Oedipus the King
Oedipus the King (also known as
Oedipus Rex and
Oedipus Tyrannos,
Oι̉δίπoυς τύραννoς in
Greek) is a
Greek tragedy, written by
Sophocles around
425 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.
The subject of the play is
Oedipus, son of King
Laius of
Thebes and Queen
Jocasta, also known as
Iocaste; a
mythical character who was sent to be exposed with his ankles bound and left for dead on a mountainside as an infant in an effort to avoid a prophecy that he would kill his father. However, he was found by a
shepherd and raised in the court of King
Polybus of
Corinth and his wife
Merope. Hearing from an
oracle that he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother, and believing Polybus and Merope to be his real parents, he left Corinth. Meeting Laius by chance on a road and not recognizing him, Oedipus became involved in a fight with Laius and killed him. Oedipus went on to solve the
Sphinx's riddle, "What uses four legs in the morning, two in the day, and three at night?"and his reward for this is the kingdom of Thebes, and the hand of Jocasta; again, neither recognizes the other.
The play begins after Thebes has been struck with a
plague by the gods in outrage at Oedipus' unintentional wrongdoing. The play shows Oedipus' investigation, in which he curses and promises to exile those responsible for the murder. Although the blind prophet
Tiresias explicitly tells Oedipus at the beginning of the play that he is the cause of the plague, Oedipus at first does not understand. Instead he accuses Tiresias of conspiring with
Creon, Jocasta's brother, to overthrow him.
Oedipus then calls for a former servant of Laius, the only surviving witness of the murder, who fled the city when Oedipus became king. Soon a messenger from Corinth also arrives to inform Oedipus of the death of Polybus, whom Oedipus still believes is his real father, until the messenger informs him that he was in fact adopted. In the subsequent discussions between Oedipus, Jocasta, the servant, and the messenger, Jocasta discovers the truth and runs off; Oedipus learns the truth more slowly, but later runs off-stage as well. The
chorus fills in the unseen details: Jocasta has hanged herself, and Oedipus, upon discovering her body, blinds himself with the brooches (long gold pins with a pointed end) of her dress. The play ends with Oedipus entrusting his children to Creon and going into exile, as he promised at the beginning.
The play depends very heavily on
dramatic irony. At one point, Oedipus and Jocasta discuss the oracle, dismissing it as its prophecies have apparently not come to pass. The audience was expected to understand Oedipus' history well before he does.
The story revolves around the famous prophecy regarding Oedipus's fate has changed. Whereas Oedipus is told that he will murder his father and wed his mother (ln 752-57), his parents were only told that their son would murder his father (ln 676-78).
Oedipus is mentioned once in the
Iliad of
Homer: "Mecisteus went once to Thebes after the fall of Oedipus, to attend his funeral, and he beat all the people of Cadmus." (Book 23, ln 756).
There is also a reference to Oedipus in the
Odyssey of Homer; when Odysseus goes down to the underworld he meets
Epicaste the mother and wife of Oedipus, and the story of Oedipus is then briefly told (11.271-280).
This play was performed at the
Dionysia, the fertility festival of
Dionysos.
There is a pun in the original Greek that would have linked Oedipus's name, Swollen Feet (a reference to his childhood injury) and Swollen Head (a reference to Hubris, the sin of excessive pride, or believing ones self to be better or stronger than the gods).
*
Oedipus*
Oedipus rex (opera)*
Oedipus complex* 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 Green, 1942 - verse
* Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, 1949 - verse
* Theodore Howard Banks, 1956 - verse
* Albert Cook, 1957 - verse
* Paul Roche, 1958 - verse
*
H. D. F. Kitto, 1962 - verse
*
Robert Fagles, 1984 - verse
* E.F. Watling. 1947
*Brunner, M. "King Oedipus Retried" Rosenberger & Krausz, London, 2000
*Also listen to
Regina Spektor's song "Oedipus"
