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Oedipus Rex
More than 2,420 years old but still studied today, the play ‘Oedipus Rex’ tells a tragic tale of mistaken identities, inescapable fates, and horrific human misdeeds. Contributors typically compare and contrast the play’s characters, storytelling techniques, and subject matter with similar pieces of literature from the same and different settings and time periods.
3,240 Questions
How does Oedipus react to Tiresias's refusal to speak?
He accuses Tiresais of conspiring to the murder of Lauis.
Why does Creon share power with Oedipus?
Theban Kings Creon and Oedipus share power, because of the way in which the previous rule was thought to have ended. Their royal predecessor was Theban King Laius, who was Creon's brother-in-law. Laius died unexpectedly, and without heirs, at the hands of person or persons unknown.
It was thought that there were no surviving children from the marriage of Laius to Creon's sister, Theban Queen Jocasta. The throne of Thebes had to be occupied by individuals who were in the direct line of descent from the city's founder and first king, Cadmus. Sister and brother Jocasta and Creon filled the bill. Jocasta's first husband also had been a direct descendant of Cadmus. So Jocasta had the additional claim of being the reigning queen.
Oedipus was thought to be a non Theban born stranger from Corinth. But he was allowed to participate in the joint power sharing arrangement as Jocasta's second husband. It was a popular move, because Oedipus had saved the city from a Sphinx who terrorized the city's inhabitants and visitors.
What decree has Creon issued regarding Antigone's brothers?
He said one of them could be buried, and the other couldn't. In order to maintain order he was attempting to show a clear winner and loser so that the conflict would end.
In antigone who brings news that someone has tried to bury the body?
I don't think so because she buried it.
Whom does Antigone blame for her terrible misfortune?
Antigone makes one direct and two indirect accusations of blame for her terrible misfortune. The direct accusation is placed upon her dead brother Polyneices. For example, she sighs, 'Alas, my brother, ill-starred in thy marriage, in thy death thou hast undone my life'. She also specifies, 'And now, Polyneices, 'tis for tending thy corpse that I win such [deadly] recompense as this'.
Her uncle, Theban King Creon, issues a decree that contradicts the will of the gods and the traditions of Thebes' citizens. He refuses to allow proper funerary procedures for those Thebans who in dying betray their city. Antigone therefore is faced with the sorrowful decision of whether to see that the corpse of the disloyal Polyneices gets the same god guaranteed funerary treatment as that of his loyal twin brother, Eteocles. But equal treatment of loyalists and traitors carries an automatic death sentence.
Indirectly, Antigone also blames her family background and the underworld gods. For example, she suggests that her miserable fate may be linked to her descent from the god cursed Theban King Labdacus whose granddaughter and great granddaughter she is. She likewise suggests a cursed fate due to her incestuous descent from Theban King Oedipus, who is her father; and from Theban Queen Jocasta, who is both her mother and her grandmother.
Antigone blames too the will of the gods. She finds irony in her passionate defense of god given rights and rituals. Specifically, she describes herself as being sentenced to death precisely because she refuses to disrespect the underworld realm of the gods of death, in Hades.
Why does Jocasta not want Oedipus to find out his true identity?
Theban Queen Jocasta realizes that Theban King Oedipus is her only son by her first husband, Theban King Laius. Oedipus is told to identify and punish Laius' killer[s], in order to end a pestilence that ravages Thebes' birth rates, harvests, and livestock. In the course of his investigation, Oedipus learns that Laius was killed at a crossroads and that he resembles Laius. Oedipus is warned of a future killing of his own father and wedding of his own mother. Laius was warned of a future death at the hands of his own son.
Jocasta puts the pieces of the puzzle together before Oedipus does. The fact that her beloved first husband was killed by her son, whom she subsequently marries, is too much for Jocasta to bear. She gets ready to go off and commit suicide. She only hopes that her beloved second husband, who was her beloved son by her beloved first husband, never sees himself as the father killer, king killer, and sex offender that he unknowingly is.
Who is the writer of 'Oedipus Rex'?
Sophocles [496 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.] is the writer of 'Oedipus Rex'. Interestingly, he was born and spent his early life in Colonus, where Oedipus was supposed to have died. Sophocles' family had lived in the area for generations.
Many think that the tragic story of Theban King Oedipus is complete fiction. One explanation is the lack of its telling anywhere else. But the fact of Colonus-born Sophocles' telling the tale itself may be an indicator of its authenticity.
As to why the story isn't found elsewhere, the very subject matter may be the explanation. Oedipus is perceived as an albeit unknowing committer of abominations. One of those abominations is mother-son incest. According to the ancient Greeks, such an act is completely unacceptable by mortals. Yet at the same time, such an act isn't that rare among their gods.
So the story also may not have become widespread, because the subject was seen as blasphemous. Oedipus doesn't intend to do so. But he in essence does what gods are allowed to do, not humans.
Who is the sentry in 'Antigone'?
The term 'sentry' refers to those Thebans who are under orders from Theban King Creon to watch the unburied dead from the recent war with Argos. It's their thankless duty to carry out the equally recent law against proper burial of the dead Argive enemy and their dead Theban allies. One of their members, who is named simply 'Guard', has to tell the King of the burial of Polyneices, who is supposed to be left above ground for having fought alongside the Argive enemy. The 'Guard' also must tell the King of the identity of the violator, who is none other than Polyneices' sister Antigone.
What kind of character was Creon?
