{"id":13680,"date":"2022-01-11T12:16:01","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T12:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/staging\/?page_id=13680"},"modified":"2022-01-11T12:16:01","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T12:16:01","slug":"greece_sophocles_oedipus_king","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/greece_sophocles_oedipus_king\/","title":{"rendered":"Oedipus the King – Sophocles – Oedipus Rex Analysis, Summary, Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Tragedy, Greek, c. 429 BCE, 1,530 lines)<\/h4>\n

Introduction<\/a> | Synopsis<\/a> | Analysis<\/a> | Resources<\/a><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Introduction – Oedipus Story
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\u201cOedipus the King<\/strong>\u201d<\/i> (Gr: \u201cOidipous Tyrannos<\/strong>\u201d<\/i>; Lat: \u201cOedipus Rex<\/strong>\u201d<\/i>) is a tragedy <\/strong>by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles<\/a><\/strong>, first performed in about 429 BCE<\/strong>. It was the second of Sophocles<\/a>‘<\/strong> three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology (followed by \u201cOedipus at Colonus\u201d<\/a><\/i><\/strong> and then \u201cAntigone\u201d<\/a><\/i><\/strong>).<\/p>\n

It follows the story of King Oedipus<\/a> of Thebes<\/strong> as he discovers that he has unwittingly killed his own father, Laius, and married his own mother, Jocasta<\/a>. Over the centuries, it has come to be regarded by many as the Greek tragedy par excellence and certainly as the summit of Sophocles<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 achievements.<\/p>\n\n

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Synopsis – Oedipus Summary
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Dramatis Personae – Characters<\/b><\/h2>\n

OEDIPUS
\nTHE PRIEST OF ZEUS
\nCREON
\nCHORUS OF THEBAN ELDERS
\nTIRESIAS
\nJOCASTA
\nMESSENGER
\nHERDSMAN OF LAIUS<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

To briefly recap on the background to the play:<\/em><\/h3>\n

Shortly after Oedipus<\/a>\u2019 birth<\/strong>, his father, King Laius of Thebes, learned<\/strong> from an oracle that he, Laius, was doomed to perish<\/strong> by<\/strong> the hand of his own son<\/strong>, and so ordered his wife Jocasta<\/a> to kill<\/strong> the infant.<\/p>\n

However, neither she nor her servant could bring themselves to kill him and he was abandoned to elements<\/strong>. There he was found and brought up by a shepherd, before being taken in and raised in the court of the childless King Polybus of Corinth as if he were his own son.<\/p>\n

Stung by rumours that he was not the biological son of the king, Oedipus<\/a> consulted an oracle<\/strong> which foretold that he would marry his own mother and kill his own father. Desperate to avoid this foretold fate, and believing Polybus and Merope to be his true parents, Oedipus<\/a> left Corinth<\/strong>. On the road to Thebes, he met Laius, his real father, and, unaware of each other’s true identities, they quarrelled and Oedipus<\/a>‘ pride led him to murder Laius, fulfilling part of the oracle’s prophecy. Later, he solved the riddle of the Sphinx<\/strong> and his reward for freeing the kingdom of Thebes from the Sphinx\u2019s curse was the hand of Queen Jocasta<\/a> (actually his biological mother) and the crown of the city of Thebes. The prophecy was thus fulfilled<\/strong>, although none of the main characters were aware of it at this point.<\/p>\n

As the play opens<\/strong>, a priest and the Chorus of Theban elders are calling on King Oedipus<\/a> to aid them with the plague which has been sent by Apollo to ravage the city. Oedipus<\/a> has already sent Creon<\/a>, his brother-in-law, to consult the oracle at Delphi on the matter, and when Creon<\/a> returns at that very moment, he reports that the plague will only end when the murderer of their former king, Laius, is caught and brought to justice. Oedipus<\/a> vows to find the murderer and curses him for the plague that he has caused.<\/p>\n

\"oedipus<\/p>\n

Oedipus<\/a> also summons the blind prophet Tiresias<\/a><\/strong>, who claims to know the answers to Oedipus<\/a>‘ questions, but refuses to speak, lamenting his ability to see the truth when the truth brings nothing but pain. He advises Oedipus<\/a> to abandon his search but, when the enraged Oedipus<\/a> accuses Tiresias<\/a> of complicity in the murder, Tiresias<\/a> is provoked into telling the king the truth, that he himself is the murderer. Oedipus<\/a> dismisses this as nonsense, accusing the prophet of being corrupted by the ambitious Creon<\/a> in an attempt to undermine him, and Tiresias<\/a> leaves, putting forth one last riddle: that the murderer of Laius will turn out to be both father and brother to his own children, and the son of his own wife.<\/p>\n

