Oedipus Rex

A voice to the caution, practicality and reason of the ordinary law-abiding citizen and to the repressed will of the traditionally defined female are the dramatic purposes of the character of Ismene in the plays "Oedipus Rex" and "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Ismene is shown to have a supporting role within the cast of main characters. She therefore is almost as anonymous as the "man on the street." That she chooses to follow the rules of the here and now as opposed to the those of the later and elsewhere of the afterlife confirms her as the careful, practical, reasonable person who may be seen as just one of the gatekeepers instead of one of the movers and shakers in life. It also establishes her as the female whose presence is controlled and whose voice is not heard in a male-dominated society such as that headed by her uncle, Theban King Creon.

Ismene also serves as a dramatic foil to her sister Antigone. Whereas Antigone is stubborn in her resolve to bury her brother Polyneices regardless of the consequences, Ismene waffles between resolve to obey the letter of the law regardless of her own feelings and swearing to accompany her sister to the grave in guilt for not burying their brother. Her inconsistency highlights Antigone's constancy.

It is by defeating the Sphinx and marrying Jocasta that Oedipus gains legitimacy in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus comes to Thebes as a presumed Corinthian royal born and bred. He defeats the Sphinx who feeds her appetite for freshly killed Thebans by asking a riddle that no one can answer. He is rewarded with the offer of the Theban throne through marriage with the recently widowed Queen Jocasta.

It is to the areas outside Thebes, Athens and Colonus that Oedipus and Antigone travel during Oedipus' exile after "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus loses his reputation, job and home for committing serious albeit unknowing offenses against the gods and mortals. He is punished with exile instead of execution. He is allowed to take at least his elder daughter, Princess Antigone, with him during the years of exile outside Thebes, Athens and Colonus. It is in a secret area outside the latter that Oedipus finally dies and from which Antigone returns to Thebes.

The Roman Goddess of crops and grain was Ceres.

Hence cereals.

Yes, the audience suspects that Oedipus is his father's killer near the start of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, it is in the prologue that Theban King Oedipus learns that the current pestilence will end with finding and punishing the guilty in King Laius' murder. It is in the first scene that Oedipus meets with Teiresias the blind prophet. Teiresias says that Oedipus is Laius' killer and son.

That he awaits the word of the Delphic oracle is what Oedipus tells the priest in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus announces that he already knows about the pestilence in Thebes. He explains that he keeps current with what is going on with his people and his city. He indicates that Creon, his brother-in-law and royal colleague, is consulting with the Delphic oracle as to the causes and solutions of the pestilence.

Physical and symbol blindness are the kinds of blindness in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, physical blindness is evidenced in the actual blindness of Teiresisas the blind prophet. Symbolic blindness is found in the cluelessness of Theban King Oedipus. Oedipus suffers from a mistaken self-image that causes him not to recognize the truths that are staring him in the face.

Nieces and great-nieces is the blood relationship of Oedipus' daughters to Creon in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Creon is the brother of disgraced Queen Jocasta. Through her marriage to her own son King Oedipus, Jocasta is the mother and the grandmother of the Princesses Antigone and Ismene. That makes Creon both uncle and great-uncle to Jocasta's children.

That all the prophecies are true is what Oedipus realizes in the climax of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term climax describes the turning point of greatest drama and tension. The description fits Theban King Oedipus' realization that the prophecies that he seeks to sabotage in fact fit how his life turns out. It is a turning point of great drama and tension for the audience and characters and of the beginning steps to resolution.

The Theban shepherd's identifying him as Laius' murderer is how Oedipus finds out that he is his father's killer in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. -- 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta identifies a crossroads in the land of Phocis as the location at which her first husband, King Laius, and all but one of his escort party dies. Her second husband, King Oedipus, recognizes that location as the site of a long ago murder committed by him before moving from Corinth to Thebes. Jocasta sends for the lone survivor, who reluctantly reveals Oedipus' birth to Jocasta and Laius, desertion because of a frightening prophecy, fostering into the Corinthian royal house, killing of Laius at the crossroads, and marriage to his own mother.

