Oedipus Rex

Jocasta's most trusted servant and messenger of the Corinthian monarchs are the identities of the two shepherds in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, one shepherd is a native Theban who spends his entire life in service to the Theban royal family. In particular, he is Queen Jocasta's most trusted servant and an escort party member on the last trip taken by Jocasta's first husband, King Laius. Additionally, he is a colleague of a Corinthian shepherd who tends his flocks in the mountains outside Thebes and ultimately ends up as messenger for Corinthian monarchs Polybus and Merope.

Yes, Oedipus stubbornly ignores the truth that stares him in the face for many years in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus kills a man whom he recognizes at the time as looking like an older version of himself. He then marries a woman whom he recognizes at the time as beautiful but old enough to be his mother. He ultimately realizes the truth that remains at all times in front of him: that his victim is the father whom he is prophesied to kill and that his spouse is the mother whom he is prophesied to marry.

A proper Theban burial is what Oedipus tells Creon to give Jocasta in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta hangs herself with the threads from her own robes. King Oedipus, Jocasta's second husband and son, leaves her body in their bedroom. While he awaits the decision of the particular form of his punishment for criminal acts and immoral behavior, Oedipus tells Creon, his brother-in-law and royal successor, to bury Jocasta in accordance with cherished Theban traditions and proper burial procedures.

No, Antigone never gets married in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. -- 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone is engaged to her first cousin, Theban Prince Haemon. But the engagement is broken by Theban King Creon, Antigone's uncle and granduncle and Haemon's father. Antigone deliberately breaks the recently issued edict against burial of the disloyal Theban dead, and Creon sentences her to death. She and Haemon end up committing suicide.

Antigone is the protagonist in the play "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, in English, the noun "protagonist" may refer to the champion of a particular cause. It also may refer to the main character. Either way, the English word comes from the classical language of the ancient Greeks. In Greek, the word "protagonistes" combines "protos" for "first" with "agonistes" for "actor." All three descriptions - champion, leading actor, and main character - apply to Antigone.

That it is the perfect tragedy is what critics say about "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the play excels as a tragedy in which no detail is left unconnected. It offers an excellent opportunity for in-depth character study of the protagonist. It provides ample room for the interaction of the two main world views of outcome pre-determined by fate or made up as it goes along by individual free will choices.

It is with his staff in self-defense that Oedipus kills Laius in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Laius' charioteer jostles the greatly outnumbered, limping and younger Oedipus. Then Laius makes the situation worse by hitting Oedipus hard on the head with a double whip. Oedipus responds in self-defense and with lethal fury to the head wound, which is really insulting and which really really hurts.

The hero, the mother and the wise old man are archetypes in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term archetype describes an original that generates copies and derivations. Theban King Oedipus therefore is the archetype of the hero who does great deeds but fails because of a tragic flaw. Queen Jocasta is the archetype of the mother who attempts to protect her son and her husband in ironically blasphemous ways. Teiresias the blind prophet is the archeteype of the wise old man who has all the answers to past, present and future questions.

There is no significance in terms of olive boughs, which the Thebans do not have on the person or in the vicinity when they address Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Theban suppliants await a royal audience outside the main entrance to the Theban royal palace. They gather around altars set up outside the main doors. They have branches decorate with laurel garlands and wool of supplication.

Pestilence is the disaster that strikes Thebes in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, a disaster is a hazard that results from natural causes or human intervention and whose negative impacts are large-scale. This describes the pestilence about which the priest of Zeus talks to Theban King Oedipus in the play's beginning. For example, livestock are ailing, crops are failing, and children die before birth or shortly thereafter.

That she knows what he is going to say is the reason why Jocasta attempts to stop Oedipus' questioning of the messenger in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus poses questions about his parentage to the Corinthian messenger. The messenger speaks of receiving the infant Oedipus from one of Theban King Laius' servants and fostering him into the Corinthian royal house. It is at the point that the name of Laius, her first husband, is mentioned that Queen Jocasta tries to halt the questioning by Oedipus, her second husband. That she realizes that information identifying Oedipus as her son and Laius' killer is forthcomingis the reason why Jocasta tries to end the interview.

