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• When Written: circa 429 B.C.E. INTRO • Where Written: Athens, Greece BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF SOPHOCLES • When Published: circa 429 B.C.E. Considered one of the three greatest playwrights of classical • Literary Period: Classical Greek theater, Sophocles was a friend of Pericles and • Genre: Tragic drama Herodotus, and a respected citizen who held political and • Setting: The royal house of Thebes military offices in fifth-century C.E.B. Athens. He won fame by • Climax: When Oedipus gouges out his eyes defeating the playwright Aeschylus for a prize in tragic drama • Antagonist: Tiresias; Creon at Athens in 468 B.C.E. Only seven of his complete plays have survived to reach the modern era, but he wrote more than 100 and won first prize in 24 contests. Best known are his three EXTRA CREDIT Theban plays, Antigone, Oedipus Rex, and Oedipus at Colonus. The Oedipus Complex: Sigmund Freud used the Oedipus story Sophocles's other complete surviving works are Ajax, Electra, as an important example in his theory of the unconscious. He Philoctetes, and Trachinian Women. He is credited with changing believed that "It is the fate of all of us, perhaps, to direct our Greek drama by adding a third actor, reducing the role of the first sexual impulse towards our mother and our first hatred chorus, and paying greater attention to character development. and our first murderous wish against our father." He referred to these two urges as the "Oedipus complex." HISTORICAL CONTEXT The story of Oedipus and the tragedies that befell his family PLOT SUMMARY were nothing new to Sophocles's audience. Greek authors routinely drew their basic material from a cycle of four epic At the start of the play, the city of Thebes is suffering terribly. poems, known as the Theban Cycle, that was already ancient in Citizens are dying from plague, crops fail, women are dying in the fifth century B.C.E. and is now lost to history. The Theban childbirth and their babies are stillborn. A group of priests Cycle was as familiar to Athenians as the The Iliad and The comes to the royal palace to ask for help from Oedipus, their Odyssey, so everyone in the audience would have known what king who once saved them from the tyranny of the terrible was going to happen to Oedipus. Sophocles used this common Sphinx. Oedipus has already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to story but made Oedipus a contemporary character, a man of the oracle of the god Apollo to find out what can be done. (A action and persistence who represented many of the ideals of little background: before Oedipus arrived in Thebes, the Athenian leadership. It is Oedipus's desire to find out the previous king, Laius, was murdered under mysterious truth—a quality that, again, would have been admired by circumstances and the murderer was never found. When Sophocles's audience—that leads to his destruction. Oedipus arrived in Thebes and saved the city, he was made king and married the widowed queen, Jocasta, sister of Creon.) RELATED LITERARY WORKS Now Creon returns with the oracle's news: for the plague to be lifted from the city, the murderer of Laius must be discovered Of Sophocles's surviving dramatic works, Antigone, Oedipus Rex, and punished. The oracle claims that the murderer is still living and Oedipus at Colonus treat different episodes of the same in Thebes. legend, using many of the same characters. Sophocles's writing Oedipus curses the unknown murderer and swears he will find career overlapped with that of Aeschylus and Euripedes, the and punish him. He orders the people of Thebes, under other great tragic playwrights of fifth-century Athens. Among punishment of exile, to give any information they have about Aeschylus's best-known tragedies are Seven Against Thebes, the death of Laius. Oedipus sends for Tiresias, the blind Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides. prophet, to help with the investigation. Tiresias comes, but Euripedes's most influential works include Medea, Electra, and refuses to tell Oedipus what he has seen in his prophetic The Bacchae. A 20th-century theatrical retelling of the Oedipus visions. Oedipus accuses Tiresias of playing a part in Laius's myth is Jean Cocteau's The Infernal Machine. death. Tiresias grows angry and says that Oedipus is the cause of the plague—he is the murderer of Laius. As the argument KEY FACTS escalates, Oedipus accuses Tiresias of plotting with Creon to • Full Title: Oedipus Rex (or Oedipus the King) overthrow him, while Tiresias hints at other terrible things that Oedipus has done.

