Oedipus Rex

Execute or exile him is what Oedipus threatens to do to Creon in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus accuses Creon, his brother-in-law and royal colleague, of conspiring with Teiresias the blind prophet to grab all royal powers to themselves. The charge carries a punishment of execution or exile. Oedipus chooses execution.

Self-blinding is Oedipus' catharsis in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term catharsis describes an emotional release that cleanses and heals. The description fits what Theban King Oedipus does after hearing what the Corinthian messenger and the Theban shepherd have to say. Oedipus goes into the palace, moves the dead body of his wife Queen Jocasta onto the floor, and removes her golden brooches in order to plunge them deep into both of his eyes.

Verbal and dramatic are the types of irony evidenced in Oedipus' curse on the household of Laius' murderer in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus can end the pestilence in Thebes only by identifying and punishing the guilty in the unsolved mysterious death of Laius, his royal predecessor and his wife's first husband. He is not getting help from Thebans. So he extends the punishment to whomsoever knows but does not share information and to whomsoever helps or harbors the guilty. To show that he means business, Oedipus concludes that he will carry this out regardless of the identities of the guilty and any accessories. Ironically, he is the guilty, and it is his royal household that therefore is so cursed.

That he defeats the monstrous Sphinx is the reason why Oedipus is called the savior of Thebes in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Sphinx shows up at Thebes after Theban King Laius is murdered while on the way to consult the Delphic oracle. She requires upon pain of death the answer to a riddle whose solution escapes Thebans. But Oedipus figures out the solution, which causes the Sphinx to throw herself over a cliff and which thereby saves Thebes before the Sphinx ends all life in the city.

It is with his wife's gold brooches that Oedipus gouges out his eyes 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, her son and her second husband, removes her body to the floor. He then takes the gold brooches that hold the robes together and uses them as a weapon with which to blind himself.

It is the chorus of Theban elders that Oedipus blames for not solving Laius' murder in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus hears that the pestilence in Thebes can end only with the identification and punishment of King Laius, his royal predecessor and his wife's first husband. Oedipus is results oriented and therefore unimpressed with the murder of a king being allowed to remain unsolved. He observes that that will change with his investigation, which he heads precisely because the Theban elders did not do their job in the first place.

Persistent in his tracking skills describes what Oedipus is like as a hunter in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus must head a murder investigation into the death of his royal predecessor, King Laius. Oedipus interviews the indirect information sources, such as the victim's wife Queen Jocasta and the city's walking library of past, present and future knowledge, Teiresias the blind prophet. He arranges to interview a Theban shepherd, the only eyewitness and the sole survivor of the fatal attack. Additionally, he accepts relevant testimony from the Corinthian messenger even though that information and that of the Theban shepherd validate an uncomfortable change in the investigation's direction.

That they are dealing with the monstrous Sphinx and that they then get caught up in the new royal family are the reasons why Thebans do not avenge their king's death in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Sphinx shows up almost immediate after if not as Theban King Laius lies dying at the Delphi-Daulia crossroads in Phocis. Thebans get all caught up just in the attempt to survive a seemingly unbeatable foe. Then Oedipus comes along, beats the Sphinx at her riddlesome game, and accepts married and family life with Queen Jocasta, Laius' beautiful widow.

No, the Sphynx doesn't terrorize Thebes in the beginning of 'Oedipus Rex'. This is an event that's referenced well after the fact. But it's being played out is never part of the play's action.

The terror of the Sphinx most likely takes place some 20 years before the action of the play. The young Oedipus comes to Thebes in search of what he hopes will be a fresh start on life. Good fortune at first seems headed his way what with his outsmarting the Sphinx, and ending her tyranny. But as it turns out, outsmarting a Sphynx is far easier than outsmarting a horrendous fate.

Contributing to Oedipus' mistaken self-image and delaying fate are the roles that the Messenger has in Oedipus' life history in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Corinthian messenger gets the three-day-old infant Oedipus from a fellow Theban shepherd. The messenger gives Oedipus a home until he returns to Corinth. Then he hands Oedipus over to the childless royal couple, Corinthian monarchs Polybus and Merope. But he never informs Oedipus of the true circumstances of his birth. By relocating him to Corinth, he makes it possible for Oedipus to reach adulthood before realizing an inescapable fate as his father's killer and his mother's husband.

