Oedipus Tyrannus (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Sophocles
- First Published: 429
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Time of Work: Antiquity
- Setting: Thebes
- Principal Characters: Oedipus, Jocasta, Creon, Teiresias
- Genres: Drama, Tragedy
- Subjects: Murder or homicide, Blindness or blind persons, Mistaken or secret identity, Guilt, Incest, Punishment, Death or dying, Kings, queens, or royalty, Fratricide, parricide, or filicide, Fate or fatalism, Prophecy or prophets, Greek or Roman times, Horror, Greece or Greek people, Plague, Oracles
- Locales: Greece, ancient, Thebes, ancient
The Story:
When Thebes was struck by a plague, the people asked King Oedipus to deliver them from its horrors. Creon, the brother of Jocasta, Oedipus’ queen, returned from the oracle of Apollo and disclosed that the plague was punishment for the murder of King Laius, Oedipus’ immediate predecessor, to whom Jocasta had been married. Creon further disclosed that the citizens of Thebes needed to discover and punish the murderer before the plague would be lifted. The people mourned their dead, and Oedipus advised them, in their own interest, to search out and apprehend the...
[The entire page is 2192 words long]
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