©2016 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | v.004 Page 1 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books. Convinced that Creon is plotting to overthrow him, Oedipus accuses Creon and Tiresias of treachery, and even forces the declares his intention to banish or execute his brother-in-law. reluctant shepherd to tell his story, which publicly reveals Jocasta and the chorus believe Creon is innocent and beg Oedipus to be the murderer and husband of his own mother. Oedipus to let Creon go. He relents, reluctantly, still convinced The same leadership skills that have brought him fame and of Creon's guilt. Jocasta tells Oedipus not to put any stock in success—decisive action, a desire to solve mysteries using his what prophets and seers say. As an example, she tells him the intellect—drive him to his own destruction. prophecy she once received—that Laius, her first husband, Creon – Brother of Jocasta. Whereas Oedipus is the would be killed by their own son. And yet, Laius was killed by charismatic leader who speaks openly in front of his people, strangers, and her own infant son was left to die in the Creon is more political and perhaps more scheming. Creon is mountains. But her description of where Laius was killed—a offended and alarmed when Oedipus accuses him of treason, triple-crossroad—worries Oedipus. It's the same place where but he speaks calmly and tries to show the error of the Oedipus once fought with several people and killed them, one accusation by appealing to Oedipus's sense of reason. At the of whom fit the description of Laius. He asks that the surviving end of the play, however, he is more than willing to step into the eyewitness to Laius's murder be brought to him. He tells power vacuum after Oedipus's terrible fate has been revealed. Jocasta that oracles have played a big part in his life as well—he Even then, however, he cautiously makes sure to follow the received a prophecy that he would kill his father and sleep with dictates of the gods, rather than to trying to resist fate as his mother, which is why he left Corinth, the city he was raised Oedipus has done. in, and never returned. Tiresias – The blind prophet or seer. He knows that the terrible An old messenger arrives from Corinth with the news that prophecy of Oedipus has already come true, but doesn't want Oedipus's father, King Polybus, has died of old age. This to say what he knows. Only when Oedipus accuses him of encourages Oedipus. It seems his prophecy might not come treachery does Tiresias suggest that Oedipus himself is guilty true, but he remains worried because his mother is still alive. of the murder of King Laius. He leaves Oedipus with a riddle The messenger tells him not to worry—the king and queen of that implies, plainly enough for the audience to understand, Corinth were not his real parents. The messenger himself that Oedipus has killed his father and married his mother. brought Oedipus as a baby to the royal family as a gift after a shepherd found the boy in the mountains and gave him to the Jocasta – Wife of Oedipus. Also, mother of Oedipus. When the messenger. The shepherd was the same man Oedipus has play begins, she no longer believes in the prophecies of seers. already sent for—the eyewitness to Laius's murder. Jocasta She tries to convince Oedipus not to worry about what Tiresias begs Oedipus to abandon his search for his origins, but says. As more evidence points toward the probability that Oedipus insists he must know the story of his birth. Jocasta Oedipus has in fact fulfilled a terrible prophecy, she begs him cries out in agony and leaves the stage. The shepherd arrives not to dig any further into his past. He will not be persuaded. but doesn't want to tell what he knows. Only under threat of Realizing that her son killed her first husband, that she is now death does he reveal that he disobeyed the order to kill the married to her son, and that Oedipus is about to bring all of this infant son of Laius and Jocasta, and instead gave that baby to to light, Jocasta takes her own life. the messenger. That baby was Oedipus, who in fact killed his The Chorus – In this play, the chorus represents the elder father Laius and married his mother. Oedipus realizes that he citizens of Thebes, reacting to the events of the play. The has fulfilled his awful prophecy. Queen Jocasta kills herself and chorus speaks as one voice, or sometimes through the voice of Oedipus, in a fit of grief, gouges out his own eyes. Blind and its leader. It praises, damns, cowers in fear, asks or offers grief-stricken, Oedipus bemoans his fate. Creon, after advice, and generally helps the audience interpret the play. consulting an oracle, grants Oedipus's request and banishes A Priest – He comes to the royal house to tell Oedipus of the him from Thebes. city's suffering and to ask Oedipus to save Thebes once more. A Messenger – The messenger from Corinth informs Oedipus CHARACTERS that King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth were not his actual parents. The messenger himself gave Oedipus as a baby Oedipus – Long before the play begins, Oedipus became king to the Corinthian king and queen. He got the baby from a of Thebes by solving the riddle of the Sphinx. His sharp mind Theban shepherd whom he met in the woods. Oedipus's ankles and quickness to action have made him an admired and were pinned together at the time—in Greek, the name successful leader. When the priests come to petition him after a "Oedipus" means "swollen ankles." plague strikes the city, he has already set into motion two plans A Shepherd – The former servant of King Laius who took pity to deal with the city's crisis. Throughout the play, he makes on the baby Oedipus and spared his life. The shepherd was also decisions boldly and quickly, if not always wisely. In his attempts an eyewitness to the death of King Laius. When Oedipus to discover the truth about the murder of Laius, he falsely commands the shepherd to tell him what he knows about

