Oedipus Rex

It is because he defeats the Sphinx that the citizens of Thebes make Oedipus their king in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Sphinx asks a seemingly unsolvable riddle of all incoming and outgoing Thebes. Those who do not have an answer get killed and eaten by the Sphinx. A reward of marriage with widowed Queen Jocasta and job as king of Thebes is offered to whomever defeats the Sphinx. Oedipus knows the correct answer to the riddle, defeats the Sphinx, and gets the girl and the job.

Oedipus' last day as King of Thebes is the timing of the action in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the play respects the ancient Greek unity of time, plot, and place. Temporally, the time is the 24-hour span in which Oedipus ends his rule Thebes and begins his house arrest. Ultimately, house arrest is followed by either Oedipus' exile and death in Colonus according to Sophocles' "Oedipus at Colonus" or by his continued house arrest and death in Thebes according to Book 23 of Homer's "Iliad."

A pair of eyes is the dominant image in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the pair of eyes can be the sightless sockets of wisdom of Teiresias the blind prophet. It may be the sighted sockets of ignorance of Theban King Oedipus. It segues into the gouged sockets of self-knowledge of a sadder, wiser Oedipus at the play's end. It ultimately turns into the blindfolded sockets of the relentless Furies of fate.

A tragic flaw is the English equivalent of 'hamartia'. Pride tends to be the tragic flaw of the heroes of Greek tragedies. In the case of 'Oedipus Rex', the shoe fits.

Theban King Oedipus is so proud of his own intelligence that he thinks that he can escape a horrendous fate. He's so proud of his personal and professional accomplishments that he stops looking over his shoulder or looking gift horses in the mouth.

Instead, Oedipus needs to keep his guard up, to remain vigilant. He's foredoomed to kill his own father and marry his own mother. He needs to proceed carefully through every violent interaction with individuals old enough to be his father. He likewise needs to proceed carefully through every romantic attachment with individuals old enough to be his mother.

No, Oedipus and his father Laius are not reunited at the beginning of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus still believes himself to be the son of Corinthian monarchs Polybus and Merope. Additionally, Oedipus' biological father Laius already is dead, at his own son's hands. Oedipus does not reunite with his foster or real parents until after his death, when he joins them in the Underworld of the afterlife.

The Pythia at Delphi is Apollo's oracle in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Pythia is the priestess at Apollo's temple on the Delphic slopes of Mount Parnassus. She is one of many oracular priestesses in ancient Greece. All oracles honor Apollo the sun god, but the most respected of them all is the Pythia, the Delphic oracle.

That Creon is a team member who controlshis emotions and goes by the book and that Oedipus is a leader who runs with his emotions and cravesimmediate results are the main ways in which Creon and Oedipus are different in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus is treated by his people as though he rules alone even though he actually shares power with his wife, Queen Jocasta, and with his brother-in-law, Creon. Because he is so caught up with his life and that of his city, Oedipus tends to think on his feet and give way to rash acts and passionate outbursts. In contrast, Creon sees himself as part of a team and therefore tries to follow proper procedure, find common ground and defuse conflict.

Thebes is the hometown of Oedipus' parents in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus is a native son of Thebes, the hometown of his biological parents. But he does not know that. He thinks of Thebes as a fresh start and as protection from a horrendous prophecy concerning his presumed hometown of Corinth and his presumed parents, Corinthian monarchs Polybus and Merope.

Acceptance of human law, admission of guilt, an attempt to share in the blame, and an effort to talk Creon out of the death penalty are Ismene's actions in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. -- 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Ismene chooses to obey a human law that makes Theban-style burials and funerary rites the privileges of some instead of the god-given rights of all. But she makes a false admission of guilt in an attempt to share the blame when her law-breaking sister Antigone is arrested and threatened with the death sentence. When Antigone refuses her help, Ismene tries to sway Creon towards the equivalent of acquittal or probation by reminding him of his son's engagement to Antigone.

Hanging, blinding, and house arrest is the drama that happens at the end of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta hangs herself when she realizes that her second husband is both her first husband's killer and her son. Oedipus has such a combined sense of anger, horror and shame that he blinds himself. House arrest is the final downward step that Oedipus takes after losing his wife, his sight, his reputation, his job and his home.

A life ruined by mistaken identity, a household of death and sorrow, and the high cost of taking something that belongs to another are warnings given respectively by Teiesias in "Oedipus Rex," "Antigone' and "The "Odyssey."

Specifically, Teiresias the blind prophet warns that Theban King Oedipus will be devastated by the knowledge of his true identity, the true nature of his personal life and the true source of his professional success. He subsequently warns that King Creon, Oedipus' brother-in-law and uncle, will experience the same pain from the death of a family member as he inflicts on all Thebes with his illegal edict against burial of the disloyal dead. Finally, he warns that Trojan War hero Odysseus' menwill pay a painfully high cost for eating the sun god's cattle.

That it complicates the plot and turns it in another direction is the effect on the plot of the chorus telling Oedipus of old rumors suggesting that Laius is not killed by robbers in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus has to identify and punish the guilty in the unsolved murder of his royal predecessor, King Laius. It at first looks a straightforward case of robbers being hired to steal and kill. But the surfacing of old rumors makes the investigation more complicated and multidirectional than expected.
It gives Oedipus information that will later cause him to suspect that he is Laius's murderer.

Yes, the climax occurs when Oedipus realizes that the prophecies all have come true in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the climax is the turning point at which there is no going back. It may be accompanied by anagnorisis, which is a discovery of a critical, overriding truth. Both occur when the eyewitness accounts of the Corinthian messenger and the Theban shepherd sink in. Theban King Oedipus realizes that the unenviable prophecy that he spends a lifetime subverting unfurls to the very last horrific detail.