Theban King Creon and his niece Antigone have provocative personalities and therefore reactive characters. It almost is impossible for the reader or the viewer of the play not to have strong impressions and consequently equally strong opinions of them. The King is dictatorial, in an unenviable situation. He wants to consolidate his rule and his succession. He does so as the royal successor to the scandalous branch of his family into which his sister marries. For he and his sister descend from Pentheus, who is a grandson of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes in about 2000 B.C.E.* Queen Jocasta takes as her second husband Theban King Oedipus, who unbeknownst to her is her son by her first husband, Theban King Laius. Laius descends from Cadmus' grandson, the cursed Labdacus. The twin sons of King Oedipus and Queen Jocasta power-share, and then kill each other over, the Theban throne. And so King Creon seeks law and order in a city where his family's scandals still must be the latest sources of gossip and jokes. *Before the Christian Era.
Subsequent Theban King Oedipus kills Theban King Laius. Oedipus is Laius' son. But neither one of them knows them when they get caught up in a fatal street brawl over the right of way at a crossroads between Delphi and Thebes.
Which of the following lines is most likely the anagnorisis in odeipus?
Woe woe woe all cometh clear at last
Antigone is the daughter of Queen Jocasta and King Oedipus of Thebes. She is the great great great granddaughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. Cadmus was the original founder of Thebes, around 2000 B.C. He came from Phoenicia, where he was the son of Telephassa and King Agenor of Tyre. Antigone is the sister of the still surviving Ismene. Both girls are the sisters of Eteocles and Polyneices, who power-shared the Theban throne until their deaths in the Argive battle. Antigone is the first cousin and fiancee of Haemon, the son of King Creon.
There isn't really anybody named 'Antidone'; however, there is someone named 'Antigone', who was the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta.
What songs relate to Sophocles' play 'Antigone'?
Within the play 'Antigone' itself, the sections in which are found the parados and the odes are meant to be sung. There also is the opera 'Antigone' by Arthur Honegger [March 10, 1892-November 27, 1955], with libretto by Jean Maurice Eugene Clement Cocteau [July 5, 1889-October 11, 1963]. And there's the musical setting 'Antigonae' by Carl Orff [July 10, 1895-March 29, 1982].
The play 'Antigone' was written about 443, 441 B.C.E.* It first was performed about 440 B.C.E. Yet no information is given in the play as to Antigone's age or her birth date. But the city of Thebes may have been founded around 2000 B.C.E. The founder was Antigone's great great great grandfather, Cadmus. Antigone represented the sixth generation from Cadmus and his wife Harmonia. Each generation may be guesstimated within a range of 20-40 years. That would mean 120-240 years after the city's founding. So Antigone may have been born sometime between 1880 and 1760 B.C.E. *Before the Christian Era.
Who tells Oedipus he will kill his father and marry his mother?
Tiresias a blind prophet tells Oedipus that he will kill his father and marry his mother.
What is the plot summary for the play Oedipus rex?
Creon, to the oracle of the god Apollo to find out what can be done.Laius, was murdered under mysterious circumstances and the murderer was never found.
Who were Antigone's grandparents?
Antigone's grandparents were Theban King Laius and Theban Queen Jocasta. Jocasta was also Antigone's mother. Theban King Oedipus was both father and half brother to Antigone, because he was his mother Jocasta's second husband.
How does Creon learn about Antigone's actions?
The guard returns to tell the king after she is found burying her brother.
Why does Oedipus not understand the information Tiresias gives to him?
A complete contradiction of how he sees himself is why Theban King Oedipus doesn't understand the information that Teiresias the blind prophet gives. Teiresias says that Oedipus is the very person that's being sought for the unsolved murder of Theban King Laius. Oedipus thinks that he never met his royal predecessor. So how can he have killed someone he never knew?
Teiresias also says that the life of the royal family isn't as it seems. Oedipus considers himself happily married to Theban Queen Jocasta, whose husband was Laius. He's fated to kill his father and marry his own mother. He thinks that he has won against fate by settling down in Thebes. That's because he thinks that he's a Corinthian, and the son of Corinthian King Polybus and Queen Merope.
But in actuality, Polybus and Merope are foster parents to their adopted, Theban born son. In actuality, Oedipus is the only son of Laius and Jocasta. So the further he runs from fate, the closer he gets to it. He indeed is a murderer and a sex offender. And both offenses are committed against and with the very parents that he thinks to have left far away in time and space.
What style of writing is used in 'Antigone'?
A style of writing is a distinctive manner of expression. Poetry is a manner of expression that's calculated to produce vivid imagery in the mind and to create an emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. The writing style in the play 'Antigone' is poetic. That poetic style of writing definitely is used to call forth vivid mental images and to get readers and viewers to sympathize with the main character, Antigone.
How does the Shepard react when the messenger identifies Oedipus as the child they exchanged?
the shepherd reacts with fear and begs the messenger to hold his tongue. Oedipus threatens the messenger with physical violence, and finally the man confesses that the baby was a child of Laius's house. Oedipus reacts with fear and astonishment that the oracle was true after all this time. He couldn't believe that after all this time that he was the son of Laius this whole time. Now the oracle is all clear to him.
Who are Oedipus real parents are?
His birth parents are the king and queen of Thebes, King Laius and Queen Jacosta.
His adopted parents (who he thought were his real parents) are the king and queen of Corinth, King Polybus and Queen Merope.
How does the play Antigone end?
After Antigone has been killed, Haemon, Ismene and Queen Eurydice commit suicide.
Creon at last repents seeing that he has caused all this by acting against the gods.
[Actually, Antigone commits suicide, too. She hangs herself rather than slowly starve to death in the tomb in which Creon has had her sealed. Finding her dead is why Haemon kills himself. Finding that Haemon is dead is why Eurydice kills herself: cause and effect.]
Who is Creon's stepfather in 'Oedipus Rex'?
No one is Theban King Creon's stepfather in 'Oedipus Rex'. Neither is Creon the stepfather to anyone in the play. But what does happen is future King Oedipus' adoption by King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth.
