- OEDIPUS REX BY SOPHOCLES
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Written by |
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Chorus |
Theban Elders |
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Characters |
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Oedipus ·
Priest ·
Creon ·
Tiresias ·
Jocasta ·
Messenger ·
Shepherd ·
Second Messenger |
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Mute |
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Date premiered |
c. 429 BC |
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Place premiered |
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Original language |
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Series |
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Genre |
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Setting |
Main Characters - Oedipus: The King of Thebes, who seeks to uncover the truth
about his past and the plague afflicting the city. - Jocasta: The Queen of Thebes, who is Oedipus's mother and
wife. - Laius: The former King of Thebes, who is Oedipus's father. - Tiresias: A blind prophet who knows the truth about
Oedipus's past. - Creon: Jocasta's brother, who is accused of plotting against
Oedipus. |
Oedipus Rex,
Oedipus Rex, also known by its Greek title, Oedipus
Tyrannus (Ancient Greek: pronounced [oidípuːs týrannos]), or Oedipus the King,
is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued
that the play was first performed c. 429 BC, this is highly
uncertain. Originally, to the ancient Greeks, the title was simply Oedipus
as it is referred to by Aristotle in the Poetics. It is thought to have been renamed Oedipus
Tyrannus to distinguish it from Oedipus at Colonus, a later play by Sophocles. In
antiquity, the term "tyrant" referred to a ruler with no
legitimate claim to rule, but it did not necessarily have a negative
connotation.
Oedipus: Meaning and Significance
The name "Oedipus" has its roots in Greek
mythology and literature. In the context of the famous tragedy "Oedipus
Rex" by Sophocles, the name Oedipus is often associated with the following
themes:
Etymology
The name "Oedipus" is derived from the Greek words
"oidous" (swollen foot) and "pous" (foot). According to
myth, Oedipus was abandoned as a baby with his feet pierced and bound.
Of Sophocles's three Theban plays that have survived, and
that deal with the story of Oedipus, Oedipus Rex was the second to be written,
following Antigone by about a dozen years. However, in terms of the
chronology of events described by the plays, it comes first, followed by Oedipus
at Colonus and then Antigone.
Prior to the start of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus has
become the king of Thebes while unwittingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would kill his
father, Laius (the previous king), and marry
his mother, Jocasta (whom Oedipus took as his
queen after solving the riddle of the Sphinx). The action of Sophocles's play concerns Oedipus's search
for the murderer of Laius in order to end a plague ravaging Thebes, unaware
that the killer he is looking for is none other than himself. At the end of the
play, after the truth finally comes to light, Jocasta hangs herself while Oedipus, horrified at his patricide and incest, proceeds to gouge out his own eyes
in despair.
In his Poetics, Aristotle refers several times
to the play in order to exemplify aspects of the genre.
Context
Curse upon Laius
The misfortunes of Thebes are believed to be the result of a
curse laid upon Laius for the time he had violated the sacred laws of
hospitality (Greek: xenia).
In his youth, Laius was taken in as a guest by Pelops, king of Elis, where he would become tutor to the
king's youngest son, Chrysippus,
in chariot racing. Apollo, the protector of youth and boys,
cursed him for kidnapping and raping Chrysippus.
Birth of Oedipus
When
Laius's son is born, he consults an oracle as
to his fortune. To his horror, the oracle reveals that Laius "is doomed to
perish by the hand of his own son." Laius binds the infant's feet together
with a pin and orders Jocasta to kill him. Unable to do so to her own son,
Jocasta orders a servant to expose the infant on a mountaintop. The servant,
moved by pity, gives the child to a shepherd, who unbinds the infant's ankles,
and names him Oedipus,
"swollen foot". The shepherd brings the infant to Corinth, and presents him to the childless king Polybus,
who raises Oedipus as his own son.
Oedipus and the Oracle
As
he grows to manhood, Oedipus hears a rumour that he is not truly the son of
Polybus and his wife, Merope. He asks the Delphic Oracle who his parents really are. The Oracle seems to ignore
this question, telling him instead that he is destined to "mate with [his]
own mother, and shed/With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own sire."
Desperate to avoid this terrible fate, Oedipus, who still believes that Polybus
and Merope are his true parents, leaves Corinth for the city of Thebes.
Fulfilling prophecy
The old man
On
the road to Thebes, Oedipus encounters an old man and his servants. The two
begin to quarrel over whose chariot has the right of way. While the old man
moves to strike the insolent youth with his scepter, Oedipus throws the man
down from his chariot, killing him. Thus, the prophecy in which Oedipus slays
his own father is fulfilled, as the old man—as Oedipus discovers later—was Laius,
king of Thebes and true father to Oedipus.
Riddle of the Sphinx
Painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique
Ingres depicting Oedipus after he
solves the riddle of the Sphinx[7] The Walters Art Museum.
Arriving
at Thebes, a city in turmoil, Oedipus encounters the Sphinx, a legendary beast with the head and breasts of a woman,
the body of a lioness, and the wings of an eagle. The Sphinx, perched on a
hill, was devouring Thebans and travelers one by one if they could not
solve her riddle.
The
precise riddle asked by the Sphinx varied in early traditions, and is not
explicitly stated in Oedipus Rex, as the event precedes the play.
