The Legend of Oedipus:
•
•
•
•
Laius and Jocasta were King and Queen of the great city of Thebes.
They were guests at the court of Pelops.
King Laius fancied Pelops’ young son and took sexual advantage of the boy.
Pelops, enraged by this violation of his son, laid a curse upon the royal house of Laius and
Jocasta: any son born to him and Jocasta would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother.
• Years passed, and Laius and Jocasta abstained from the marriage bed in fear of the curse.
• Until one night while intoxicated, they abandoned caution and made love.
• A son was conceived that night.
• When born, they gave their infant son to a servant with orders to be left on a mountainside to
die.
• The baby’s ankles were pinned.
• The servant instead gave the baby to a shepherd from Corinth, who in turn gave the baby to his
king, King Polybus who was childless.
• Polybus and his wife Merope raised the child as their own.
• Oedipus grows up in Corinth.
• When he was a young man, he attended a party at the palace.
• He over hears a drunk servant say that the King and Queen are not his real parents.
• Upset, Oedipus confronts his parents and they deny this.
• The confused Oedipus leaves Corinth and heads to the famous Oracle at Delphi to discover his
true parentage.
• The Oracles tells him:
– “You will grow up to kill your father and marry your mother.”
• Horrified at this prophecy, Oedipus vows never to return to Corinth.
• Believing Polybus and Merope are his real parents, he vows never to return to Corinth.
• During his travels, Oedipus comes to a place where three roads meet.
• He encounters the royal company of King Laius.
• Oedipus refuses to step aside to let them pass.
• The King’s chariot driver rides over Oedipus’ foot.
• In a fit of rage, Oedipus kills everyone in sight, except for one servant who escaped.
• Unbeknownst to Oedipus, he killed his own father fulfilling part of his destiny.
• Oedipus continues his journey.
• Oedipus arrives in Thebes.
– Meets the Sphinx -- Thebes is suffering from plague and pestilence caused by the
presence of the Sphinx that won’t go away until its riddle is solved.
– Solves the riddle. What walks on 4 legs in the morning? 2 legs at noon? And 3 legs in the
evening? Answer is man.
– The citizens of Thebes adore him- he is a hero.
– Queen Jocasta, a little older, marries the hero, Oedipus.
– He becomes King!
– They have 4 children: 2 boys and 2 girls.
– Lives a great life.
And the play begins:
• Thebes falls on hard times again – suffers from plague and death.
• Oedipus has to fix things.
• He sends Creon ( his brother-in-law ) to the Oracle.
• The gods are angry because the previous king, King Lauis, was killed and the gods want the killer
found – they want justice -- Thebes was preoccupied with the Sphinx and forgot about Lauis.
• Oedipus vows to find the killer and bring justice. He will punish the killer no matter who the
culprit is… even if it is a friend, or a relative.
• Oedipus requests help from the prophet, Teiresias.
• Teiresias tells Oedipus to stop looking for the killer. But this just makes Oedipus all the more
determined.
• Tiresias gets fed up and tells Oedipus that he is the murderer and that the murderer is Theban
born, and that he killed his father and married his mother.
• Oedipus is outraged by Tiresias’ claims. This isn’t the only time he has heard this sort of
prophesy. When he was a young man living in Corinth, another soothsayer claimed that he would
kill his father and marry his mother. So, he ran away for Corinth to save his parents and himself
from murder/incest.
• Oedipus’ wife tells him not to worry. She says that lots of prophecies do not come true.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A messenger arrives with news that Oedipus’ father is dead.
Oedipus admits relief that he has not killed his father and tells the messenger about the oracle
that he would kill his father.
The messenger tells Oedipus that Polybus was not his real father and that he was given to him by
a shepherd from Thebes.
Oedipus has sent for the shepherd who admits that he did not leave the baby to die on a
mountainside as ordered by Lauis and Jocasta, but instead gave the baby to the shepherd (
messenger) from Corinth.
Oedipus figures out that when he ran away from his adoptive parents, he bumped into his
biological father (King Laius) and killed him during their roadside argument. Then, when Oedipus
became king and married Jocasta, Laius’ wife, he was actually marrying his biological mother.
The chorus is filled with shock and pity.
Jocasta hangs herself.
And Oedipus uses the pins from her dress to gouge out his eyes.
Creon, Jocasta’s brother, takes over the throne.
Oedipus will wander around Greece as a wretched example of man’s folly.
Theme: The gods maintain control of human lives. They predetermine the lives of the people.
Ancient Greek World