©2016 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | v.004 Page 2 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books. Oedipus's origins, the shepherd refuses, and only relents under but from his persistent efforts to learn the truth, through which punishment of death. he reveals the true nature of those terrible deeds. Oedipus Antigone – Daughter of Oedipus and half-sister of Oedipus. himself makes a different argument at the end of the play, when Still a small child in Oedipus Rex, Antigone appears at the end to he says that his terrible deeds were fated, but that it was he bid farewell to her father. She is the main character of alone who chose to blind himself. Here, Oedipus is arguing that Sophocles's Antigone. while it is impossible to avoid one's fate, how you respond to your fate is a matter of free will. Ismene – Daughter of Oedipus and half-sister of Oedipus. Like Antigone, Ismene is a small child and appears only at the end of the play when her father says goodbye to her. 2 GUILT AND SHAME The play begins with a declaration from the oracle at Delphi: Thebes is suffering because the person guilty of the murder of THEMES King Laius has not been brought to justice. Oedipus sets himself the task of discovering the guilty party—so guilt, in the In LitCharts each theme gets its own color and number. Our legal sense, is central to Oedipus Rex. Yet ultimately it is not color-coded theme boxes make it easy to track where the legal guilt but the emotion of guilt, of remorse for having done themes occur throughout the work. If you don't have a color something terrible, that drives the play. printer, use the numbers instead. After all, one can argue that neither Oedipus nor Jocasta are guilty in a legal sense. They committed their acts unknowingly. 1 FATE VS. FREE WILL Yet their overwhelming feelings of guilt and shame for violating The ancient Greeks believed that their gods could see the two of the basic rules of civilized humanity—the taboos against future, and that certain people could access this information. incest and killing one's parents—are enough to make Jocasta Prophets or seers, like blind Tiresias, saw visions of things to commit suicide and to make Oedipus blind himself violently. come. Oracles, priests who resided at the temples of gods—such as the oracle to Apollo at Delphi—were also 3 SIGHT VS. BLINDNESS believed to be able to interpret the gods' visions and give prophecies to people who sought to know the future. During When Oedipus publicly declares his intention to solve the the fifth century B.C.E., however, when Sophocles was writing mystery of King Laius's murder, he says, "I'll start again—I'll his plays, intellectuals within Athenian society had begun to bring it all to light myself." Oedipus's vision and intelligence question the legitimacy of the oracles and of the traditional have made him a great king of Thebes—he solved the riddle of the Sphinx and revitalized the city. But he is blind to the truth gods. Some of this tension is plain to see in Oedipus Rex, which about his own life. It takes the blind prophet, Tiresias, to point hinges on two prophecies. The first is the prophecy received by out his ignorance and to plant the first seeds of doubt in King Laius of Thebes that he would have a son by Queen Oedipus's mind. When Oedipus mocks Tiresias's blindness, Jocasta who would grow up to kill his own father. The second is Tiresias predicts that Oedipus himself will soon be blind. And the prophecy that Oedipus received that he would kill his indeed, when Oedipus learns the full story—that he has killed father and marry his mother. Laius, Jocasta, and Oedipus all his father and married his mother—he gouges out his eyes. He work to prevent the prophecies from coming to pass, but their learns the nature of fate and the power of the gods, but at a efforts to thwart the prophecies are what actually bring the great cost. And though he is blinded, he has learned to see prophecies to completion. something he could not see before. This raises a question at the heart of the play: does Oedipus have any choice in the matter? He ends up killing his father and 4 FINDING OUT THE TRUTH marrying his mother without knowing it—in fact, when he is trying to avoid doing these very things. Does he have free The terrible deeds that are Oedipus's undoing actually took will—the ability to choose his own path—or is everything in life place long before the play begins. King Laius has been dead for predetermined? Jocasta argues that the oracles are a sham many years, Oedipus has ruled for some time, and his marriage because she thinks the prediction that her son would kill her to Jocasta has produced four children. They might have all husband never came to pass. When she finds out otherwise, remained happy in their ignorance had the plague not come to she kills herself. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus has fulfilled his terrible Thebes and the oracle not commanded that the murderer of prophecy long ago, but without knowing it. He has already fallen Laius be found. Good king that he is, Oedipus swears he will into his fate. One could argue that he does have free will, find the murderer. Every step of the way, people are reluctant however, in his decision to pursue the facts about his past, to speak and try to tell him that it would be better if the past despite many suggestions that he let it go. In this argument, were left alone. Creon suggests that they discuss the oracle Oedipus's destruction comes not from his deeds themselves behind closed doors, not in front of everyone, but Oedipus

©2016 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | v.004 Page 3 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books. wants to show that he is open to the truth and keeps no secrets notice. As such, Oedipus's ankles become symbols of his fate. from his people. Tiresias refuses to say what he knows, and His ankles, literally, are the marks of that fate. only speaks when he has been insulted and accused of treachery. Jocasta begs Oedipus to cease his investigations. The old shepherd gives Oedipus the final pieces of the puzzle QUOTES only when threatened with death. In his desire to seek out the The color-coded boxes under each quote below make it easy to truth and save his people from the plague, Oedipus becomes track the themes related to each quote. Each color corresponds his own prosecutor, and then his own judge and punisher. to one of the themes explained in the Themes section of this LitChart. 5 ACTION VS. REFLECTION In his quest for truth, Oedipus is a man of constant action. LINES 1-340 QUOTES When the priests come to ask for his help, he has already dispatched Creon to the oracle to find out what the gods Here I am myself— suggest. When the chorus suggests that he consult Tiresias, you all know me, the world knows my fame: Oedipus has already sent for him. Oedipus decides quickly and I am Oedipus. acts quickly—traits his audience would have seen as admirable •Speaker: Oedipus and in the best tradition of Athenian leadership. But Oedipus's •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Sight vs. Blindness tendency to decide and act quickly also leads him down a path to his own destruction. He becomes convinced that Tiresias •Theme Tracker code: and Creon are plotting to overthrow him, though he has no 1 3 evidence to prove it. At several stages where he might have paused to reflect on the outcome of his actions—where he might have sifted through If ever, once in the past, you stopped some ruin the evidence before him and decided not to pursue the launched against our walls question further, or not in such a public way—he forges you hurled the flame of pain onward, even threatening to torture the reluctant shepherd to far, far from Thebes—you gods, make him speak. And it is the shepherds words that irrefutably come now, come down once more! condemn Oedipus. Even here, his will to act doesn't end. Discovering Jocasta, his wife and mother, dead, Oedipus •Speaker: The Chorus quickly takes his punishment into his own hands and gauges out •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Guilt and Shame, Finding his eyes. Out the Truth •Theme Tracker code: SYMBOLS 1 2 4

Symbols appear in red text throughout the Summary & Analysis sections of this LitChart. Thebes, city of death, one long cortege and the suffering rises TRIPLE CROSSROAD wails for mercy rise and the wild hymn for the Healer blazes out Oedipus killed King Laius at a place "where three roads meet," clashing with our sobs our cries of mourning— or a triple crossroad. Typically, crossroads symbolize a choice to O golden daughter of god, send rescue be made. Yet because the murder of Laius occurred in the radiant as the kindness in your eyes! distant past. Oedipus's choice has already been made, and so the triple crossroads becomes a symbol not of choice but of •Speaker: The Chorus fate. •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Guilt and Shame •Theme Tracker code: SWOLLEN ANKLES As an adult, Oedipus still limps from a childhood injury to his 1 2 ankles. This limp, and his very name—which means "swollen ankle," and which was given to him because of a childhood ankle Now my curse on the murderer. Whoever he is, injury—are clues to his own identity that Oedipus fails to a lone man unknown in his crime

