Oedipus the King by Sophocles
Background:
King Laius and Queen Jocasta once ruled the city of Thebes. The
Queen gave birth to a son who was taken to the temple of Apollo so that the
priest could bless his birth and foretell the glorious deeds that the prince
would perform.
But, instead of joyful news, the priest revealed a prophecy that the
child would one day kill his father and marry his mother. The royal couple
could not bear this tragic news. They agreed that the boy’s life must be
ended. Laius told his trusted servant to take the baby out of the city to be
put to death. The servant followed Laius’ instructions and carried the baby
out into the hills far away from Thebes. Not having the stomach to murder
the baby, the servant left the child in the wild and to ensure the baby could
not crawl away, he pierced the boy’s ankles with a sharp rod and then
suspended the child from a tree limb by attaching a leather thong to the
rod. When the servant returned to Thebes, he told King Laius that he
accomplished the task of putting the child to death.
Shortly after the servant left the baby to die, a shepherd came upon
the baby swinging by his ankles. The shepherd, who was from Corinth, took
the baby to Polybus, King of Corinth, and Merope, his wife, who were
childless. The couple “adopted” the child and named him Oedipus.
Characters:
1. Oedipus: King of Thebes, son of Laius and Jocasta. His name means
“swollen footed.” Oedipus was the only one who answered the Riddle
of the Sphinx.
2. Jocasta: The Queen, wife of Oedipus (and Oedipus’ mother)
3. Laius: Jocasta’s husband, King of Thebes before he is murdered (by
Oedipus)
4. Creon: Brother of Jocasta
5. Tiresias: Blind prophet of Thebes
Story Summary
Pages 5-9

Oedipus steps out of the royal palace of Thebes and is met by a
procession of priests, who are surrounded by the citizens of Thebes.

There is a plague in Thebes.

The priest responds that the city is dying and asks the king to save
Thebes.
Pages 9-18

He has sent Creon, his brother-in-law, to the oracle to find out how to
stop the plague.

Creon then tells what he has learned from the god Apollo, who spoke
through the oracle: the murderer of Laius, who ruled Thebes before
Oedipus, is in Thebes. He must be driven out in order for the plague
to end.

Creon goes on to tell the story of Laius’s murder. Laius and all but one
of the people with him were killed by thieves.

Oedipus decides to solve the mystery of Laius’s murder and end the
plague himself.

He asks if anyone knows who killed Laius, promising that the informant
will be rewarded and the murderer will be exiled.

No one responds, and Oedipus curses Laius’s murderer and anyone who
is protecting him.

The Leader of the Chorus suggests that Oedipus call for Tiresias, a
blind prophet, and Oedipus responds that he has already done this.
Pages 16-36

A boy leads in the blind prophet Tiresias. Tiresias is literally blind
but Oedipus is metaphorically blind to the truth.

Oedipus begs him to reveal who Laius’s murderer is.

Tiresias answers only that he knows the truth but wishes he did not.
“Wisdom is a dreadful thing when it brings no profit to its possessor.”

Confused at first, then angry, Oedipus insists that Tiresias tell
Thebes what he knows. Tiresias knows the truth but wished he didn’t.

Finally, when Oedipus accuses Tiresias of the murder, Tiresias tells
Oedipus that Oedipus himself is the curse and the murderer.

Oedipus is angry and makes up a story that Creon and Tiresias are
conspiring to overthrow him.

Creon enters, followed by Oedipus.

Oedipus accuses Creon of trying to overthrow him, since it was Creon
who recommended that Tiresias come. Creon doesn’t want to be king
– has the power and doesn’t want the responsibility.

Creon asks Oedipus to be sensible, but Oedipus says that he wants
Creon murdered.

Both Creon and the leader of the Chorus try to get Oedipus to
understand that he is incorrect, but Oedipus is firm.

