How do all the events connect to one another in 'Oedipus Rex'?

Answer 1

That they involve Oedipus is the way in which all the events connect to one another in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban monarchs Laius and Jocasta arrange to have Oedipus die by exposure on the mountains outside Thebes. The Corinthian shepherd assists the Theban shepherd in Oedipus' rescue by sneaking him from Thebes and into Corinth, to be raised as Corinthian monarchs Polybus' and Merope's heir. As a young adult, Oedipus consults the Delphic oracle and panics over his dreadful prophesied fate. He kills an older version of himself while on the way to Thebes. He lets the Sphinx whom he outwits kill herself. He moved into Thebes, where he marries the city's newly widowed Queen Jocasta, who is old enough to be his mother. He neglects to carry out mandatory cleansing rituals for his crimes and for the death of Jocasta's first husband. Years later, a pestilence rages in Thebes precisely because of the mysterious death of Jocasta's first husband and because of the neglected purification procedures. All of the above-mentioned critical events share the common denominator of Oedipus' involvement.