OEDIPUS THE KING

'''Oedipus the King''' (Greek , "Oedipus Tyrannos"), also known as '''Oedipus Rex''', is a Greek tragedy, written by Sophocles and first performed in 428 BC. The play was the second of Sophocles' three Theban plays to be produced, but comes first in the internal chronology of the plays, followed by ''Oedipus at Colonus'' and then ''Antigone''. Many critics, including Aristotle, consider it the greatest tragedy ever written.

Contents

Plot

Prophecy in ''Oedipus the King''

Fate in ''Oedipus the King''

See also

Translations

Additional references

External links

Plot

Much of the myth of Oedipus takes place before the opening scene of the play. The main character of the tragedy is Oedipus, son of King Laius of Thebes and Queen Jocasta. After Laius learned from an oracle that "he was doomed/To perish by the hand of his own son," Jocasta ordered a messenger to leave him for dead "In Cithaeron's wooded glens"; Instead, the baby was given to a shepherd and raised in the court of King Polybus of Corinth. When Oedipus grew up he learned from the oracle, Loxias, that he was destined to "Mate with [his] own mother, and shed/ With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own sire," and left Corinth under the belief that Polybus and Merope, Polybus' wife, were his true parents. On the road to Thebes, he met Laius and they argued over which wagon had the right-of-way. Oedipus' pride led him to kill Laius, ignorant of the fact that he was his biological father, fulfilling part of the oracle's prophecy. Oedipus then went on to solve the Sphinx's riddle: "What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three in the evening?" To this Oedipus answered "Man," Distraught that her riddle had been answered correctly, the Sphinx threw herself off the side of the wall. His reward for freeing the kingdom of Thebes from the Sphinx's curse was kingship and the hand of the queen, Jocasta, who was also his biological mother. Thus, the prophecy was fulfilled. This myth was well-known to the Greeks, which added to the tragedy of the play.
The play begins years after Oedipus is given the throne of Thebes. The chorus of Thebans cries out to Oedipus for salvation from the plague sent by the gods in response to Laius' murder. Throughout the play, Oedipus searches for Laius' murderer and promises to exile the man responsible for it, ignorant of the fact that he is the murderer. The blind prophet, Tiresias, is called to aid Oedipus in his search; however, after warning Oedipus not to follow through with the investigation, Oedipus accuses him of being the murderer, even though Tiresias is blind and aged. Oedipus also accuses Tiresias of conspiring with Creon, Jocasta's brother, to overthrow him.
Oedipus then calls for one of Laius' former servants, the only surviving witness of the murder, who fled the city when Oedipus became king to avoid being the one to reveal the truth. Soon a messenger from Corinth also arrives to inform Oedipus of the death of Polybus, whom Oedipus still believes is his real father. At this point the messenger informs him that he was in fact adopted and his real parentage is unknown. In the subsequent discussions between Oedipus, Jocasta, the servant, and the messenger, Jocasta guesses the truth and runs away. Oedipus is stubborn; however, a second messenger arrives and reveals that Jocasta has hanged herself and Oedipus, upon discovering her body, blinds himself with the golden brooches on her dress. The play ends with Oedipus entrusting his children to Creon and leaving in exile, as he promised would be the fate of Laius' murderer.

Prophecy in ''Oedipus the King''

There are two major prophecies in Oedipus. The most well known was given to Oedipus shortly before he left Corinth:

Later in the play, Jocasta relates the prophecy that was told to Laius before the birth of Oedipus. Laius was only told of the incipient parricide and not of the incest:

Because Laius' oracle was specifically about his future, it did not mention the fate of either his son or his wife.

Fate in ''Oedipus the King''

It has been claimed that because of her attempt to thwart the original prophecy from coming true, the additional element of the son marrying the mother is added. This is based on the misreading that characters are punished for challenging Fate. None of the characters are punished for attempting to challenge fate, they simply meet the fate that was destined for them. Fate is an unchanging and uncaring force in these plays and neither rewards nor punishes any mortal, it simply exists and is incontrovertible no matter how hard mortals may try.
Whether or not the residents of fifth-century Greece believed that fate governed their lives or if they had free will over their decisions is obscured by the differences in our languages. While we have just one word for fate, the Greeks had several. The primary words for fate were ''moira'' (one’s lot in life) and ''tyche'' (what happens to us). The distinction is made clear by Rush Rehm:
Splitting the concept of fate into two parts like this gives a healthy balance between the things from our past that we had no chance to confront (''moira'') and things from our present that force a confrontation (''tyche''). Part of Oedipus’ ''moira'' is his being born son of Laius and Jocasta of the royal house of Thebes. There is nothing he can do about this situation or the events that kept him in ignorance of this state. Part of Oedipus’ tyche is the sudden plague on Thebes, something that he could not have predicted but can deal with once it presents itself.

See also

★ Oedipus

★ Oedipus rex (opera)

★ Oedipus Tex

★ Oedipus complex

Translations

★ Thomas Francklin, 1759 - verse

★ Edward H. Plumptre, 1865 - verse: full text

★ Richard C. Jebb, 1904 - prose: full text

★ Francis Storr, 1912 - verse: full text

★ David Grene, 1942 (revised ed. 1991) - verse

★ E.F. Watling, 1947

★ Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, 1949 - verse

★ Theodore Howard Banks, 1956 - verse

★ Albert Cook, 1957 - verse

★ Paul Roche, 1958 - verse

★ Bernard Knox, 1959 - prose

★ H. D. F. Kitto, 1962 - verse

★ Stephen Berg and Diskin Clay - verse

★ Robert Bagg, 1982 (revised ed. 2004) - verse

★ Robert Fagles, 1984 - verse

★ Nick Bartel, 1999 - verse: abridged text

★ George Theodoridis, 2005 - prose: full text

★ Luci Berkowitz and Theodore F. Brunner, 1970 - prose

★ Ian Johnston, 2004 - verse: full text.

Additional references

★ Brunner, M. "King Oedipus Retried" Rosenberger & Krausz, London, 2000

★ Foster, C. Thomas. "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" HarperCollins, New York, 2003

External links

★ Aristotle's ''Poetics'': Notes on Sophocles' ''Oedipus''

★ Background on Drama, Generally, and Applications to Sophocles' Play

★ Study Guide for Sophocles' ''Oedipus the King''

★ ''Full text English translation of Oedipus the King by Ian Johnston, in verse''