However, according to the most widely related version of the riddle, the Sphinx
asks, "What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two
legs at noon, and three in the evening?" Oedipus, blessed with great
intelligence, answers correctly: "man" (Greek: anthrôpos),
who crawls on all fours as an infant; walks upright in maturity; and leans on a
stick in old age.[8]: 463
Bested
by the prince, the Sphinx throws herself from a cliff, thereby ending the
curse.[9] Oedipus's
reward for freeing Thebes from the Sphinx is kingship to the city and the hand
of its dowager queen,
Jocasta. None, at that point, realize that Jocasta is Oedipus's true mother. Thus,
unbeknownst to either character, the remaining prophecy has been fulfilled.
Plot
Oedipus,
King of Thebes, sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to ask the advice of the oracle at Delphi, concerning a plague ravaging Thebes. Creon returns to
report that the plague is the result of religious pollution, since the murderer
of their former king, Laius, has never been caught. Oedipus vows to find the murderer
and curses him for causing the plague.
Oedipus
summons the blind prophet Tiresias for
help. Tiresias admits to knowing the answers to Oedipus's questions, but he
refuses to speak, instead telling Oedipus to abandon his search. Angered by the
seer's reply, Oedipus accuses him of complicity in Laius's murder. The offended
Tiresias then reveals to the king that "you yourself are the criminal you
seek". Oedipus does not understand how this could be, and supposes that
Creon must have paid Tiresias to accuse him. The two argue vehemently, as
Oedipus mocks Tiresias's lack of sight, and Tiresias retorts that Oedipus
himself is blind. Eventually, the prophet leaves, muttering darkly that when
the murderer is discovered, he shall be a native of Thebes, brother and father
to his own children, and son and husband to his own mother.
Creon
arrives to face Oedipus's accusations. The King demands that Creon be executed;
however, the chorus persuades
him to let Creon live. Jocasta, wife of first
Laius and then Oedipus, enters and attempts to comfort Oedipus, telling him he
should take no notice of prophets. As proof, she recounts an incident in which
she and Laius received an oracle which
never came true. The prophecy stated that Laius would be killed by his own son;
instead, Laius was killed by bandits, at a fork in the road.
The
mention of the place causes Oedipus to pause and ask for more details. Jocasta
specifies the branch to Daulis on the way
to Delphi.
Recalling Tiresias's words, he asks Jocasta to describe Laius. The king then sends for a
shepherd, the only surviving witness of the attack to be brought from his
fields to the palace.
Joseph Blanc, The
murder of Laïus by Oedipus, 1867, Paris, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des
Beaux-Arts
Confused,
Jocasta asks Oedipus what the matter is, and he tells her. Many years ago, at a
banquet in Corinth, a man drunkenly accused Oedipus of not being his father's
son. Oedipus went to Delphi and asked the oracle about his parentage. Instead
of answering his question directly, the oracle prophesied that he would one day
murder his father and sleep with his mother. Upon hearing this, Oedipus
resolved never to return to Corinth. In his travels, he came to the very
crossroads where Laius had been killed, and encountered a carriage that
attempted to drive him off the road. An argument ensued, and Oedipus killed the
travelers—including a man who matched Jocasta's description of Laius. However,
Oedipus holds out hope that he was not Laius's killer, because Laius was said
to have been murdered by several robbers. If the shepherd
confirms that Laius was attacked by many men, then Oedipus will be in the
clear.
A
man arrives from Corinth with
the message that Polybus,
who raised Oedipus as his son, has died. To the surprise of the messenger,
Oedipus is overjoyed, because he can no longer kill his father, thus disproving
half of the oracle's prophecy. However, he still fears that he might somehow
commit incest with his mother. Eager to set the king's mind at ease, the
messenger tells him not to worry, because Merope is not his real mother.
The
messenger explains that years earlier, while tending his flock on Mount Cithaeron, a shepherd from the household of Laius brought him an
infant that he was instructed to dispose of. The messenger had then given the
child to Polybus, who raised him. Oedipus asks the chorus if anyone knows the
identity of the other shepherd, or where he might be now. They respond that he
is the same shepherd who witnessed the murder of Laius, and whom Oedipus had
already sent for. Jocasta, realizing the truth, desperately begs Oedipus to
stop asking questions. When Oedipus refuses, the queen runs into the palace.
When
the shepherd arrives, Oedipus questions him, but he begs to be allowed to leave
without answering further. However, Oedipus presses him, finally threatening
him with torture or execution. It emerges that the child he gave away was
Laius's own son. In fear of a prophecy that the child would kill his father,
Jocasta gave her son to the shepherd in order to be exposed upon the mountainside.
Everything
is at last revealed, and Oedipus curses himself and fate before leaving the
stage. The chorus laments how even a great man can be felled by fate, and
following this, a servant exits the palace to speak of what has happened
inside. Jocasta has hanged herself in her bedchamber. Entering the palace in anguish,
Oedipus called on his servants to bring him a sword, that he might slay Jocasta
with his own hand. But upon discovering the lifeless queen, Oedipus took her
down, and removing the long gold pins from her dress, he gouged out his own
eyes in despair.
Bénigne Gagneraux, The Blind
Oedipus Commending his Children to the Gods
The
blinded king now exits the palace, and begs to be exiled. Creon enters, saying that Oedipus shall be taken into the
house until oracles can be consulted regarding what is best to be done.
Oedipus's two daughters (and half-sisters), Antigone and Ismene, are sent out and Oedipus laments
their having been born to such a cursed family. He begs Creon to watch over
them, in hopes that they will live where there is opportunity for them, and to
have a better life than their father. Creon agrees, before sending Oedipus back
into the palace.
On an empty stage, the chorus
repeats the common Greek maxim that
"no man should be
considered fortunate until he is dead."
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
The End
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