Oedipus is a classic Greek tragedy written by Sophocles. Oedipus the King is one of three famous plays that make up Sophocles’ Oedipodea, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. Oedipus The King starts with Oedipus and his wife Jocasta having a conversation about Oedpius’ father, Polybus. Oedipus states that his parents told him he was abandoned as a baby and Oedipus discovered where he came from only later in life. Jocasta tells Oedipus to be happy with what he knows is true, not what others say.
In the next scene of the play Jocasta’s brother Creon enters and Oedipus asks him if it is possible that Oedipus killed his own father and slept with his mother – since Oedipus’ father, Polybus, had always been out of the kingdom on the campaign while Oedipus was growing up. Even though Creon says it isn’t possible Oedipus continues to argue that Oedipus may have killed his own father. Oedipus goes on to say that he would be prepared to accept this fate should it be the case, even if it means Oedipus must kill himself.
Oedipus doesn’t believe any of these accusations though because Oepidus was told by the Oracle at Delphi that Oedipus will murder his father and marry his mother. Oedipus states that he followed the oracle’s directions exactly, but Oedipus did not know that Polybus was actually his biological father until after he had married Jocasta – by which point Oepidus figured out because of a scar on Oedipus’ ankle Oepidus had gotten while he was a baby. Oedipus has Oedipus told by Tiresias, Oedipus’ brother-in-law and seer, that Oedipus did kill his father and sleep with Jocasta.
Oedipus asks Tiresias to tell Oedipus the truth because Oepidus wants to hear it from Oedipus’s own mind and not through a third party. When Creon states that Oepidus should give up hope of finding out who really killed Laios (Oedeipsis’ biological father), Oedipus says he will go to the place where this all happened and Oedipus will find out Oedipus fate should Oepidus go to the spot Oedipus was abandoned. Oedipus also says that Oedipus can either take Oedipus away to exile or Oracles could kill Oepidus there and then because Oepidus wants an end to his life.
Oedipus the King ( Oedipus Tyrannus or Oedipus Rex; also translated as Oedipus the Tyrant ) is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC. The play is now lost except for a number of fragments, but its content is known from a summary by a Roman writer, Sextus Pompeius Festus. Oedipus the King was considered by Aristotle to be one of Sophocles’ three most powerful plays. Oedipus the King has been summarized as Oedipus unknowingly killing his father and marrying his mother in a cycle of Oedipal guilt which is only resolved at the end of the play by Oedipus answering his own riddle correctly.
Oedipus’ fate is foreshadowed early in the play by an old prophecy that he kill his father and marry his mother; the Chorus (a group of actors who speak for and sympathize with characters in Greek tragedies) sang “Many an older man than he hath paid, many years ago, the price of a fond bride” Oedipus is prophesied to murder his father and marry a woman who will bear him children which will “teem with Oedipus. Oedipus goes on to kill the old man Laius, King of Thebes, without realizing that he has fulfilled the prophecy. In addition, Oedipus unknowingly marries Jocasta, who as queen of the city bears him four children. Sophocles’ play Oedipus at Colonus ( Oedipus Coloneus ) follows Oedipus’ exit from Thebes as Oedipus goes into voluntary exile for fear that he had killed his own father and married his mother thus bringing the curse of Oedipus upon Thebes.
Oedipus dies in Colonus at the city gates leading to Athens when he comes in contact with a snake, another sign from the gods that Oedipus was indeed their son and they would look after him. Oedipus’ children are also left to die as Oedipus is taken off stage, but unlike Oedipus Rex where Oedipus’ fate is foreshadowed by an old prophecy Oedipus does not know his fate and asks where he should go: “What land? What haven shall receive me? Where shalt thou find a home for an unlucky man? ” (Sophocles 3:1144).
Jocasta is an integral part of the play, Oedipus The King, by Sophocles. Her actions and thoughts are important to the reader as well as the characters within the play. Oedipus The King is the story of Oedipus and his family, Oedipus being a king and Jocasta his wife. Oedipus learns that he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother, and after this realization, Oedipus runs away from Corinth. Oedipus flees into exile in order to prevent himself from doing just that.
Eventually, Oedipus comes across an older couple who are caring for their son, Polynices. Oedipus helps them with their situation, killing a giant snake which prevents locals from entering or leaving their town due to its poisonous nature. Because of this selfless act Oedipus gains entrance into Thebes where he becomes the king. Oedipus rules over Thebes for seven years when a plague befalls the city and Oedipus has to discover how he can resolve this situation in order to please the gods so the city of Thebes will be saved.
Oedipus finds out that his family is cursed with bad luck because Oedipus’ biological parents committed incest, which led to Oedipus being banished from Corinth. Jocasta enters waving a branch triumphantly at her son Oedipus because she believes that Oedipus has solved the riddle and saved their people from disaster by preventing further harm from coming towards them. Jocasta realizes that Oedipus must have been born from a king and a queen, Oedipus’ parents. Oedipus is revealed to be the man who killed his father and married his mother.
Oedipus asks Jocasta how this was possible because Oedipus thought he had no children from an early age and ended up in the care of King Polybus and Queen Merope when Oedipus himself was a baby. The messenger reveals that Oedipus came to them after they found Oedipus on top of a hill in Corinth; it is also revealed that Oedipus unknowingly killed his father Laios (who at this point has become king). Oedipus then cursed all sons for having such fathers like him henceforth know as Oedipus Rex.
Oedipus is devastated to realize that he has committed incest and patricide realizes what he has done to his own family. Oedipus then pokes out his eyes, symbolizing the blindness of Oedipus’ spirit for committing such atrocities that are not worthy of anyone’s soul. Jocasta hangs herself afterward as Oedipus leaves after committing these evils upon himself. Oedipus understands what he has done now but it is too late for Oedipus because Thebes will never recover from this tragedy.
Jocasta is called The First Wife throughout the play because she was married before she married Oedipus. She was Oedpius’ mother until Oedipus realized he killed his father and is also Oedipus’ mother because Oedipus married her. Oedipus then realizes that he is the child with Oedipus and Jocasta, Oedipus marrying Oedipus’s mother without knowing. Oedipus does realize this later in the play when he is talking to Tiresias (the blind prophet of Thebes), which explains why Oedipus kills himself at the end of Oedipus Rex because all the bad luck falls onto him.
Jocasta plays a significant role in Oedipus Rex; she cares for Oidpius as if he were her own child, even though she knows that Oedipus isn’t Oidpius’ biological son. Oedipus also cares for Oidpius, but Oidpius is Oedipus’s wife’s child. Oedipus and Jocasta care for Oidpius until Oidpius learns that he killed his father and married his mother without knowing, which then Oidpius commits suicide because he realized that he has committed some horrible atrocities on those who loved him the most.