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

Specifically, Oedipus has the right-of-way at the Delphi-Daulis crossroads in the land of Phocis. But that right is not respected by a stranger who is accompanied by a five-member escort party. The stranger's herald pushes Oedipus, and the stranger then hits Oedipus on top of the head with a double whip, which really hurts.

Talk with him, kill him and investigate his murder are the actions that Oedipus takes regarding his father in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus tries to talk about parentage with his presumed father, Corinthian King Polybus, but gets rebuffed. He then kills an older look-alike, who years later is revealed to be none other than his biological father, Theban King Laius. But before sorting out his true identity, Theban King Oedipus heads an investigation into the unsolved murder of his royal predecessor, Laius, never once imagining that the perpetrator is himself.

That he is the cause of the pestilence and that he is Laius' killer is the dramatic irony in Oedipus' speeches in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term dramatic irony describes a situation in which a character has an inaccurate or incomplete understanding of a situation. The description fits Theban King Oedipus' two speeches to the priest of Zeus and the Theban suppliants. He indicates in the first speech that he will end the pestilence and in the second that he will find and punish the guilty in King Laius' murder. Actually and ironically, Oedipus is the cause of the pestilence because he is Laius' unidentified and unpunished killer.

No priest says anything about where Oedipus is found in the play "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the priest of Zeus appears in the play's opening scene. Instead, it is during the interaction with Theban Queen Jocasta's most trusted servant and with the Corinthian shepherd-turned-messenger that the above-mentioned question comes up. The Corinthian reveals that he received the three-day-old infant Oedipus from Jocasta's most trusted servant on the Cithaeron mountains outside Thebes.

Saving his life, not telling and thereby giving a dreadful prophecy a chance to come true is the role that the herdsman plays in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, there are two herdsmen in the play. The Theban herdsman gives the three-day-old infant Oedipus to a Corinthian herdsman who in turn gives him to Polybus and Merope, the childless royal couple of Corinth. Years later, the Theban herdsman sees Oedipus killing Theban King Laius and four others. He then witnesses Oedipus' marriage to Laius' widow, Queen Jocasta.

In both incidents, the Theban herdsman recognizes Oedipus as the abandoned infant whom he gives to his Corinthian colleague. Yet he says nothing and thereby helps Oedipus escape death once again. What is especially problematic is the way in which the herdsman's good deeds make possible the dreadful prophecy that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother, both of which happen because of the sparing of Oedipus' life and because of Oedipus' ignorant choices.

It is in their three main conversations that Oedipus reveals Creon's character in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus attempts to shortcut proper procedure at the beginning and the end of the play. In the first instance, his brother-in-law and royal colleague, Creon, cedes to his expressed preference to share oracular news immediately with the Theban people as opposed to after a private meeting. In so doing, he demonstrates a bureaucratic personality that can be tendered by compassion and respect. That respect never is more in evidence than in his spirited but diplomatic and reasoned self-defense against Oedipus' groundless charges of treasonous conspiracy.

Because he rejects Teiresias' identification of Laius' killer and because he believes Creon alone stands to gain from the misidentification, Oedipus will not change his mind about Creon and accept his innocence in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Teiresias the blind prophet identifies Theban King Oedipus as the killer of his royal predecessor, Laius. Oedipus does not remember doing any such thing. He concludes that Teiresias is lying in an attempt to gather all royal powers into the hands of Creon, Oedipus' brother-in-law and royal colleague. Nothing else makes any sense to him since Teiresias' charges, if taken seriously, will cause Oedipus to lose his job, which will be taken over by Creon, as the closest relative who already knows how to do the job of ruling Thebes.

That he does not understand who else benefits from a treasonous charge is the reason why Oedipus believes that Creon is plotting against him in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Teiresias the blind prophet announces that Theban King Oedipus is the criminal sought by the gods and all Thebes for killing King Laius. Oedipus does not remember killing let alone even meeting his supposed victim. But he feels that the charge benefits his brother-in-law Creon, who can grab all the royal powers for himself if Oedipus is overthrown.