Oedipus Rex

That she knows Oedipus' true identity is the reason why Jocasta says to Oedipus "Who thou art mayst thou never know" in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta realizes that King Oedipus is more to her than her husband and the father of her children. She knows from the information of the Theban shepherd that Oedipus is her own son. She is going to go off and kill herself with the knowledge. But as Oedipus' loving wife, she hopes to spare him the devastating realization that means personal and professional doom.

Nothing is what the Delphic oracle tells Laius in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Laius does not consult the Delphic oracle. He gets his disturbing prophecy from an unnamed prophet, possibly Teiresias of Thebes. He is on his way to consult the Pythia at Delphi when he is murdered at the Delphi-Daulia crossroads in Phocis.

The words of the Oracle at Apollo's Shrine and his own self protection get Theban King Oedipus to agree to avenge the death of Theban King Laius. There's a pestilence that's ruining harvests, reducing the Theban population, and ravaging livestock. The Oracle says that the pestilence will end with the identification and punishment of the person or persons who killed Oedipus' royal predecessor and father.

Oedipus says that he'll follow the Oracle's advice. But he appears to be at least as concerned, or more so, over protecting himself. He suggests that tracking down the culprit or culprits may save him from a similar fate.

That they tragically love second husbands but that Gertrude's husband is a villain and Jocasta's is not are the ways in which Gertrude in "Hamlet" and Jocasta in "Oedipus Rex" are respectively similar and different.

Specifically, Danish Queen Gertrude falls in love with Claudius, the brother and killer of her first husband. Theban Queen Jocasta falls in love with Oedipus, the son and killer of her first husband. But Claudius kills his brother knowingly and treacherously, in order to become king. In contrast, Oedipus murders his father unknowingly, in an act of self-defense.

It is to Delphi that Oedipus sends Creon in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus does not know what causes a pestilence in Thebes. He therefore has Creon, his brother-in-law and royal colleague, take a trip to Delphi. Delphi is the location of the Delphic oracle whose insights are respected throughout all ancient Greece.

Polybus is the king who adopts the boy Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Polybus is the king of Corinth and the husband of Queen Merope. They have no children and therefore no heirs to succeed them on throne of Corinth. They therefore are delighted to received Oedipus from a Corinthian shepherd and to adopt him into the royal household as son and heir apparent.

That the priest of Zeus achieves his purpose of getting Oedipus involved in ending the current suffering in Thebes is the meaning of "Let us get up, children. For this man has willingly declared just what we came for" in the play "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. -- 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, line counts differ according to the particular edition being consulted. If this is the line in question, then it is what the priest of Thebes says at the end of his interaction with Oedipus. He is referring to those who come as suppliants of Oedipus' help in finding the cause of and solution to failing harvests, declining birth rates and ailing livestock.

Theban King Laius is murdered in 'Oedipus Rex'. He dies in a street brawl over the right of way at a crossroads. He thinks that he doesn't know his killer. His killer thinks likewise.

But the perpetrator and the victim should have known each other very well. In fact, Laius is the father of his killer, who becomes Theban King Oedipus. But neither one of them knows that.

That they will have a hard time in life, that they need a protector such as Creon, and they must try to be happy and successful is what Oedipus says to his daughters in his monologue at the end of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus knows that his daughters, who also are his half-sisters, will face cruelty and shunning. They also may face spinsterhood, poverty and childlessness. Yet Oedipus suggests that happiness and success are possibilities if the Princesses Antigone and Ismene make the effort and if they have a protector such as King Creon, their uncle and the royal successor to their father and half-brother.

That Oedipus has a proven record of succeeding where others do not and that he must have divine favor are the reasons why the priest thinks that Oedipus is better able than any other individual to help Thebans in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the priest of Zeus describes Theban King Oedipus as figuring out how to defeat the Sphinx despite everyone else's failures. He refers to him as the Savior of Thebes. He says that Oedipus must be the best of humans and has the gods on his side.

Suicide is what happens to Antigone, Haemon and Creon's wife in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E,).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone hangs herself with her own halter. Theban Prince Haemon, her first cousin and intended husband, kills himself with his own sword. Theban Queen Eurydice, Creon's wife and Haemon's mother, stabs herself with a dagger.

Jocasta is the name of Oedipus' wife in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus is married to the Theban Queen. His wife's name is Jocasta. She is his first and only wife, but Oedipus is Jocasta's second husband.

The Chorus leader of the Theban Elders is the person who persuades Theban King Creon to rescue Princess Antigone in the play "Antigone" by ancient Greek playwright Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Creon hears Teiresias the blind prophet trace the unhealthy environment prevailing in Thebes to the non-burial of the corpse of Polyneices. Creon contradicts and insults Teiresias until the seer suggests that the tragedy of all Thebes will extend to the royal household. But it is after Teiresias leaves that Creon finally asks what to do. It is the Chorus leader who says that Polyneices' body needs to be given a proper Theban burial and that Antigone needs to be released from her prison.