Oedipus Rex Summary
Oedipus Rex Summary
Summary
Introduction
• Oedipus the King” (Gr: “Oidipous Tyrannos”; Lat: “Oedipus Rex”) is a tragedy by
the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, first performed in about 429 BCE. It was
the second of Sophocles‘ three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in
the internal chronology (followed by “Oedipus at Colonus” and then “Antigone”).
• However, neither she nor her servant could bring themselves to kill him and he was
abandoned to elements. 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.
Continued…
• Stung by rumours that he was not the biological son of the king, Oedipus consulted an
oracle 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 left Corinth. On the road to Thebes, he met Laius, his real father,
and, unaware of each other’s true identities, they quarrelled and Oedipus‘ pride led
him to murder Laius, fulfilling part of the oracle’s prophecy. Later, he solved the
riddle of the Sphinx and his reward for freeing the kingdom of Thebes from the
Sphinx’s curse was the hand of Queen Jocasta (actually his biological mother) and the
crown of the city of Thebes. The prophecy was thus fulfilled, although none of the
main characters were aware of it at this point.
Summary
• As the play opens, a priest and the Chorus of Theban elders are calling on
King Oedipus to aid them with the plague which has been sent by Apollo
to ravage the city. Oedipus has already sent Creon, his brother-in-law, to
consult the oracle at Delphi on the matter, and when Creon 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 vows
to find the murderer and curses him for the plague that he has caused.
Continued…
• Oedipus also summons the blind prophet Tiresias, who claims to know the
answers to Oedipus‘ questions, but refuses to speak, lamenting his ability to see
the truth when the truth brings nothing but pain. He advises Oedipus to abandon
his search but, when the enraged Oedipus accuses Tiresias of complicity in the
murder, Tiresias is provoked into telling the king the truth, that he himself is the
murderer. Oedipus dismisses this as nonsense, accusing the prophet of being
corrupted by the ambitious Creon in an attempt to undermine him, and Tiresias
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.
Continued…