Oedipus Rex

Yes, Oedipus and Athens are linked. They're linked in the living of his life by Oedipus. Oedipus was exiled from his home town of Thebes. He ended up dying in Colonus, which was under the protection of Athens. He died a good death after having lived a miserable exile. That happy death was due in part to the friendship of Athenian King Theseus.

Oedipus and Athens also are linked in the telling of his life by Sophocles [c. 496 B.C.E. - c. 406 B.C.E.]. Sophocles was born in Colonus, where Oedipus died. Oedipus' death was predicted to bring as much good luck to Colonus, as it had brought bad luck to Thebes. Sophocles spent much of his life in and about Athens, which was in many ways the 'New York City' of ancient Greece. In fact, he became known as an Athenianplaywright.

Some think that the Oedipus stories are made up. One reason for so thinking is the lack of the story's telling anywhere but in the literature of ancient Greece. But it's interesting that the story's main teller was from Colonus and lived in Athens. With Corinth and Thebes, the two cities make up the four places that most are associated with Oedipus' name in ancient Greece. And they're the most important, because of their role in giving final honors to a noble king who had become an abomination in his own opinion and according to the consensus of others.

It is by placing characters in situations of misinterpretation and misunderstanding that Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.). uses dramatic irony to create tension in "Oedipus Rex."

Specifically, dramatic irony refers to a literary technique. It operates to give characters an incomplete or incorrect understanding of themselves and their situations. For example, characters may not know that what they say about others holds for them as well.

That Teiresias accuses him of being the killer is the reason why Oedipus does not believe Teiresias in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus asks Teiresias for help in solving the mysterious murder of King Laius. Teiresias the blind prophet astounds Oedipus by identifying him as the very killer that all Thebes seeks. Oedipus does not remember meeting the man that Teiresias accuses him of killing.

That Polybus is dead is the news that the Messenger brings from Oedipus' homeland and that the death is from natural causes is the reason why Jocasta is relived in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus fears his fate as his father's killer. But the Corinthian messenger lets Oedipus' wife Queen Jocasta know that Oedipus' presumed father, King Polybus, is dead from illness and old age. Jocasta welcomes the news since Oedipus is far away in Thebes and therefore cannot be said to bring about his father's death in Corinth.

Choice of punishment and company in exile are the favors that Creon denies Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, disgraced Theban King Oedipus asks to meet with his daughters and to be exiled with them outside Thebes. Creon, his brother-in-aw and royal successor, brings the sister Princesses Antigone and Ismene outside to their father. But he does not approve exile over execution or company over loneliness in terms of Oedipus' punishment for criminal acts and immoral behavior. This is up to the gods.

That she already realizes the shape that the complete truth will take is the reason why Jocasta reacts in the way the she does when Oedipus begins to discover the truth in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus heads a murder investigation into the mysterious death of King Laius, his royal predecessor and his wife's first husband. In a surprise turn of events, Oedipus looks like the prime suspect. Queen Jocasta rejects such a possibility until the investigation also becomes one of Oedipus' parentage. Just before Jocasta's most trusted servant is brought in, Jocasta says that the investigation must stop. She just states that the findings will hurt her, without specifying that the facts will show her son and her first husband's killer to be Oedipus.

That they contrast free will versus fate and that the gods win are the purpose and significance of Oedipus' interactions with characters such as Creon and Teiresias in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus is the symbol of free will in that he believes in having a chance at outrunning the fate and outwitting the gods through his own chosen acts. In contrast, his brother-in-law and royal colleague Creon and his royal advisor Teiresias the blind prophet represent acceptance of divinely ordained fates for all mortals. The interactions show that the gods win because Oedipus presents himself poorly and recklessly.

That Polybus is dead, that Polybus and Merope are not his biological parents, and that he himself is a Theban born in Laius' royal household are the things that Oedipus learns from the messenger in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Corinthian messenger comes to Thebes to announce the death of Corinthian King Polybus and to offer the Corinthian throne to Theban King Oedipus, Polybus' heir apparent. But Oedipus fears any return to Corinth because of a prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. The messenger then reassures him that Polybus and Merope are not Oedipus' biological parents, who instead are members of the Theban royal household from the time of the reign of Theban monarchs Laius and Jocasta.

It is to Apollo that Jocasta makes an offering in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta is concerned because her second husband King Oedipus seems more concerned with past puzzles than with the present pestilence. She needs divine help. She puts a garland and incense on Apollo's altar and in return asks for Oedipus' mind to clear and the pestilence to leave.

That he is helpless in the face of the destiny that he receives as a helpless baby is the reason why Oedipus calls himself a child of fate in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus is fated to grow up to be his father's killer and his mother's husband. His parents and two shepherds as well as he himself make efforts for that fate not to be realized. But fate turns Oedipus' life exactly in the direction that it needs to go for him to meet his destiny at every turn.

The mythological references and the particular translation may make it difficult to read "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, parallel situations from other ancient Greek myths are made in the passages by the chorus. These references may be difficult to understand since gods and mortals often are called by other than their proper names, such as Lycean lord for Apollo the sun god and god of prophecy. But generally the last couple lines of the choral contributions clearly set out the underlying point being made, such as a plea for a peaceful end to the search for the guilty in Laius' murder.

The Riddle of the Sphinx : "What is that which in the morning goeth upon four feet; upon two feet in the afternoon; and in the Evening upon three?"

Oedipus' reply was "Man , who in the morning of his life (As an infant.) crawls on all fours whereas at noon man walks (As an adult.) but in the evening man uses a cane due to old age .

The chorus is the narrator in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the narrator tells the story. The play is made up of conversations between the characters, comments between the characters and the chorus leader, commentaries by the chorus, and announcements by messengers. What cements the disparate actions and words are the narrative observations and summaries by which the chorus describes cultural events and happenings elsewhere, explains the significance of events, and interprets the characters and the gods.