It is by blinding himself that Oedipus makes amends for his crime in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus learns that he is his father's killer and his mother's husband. He knows that he must be executed or exiled for the former and that he will be an abomination for all time to gods and mortals because of the latter. He accepts his punishment and makes amends by blinding himself from the personal and professional mess for which he will be known forever more.

That the play deals with the mother-son interaction is what 'Oedipus Rex' has to do with psychoanalysis pioneer Sigmund Freud [May 6, 1856-September 23, 1939]. In psychoanalysis, healthy male development requires successfully passing through childhood, during which a mother's influence may dominate. But in adolescence, a father's role modeling for adulthood needs to take over.

Some mental and social problems that overwhelm some males in adolescence and adulthood may trace back to a rocky passage through childhood. Such males may be said to suffer from an 'Oedipus complex'.

The term 'Oedipus complex' comes from the basic problem in the play. Albeit unknowingly, Theban King Oedipus kills his own father and marries his own mother. A kind of symbolic death is given to the father and a kind of symbolic incest is given out by the mother when the male child heeds the maternal influence and doesn't heed the paternal enough or at all.

It is the Delphic oracle that Oedipus sends Creon to consult prior to the beginning of the action of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Delphic oracle carries the name of the Pythia. As the oracle of Apollo the sun god at Delphi, she is the most famous and respected oracle in ancient Greece. Oedipus therefore sends Creon, his brother-in-law and royal colleague, to find out how to end the pestilence before it ends all life in Thebes.

The resolution of the action is the point where Oedipus realizes that the prophecies are all true in the play "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles "(495 B.C.E. -- 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the play's action relates to Oedipus' predicted fate and its consequences. The resolution occurs when the impact of the action is known. Oedipus blinds himself upon seeing the prophecy of him as his father's killer and his mother's husband come true. His coming out blind from his bedroom therefore is the beginning of the play's resolution and concluding section.

Climax

The insights of the Delphic oracle is the news that Oedipus promises to the priest in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus learns from the priest of Zeus that Thebans are suffering from a pestilence. Oedipus reassures the priest that he awaits news from his brother-in-law and royal colleague, Creon. Creon returns any minute with the insights of the Delphic oracle. Oedipus will share any news immediately with the priest.

Yes, Jocasta realizes that Oedipus is her son before he does in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta is a lifelong member of the Theban royal household. The genealogies of royal ancestors and the most recent births in the royal family have name recognition for her. In this instance, the understanding and the memory are one since the royal birth in question is that of the infant son whom she arranges to have killed rather than grow up to fulfill a dreadful prophecy.

Murdering his father; marrying his mother; and losing his sight, his reputation, his job, his home and his family are Oedipus' tragic fate in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Delphic oracle says that Oedipus will grow up to kill his own father and marry his own mother. Teiresias the blind prophet says that Oedipus will lose his sight and his home and by implication everything else. Both the oracle and the seer are reliable, wise information sources, and what they say is what tragically happens.

No, Creon is not Oedipus' son in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Creon is Oedipus' uncle, brother-in-law, royal colleague and ultimately royal successor. Shortly after Oedipus' arrival in Thebes, he marries widowed Theban Queen Jocasta, Creon's sister. But Oedipus does not know that he actually is Jocasta's son and therefore Creon's nephew. Creon becomes Oedipus' royal successor once Jocasta's and Oedipus' incest and Oedipus' murder of his own father become known.

Helmsman is the metaphor that Jocasta uses to describe Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term metaphor describes the comparison of what generally is unlike. The description fits Theban Queen Jocasta's characterization of her second husband King Oedipus when she makes a sacrifice to Apollo the god of prophecy. She says that Thebans fear as much as a ship's passengers do upon seeing the helmsman terrified.