Exeunt Omnes

My first experience with this story came while I was at BYU, in the class called History of Creativity. After reading it I had to do a creative project based on the reading. I based my work off of the last two words in our version, which is actually a piece of stage direction:
Exeunt Omnes

It means "Everyone Exits." Meaning everyone leaves the stage. The phrase stuck with me, even though it isn't an intentional piece of the story. It's simply stage direction for "Everyone gets off the stage, we're done."

The phrase reminds me of Oedipus at the end of the play. From the very start, he has been prideful. In a way, he was without peers. One of the greatest of men and with a singularly disturbing destiny. When it is finally accomplished, Oedipus is just as peerless as before, although now peerless in loneliness. In some way I like to imagine that everyone exits except for Oedipus, who is left utterly alone. His Hubris has brought him low, and now he has no one there who could possibly help him. He is blind, bleeding, and tortured by his own decisions. He will literally never see a friendly face again. Oedipus is simply left alone in his own personal darkness, permanently unable to escape from it.

Everyone has exited from Oedipus' life, and now he is left to suffer alone.

That image in and of itself was sufficient for me to create an entire piece based on it, which now sits somewhere among my forgotten school documents. Somewhere dark and lonely, without a doubt.

Exeunt Omnes