The Sphinx, pollution lingering from an unsolved murder and pestilence are three things that plague the city in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).
Specifically, the Sphinx camps outside the city to plague incoming and outgoing Thebans with her seemingly unanswerable riddle. She is defeated, but followed albeit unknowingly by a subtle environmental pollution that establishes itself because of neglected carrying out of mandatory cleansing rituals in the aftermath of King Laius' death. The pollution magnifies into a full blown pestilence whereby children die, crops fail and livestock fail.
plague
Citizens
Citizens
Citizens
No, citizens don't tell Theban King Oedipus about a plague threatening to destroy the city at the beginning of the play. Instead, it's the priest who does so. Oedipus already is aware of the problem and the lack of an effective solution.
plague
Citizens
Citizens
Citizens
Citizens
In Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex, the blind prophet Tiresias accuses Oedipus of being the cause of the plague that has recently fallen over Thebes. He states that Oedipus has unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, and thus brought divine punishment upon the city. Tiresias also tells Oedipus that the only way to end the plague is for Oedipus to exile himself from the city and never return.Tiresias' accusation is that Oedipus has committed an act of incest and patricide, and as a result, is responsible for the plague that has befallen Thebes. He believes that the only way to end the plague is for Oedipus to exile himself from the city and never return.
No, citizens don't tell Theban King Oedipus about a plague threatening to destroy the city at the beginning of the play. Instead, it's the priest who does so. Oedipus already is aware of the problem and the lack of an effective solution.
A plague threatens to destroy the city.
Yes, there's a plague in 'Oedipus Rex'. It actually is called a 'pestilence'. It's ravaging the city's population, livestock and crops. Everyone is at wits' end as to how to end or at least soften the effects.
In order to lift the plague that is destroying the city, Oedipus must find the killer of the previous king, Laius.
A plague has invaded the city, and Oedipus must find a cure
In the first part of Oedipus Rex, a plague is rampaging in the City of Thebes. Oedipus sends for an oracle. The oracle says the plague will end when the murder of the former King is killed or sent away. A search is on for the murderer. Oedipus himself is accused of the murder. As the plot unfolds, Oedipus begins to worry that he may actually be the murderer. Oedipus later learns that he is the son of the former King. He discovers that he has killed his father and married his mother (the queen).