©2016 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | v.004 Page 4 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books. or one among many, let that man drag out Blind who now has eyes, beggar who now is rich, his life in agony, step by painful step— he will grope his way toward a foreign soil, a stick tapping before him step by step. •Speaker: Oedipus •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Guilt and Shame, Sight vs. •Speaker: Tiresias Blindness, Finding Out the Truth •Mentioned or related characters: Oedipus •Theme Tracker code: •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Guilt and Shame, Sight vs. Blindness 1 2 3 4 •Theme Tracker code: LINES 341-708 QUOTES 1 2 3 Just send me home. You bear your burdens, I'll bear mine. It's better that way, But whether a mere man can know the truth, please believe me. whether a seer can fathom more than I— •Speaker: Tiresias there is no test, no certain proof though matching skill for skill •Mentioned or related characters: Oedipus a man can outstrip a rival. No, not till I see •Related themes: Sight vs. Blindness, Finding Out the Truth these charges proved will I side with his accusers.... •Theme Tracker code: Never will I convict my king, never in my heart. 3 4 •Speaker: The Chorus •Mentioned or related characters: Oedipus •Related themes: Guilt and Shame, Sight vs. Blindness, Finding Did you rise to the crisis? Not a word, Out the Truth you and your birds, your gods—nothing. No, but I came by, Oedipus the ignorant, •Theme Tracker code: I stopped the Sphinx! With no help from the birds, 2 3 4 the flight of ym own intelligence hit the mark.

•Speaker: Oedipus LINES 709-997 QUOTES •Mentioned or related characters: Tiresias Look at you, sullen in yielding, brutal in your rage— •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Sight vs. Blindness, Action you will go too far. It's perfect justice: vs. Reflection natures like yours are hardest on themselves. •Theme Tracker code: •Speaker: Creon 1 3 5 •Mentioned or related characters: Oedipus •Related themes: Guilt and Shame, Action vs. Reflection No man will ever •Theme Tracker code: be rooted from the earth as brutally as you. 2 5 •Speaker: Tiresias •Mentioned or related characters: Oedipus You who set our beloved land—storm-tossed, shattered— •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Guilt and Shame, Sight vs. straight on course. Now again, good helmsman, Blindness steer us through the storm! •Theme Tracker code: •Speaker: The Chorus 1 2 3 •Mentioned or related characters: Oedipus •Related themes: Guilt and Shame, Sight vs. Blindness, Action vs. Reflection

©2016 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | v.004 Page 5 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books. •Theme Tracker code: •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Guilt and Shame, Finding Out the Truth 2 3 5 •Theme Tracker code: 1 2 4 Listen to me and learn some peace of mind: no skill in the world, nothing human can penetrate the future. If you are the man he says you are, believe me •Speaker: Jocasta you were born for pain. •Mentioned or related characters: Oedipus •Speaker: A Shepherd •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Sight vs. Blindness, Finding •Mentioned or related characters: Oedipus, A Messenger Out the Truth •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Guilt and Shame, Finding •Theme Tracker code: Out the Truth 1 3 4 •Theme Tracker code: 1 2 4 Great laws tower above us, reared on high born for the brilliant vault of heaven— LINES 1311-1680 QUOTES Olympian Sky their only father, "...is there a man more agonized? nothing mortal, no man gave them birth, More wed to pain and frenzy? Not a man on earth, their memory deathless, never lost in sleep: the joy of your life ground down to nothing within them lives a mighty god, the god does not O Oedipus, name for the ages—" grow old. •Speaker: The Chorus •Speaker: The Chorus •Mentioned or related characters: Oedipus •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Sight vs. Blindness •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Guilt and Shame, Finding •Theme Tracker code: Out the Truth 1 3 •Theme Tracker code: 1 2 4 LINES 998-1310 QUOTES They are dying, the old oracles sent to Laius, My destiny, my dark power, what a leap you made! now our masters strike them off the rolls. Nowhere Apollo's golden glory now— •Speaker: Oedipus the gods, the gods go down. •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will •Speaker: The Chorus •Theme Tracker code: •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Sight vs. Blindness, Finding Out the Truth 1 •Theme Tracker code: Take me away, far, far from Thebes, 1 3 4 quickly, cast me away, my friends— this great murderous ruin, this man cursed to heaven, the man the deathless gods hate most of all! Man of agony— that is the only name I have for you, •Speaker: Oedipus that, no other—ever, ever, ever! •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Guilt and Shame, Finding •Speaker: Jocasta Out the Truth, Action vs. Reflection •Mentioned or related characters: Oedipus

