the reader wants to happen. It would have been preferable if Proctor had stayed alive, then the reader could have followed his actions and seen him possibly end the accusations and chaos around him. Instead, the reader leaves the story uncertain as to when the witchcraft trials will stop (or if they will stop at all), if Abigail and the other accusers will be revealed as frauds, and the state of the town and its people in the aftermath of the event. By creating an ending that does not "round off" but "opens out", Miller forces the reader to interpret for themselves what lies in the future for the characters of the story.