Oedipus Rex

Impatiently and brutally are the respective ways in which Oedipus treats the shepherds in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus minces no words in his questioning of the Corinthian shepherd. Given his quick temper, he is not too bad, but his impatience is palpable. In contrast, he is at his worse with the elderly Theban shepherd, whom he terrifies with threats of torture and death.

Oedipus' daughters are the individuals whom Creon brings to Oedipus at the end of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princesses Antigone and Ismene are King Oedipus' daughters and half-sisters. Oedipus is supposed to be shunned if not outright isolated for killing his father and marrying his mother. But Creon lets Oedipus, his brother-in-law and royal predecessor, meet with his children while everyone awaits the expression of divine will as to whether Oedipus is to be punished with execution or exile for his albeit unknowing criminal act and immoral behavior.

Part of a day is how long Creon is king of Thebes in "Oedipus Rex" and in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Creon is the closest and most eligible relative when there is a problem in the royal succession during the time of disgraced former Theban King Oedipus' children. For example, the events in "Oedipus Rex" occur during the last day in Oedipus' reign. Between Oedipus' abdication and the crowning of Oedipus' twin sons Eteocles and Polyneices, Creon leads. A similar situation happens the day after Eteocles and Polyneices kill each during the last battle in the civil war over the Theban royal succession. But in this case, Creon gets to rule until Eteocles' son Laodamas is old enough to be crowned.

Teiresias is the blind seer in the play "Oedipus Rex."

The blind prophet is in the uncomfortable position of being one of possibly only two mortals who know the true identity and nature of Theban King Oedipus. Specifically, the people of Thebes see Oedipus as a much respected and loved role model personally and professionally. Teiresias and Theban Queen Jocasta's loyal servant alone know that Oedipus may be described as a mass murderer, a traitor, a sex offender and a blasphemer.

Although these offenses are committed unknowingly, Oedipus is indeed guilty of the following most serious of crimes against his fellow mortals and against the gods:

1. Mass murder: Oedipus not only kills an elderly stranger who strikes the first angry blow, but also all except one in the victim's escort.

2. Treachery: The stranger whom Oedipus kills is his sovereign, Theban King Laius.

3. Sex crime: Oedipus marries, and has children by, his own mother, Jocasta.

4. Blasphemy: The stranger whom Oedipus kills is his own father, Laius, and the woman with whom he becomes intimate is his own mother, Jocasta.

In ancient Greece, killing one's father and being incestuous with one's mother are viewed as tantamount to trying to be gods. For example, mother-son incest is allowed in order for Gaia to get divine and mortal lives started on Planet Earth. But neither this divine transgression nor parent/ancestor killing is to be carried out by any copycat mortal.

That he is supposed to be put to death but that he survives are important circumstances surrounding Oedipus' birth in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban monarchs Laius and Jocasta receive the disturbing prophecy that their infant son Oedipus will grow up to kill his father. Killing a father and a sovereign is a serious offense in ancient Greece. But killing a child is not. Oedipus' parents therefore decide to have the three-day-old infant killed by exposure to weather and wildlife on the mountains outside Thebes. But neither one can do the deed and pass the killing on to Jocasta's most trusted servant. The servant bestows the baby upon a Corinthian shepherd who is going home to the childless royal court of Corinthian monarchs Polybus and Merope.

Antigone's death inside a remote, walled up cave and the end of the curse on the House of Labdacus are what the Chorus anticipates in saying 'Look now at the last sunlight that sustains the one surviving root of Oedipus' tree. The sword of death is drawn to hack it down'.

Being walled up is anticipated by the reference to the last possibility of seeing the sun. Antigone indeed ends up, all alone, in darkness and isolation behind a walled up entrance to a cave.

Dying inside the cave is anticipated by the reference to being hacked down. Antigone indeed decides to take her life once inside her dark, lonely prison cell.

Ending the curse that passes from Labdacus down to Oedipus is anticipated by Antigone being described as the 'one surviving root of Oedipus' tree'. The chorus may or may not be correct here in their assessment. Antigone may or may not be Oedipus' only surviving child. The fate of her sister Ismene isn't known.

But the fates of Antigone's nephews, and Oedipus' grandchildren, are known. Oedipus' twin sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, have sons. If the curse on the House of Labadacus ends with Antigone, then Oedipus revives it or starts up another. He curses his sons, who end up killing each other. Whatever the source of the curse, be it from Oedipus or the gods, the curse ultimately ends with Eteocles' son Laodamas losing his life and his job as King of Thebes. In contrast, Polyneices' son Thersander takes over the Theban throne, and gains a good name for himself and his descendants.

That he will carry out execution or exile even if the guilty is found to be a member of the royal household is the vow that Oedipus makes and that eventually disproves him in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Delphic oracle advises that the pestilence in Thebes will end only with the identification and punishment by execution or exile of the guilty in Theban King Laius' murder. King Oedipus expands on divine will. He extends the punishment to those who have but do not share information and those who harbor or help the guilty. He makes the promise to carry the punishment out even if he finds the guilty to be a member of his own royal household. He turns out to be Laius' killer. His pronouncement wrenches from him all possibility of immunity or pardon for the extenuating circumstance of self-defense.