P. 28: Role of the Chorus – Speaking about Oedipus – denying
prophecy/prophet; reaction to Tiresias ►terror/confusion; Oedipus
= savior/leader, won’t doubt, saved from the Sphinx.
Pages 36-54

Oedipus’s wife, Jocasta, enters and convinces Oedipus that he should
neither kill nor exile Creon, but Oedipus remains convinced that Creon
is guilty. Jocasta breaks up fight/mediates ►acts like a mother.

Oedipus explains to Jocasta how Tiresias condemned him, and Jocasta
responds that all prophets are false.

As proof, she offers the fact that the oracle told Laius he would be
murdered by his son, while actually his son was sent out of Thebes as
a baby (remember Riddle of the Sphinx?) and Laius was murdered by a
band of thieves (we know this is not true, Oedipus murdered Laius)

Her story of his murder sounds familiar to Oedipus, and he asks to
hear more.

Jocasta tells him that Laius was killed at a three-way crossroads, just
before Oedipus arrived in Thebes.

Oedipus tells his wife that he may be the one who murdered Laius.

Jocasta enters from the palace to offer a branch wrapped in wool to
Apollo.

A messenger enters, looking for Oedipus. He tells Jocasta that he has
come from Corinth to tell Oedipus that his father, Polybus, is dead,

Corinth wants Oedipus to come and rule there.

Jocasta is happy because she thinks that if Polybus is dead from
natural causes, the prophecy that Oedipus will murder his father is
false.

Oedipus and Jocasta agree that prophecies are worthless. Jocasta
still believes her son was killed as a baby.

But, Oedipus still is afraid about the part of the prophecy that said
he would sleep with his mother. “No, I must still fear – a marriage with
my mother.”►dramatic irony, verbal, situational. “I will never go to
the city where my parents live.”

Pp.48-49: Chorus doubt the prophecy, doubts the gods.
Pages 55-77

The messenger says he can stop worrying, because King Polybus and
his wife, Queen Merope, are not really Oedipus’s natural parents.

Oedipus thinks Jocasta is afraid that Oedipus is from poor parents,
and Oedipus and the Chorus are happy that they may soon know who
his parents are.

A messenger, then a shepherd, tells the story of Laius and Jocasta
giving them an infant who was not killed but hung on a tree by his
ankles which were bound.

Realizing who he is and who his parents are, Oedipus screams that he
sees the truth, and runs back into the palace.

The shepherd and the messenger exit

The Chorus enters and cries that even Oedipus, greatest of men, was
brought down by destiny, because without knowing it, he murdered his
father and married his mother.

Jocasta is dead, by suicide. She locked herself in her bedroom, crying
for Laius and weeping for her monstrous fate.

Oedipus throws himself at the bedroom door and bursts through it,
where he sees Jocasta hanging from a noose.

Oedipus sobs and embraces Jocasta. He then took the gold pins that
held her robes and, with them, stabbed out his eyes.

He kept raking the pins down his eyes, crying that he could not bear
to see the world now that he had learned the truth.

With blood streaming from his blind eyes, he screams about his fate,
and at the darkness that grips him.

P. 69: Climax/Turning Point: “O God! It has all (prophecy) come
true. Light (truth), let this be the last time I see you. I stand
revealed – born in shame, married in shame, an unnatural
murderer.”

P. 70: Chorus: Past ►sacred, trusted Oedipus. Now ►Pitiful.
Pages 77-83

Creon enters, and the Chorus hopes that he can restore order. .

Creon agrees to exile Oedipus from the city, but tells him that he will
only do so if it is approved by the gods. Oedipus moves from being
hubristic to being humble.

Oedipus accepts his exile, since he believes that, for some reason, the
gods want to keep him alive.

He says that his two sons are men and can take care of themselves,
but asks that Creon take care of his girls, whom he would like to see
one final time. Creon shows compassion for Oedipus.

The girls, Antigone and Ismene, come out crying.

Oedipus hugs them and says he weeps for them, since they will be
excluded from society, and no man will want to marry the offspring of
a marriage between a mother and her son.

Oedipus, greatest of men, has fallen, they say, and so all life is
miserable, and only death can bring peace.