Sophocles: Journal 4

Reoccuring Images: A Shrieking Bird

"the dark wings beating around him shrieking doom the doom that never dies, the terror-"(548-549)

"Jocasta, why, why look to the Prophet's hearth, the fires of the future? Why scan the birds that scream above our heads?" (1054-1056)

"O dear god, and the Sphinx came crashing down, the virgin, claws hooked like a bird of omen singing, shrieking death-" (1323-1325)

A bird, back then at least, is impossible to stop, especially when it is going in for the kill. They can stay wherever they are for as long as they want because they can fly above our heads and become untouchable, looming over us, shrieking. Sophocles uses the image of the shrieking bird to highlight the idea that the characters can do nothing about their fate. The birds are used in parts of the story when their fate is questioned, but the shrieking birds are untouchable, they are unable to chage their fate.