Oedipus Rex

That they must try to live a happier and more fortunate life than he did is what Oedipus says to his daughters at the end of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. -- 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus lets his daughters and half-sisters, the Princesses Antigone and Ismene, know that his life is botched, due in part to his own ignorance. He warns that people will not let them forget the albeit unknowing incest of their parents and the albeit unknowing murderous act of their father. He then challenges his daughters to overcome all the emotional baggage and to lead their own lives.

Yes, Oedipus deserves audience sympathy in the play "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus hears a horrendous prophecy of his life as his father's killer and his mother's husband. He tries to take charge of his life by running far away from home and family. Despite his personal happiness and professional success, Oedipus ultimately finds out that all his efforts to the contrary just ensure that the prophecy comes true to the very last poignant detail.

That the reward for defeating the monstrous Sphinx is marrying her is the reason why Oedipus marries Jocasta In "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Jocasta is the widowed Queen of Thebes. The city is being terrorized by the monstrous Sphinx. Marriage is the reward for solving the Sphinx's riddle of what life form moves around on fours in the morning, twos in the afternoon and threes in the evening of life.

That his acceptance is intended to help his children and his people is the reason why Oedipus accepting his fate ennobles him in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus is told that the pestilence afflicting Thebes will end with the identification and punishment of the guilty in King Laius' murder. His investigation reveals that he indeed is Laius' murderer. He shows acceptance of his fate in blinding himself and handing himself over to house arrest even though his crimes are committed because of a mistaken self-image and without intent or motive.

No, Oedipus does not stop when Jocasta asks him to in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta becomes uncomfortable with the investigation that her second husband King Oedipus heads into the unsolved murder of her second husband King Laius. She dislikes Oedipus being considered a prime suspect because of the charges of Teiresias the blind prophet. She likes things even less when the investigation turns into one of Oedipus' true parentage as a native Theban instead of the Corinthian royal that everyone including herself thinks he is.

That Oedipus means what he says and says what he means and that the matter is serious is the relationship between Oedipus' curse on Laius' murderer and Creon's statement that Oedipus does not speak idle words in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus takes it upon himself to extend the divinely defined scope of the investigation into King Laius' murder. Divine will as expressed through the Delphic oracle merely states that the guilty must be executed or exiled. Oedipus extends the punishment option to those who are not forthcoming with information or who harbor or help the guilty. He actually cannot make that pronouncement since the type and applicability of punishment is a divine decision. Additionally, he acts to remove all mitigating circumstances by his overstepping zeal.

It is unknown what happens to Ismene after Antigone's death in the play "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Ismene appears in the Prologue in conjunction with her and her sister Antigone deciding what to do or not to do about the non-burial edict against the disloyal Theban dead. She then appears in Episode 2 during Theban King Creon's interview of Antigone about breaking the law and giving her brother Polyneices a partial but still proper Theban-style burial. Ismene makes no other appearances, and there are no references to her. But in Episode 3 Antigone describes herself as the last daughter of the Theban royal house. So either Ismene is dead or Antigone disowns her.

That Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother is the oracle's prophecy in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Delphic oracle is the best known and most widely respected oracle in all of ancient Greece. The play includes other prophecies, but not by oracles. For example, Theban monarchs Laius and Jocasta hear a prophecy of their son growing up to kill his father, but it is not from an oracle.

Agree to marry a man young enough to be her son, break up a fight in the royal household, help search for her first husband's killer, send for the surviving eyewitness to that killing, share the news of the Corinthian messenger, and take her life when she cannot stop Oedipus' uncomfortable questions are the choices that Jocasta makes in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta marries the much younger Oedipus even though the killing of her first husband, King Laius, is left inadequately investigated and unatoned by cleansing rituals. Years later, the royal household must identify and punish the guilty in that murder if a pestilence is to be stopped before all Thebes is wiped out. Jocasta tries to smooth things over when tempers flare between her husband and Creon, her brother and the couple's royal colleague. Additionally, she tries to help Oedipus' investigations by sharing what she knows and summoning the surviving eyewitness to Laius' death. But things take an unexpected turn when a messenger tells Jocasta of the death of Corinthian King Polybus, and Oedipus learns that he is not that monarch's biological son. When Jocasta cannot stop Oedipus' questions about his true parentage, she hangs herself.

No, Oedipus does not curse Thebes in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus is angry, horrified and upset to discover that his life is exactly as it is fated to be. But he never lets any of these emotions be expressed against his beloved Thebes. In fact, he ultimately requests to be exiled outside Thebes so as not to condemn the city with his cursed, polluting presence.

Arrange to have him killed is what Oedipus' birth parents do to him shortly after his birth in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus is just three days old when he leaves the royal palace where he is born. His father King Laius puts a rod through both his son's ankles. He reminds his wife, Queen Jocasta, that the child must die so as not to grow up to be the prophesied killer of his own father and sovereign. Jocasta reveals her lack of enthusiasm for the deed to her most trusted servant. Her servant takes responsibility for disposing of the infant.

It is in solving the Sphinx's riddle and in conducting the murder investigation that Oedipus demonstrates rationalism in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, rationalism refers to the use of reason in accumulating and applying knowledge. Oedipus relies on reason in order to figure out the answer to the Sphinx's riddle of what life form moves on fours in the morning of life, on twos in the afternoon, and on threes in the evening. He also depends upon reason to sort his way through the royal investigation into the unsolved murder of Theban King Laius. For example, he checks every lead no matter how involved or uncomfortable.

It is by removing the royal household from immunity that Creon ironically turns the curse on himself in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Creon accepts the Delphic oracle's pronouncement that the guilty in King Laius' murder must be identified and punished with execution or exile. But he strays into divine areas of power when he extends the punishment's scope. Oedipus tells his people that the punishment will be carried out against all who know but do not share information and all who shelter or help the guilty even if such accessories or perpetrators be found in the Theban royal household.

The pestilence is the inciting incident in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the inciting incident describes the event that triggers all subsequent happenings in the play. It therefore is the pestilence with which Oedipus, the priest of Zeus and the suppliants are concerned when the play opens. The characters spend the rest of the play finding the cause and carrying out the solution to bad harvests, declining populations and dying livestock. Without the inciting incident of the pestilence, there in fact will be no story.

It is by having one time, place and action that the three unities are followed in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the action needs to present and solve one problem regarding the main character. The place must be the same for all onstage action even though previous and offstage places may be introduced through the commentary of the chorus, the conversations of the characters or the pronouncements of messengers or servants. The time has to be within one day.

Nothing happens to Theban Prince Haemon in the play "Oedipus Rex" by ancient Greek playwright Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Haemon's father, Theban King Creon, is among the cast of characters in "Oedipus Rex." But there is no appearance by or reference to Haemon. Creon's son makes his appearance as the first cousin and groom-to-be of the main female character in the play "Antigone" also by Sophocles.