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Oedipus the King
Sophocles, Greece, (496-406 BC)
Oedipus the King
(
Ancient Greek
: Οἰδίπους Τύραννος,
Oidipous Tyrannos
), also known by the
Latin
title
Oedipus Rex
, is an
Athenian
tragedy
by
Sophocles
that was first performed c. 429 BCE
[1]
It was the second of Sophocles's
three Theban plays
to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology, followed by
Oedipus at Colonus
and then
Antigone
.
Oedipus Rex
chronicles the story of
Oedipus
, a man who becomes the king of Thebes who was destined from birth to murder his father
Laius
and marry his mother
Jocasta
. The play is an example of a classic tragedy, noticeably containing an emphasis on how Oedipus's own faults contribute to the
tragic hero
's downfall, as opposed having fate be the sole cause. Over the centuries,
Oedipus Rex
has come to be regarded by many as the Greek tragedy
par excellence
.
[2]
Plot
Background
As is the case in most
climactic
drama, much of what constitutes the myth of Oedipus takes place before the opening scene of the play. In his youth,
Laius
was a guest of King
Pelops
of
Elis
, and became the tutor of
Chrysippus
, youngest of the king's sons, in chariot racing. He then violated the sacred laws of hospitality by abducting and raping Chrysippus, who according to some versions killed himself in shame. This cast a doom over Laius and his descendants.
The protagonist of the
tragedy
is the son of King Laius and Queen
Jocasta
of
Thebes
. After Laius learns from an
oracle
that "he is doomed/To perish by the hand of his own son", he tightly binds the feet of the infant together with a pin and orders Jocasta to kill the infant. Hesitant to do so, she orders a servant to commit the act for her. Instead, the servant takes the baby to a mountain top to die from exposure. A shepherd rescues the infant and names him
Oedipus
(or "swollen feet"). The shepherd carries the baby with him to
Corinth
, where Oedipus is taken in and raised in the court of the childless King
Polybus of Corinth
as if he were his own.
As a young man in Corinth, Oedipus hears a rumour that he is not the biological son of Polybus and his wife Merope. When Oedipus questions the King and Queen, they deny it, but, still suspicious, he asks the
Delphic Oracle
who his parents really are. The Oracle seems to ignore this question, telling him instead that he is destined to "
Mate with [his] own mother, and shed/With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own sire
". Desperate to avoid his foretold fate, Oedipus leaves Corinth in the belief that Polybus and Merope are indeed his true parents and that, once away from them, he will never harm them.
On the road to Thebes, he meets Laius, his true father. Unaware of each other's identities, they quarrel over whose chariot has right-of-way. King Laius moves to strike the insolent youth with his sceptre, but Oedipus throws him down from the chariot and kills him, thus fulfilling part of the oracle's prophecy. He kills all but one of the other men.
Shortly after, Oedipus solves the
riddle of the Sphinx
, which has baffled many a diviner: "
What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?
" To this Oedipus replies, "Man" (who crawls on all fours as an infant, walks upright later, and needs a walking stick in old age), and the distraught Sphinx throws herself off the cliffside. Oedipus' reward for freeing the kingdom of Thebes from her curse is the kingship and the hand of
Queen Dowager
Jocasta, his biological mother. The prophecy is thus fulfilled, although none of the main characters know it.
The action of the play
A priest and the
chorus
of
Thebans
arrive at the palace to call upon their King, Oedipus, to aid them with the
plague
. Oedipus had sent his brother-in-law Creon to ask help of the oracle at
Delphi
, and he returns at that moment. Creon says the plague is the result of religious pollution, caused because the murderer of their former King,
Laius
, had never been caught. Oedipus vows to find the murderer and curses him for the plague that he has caused.
Oedipus summons the blind prophet
Tiresias
for help. When Tiresias arrives he claims to know the answers to Oedipus's questions, but refuses to speak, instead telling Oedipus to abandon his search. Oedipus is enraged by Tiresias's refusal, and says the prophet must be complicit in the murder. Outraged, Tiresias tells the king that Oedipus himself is the murderer. Oedipus cannot see how this could be, and concludes that the prophet must have been paid off by Creon in an attempt to undermine him. The two argue vehemently and eventually Tiresias leaves, muttering darkly that when the murderer is discovered he shall be a native citizen of Thebes; brother and father to his own children; and son and husband to his own mother.
