Oedipus Rex

That the criminal is a native Theban who kills his own father is what Teiresias tells Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Teiresias the blind prophet characterizes the criminal as an apparent stranger who will turn out to be the native born son of the victim, Theban King Laius. He describes the criminal as being personally happy and professionally successful. But the criminal will lose everything, including his sight, once the royal identity behind which he hides is investigated.

That they have a problem which they hope can be solved by him is the reason why people come to Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, a pestilence causes children to be stillborn, crops to fail and livestock to ail. The people of Thebes gather outside their city's royal palace. They hope that King Oedipus, whom they call the savior of Thebes, will find a way to end the pestilence before it ends all life in Thebes.

Mother and cousin are the ways in which Jocasta is related to Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban monarchs Jocasta and Oedipus are a married couple who albeit unknowingly are blood relatives. Both are the great-great grandchildren of Cadmus, Thebes' founding king. They are also cousins: Oedipus is the great-grandson of Polydorus, the brother of Jocasta's great-grandmother Agave. But it is the mother-son relationship, not the first cousinship, that makes their marriage a horrible surprise to them and a great offense to the gods and mortals.

The Delphic oracle, chorus leader, Creon, Teiresias, Jocasta, the Corinthian messenger and the Theban shepherd are the people who help Oedipus find the killer in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Delphic oracle announces that the guilty will be found to be Thebans. The chorus leader and Creon comment about old rumors of robbers as the perpetrators. Teiresias the blind prophet declares that Theban King Oedipus is King Laius' murderer. Queen Jocasta describes the crime scene and her first husband's physical appearance. The Corinthian messenger gives clues as to Oedipus' true birthplace and parentage. The Theban shepherd recognizes Oedipus as the infant to be killed in order not to grow up to kill his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta.

It is for leaving Laius' murder unsolved that Oedipus criticizes his subjects in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus becomes aware of a pestilence afflicting the children, crops and livestock of Thebes. He also finds out that it is caused by the unsolved murder of King Laius, his royal predecessor and his wife Queen Jocasta's first husband. Oedipus lets his people know that he strongly disapproves of their disrespecting a prior king and neglecting mandatory purification procedures.

No, "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.) is not a fable.

Specifically, the term fable describes a short narrative that involves animals with human traits and that illustrates a moral. The description does not fit. Instead, Oedipus' story is presented in dramatic format with themes illustrated by human characters and divine forces.

That he was offered as a gift and accepted as the heir apparent to the childless royal couple of Corint is the reason that Oedipus becomes Polybus' son in the play "Oedipus Rex" by ancient Greek playwright Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus is supposed to die by exposure on the mountains outside his hometown of Thebes. His parents, Theban monarchs Laius and Jocasta, are told by the oracle that Oedipus will kill his father if allowed to grow up. A Theban servant to Jocasta and a Corinthian shepherd temporarily in the area take pity on the three-day-old infant and send him off to Corinth. The childless Corinthian monarchs, Polybus and Merope, accept Oedipus as their son and heir.

That Laius and four others in his escort party are killed by Oedipus is what happens at the crossroads in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus is traveling from Delphi to Thebes. Theban King Laius is traveling from Thebes to Delphi. They meet in the land of Phocis, where they end up in a street brawl over the right-of-way at a crossroads. Oedipus and one servant from Laius' escort are the only survivors.

That Oedipus must solve a municipal problem that turns into a tragic issue of mistaken identity and that leads to personal and professional misfortune is a summary of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus is presented with the problem of ending the pestilence before it ends all life in Thebes. He is informed through the Apolline oracle that the city's problems will end with the identification and punishment of the guilty in the unsolved murder of Oedipus' royal predecessor, King Laius. In the course of the murder investigation, Oedipus discovers from his royal advisor, Teiresias the blind prophet, that he himself is the prime suspect. Despite his misgivings, Oedipus directs the investigation toward the crime scene, which turns out to be the very location of his own crime of about the same time against a person of about the same appearance as Laius. He comes to the realization that he is Laius' killer and that the dreadful prophecy that sends him running from Corinth to Delphi to Thebes is a true prediction: He therefore is father's killer and his mother's husband.

A tall man who shuffles through life on scarred, swollen feet is Oedipus' only known aspect in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, only three characters describe Theban King Oedipus. Oedipus' wife, Queen Jocasta, likens him as a younger version of her first husband, the tall and well shaped King Laius. Jocasta's most trusted servant points out the scars and swollen ankles that deform the shape and hinder the functioning of Oedipus' feet. Oedipus himself says that his scarred ankles are his lifelong shame. A final insight tracks back to his very name: Oedipus is ancient Greek for "swollen feet."

