Oedipus Rex

That he brings good news is what the draping of berries and bay upon Creon indicates when Creon returns from Delphi in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Creon goes to Delphi to consult with the Pythia. He has good news to share because the Delphic oracle tells him how to end the pestilence in Thebes. The people see that the news is favorable because of what Creon wears in his hair.

No, the chorus does not admonish Oedipus to leave his wife in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, no one says anything to Theban King Oedipus about what to do about the body of Theban Queen Jocasta. It is Oedipus who takes the initiative. Creon is now King of Thebes, and Oedipus asks his brother-in-law, former enemy and royal colleague to give Jocasta a proper burial.

It is by drawing lots that the guards decide who will bring news to Creon in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the guards discover Polyneices' body partially buried under a layer of dust. Polyneices is considered a Theban traitor for attacking Thebes in an assertion of his legitimate claims to the Theban throne. The guards know that Theban King Creon will be upset by news of the body being buried and his non-burial edict being broken. They think of drawing lots as the way to choose the bearer of bad news to a hot-tempered royal.

Great great great grandfather to great great great grandson is how Cadmus and Oedipus are related in the play "Oedipus Rex."

Specifically, Cadmus is the founder and first king of Thebes. The royal line is supposed to descend from him. Succeeding generations indeed include the descendants of Cadmus and his wife, first Theban Queen Harmonia:

1. Their son Polydorus, who marries Nycteis;

2. Their grandson Labdacus, whose wife is unspecified;

3. Their great grandson Laius, whose wife is Theban Queen Jocasta;

4. Their great great grandson Oedipus, who unknowingly marries his own mother.

That Creon is Oedipus' foil and that Creon thinks before he speaks whereas Oedipus does not is the relationship between Oedipus' hamartia and Creon's saying "I have not come, oh Oedipus to scorn" in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, hamartia describes an error or mistake in judgment. Disgraced King Oedipus makes a number of mistakes: avoiding a genealogical confrontation with his parents, killing an older version of himself, marrying a beautiful woman old enough to be his mother, neglecting mandatory cleansing rituals, and not thinking before pledging to carry out rash promises that will come back to haunt him. The relentless Furies of fate and his own mistakes trip him up until he is friendless, homeless, jobless, spouseless and sightless. At the depths of such misery, Creon treats him decently even though it is not based on any previous decency from Oedipus.

Yes, the Theban townspeople beg Theban King Oedipus to save them from the plague. A pestilence threatens the people, the livestock, and the crops of Thebes. According to the interaction in the Prologue, the people see Oedipus as a problem solver.

In fact, a problem solver is what Oedipus shows himself to be in his very first interaction with his future subjects. The city is being forced to pay high taxes to the Sphinx. Additionally, the Sphinx camps right outside Thebes. Anyone going to or coming from the city is subjected to a riddle. A lack of an answer or an incorrect response results in death. This all ends only with Oedipus having the correct response. He alone realizes that a human is the life form that gets about on fours in the morning of life, on twos in the afternoon, and on threes in the evening.

That one to three people always play all of the non-chorus roles and that the masks heighten the dramatic effect are the reasons why masks are used in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the chorus tends to consist of twelve (12) members, all of whom wear identical masks since they are of like mind and opinion. The non-choral roles tend to be played by anywhere from one to three actors. The actors have different masks to differentiate between females and males and between roles, such as between messenger and royal. The use of masks therefore acts to advance the universality of the themes and the dramatic impact of the events and to keep the audience from being distracted by the actual, physical attributes of the individual actors.

Fighting Thebans, invading Argives, and Oedipus' two sonsare killed in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. -- 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, a battle takes place before the action of the play and is referenced throughout by the main characters. In that battle, disloyal Thebans led by Polyneices and supported by invading forces from Argos as well as Thebans loyal to Eteocles kill each other off. In the course of the play, three more deaths occur. But each one is a suicide: Princess Antigone, Prince Haemon and Queen Eurydice.

That they meet with their father and then are separated from him is what happens to Oedipus' daughters at the end of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus loses his sight, reputation, job and home for a criminal act and immoral behavior. He is supposed to await divine expression as to whether he will be punished with execution or exile. He asks to meet and go into exile with his daughters, the Princesses Antigone and Ismene. Creon, Oedipus' brother-in-law and royal successor, approves the former request, but then separates father and daughters before placing Oedipus under house arrest.

That it remains unsolved is the aspect of Laius' murder for which Oedipus criticizes the citizens of Thebes in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Laius dies while on a trip to Delphi. His colleagues, family and people get caught up with the threat and then the defeat of the Sphinx. Pollution from the unsolved murder and neglected cleansing rituals slowly builds until Thebes is afflicted by a full sale pestilence. King Oedipus says that this is something that need not have happened.

Alienated, angry and embittered is how Haemon and Eurydice feel about Theban King Creon at the moment of death in the play "Antigone" by ancient Greek playwright Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Prince Haemon is angry that his first cousin and bride-to-be Antigone hangs herself rather than die in the walled-up cave to which Creon, her uncle and Haemon's father, sentences. Theban Queen Eurydice blames her husband, Creon, for the suicides of her son and of her intended daughter-in-law. Not one of them - Antigone, Eurydice, Haemon - feels connected any longer to a Thebes so dominated and ravaged by Creon as the city's foremost leader and as the royal household's dominant and dominating member.

Giving background information, interpreting the characters, and summarizing the preceding action are the roles of the chorus and chorus leader in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the chorus is made up of Theban elders. They get to interact with all of the main characters in play, and nobody and nothing are off-limits to their commentaries. Additionally, they provide entertainment by dancing back and forth across the stage.

Yes, the seer wants Creon to bury Polyneices in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the birds that he uses in ritual sacrifices and dogs are eating the flesh of the unburied dead. The non-burial is offensive to the gods, who guarantee funeral services and below-ground burial to all Thebans. Additionally, interpreting divine will through ritual sacrifices cannot be done because the birds are contaminated by eating the flesh of dead bodies. This also is offensive to the gods, so the dead bodies need to be buried in the way the gods want them to be to Teiresias' way of thinking.

Prophet is Teiresias' role in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Teiresias the blind prophet functions as a living library of all past, present and future knowledge regarding Thebes. He is Thebes' wisest citizen. He serves as royal advisor to the kings of Thebes, but actually is always on the side of divine will and the Furies of fate.