How Can Someone Murder His
Father and Marry His
Mother…and Never Even Realize
It???
The tragic story behind the tragedy of
Oedipus the King
Once upon a time, Laius, the King
of Thebes, marries Jocasta, but an
oracle warns them not to have a son
because that son is fated to kill his
own father.
Laius, who
isn’t one for
superstition,
ignores the
warning and
soon
Jocasta has
a baby boy.
When the child was born, however, Laius
remembered the oracle, and being
determined to get rid of his newborn son,
pierced his ankles with brooches or spikes
before he gave him to a herdsman to
desert him on mount Cithaeron.
A shepherd found the child and brought him to
Corinth, where the king of Corinth’s wife,
Periboea, after healing his ankles, adopted him
and called him Oedipus because of his swollen
feet.
I’ll Call him
“Oedipus”
which
means
“swollen
foot!”
Oedipus grew up in
the court of King
Polybus, his adopted
father, whom he
assumed to be his
biological father. But
when others began
making fun of him for
being so unlike his
parents, he began to
wonder about his true
identity.
He went to the oracle to ask about his true
parents. The Oracle told him:
“Do NOT go back to your native land
because you are fated to kill your father
and marry your mother!”
This really freaked Oedipus out, so he decided
never to return to Corinth (thinking that was
his native land) so that he would not fulfill
the prophecy.
A Tragic Case of Road Rage
On his drive away from the Oracle, Oedipus
was driving his chariot on a narrow road.
Laius (Oedipus’s real father) was driving the
other way, and the king’s charioteer ordered
Oedipus to give way. Oedipus refused, and
the charioteer killed one of his horses.
Oedipus, in a rage, killed the charioteer and
also Laius.
Answer
my Riddle
or I’ll eat
you!!!
After Laius’ burial,
Jocasta’s brother,
Creon, becomes the
ruler of Thebes. During
this rule, the Sphinx
appears, laying waste
the Theban fields and
declaring that she
would not depart
unless someone
interpreted the riddle
that she proposed, and
that, in the meantime,
she would eat and
destroy whoever failed
to give the correct
answer.
She said, “Here’s a riddle for
you…figure it out!!”
“What has one
voice, is fourfooted, threefooted, and twofooted?”
A Reward for Intelligence
Many attempted to answer the Sphinx’s riddle,
because the reward for a correct answer was
great – Creon promised both the kingdom of
Thebes and his widowed sister Jocasta to
whomever could solve the riddle.
Many men were
eaten by the Sphinx
for giving incorrect
answers to the
riddle. However,
Oedipus solved the
riddle, and the
Sphinx destroyed
herself as promised.
Oedipus became the
King of Thebes and
married Jocasta (his
biological mother).
The Answer
to the
Riddle is….
A Man!!!
Years have passed since
Oedipus has killed his
father and married his
mother unknowingly, and
the gods are not happy. A
plague has struck the city,
and the gods say that the
city will not be spared
until the corrupt thing is
removed. Oedipus vows
to find this corruption and
once again save Thebes,
but little does he
know…the corruption is
him.
I’ll drive out the
corruption once
and for all – who
is it?
DRAMATIC IRONY
• A situation in which the audience knows
something that the character or characters
do not.
EX:
boogeyman is hiding in the attic.
Romeo and Juliet
Irony in Oedipus
• Greeks knew the story
• Adds a dimension to the experience.
• Oedipus is the quintessence of dramatic
irony
• Look for examples of dramatic irony as we
read Oedipus the King
Aristotle’s Tragic Hero
• Comes from nobility or a high place
• Tragic Flaw-- a simple, usually noble
mistake or character flaw that causes the
hero’s downfall far in excess of what the
audience feels is warranted.
• Undergoes a Reversal of Fortune (fall from
high to low)
• Recognizes his mistakes