Oedipus<\/a> demands that Creon<\/a> be executed,<\/strong> convinced that he is conspiring against him, and only the intervention of the Chorus persuades him to let Creon<\/a> live. Oedipus<\/a>‘ wife Jocasta<\/a> tells him he should take no notice of prophets and oracles anyway because, many years ago, she and Laius received an oracle which never came true. This prophecy said that Laius would be killed by his own son but, as everyone knows, Laius was actually killed by bandits at a crossroads on the way to Delphi. The mention of crossroads causes Oedipus<\/a> to give pause and he suddenly becomes worried that Tiresias<\/a>‘ accusations may actually have been true.<\/p>\n

\"oedipusWhen a messenger from Corinth arrives with news of the death of King<\/strong> Polybus, Oedipus<\/a> shocks everyone with his apparent happiness at the news, as he sees this as proof that he can never kill his father, although he still fears that he may somehow commit incest with his mother. The messenger, eager to ease Oedipus<\/a>‘ mind, tells him not to worry because Queen Merope of Corinth was not in fact his real mother anyway.<\/p>\n

The messenger turns out to be the very shepherd<\/strong> who had looked after an abandoned child, which he later took to Corinth and gave up to King Polybus for adoption. He is also the very same shepherd who witnessed the murder of Laius. By now, Jocasta<\/a> is beginning to realize the truth, and desperately begs Oedipus<\/a> to stop asking questions. But Oedipus<\/a> presses the shepherd, threatening him with torture or execution, until it finally emerges that the child he gave away was Laius’ own son<\/strong>, and that Jocasta<\/a> had given the baby to the shepherd to secretly be exposed upon the mountainside, in fear of the prophecy that Jocasta<\/a> said had never come true: that the child would kill its father.<\/p>\n

With all now finally revealed<\/strong>, Oedipus<\/a> curses himself and his tragic destiny and stumbles off, as the Chorus laments how even a great man can be felled by fate. A servant enters and explains that Jocasta<\/a>, when she had begun to suspect the truth, had ran to the palace bedroom and hanged herself there. Oedipus<\/a> enters, deliriously calling for a sword so that he might kill himself and raging through the house until he comes upon Jocasta<\/a>‘s body. In final despair, Oedipus<\/a> takes two long gold pins from her dress, and plunges them into his own eyes.<\/p>\n

Now blind, Oedipus<\/a> begs to be exiled as soon as possible<\/strong>, and asks Creon<\/a> to look after his two daughters, Antigone<\/a> and Ismene<\/a>, lamenting that they should have been born into such a cursed family. Creon<\/a> counsels that Oedipus<\/a> should be kept in the palace until oracles can be consulted regarding what is best to be done, and the play ends as the Chorus wails<\/strong>: \u2018Count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last\u2019<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Oedipus The King Analysis
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The play follows<\/strong> one chapter (the most dramatic one) in the life of Oedipus<\/a>, King of Thebes<\/strong>, who lived about a generation before the events of the Trojan War, namely his gradual realization that he has killed his own father, Laius, and committed incest with his own mother, Jocasta<\/a>. It assumes a certain amount of background knowledge of his story, which Greek audiences would have known well, although much of the background is also explained as the action unfolds.<\/p>\n

\"oedipusThe basis of the myth<\/strong> is recounted to some extent in Homer<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d<\/a><\/i><\/strong>, and more detailed accounts would have appeared in the chronicles of Thebes known as the Theban Cycle, although these have since been lost to us.<\/p>\n

\u201cOedipus the King\u201d<\/i><\/strong> is structured as a prologue and five episodes<\/strong>, each introduced by a choral ode<\/strong>. Each of the incidents in the play is part of a tightly constructed cause-and-effect chain, assembled together as an investigation of the past, and the play is considered a marvel of plot structure. Part of the tremendous sense of inevitability and fate in the play stems from the fact that all the irrational things have already occurred and are therefore unalterable.<\/p>\n

The main themes of the play are:<\/strong> fate and free will<\/em> (the inevitability of oracular predictions is a theme that often occurs in Greek tragedies); the conflict between the individual and the state<\/em> (similar to that in Sophocles<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 \u201cAntigone\u201d<\/a><\/i><\/strong>); people\u2019s willingness <\/em>to ignore painful truths (both Oedipus<\/a> and Jocasta<\/a> clutch at unlikely details in order to avoiding facing up to the inceasingly apparent truth); and sight and blindness<\/em> (the irony that the blind seer Tiresius<\/a> can actually \u201csee\u201d more clearly than the supposedly clear-eyed Oedipus<\/a>, who is in reality blind to the truth about his origins and his inadvertent crimes).<\/p>\n

Sophocles<\/a> <\/strong>makes good use of dramatic irony<\/strong> in \u201cOedipus the King\u201d<\/i>. For example: the people of Thebes come to Oedipus<\/a> at the start of the play, asking him to rid the city of the plague, when in reality, it is he who is the cause; Oedipus<\/a> curses the murderer of Laius out of a deep anger at not being able to find him, actually cursing himself in he process; he insults Tiresius<\/a>\u2019 blindness when he is the one who actually lacks vision, and will soon himself be blind; and he rejoices in the news of the death of King Polybus of Corinth, when this new information is what actually brings the tragic prophecy to light.<\/p>\n

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Resources
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