That she tries to stop the questioning and then runs away to kill herself are the ways in which Jocasta reacts to her suspicions about Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta begins to suspect that her second husband, King Oedipus, is her son. At the same time, she realizes that Oedipus still is clueless. She therefore tries to stop the revelations of the Corinthian messenger and the Theban shepherd. When she is unsuccessful, she runs away and hangs herself with the threads from her own robes.

Yes, Oedipus can be considered a puppet in a game played by the gods in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus is born to misery as the Furies of fate and gods look downwards. He is the great-grandson of Polydorus, who is cursed by his own first cousin, Dionysos the wine god. The curse magnifies as it passes on to Polydorus' son Labdacus and grandson Laius. It vanishes only when the Theban and Argive royal houses merge under King Thersander, the son of cursed Theban Prince Polyneices and grandson of Oedipus.

It is by literally running away from home and towards Thebes that Oedipus runs into an older version of himself and consequently into his destiny in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus' prophesied destiny is killing his father and marrying his mother. So he makes an effort to outrun that dreadful fate by leaving home and starting afresh elsewhere. But it turns out that the older look-alike that he runs into at the Delphi-Daulia crossroads and whom he kills in a senseless street brawl is his biological father and the life that he runs to build in Thebes includes his biological mother, who albeit unknowingly becomes his wife.

That he is abhorrent to, and must be obedient to, gods and to mortals is what Oedipus learns at the end of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. -- 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus recognizes that he is immoral in marrying his mother and in having children with her and criminal in killing his father and his king. All three acts, albeit unknowing, are offenses against the gods and all people. Oedipus has neither a personal and professional life nor his sight any more. He therefore must back off from giving orders and learn how to take orders from mortals and follow the orders of the gods.

No, Oedipus is not controlled by fate in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, a life controlled by fate is one in which the outcome is predetermined and that choice makes no difference. The description does not fit Oedipus' life in the sense that Oedipus hears his fate and makes choices to keep his life from going the prophesied way. Oedipus chooses badly -- to avoid talking things out, escape what he does not understand, kill an older version of himself, marry an older woman, and not to follow proper procedure after he commits a crime and a crime is committed -- and that is why his life ironically turns out exactly the way it is prophesied to.

Emotionalism, panic and stubbornness are Oedipus' bad traits in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus evidences emotionalism when he quickly escalates conflictual interactions with Teiresias the blind prophet and his brother-in-law Creon. He expresses panic when he runs away from home and when he levels groundless accusations at a royal advisor and a royal colleague just doing their jobs. He manifests stubbornness when he refuses to back down from unfounded accusations against Creon and Teiresias.

That his life takes an unfortunate turn is evidence that "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.) is a typical tragedy.

Specifically, a tragedy deals with the unfortunate turn that a hero's life takes. The description fits what happens to Theban King Oedipus. Oedipus is a hero, because he does great deeds and is the main character. But his life takes an unfortunate turn, and Oedipus ends up friendless, homeless, jobless, sightless and wifeless.

That Oedipus and Laius end up at the same intersection at the same time and that Oedipus ends up going on to Thebes are coincidences in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, coincidences refer to accidents, chance opportunities that do not appear to be pre-determined. For example, Oedipus happens to enter the Delphi-Daulia intersection from the Thebes side at the same time that Laius happens to enter from the Thebes side. He also happens to show up at Thebes in time to outwit the Sphinx and marry the newly widowed Theban Queen Jocasta.

That he curses himself if he lies is what Creon says that persuades Jocasta to urge Oedipus to believe him in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Creon asks to be cursed and die if he lies in saying that he does not seek Theban King Oedipus' job. Queen Jocasta, Creon's sister, believes that no sane person calls upon a cursed existence and death. She makes a valiant effort to change Oedipus' mind and to end the conflict between her brother and her second husband.

The ultimate authority in life is the source of conflict between Antigone and Creon in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Creon believes that he can decide what is best for himself, his city and his people. He does not feel influenced or inhibited by what goes before, around or after him. He in fact is in transition from Antigone's old ways of cherished traditions, divine will and family ties.