That they are conciliatory is the view of women in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the ancient Greek dramatist has three female characters come onstage. One is Theban Queen Jocasta, whose hallmark characteristic is her conciliatory nature. King Creon leads the sister Princesses Antigone and Ismene to meet with their father, disgraced King Oedipus. But the girls make no comments at all during the interaction.

That he raised an army of disgruntled Thebans and invading Argives against his hometown of Thebes is the reason why Polyneices is viewed as a traitor in 'Antigone'. But the reason that he raises the army lies in the denial of his rights. He and his twin brother Eteocles are the heirs to the Theban throne. Their mother, Theban Queen Jocasta, commits suicide. Their father, Theban King Oedipus, is exiled for having killed his own father and sovereign, Theban King Laius.

With their father's disgrace, Eteocles and Polyneices become kings. But the actual arrangement is power sharing in which they alternate years of rule. At the end of his first year, Eteocles refuses to honor the arrangement. He then banishes Polyneices from the city.

Polyneices promptly goes to Argos. There, he marries into the royal house. He thereby gets Argive royal support for an invasion of Thebes. He hopes to claim his rights by force. Instead, both brothers die in the ensuing battle. And that's where the play 'Antigone' begins.

Horror over the realization of her fate is what Jocasta feels at the end of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta hurries into the palace after realizing that her second husband, King Oedipus, is her son and the killer of her first husband, Laius. She is horrified at not processing the physical proofs of Oedipus' identity: the resemblance to Laius, the scarred and swollen ankles, and the shuffling gait. She must accept responsibility for her blasphemous attempt to sabotage fate and for her incestuous marriage and parenting. She takes her life in recognition of the full horror of her existence.

Proper rites of burial for Jocasta, a meeting with his daughters and exile instead of execution are three requests made by Oedipus to Creon in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus' wife Jocasta hangs herself upon realizing that her husband is also her son. Oedipus must step down as king for the offense of incense and the crime of killing Laius, his father and Jocasta's first husband. He asks Creon, his brother-in-law and royal successor, to give Jocasta a proper Theban-style burial, let him see his daughters/half-sisters one last time, and select exile instead of execution as the punishment for his offenses.

Additionally, Oedipus asks for his daughters' protectionby Creon against an otherwise miserable life of isolation, poverty, shunning and spinsterhood. He also asks for his meeting with his daughters not to end when Creon tries to separate father and daughters/half-siblings.

That she realizes that her life is a sham and that she takes her life is the way in which Jocasta suffers in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta discovers that her first husband King Laius is killed by her second husband King Oedipus. She finds out that Oedipus is the son whom she arranges to kill just three days after his birth. She realizes that her son's prophesied fate to kill his father and marry his mother is realized and hangs herself.

That Jocasta is dead and that Oedipus is blind is what the audience learns from the Second Messenger in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Second Messenger comes out of the main entrance to the Theban royal palace. He informs the chorus of Oedipus' initial plan to kill his wife Jocasta with his sword. But he finds her already dead by hanging with the threads from her own gown. Oedipus removes the brooches from Jocasta's robes and plunges them into both his eyes.

That he does not know that he is their son is the reason why Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus hears the prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. He is correct in thinking that he is royal born and bred. But he is wrong in thinking that he is the son of Corinthian monarchs Polybus and Merope. This mistaken self-identity causes him not to restrain himself when he kills someone other than his presumed father and marry an older woman other than his presumed mother.

That Oedipus tries to be a good king, devoted husband and caring father is the element of pathos in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, pathos refers to the poignancy, the sadness of a situation. The description fits what turns out to be true about Theban King Oedipus. For example, Oedipus cares about his people and his family. He attempts to ease his people's suffering by heading a murder investigation that ultimately tears his personal and professional life to shreds.

That he follows proper procedure and that Oedipus does not is a way in which Creon acts as a foil for Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Creon asks where Theban King Oedipus prefers to receive the Delphic oracle's insights into how to end the pestilence in Thebes. Oedipus does not meet Creon in private inside the palace, which is proper royal protocol. He instead insists upon sharing the news publicly despite his ignorance as to the actual contents of that information. He maintains that same unorthodox insistence when he tries to force Creon into sending him into exile. Creon refuses to cooperate since the decision as to the type of punishment is the responsibility of the gods, not royals.

"Oedipus the King" and "Oedipus at Colonus" are the two plays that are associated with the play "Antigone."

Specifically, all three of the plays were written by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E>). Antigone was the daughter of disgraced Theban King Oedipus. The three plays tell the story of what happens to Oedipus and his children and half-siblings Antigone, Eteocles, Ismene and Polyneices.