©2016 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | v.004 Page 6 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books. •Theme Tracker code: Oedipus says he knows of the Oedipus is a vigorous and active trouble and has been trying to leader. He has already 1 2 4 5 think of a solution. He has anticipated the priests' request already sent Creon, his for help and has done what a brother-in-law, to the oracle at good Greek ruler should do—seek Now as we keep our watch and wait the final day, Delphi to find out what the god advice from an oracle. count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last. Apollo advises. Just then, the •Speaker: The Chorus priest notices that Creon is 4 5 •Mentioned or related characters: Oedipus returning from this mission. •Related themes: Fate vs. Free Will, Guilt and Shame, Sight vs. Creon tells Oedipus and the As when he faced the Sphinx, Blindness, Finding Out the Truth assembled priests the words Oedipus is presented with a of the god Apollo, according to puzzle to solve: the identity of •Theme Tracker code: the oracle. Before Oedipus Laius's murderer. Shame was 1 2 3 4 became king, the previous believed to have real-world king, Laius, was murdered, and consequences. The plague results his murderer was never from the shame of not punishing SUMMARY & ANALYSIS discovered. According to the Thebe's former king's murderer. oracle, the killer lives in The color-coded boxes under "Analysis & Themes" below make Thebes. He must be caught 1 2 4 it easy to track the themes throughout the work. Each color and punished in order to stop corresponds to one of the themes explained in the Themes the plague. section of this LitChart. Oedipus asks Creon about the Oedipus is a hero and a man of LINES 1-340 circumstances of Laius's death. action. Had his king been The play begins in the royal Oedipus limps because Laius and Creon says that Laius left the murdered, nothing would have house of Thebes. The stage Jocasta (who he doesn't know city to consult the oracle of stopped him from finding the directions state that Oedipus are his parents) pinned his ankles Apollo and never returned. murderer, just as he is promising solved the riddle of the Sphinx together when he was an infant Only one eyewitness to the to let nothing stop him now. many years earlier and has to thwart the prophecy that he murder survived and returned Creon is more pragmatic and less since ruled as king of Thebes. would kill Laius (they failed). The to Thebes. This man claimed inclined to take action. Having As the play begins, a limp marks Oedipus's fate, even that a band of thieves killed just escaped the Sphinx, procession of miserable- though he does not know it yet. the king. Oedipus asks why no searching out Laius's murderer looking priests enters. one tried to find the seemed impossible to Creon. 1 murderers. Creon responds Oedipus follows soon after, 4 5 walking with a slight limp and that, at the time, Thebes was attended by guards. under the Sphinx's curse. Oedipus then promises that Oedipus asks the priests why The reference to the Sphinx he'll take on the task of finding they have come. He knows reminds the audience that the murderer. that the city is sick with plague. Oedipus is a genuine hero. He tells them they can trust Oedipus saved Thebes from the The chorus, which has not The chorus, which represents the him to help in any way he can. Sphinx by answering the Sphinx's heard the news from the elders of Thebes, appeals to the In a moving speech, a priest riddle. In other words, he became oracle, enters and marches gods as the agents of fate and tells Oedipus the city's woes: a hero by figuring out the truth. around an altar, chanting. The rulers of the world to save the the crops are ruined, cattle are chorus catalogs the city. 4 5 misfortunes of Thebes and sick, women die in labor and 1 children are stillborn, and calls on many gods by name to people are perishing from the come to the city's aid. plague. The priest begs Oedipus to save Thebes, just as Oedipus once saved it from the Sphinx.

©2016 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | v.004 Page 7 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books. Oedipus orders anyone who Oedipus acts quickly to find the Now angry, Oedipus accuses Oedipus, thinking he knows anything about Laius's killer. He thinks he knows what Tiresias of plotting to kill Laius. understands more than he does, murderer to speak, in happened—thieves killed This upsets Tiresias, who tells is too quick to judge Tiresias. exchange for light treatment Laius—but is actually blind to the Oedipus that Oedipus himself Though Tiresias is a noted seer, and possibly a reward. But, truth. Acting blindly, he curses is the cause of the Oedipus is too angry to listen to Oedipus declares, if anyone himself. Greek audiences would plague—Oedipus is the him. has useful information and have known the Oedipus story, murderer of Laius. As the does not speak, the citizens of and so in this scene Oedipus insults fly back and forth, 1 2 3 4 5 Thebes must banish this would seem to be describing his Tiresias hints that Oedipus is person. Oedipus curses the own fate, or even bringing this guilty of further outrages. murderer—"Let that man drag fate upon himself. Oedipus convinces himself Oedipus, a man of action, out his life in agony, step by that Creon has put Tiresias up describes blindness as an painful step." He adds that 1 3 4 5 to making these accusations in inability to see. Tiresias, the seer, even if the murderer ends up attempt to overthrow him. He describes it as an inability to see being a member of his own mocks Tiresias's blindness and the truth. In calling Tiresias a family, he or she should receive calls the man a false prophet. false prophet, Oedipus shows his the same harsh banishment The leader of the chorus tries willingness to fight against any and punishment. to calm the two men down. prophecy he disagrees with. Oedipus criticizes the people Another example of Oedipus's Tiresias warns Oedipus that for not hunting more strong leadership. He's one step Oedipus is the blind one—blind 1 2 3 4 5 vigorously for Laius's killer. He ahead of the suggestions his to the corrupt details of his says he will fight for Laius as if subjects make to him and has own life. Laius were his own father. already sent for Tiresias. Yet in As the men continue to argue, The riddle is a reference to the Oedipus curses anyone who saying he would fight for Laius as Tiresias prophesies that riddle of the Sphinx. Solving that defies his orders. The leader of if he were his own father, Oedipus will know who his riddle gave Oedipus his fame. the chorus suggests that Oedipus further displays his own parents are by the end of the Solving this one will destroy him. Oedipus send for Tiresias, the blindness to the truth. day, and that this knowledge In other words, Oedipus's own blind seer. Oedipus announces will destroy him. He leaves qualities doom him. This riddle is that he has already done so. 1 3 4 5 with a riddle: the killer of Laius pretty obvious, but Oedipus is Soon, blind Tiresias arrives, led is a native Theban whom many not ready or willing to solve it. by a boy. think is a foreigner; he will LINES 341-708 soon be blind; he is both 1 2 3 4 5 brother and father to his Oedipus asks Tiresias, the The blind seer sees the truth, but children; he killed his own prophet, to help Thebes end tries to protect Oedipus by father. Both men exit. the plague by guiding him to remaining silent. This puts him the murderers of King Laius. into conflict with Oedipus, who is The chorus enters, chanting The chorus helps the reader and But Tiresias does not want to merely trying to be a good leader about the murderer of Laius, the audience interpret the play. tell Oedipus what he knows. and save his city. pursued now by the gods and Here, the reader understands He asks to be sent home and the words of a prophecy. The that the people of Thebes are still says he will not tell his secret. 1 3 4 chorus concludes that it will on Oedipus's side. He is still their Oedipus insults Tiresias, but not believe the serious charges champion. the prophet still refuses to brought against Oedipus speak. without proof. 1 2 4

