What are the major and minor characters in 'Oedipus Rex'?

Answer 1

Creon, Jocasta, Oedipus and Teiresias are major characters whereas Laius, the messengers, the princesses and the shepherdare minor characters in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, major characters help define the course of events. They therefore include Creon, who consults the oracle and becomes king; Jocasta, who has no problem with child killing but who marries her own son; Oedipus, whose mistaken self-identity is at the core of the story; and Teiresias, who epitomizes the explanation and validation of divine will and inexorable fate in mortal lives. In contrast, minor characters implement helping roles to the major characters. They play supporting roles in replacing misinformation with information. For example, Laius plays the victim. The Corinthian and the second messengers reveal respectively vital information on Oedipus' parentage and the royal couple's fate inside the palace. The Princesses Antigone and Ismene share the stage so that the audience gets Oedipus' and Creon's viewpoints on the play's resolution. The Theban shepherd turns everything into a living nightmare with his eyewitness accounts of key points in the triangular lives of Jocasta and her two husbands, Laius and Oedipus.