Shawn L. Bird

In Edge of Reason, Bridget Jones comments to her diary, “Wonder what Mark Darcy would be like as a father. Father to his children I mean, not to me. That would be  a weird Oedipus-like thought.”

Ha.  I love Bridget Jones.  I think there is far too much Bridget Jones inside each of us.  There is always something that makes us feel somewhat inadequate and afraid.

I like this quote, though, because of the allusion.  When I teach allusion to my high school students, I tell them that it is all around us, but that kids often miss it, simply because they don’t know the work alluded to.  To be well educated, is to have an understanding of the breadth of literary heritage, so you can recognise allusion!

Here it is in action. Bridget Jones refers to Oedipus.  There’s a lot of meaning encapsulated in this reference, if you know to what she is alluding.

The story of Oedipus Rex is an ancient Greek play written by Sophacles some 2500 years ago.  The summary is that a king is told that he will be killed by his son, so when his son is born, he maims him and tells the wife to kill him.  The wife gives the baby to a servant who tells her he’s killed it, but in fact sends it to be raised far away.  Meanwhile young Oedipus wonders if he’s adopted.  He goes to the Oracle to clear it up, and instead of a straight answer, is told he’s going to bed his mother.  He presumes that means he’s not adopted, and runs away to escape that fate.  The king, his birth father, comes across young Oedipus on the road, they have an altercation, Oedipus kills his father (not knowing it’s him of course) and thus one prophecy is fulfilled.  Then he ends up marrying his mother and becoming king.  When he eventually finds out, he tears out his eyes in torment.  There is an underlying message here about the inevitability of destiny, etc.

Obviously, a 2,400 year old play is in public domain.  You can read it here: http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/oedipus.html

Now, lets come back to Bridget.  What layers of meaning are there in her side-comment about Mark Darcy being her father in an Oedipus-like way…  Hmmm

Allusion makes everything far more intriguing.

PS.  In my classroom, when I’m teaching Senior English, there is an “Allusion board” for students to post examples of allusion that they find in literature, movies, and news sources.  One reason that I teach 1984, despite students’ horror of it, because it is a book that is alluded to constantly.