©2016 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | v.004 Page 8 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books. Creon enters, upset that he Creon perhaps protests too Jocasta tells a story from her Jocasta once believed in oracles has been accused of treachery. much when he says he has no past: When Laius and Jocasta enough to sacrifice her infant Oedipus enters. He launches desire to be king (as his actions at were still married, an oracle son. But now that she's sure the further accusations at Creon. the end of the play and in told Laius that he would be prophecy didn't come true, she Creon tries to defend himself Antigone and Oedipus at killed by his own son. In no longer believes in prophecies. against the charges. He claims Colonus will show). However, he response, when Jocasta and But in explaining why she doesn't he has no idea what Tiresias is right that Oedipus is making Laius's son was three-days-old, believe in prophecies, she was going to say, and has no strong accusations without his ankles were pinned provides the details that make desire to be king. He suggests evidence. Oedipus appears quite together and one of Laius's Oedipus suspect the prophecy that Oedipus is being unreasonable, overcome by servants left him to die on a might be true. Like Oedipus, she unreasonable and paranoid. anger and the desire to take mountain. Laius was not killed dooms herself. Oedipus refuses to listen, and some decisive action. by his son, but instead by says he wants Creon dead. strangers, at a place where 1 3 4 Jocasta—Oedipus's wife and 3 4 5 three roads meet. So, Jocasta Creon's sister—approaches. concludes, seers don't know what they're talking about. LINES 709-997 Jocasta's story troubles While Oedipus was quick to Jocasta tells Oedipus and Oedipus remains in a high state Oedipus, so he asks Jocasta accuse Creon, he is just as quick Creon that it's shameful to of agitation. He is defensive and for more details about the to abandon his conspiracy theory have public arguments when still inclined to see a conspiracy. murder of Laius. He grows once new evidence arises. Now the city is suffering. When she Some critics have argued that even more concerned when he's back in detective mode. learns that Oedipus wants to Oedipus is so quick to see she tells him that the murder have Creon banished or killed, conspiracies because he actually took place just before Oedipus 1 4 5 Jocasta begs Oedipus to senses his own guilt, but is trying arrived in Thebes, and believe Creon. The chorus to hide from it. describes what Laius looked echoes her plea. Oedipus like and how many men thinks that this means the 2 4 5 accompanied him. Now truly Chorus also wants to see him worried, Oedipus asks Jocasta overthrown. The chorus to send for the lone survivor of swears they don't. the murder of Laius and his Moved by the chorus's Oedipus seems willing to listen to men to come to Thebes and expression of loyalty, Oedipus his subjects in this scene, though tell them what he saw that day. allows Creon to go free, he doesn't take the advice of Jocasta asks to know what's Oedipus reveals the second though he says that he still those who tell him not to pursue troubling Oedipus. Oedipus major prophecy of the Oedipus doesn't believe that Creon is the story of his birth. tells her his life story. His story. The first prophecy, given to innocent. Creon exits, father Polybus and his mother Laius and Jocasta, mentions only declaring that Oedipus is both 4 5 Merope were king and queen that the son would kill the father. wrong and stubborn. of Corinth. One day, at a The prophecy given to Oedipus Jocasta asks how Oedipus's Jocasta declares outright that banquet, he heard gossip that brings up the other shameful argument with Creon started. prophecy is a sham. She doesn't the king and queen were not atrocity: incest. Oedipus tells her that Creon believe in the truth of oracles or really his parents. To learn the sent Tiresias to accuse prophecies, which, by extension, truth he went to the oracle at 1 2 4 Oedipus of Laius's death. implies that she does not believe Delphi, where he received a Jocasta responds that Oedipus in the gods. prophecy that he would sleep shouldn't worry about the with his mother and kill his seer's accusation because the 1 father. revelations of prophets are meaningless.