Creon arrives to face Oedipus's accusations. The King demands that Creon be executed, however the
chorus
convince him to let Creon live.
Jocasta
enters and attempts to comfort Oedipus, telling him he should take no notice of prophets. Many years ago she and Laius received an
oracle
which never came true. It was said that Laius would be killed by his own son, but, as all Thebes knows, Laius was killed by bandits at a
crossroads
on the way to
Delphi
.
The mention of this crossroads causes Oedipus to pause and ask for more details. He asks Jocasta what Laius looked like, and Oedipus suddenly becomes worried that Tiresias's accusations were true. Oedipus then sends for the one surviving witness of the attack to be brought to the palace from the fields where he now works as a shepherd.
Jocasta, confused, asks Oedipus what the matter is, and he tells her. Many years ago, at a banquet in Corinth, a man drunkenly accused Oedipus of not being his father's son. Bothered by the comment Oedipus went to Delphi and asked the oracle about his parentage. Instead of answers he was given a prophecy that he would one day murder his father and sleep with his mother. Upon hearing this he resolved to leave Corinth and never return. While traveling he came to the very crossroads where Laius was killed, and encountered a carriage which attempted to drive him off the road. An argument ensued and Oedipus killed the travelers, including a man who matches Jocasta's description of Laius. Oedipus has hope, however, because the story is that Laius was murdered by
several
robbers. If the shepherd confirms that Laius was attacked by many men, then Oedipus is in the clear.
A man arrives from
Corinth
with the message that Oedipus's
father
has died. Oedipus, to the surprise of the messenger, is made ecstatic by this news, for it proves one half of the prophecy false, for now he can never kill his father. However, he still fears that he may somehow commit incest with his mother. The messenger, eager to ease Oedipus's mind, tells him not to worry, because Merope was not in fact his real mother.
It emerges that this messenger was formerly a shepherd on
Mount Cithaeron
, and that he was given a baby, which the childless
Polybus
then adopted. The baby, he says, was given to him by another shepherd from the Laius household, who had been told to get rid of the child. Oedipus asks the chorus if anyone knows who this man was, or where he might be now. They respond that he is the
same shepherd
who was witness to the murder of Laius, and whom Oedipus had already sent for. Jocasta, who has by now realized the truth, desperately begs Oedipus to stop asking questions, but he refuses and Jocasta runs into the palace.
When the shepherd arrives Oedipus questions him, but he begs to be allowed to leave without answering further. However, Oedipus presses him, finally threatening him with torture or execution. It emerges that the child he gave away was Laius's own son, and that Jocasta had given the baby to the shepherd to secretly be
exposed
upon the mountainside. This was done in fear of the prophecy that Jocasta said had never come true: that the child would kill its father.
Everything is at last revealed, and Oedipus curses himself and fate before leaving the stage. The chorus laments how even a great man can be felled by fate, and following this, a servant exits the palace to speak of what has happened inside. When Jocasta enters the house, she runs to the palace bedroom and hangs herself there. Shortly afterward, Oedipus enters in a fury, calling on his servants to bring him a sword so that he might kill himself. He then rages through the house, until he comes upon Jocasta's body. Giving a cry, Oedipus takes her down and removes the long gold pins that held her dress together, before plunging them into his own eyes in despair.
A blind Oedipus now exits the palace and begs to be
exiled
as soon as possible. Creon enters, saying that Oedipus shall be taken into the house until oracles can be consulted regarding what is best to be done. Oedipus's two daughters (and half-sisters),
Antigone
and
Ismene
, are sent out, and Oedipus laments that they should be born to such a cursed family. He asks Creon to watch over them and Creon agrees, before sending Oedipus back into the palace.
On an empty stage the chorus repeat the common Greek
maxim
, that no man should be considered fortunate until he is dead
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