Study Guide by Arpita Karwa

Oedipus rex by Sophocles

forts him and asks him to not pay attention to words

said by the prophet. She says that the prophet once said
that her son would kill his father and sleep with her,
which she assures Oedipus that it never happened.

Jocasta now tells him about the prophecy which

revolved around her son with Laios. She goes on to say
that because of the prophecy, Laios tied the child’s feet

m
and left him into the woods.

Oedipus is intrigued. He asks how and where did the

last emperor die. Jocasta tells her that there was a survi-

co
Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex is about Oedipus killing his vor with him. Oedipus calls for him and starts telling
father and sleeping with his mother. More than psycholog- Jocasta about his upbringing.
ical disorders, the play revolves around prophecies and the
outcome when human beings don’t believe in them. Oedipus tells Jocasta about the oracle at Delphi who
told him to murder his father and sleep with his mother.
a.
Oedipus rules the city of Thebes. He has a wife named
Jocasta and two daughters Ismene and Antigone. Oedipus
is faced with a challenge — the people of Thebes are
However, he didn’t pay attention and left the house in
Corinth and was attacked by a few men, all of whom he
managed to kill except one.
w
getting sick, becoming poor and dying. In a bid to curb
the menace and find a solution to it, he sends Creon Corinthian arrives and begs Oedipus to return to
(Oedipus’s brother-in-law) to the shrine of Apollo. Corinth and rule as his father has died. Oedipus thinks
that if he goes, he will trouble his mother. He refuses
r

Creon returns and tells the solution is to remove bad after giving his explanation.
blood from the city so that people can get healed. The bad
ka

blood stems from the murder of the last King of Thebes -
Laios, he informs.
Oedipus asks why the people never cared to look into
Laios’s death. He learns that they didn’t think about it as
ta
The Corinthian reveals that the couple (Merope and
Polybus) who raised Oedipus were not his real parents.
He also said that Oedipus was given to them as a gift by
him and that he himself got Oedipus by a herdsman
near Mount Kithairon.

they were too troubled by Sphinx - someone who is

stationed outside Thebes and would kill if one didn’t solve The Corinthian says that when he got Oedipus, his feet
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her riddle: were bound. The survivor arrives. He listens to the story
and supports it. He says he was the herdsman who gave
pi

“What crawls on four legs in the morning, walks on two
legs in the afternoon, and three in the evening?”
Oedipus now vows to find out the real person behind
ar
the Oedipus to the Corinthian.
Oedipus and Jocasta connect the dots; they both realise
that Oedipus killed his biological father Laios and slept

Laios’s murder for which he calls a prophet (a blind man) with his wife and his own biological mother Jocasta.
named Tiresias. When he comes, he makes Oedipus fly
into a rage. He calls Oedipus the bad blood for the reason While Jocasta hangs herself, Oedipus blinds himself with
that he killed his father and now sleeps with his mother. her pin. He asks Creon to take care of her daughters and
leaves the city and goes into exile to where he began —
Oedipus thinks Creon got this prophet to say these things Mount Kithairon.
so that he could dethrone him. Creon justifies that he is
not interested in ruling Thebes and that he didn’t ask the
prophet to lie.

Jocasta enters and after listening to Oedipus’s, she com-

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 Study Guide by Arpita Karwa

Mind Map

Creon
Later ruler of Thebes

Siblings
Uncle Brothers-in-law

Teiresias
Jocasta Perceptive old prophet

Widow of King Lauis Spouses

Blind
seer
Mother
Oedipus
King of Thebes

Reveals
prophecy
is true Commentators

Witnesses
murder of
Laius

Messenger Servant
Messenger from Corinth
Servant of King Laius

Chorus
Theban elders

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