©2016 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | v.004 Page 9 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books. Terrified, Oedipus never When he realizes that he may LINES 998-1310 returned to Corinth in order to have killed Laius, Oedipus Jocasta enters and makes an The news from Corinth seems ensure that the prophecy worries that the punishment of offering to Apollo to appease like further evidence to support would not come true. As he exile that he promised for Laius's Oedipus's mind. Just then, a Jocasta's claim that prophecies wandered, he one day reached killer will fall on his own head. messenger—an old are meaningless. If King Polybus the place where Jocasta says That would be bad enough—by man—arrives from Corinth, has died of natural causes, then King Laius was killed. There he his own decree, he would be with news that the people Oedipus can't fulfill the prophecy had an incident with a group of banished. But because he still there want to make Oedipus and kill his own father. men who pushed him off the thinks he thwarted the prophecy their king. Polybus, king of road and tried to kill him. He by leaving Corinth, however, he Corinth—the man Oedipus 1 4 defended himself, and ended doesn't realize that the gods will believes to be his father—has up killing them. Oedipus now punish him as well. died. Jocasta is overjoyed fears one of the men he killed because she views Polybus's was Laius, and the curses that 1 2 4 death as further proof that the he himself showered upon the prophecies are false. old king's murderer will now come down upon his own Oedipus enters and learns the The idea that chance, rather head. news. Relieved, he celebrates than the gods, rules the world is with Jocasta and agrees with deeply blasphemous. It is The chorus tells Oedipus to Oedipus gets some reprieve from her that the oracles and significant that from this remain hopeful until he his fears and doubts. If he prophecies are "dead," and that moment on, things come questions the witness he has investigates no further, he can chance alone rules the world. crashing down. sent for. Oedipus takes walk away believing that he isn't heart—after all, the witness, a the murderer of Laius. Yet in 1 2 shepherd, had said that a believing that the prophecies group of thieves killed Laius, have not come to pass he too is Jocasta urges Oedipus to live Even so, Oedipus is not not just one man. Jocasta also now dangerously close to without fear. Yet Oedipus completely able to deny either tells him not to worry, because denying the power of the gods. admits that because his his guilt or his belief in fate. the murder of Laius does not mother is still alive, part of the 1 2 fit the prophecy anyway. 1 2 3 prophecy might still come true. Apollo said that her son would The messenger asks what By leaving Corinth, Oedipus kill her husband, and her son Oedipus is afraid of. Oedipus thought he was thwarting the was left to die in the tells him the prophecy—that prophecy, but instead he was mountains. They exit. he would kill his father and carrying it out. Here the The chorus, alone on stage, The chorus suggests that the sleep with his mother—and messenger thinks he is helping chants about the gods who stakes are very high. At this says that this is why he has Oedipus, but is in fact dooming rule the world from Olympus, moment the prophecies look never returned to Corinth. The him. Fate is unavoidable. striking down those who gain unlikely, and if these prophecies messenger tells Oedipus he 1 2 4 power by disregarding the don't come true, why should never had anything to fear. gods' laws and protecting people believe any prophecies? If Polybus and Merope weren't those men who faithfully serve the words of the gods aren't true, his real father and mother. the state. But then the Chorus doesn't that call into question goes on to say that if a sinner is the existence of the gods? not punished or if the prophecies and oracles of the 1 4 5 gods turn out to be untrue, then there is no reason to worship or have faith in the Gods.

©2016 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | v.004 Page 10 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books. The messenger tells Oedipus The detail about the pinned Only after Oedipus threatens The shepherd is the last that he (the messenger) came ankles links Oedipus to the baby to torture the shepherd does roadblock between Oedipus and upon a baby on the side of who Jocasta and Laius tried to the shepherd admit that he disaster, and fittingly, he is the Mount Cithaeron, near kill. Oedipus's swollen ankles are gave the baby to the most reluctant to speak. In his Thebes. He freed the baby's marks of his fate. Yet Oedipus, messenger. The shepherd blind need to know the truth, ankles, which were pinned who solved the riddle of the then refuses to name the Oedipus forces his way past together, and gave the baby to Sphinx, still can't see it. His father and mother of the baby. every obstacle. He truly dooms Polybus to raise as a gift. That search for the truth has actually Oedipus threatens to kill the himself, even going so far as to baby grew up to be Oedipus, blinded him to the truth. shepherd if he does not speak. threaten to kill the shepherd, to who still walks with a limp Finally, the shepherd gives in: make him speak the very words because of the injury to his 1 3 4 the parents of the baby were which seal Oedipus's fate. ankles. When Oedipus asks for Laius and Jocasta. The more details about who his shepherd says he was told to 1 2 3 4 5 parents were, the messenger kill the baby boy because of a says he doesn't know, but was prophecy that he would grow given the baby by another up to kill his father. But the shepherd who was a servant shepherd took pity on the baby of Laius. and gave it to the messenger. Jocasta reacts sharply to this Jocasta has realized the awful Realizing who he is, and that Now Oedipus knows everything. last piece of news. Meanwhile, truth: her current husband is in the prophecies have come to His fate is revealed, his blindness the chorus tells Oedipus that fact her son. pass, Oedipus lets out a lifted, and his guilt and shame this other shepherd, Laius's terrible cry and rushes into the descend upon him. old servant, is the same man as 1 2 3 4 palace. The messenger and the eyewitness to the murder shepherd exit. 1 2 3 4 of Laius. LINES 1311-1680 Jocasta now begs Oedipus to Though she knows the truth, The chorus, left alone on stage, Though he committed them abandon his search for his Jocasta desperately wants to chants first of Oedipus's unwittingly, Oedipus's deeds are origins. Oedipus thinks she's hide from it, hoping that by greatness among men, and so shameful that even the worried that he will discover maintaining some bit of doubt then about how fate brought Thebans whom he saved from he's the son of some slave or they might escape their guilt and about his horrifying the Sphinx find him epulsivr e and commoner, a fact that might fate. But Oedipus is still blind, destruction. The chorus adds wish they were blind to him. shame her. She insists that isn't and refuses to stop. He that though Oedipus saved it, and continues to beg him relentlessly pursues the very Thebes (from the Sphinx), the 2 3 not to question the shepherd. truth that will destroy him. city would have been better off He won't listen to her. At last, had it never seen Oedipus. she lets out a wrenching 1 2 3 4 5 scream, calls Oedipus a "man of agony," and flees through the palace. Oedipus declares that he must This is a moment of great know the secret of his birth, no dramatic irony, when the matter how common his audience knows the truth, and origins. A shepherd other characters know the truth, approaches. The messenger but the main character still does confirms that it's the same not. As many characters have man who gave him the baby. before, the shepherd tries to stop Oedipus and the messenger the discovery of the truth. question the old shepherd. When they bring up the 3 4 subject of the baby, the shepherd refuses to speak.