A mistake in a contact lens prescription is a visual metaphor for Oedipus in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus is mistaken about his self-identity. That his start point is off makes everything else off in his life. The same may be said of an individual whose contact lens prescription is incorrect.

"Oedipus at Colonus" is the sequel to "Oedipus Rex."

Specifically, the story of Theban King Oedipus and his family is told in the course of three plays by Sophocles (496 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.). The first play is "Oedipus Rex," which explains why Oedipus loses his sight and his claim to the Theban throne. The second play is "Oedipus of Colonus," which tells of Oedipus' life in exile from Thebes and his death at Colonus, which was where the playwright Sophocles was from. The third play is "Antigone," which tells of what happens to three out of Oedipus' four children with his wife and mother, Theban Queen Jocasta.

That his life is full of contradictions is what is so memorable about Antigone's father in the play "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus is not among the cast of characters. But his influence is felt and his name referenced by the main characters and the chorus. His life is contradictory because he initially is presented as a devoted father, loving husband, moral person and respectedruler. He subsequently is viewed as an incestuous, immoral criminal unworthy of any political position or socio-economic role other than that of blind beggar.

Through what happens to Oedipus two worldviews are presented in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, a lack of human control over life's happenings versus the role of free will are the two worldviews in "Oedipus Rex." Theban King Oedipus embodies both views, because a prophecy says that he is fated to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus determines to thwart that fate, but every action that he takes just leads him closer to the prophecy's fulfillment. Admittedly, his choices are not among the best. So the question becomes whether or not the outcome is the same regardless of what better or worse choices and actions Oedipus makes and takes.

Teiresias is the character that represents knowledge in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Teiresias the blind prophet is Thebes' oldest and wisest citizen. He functions as a walking library of past, present and future information regarding Thebes and Thebans. Additionally, he can interpret divine will through skilled reading of ritual sacrifices.

Ending the pestilence before Thebes ceases to exist is the motivation in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, livestock are ailing, children are born dead or die shortly after birth, and crops are failing. The Apolline oracle identifies the solution as finding and punishing the guilty in the murder of Theban King Laius. This is a case of a long unsolved mystery that never is investigated and for which no cleansing rituals are carried out. Since a king's murder and the lack of purification procedures greatly offend the gods, it is no wonder that Thebes is ravaged with the pestilential wrath of divine will.

Yes, Oedipus is a good tragic hero in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, a hero may be a story's main character. He also may be an individual capable of great deeds or exercising great powers. As the main character, he may or may not be a person of integrity and kindness. But as a powerful man of action, he always is good. He is tragic when his life comes to an unfortunate end, whose degree of miserableness tends to be aided by some flaw such as a hero's pride. The previous position description fits Theban King Creon.

The crime scene, his fostering and his native town are the warnings that Oedipus receives before discovering the truth in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus is warned by King Laius' crime scene being the same as the place where he himself commits a similar murder against a similar person at about the same time. Then he is warned by his presumed parents turning out to be his foster parents. He then is warned by his birthplace being within the Theban royal household headed by Theban monarchs Laius and Jocasta.

That he will kill his father and marry his mother is the prophecy that Oedipus receives at Delphi in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus hears rumors that Corinthian monarchs Laius and Jocasta are not his biological parents. He gets evasive answers from his presumed father. He asks the Delphic oracle about his parentage and instead gets his prophesied fate.

That she arranges to kill her own child, marries her own son and tries to block a murder investigation are Jocasta's problems in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta arranges to have her own son killed in order to prevent his growing up to kill his father and his sovereign. But the three-day-old Oedipus escapes death. He grows up to marry Jocasta, the widowed queen of King Laius. He heads a murder investigation whose course Jocasta tries to block when she realizes that Oedipus is her son and her husband's killer.

A charge of Oedipus as an assassin and immoralistis what Oedipus blames Creon for in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Teiresias the blind prophet says that Theban King Oedipus is the killer of his royal predecessor, King Laius. The punishment is execution or exile. Oedipus likes his job and his life in Thebes, does not want to lose either, and does not see how he can be the killer of a man whom he does not remember ever meeting. He therefore concludes that Creon, his brother-in-law and royal colleague, wants to grab all royal powers for himself and to that purpose has Teiresias tell this treasonous lie.

That fate cannot be avoided and that the failure of freely willed choices prove it is an example of a thesis statement about "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term thesis statement describes the purpose and the evidence in terms of literature or research. The purpose in the play is to show that fate cannot be avoided. The proof is in the failure of the freely willed choices of Theban monarchs Jocasta, Laius and Oedipus.

It is during Oedipus' interrogation that the shepherd reveals Oedipus' identity in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Theban shepherd is Queen Jocasta's most trusted servant and the Corinthian messenger's former colleague. His presence is requested to tell what he remembers about the fatal attack on Jocasta's first husband King Laius. But he also knows about Oedipus' true parentage, which is the topic of conversation when he finally gets to the palace.

To let him go is the decision that the chorus leader persuades Oedipus to made regarding Creon in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus accuses his brother-in-law and royal colleague Creon of conspiring with Teiresias the blind prophet to grab all royal powers for themselves. Creon attempts to defend himself and even asks for the gods to punish him on the spot if he is lying in his defense. But Oedipus refuses to budge from his desire to have Creon executed until the chorus leader succeeds in getting Oedipus to let things drop.