©2016 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | v.004 Page 11 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books. A second messenger enters Oedipus's deliberate self- Creon enters. The Chorus Just as Oedipus restored order with news of events in the mutilation remains one of the expresses hope that he will by defeating the Sphinx, Creon palace. Jocasta locked herself most shocking acts in theater. restore order to Thebes. restores order now. Creon has in her room to mourn Laius But, as typically happens in Creon forgives Oedipus for his assumed the role of leader and her own fate. In hysterical Greek drama, the violence takes past actions, and orders that without missing a beat. Notice grief, Oedipus ran through the place off stage and then is Oedipus be brought inside so his different leadership style, palace searching for Jocasta described on stage by someone that his shame may be dealt though. Where Oedipus was a with sword drawn, cursing her. who witnessed it. The truth, and with privately. Oedipus begs man of action and was willing to He knocked down her door to the shame and guilt its discovery Creon to banish him in order try to defy fate, Creon is much find hat she had hanged released, have killed Jocasta and to save Thebes. Creon agrees more cautious and makes sure he herself. Now weeping, Oedipus blinded Oedipus. to do it, but only after is doing the will of the gods embraced Jocasta and lowered consulting an oracle to make before acting. her to the floor. He took two 2 3 4 5 sure that the gods support golden brooches (pins) from such an action. Oedipus notes 1 2 5 her robes, and plunged them that his sons are old enough to into his eyes until he was blind, take care of themselves, but screaming that he no longer begs Creon to look after his wanted to see the world now daughters, Antigone and that he knew the truth. Ismene. The chorus and the Oedipus is still revolting because At Oedipus's request, Creon Oedipus is correct that his messenger are struck with of his past deeds, but his act of sends for Antigone and misfortune will continue into the grief and pity. Oedipus enters, blinding himself has immediately Ismene, who enter, crying. next generation, as shown in but they can't bear to look at made him worthy of pity too. Oedipus hugs them. Weeping, Sophocles's play Antigone. him. Blood pouring from his He's now a victim more than a he tells them that they will be Throughout Greek literature, eyes, Oedipus speaks of his villain. shunned because of his shame and guilt are often passed agony, of darkness, of insanity. terrible acts, and that as the down through families. He begs to be cast out of 2 3 products of an incestuous Thebes as a cursed man. He marriage they will be unable to 2 wishes he'd never been saved find husbands. He tells them to as a baby. pray for a life better than their father's. Oedipus gives a long and Although Tiresias predicted that heart-rending speech about Oedipus would end up blind, Creon then puts an end to Creon's treatment of Oedipus at the terrible things he has done Oedipus emphasizes that it was Oedipus's time with his first seemed gracious. Now he and that have happened to his own choice to blind himself. daughters, and again refuses beings to flex his political power, him, as ordained by Apollo. Yet He did not choose to kill his to grant Oedipus's wish for but Creon ends up wrong. In he insists that it was his own father or marry his mother. That, immediate banishment until Oedipus at Colonus, the dying hand that blinded himself, he he says, was the will of the gods. the gods explicitly grant it. Oedipus has gained a new kind claims, not the hand of fate. But blinding himself was an act Oedipus then asks Creon to of power that Creon will try to The chorus asks why he of his own free will, a response to give him more time with his take and control. blinded himself instead of the fate and shame that the gods daughters, but Creon killing himself. Oedipus says he have forced on him. responds only by reminding 2 could not bear to look his Oedipus that he will no longer father and mother in the eyes 1 2 3 5 have any power for the rest of in Hades (hell), and, alive, he his life. cannot look bear to look at the faces of his children or his countrymen. He asks the chorus to hide him, kill him, or hurl him into the sea.

©2016 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com | Follow us: @litcharts | v.004 Page 12 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books. All exit except the Chorus, The chorus suggests that, just as which laments that even the Oedipus was unable to escape most powerful and skillful of his destiny, all people, however men can be ruined by fate. The great, are always subject to the Chorus ends with these tragic whims of fate and the gods. words: "Now as we keep our Trying to escape fate brings more watch and wait the final day, pain, which can only be stopped count no man happy till he by death. dies, free of pain at last." 1

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MLA CITATION Lichtenstein, Jesse. "Oedipus Rex." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 22 Jul 2013. Web. 24 Aug 2016.

CHICAGO MANUAL CITATION Lichtenstein, Jesse. "Oedipus Rex." LitCharts LLC, July 22, 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2016. http://www.litcharts.com/lit/oedipus- rex.