Oedipus Rex

The tragic downfall of Oedipus in Sophocles's Oedipus Rex is Oedipus's belief, based on his overwhelming pride (what the ancient Greeks called hubris),that by exercising his own free will, he can...

The unfortunate Oedipus in Sophocles's play Oedipus Rex learns far too late that he has fulfilled a prophecy made at his birth. He has killed his father and married his mother. Of course, he...

The closing scene of Oedipus Rex reminds us why Oedipus is regarded as a hero. After gouging out his own eyes in response to the shocking revelation that he killed his own father and married his...

In determining the themes of Sophocles's Oedipus Rex, it's important to understand the distinction between a theme and a motif. A theme is a dominant central idea, message, or moral that the...

One could argue that King Oedipus is a victim of fate in Sophocle's classic play and that there was no way he could avoid his destiny. As a child, King Laius and Jocasta consulted an oracle, who...

At the end of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus blinds himself, and he asks for his daughters, Antigone and Ismene, to be brought to him. It's interesting that he doesn't ask for his sons, Eteocles and...

Oedipus Rex reminds us of the blindness and arrogance of the powerful. This message is still relevant today. Oedipus is a king who has at his disposal the ability to find out what is causing a...

Most texts, if they utilize irony, will use one or two types. Oedipus Rex, therefore, is unique because it implements all three types of irony in fundamental ways. The primary irony in the play...

Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. Better to live at random, best we can. This quotation, from Jocasta, illustrates the metaphorical blindness that afflicts many of...

Many years prior to the events portrayed in Sophocles's Oedipus Rex, the Oracle foretells that Oedipus would kill his father, Laius, King of Thebes, and marry his mother, Queen Jocasta. In order to...

If anyone gets the blame here, I think it should be the gods who determined Oedipus fate to begin with. Though Oedipus may deserve some blame for rashly killing the man who blocked his way on the...

The plot structure of Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles and first performed around 429 BCE, is fundamentally linked to the essential elements of tragedy and the tragic hero's journey through the...

It is actually Laius, Oedipus’s birth father, who is cursed and is responsible for the curse on his descendants, and this results in Oedipus’s tragic fate. When Laius’s father, Labdacus, the king...

Everything that happens to Oedipus in Sophocles's Oedipus Rex happens as a result of the will of the gods. The changes in Oedipus's life, from his birth to his tragic downfall and exile, are the...

If there’s one overriding idea in Oedipus Rex it’s that on no account do you ever mess with the gods. As with countless other Greek tragedies, Oedipus Rex shows us that the will of the gods cannot...

In lines 25–27, the Priest of Zeus uses metaphors to compare Thebes, the city, to a ship and death to the ocean that threatens her. He says, " For our city, as you yourself can see, / is badly...

After receiving the news from Creon that the plague will continue to ravage Thebes until the murderer of Laius is driven from the city, Oedipus petitions the blind prophet Tiresias to identify the...

There are three such unities: the unity of time, the unity of place, and the unity of action. The unity of time means that everything takes place within a space of twenty-four hours or fewer. From...

Oedipus Rex is set in the ancient Greek city-state of Thebes. Or, to be more precise, it's set in front of the Theban royal palace. Ancient Greek playwrights were sticklers for the three unities of...

When Oedipus discovers the truth, he goes mad. Finding that he has fulfilled the prophecy (laying with his mother and killing his father) is compounded by the presence of his children, who are now...

Oedipus Rex is an ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles. The inciting incident is when Oedipus sends Creon, his brother-in-law, to ask the oracle at Delphi for advice on the plague victimizing Thebes....

Oedipus the King opens with a priest describing the terrible plague that has come upon Thebes and begging Oedipus for help. Oedipus replies that he is more eager than anyone to find out the cause...

The characters in Sophocles's play Oedipus Rex are quick to blame prophecy for the tragedies that befall them, but in reality, the responsibility lies firmly on human shoulders. First and foremost,...

This is what Aristotle meant in Poetics regarding katharsis, the purgation of pity and fear: Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in...

Two predominant conflicts in Oedipus Rex are Human against Fate and Human against Self. All through the play, Oedipus, in a Human against Fate conflict, is unwittingly chasing the very fate he...

Teiresias seems to hesitate to tell Oedipus the truth about his real identity because the prophet knows that it will only bring pain and upset to the king and his family. He says, Alas, alas, what...

Hubris can be defined as an individual's excessive pride and overconfidence. A character suffering from hubris attempts to overstep their limits and typically violates a moral code. In Sophocles's...

The most predominant conflict in Oedipus Rex is character vs. fate. Oedipus was born to a cursed family and was therefore cursed himself. According to myth, King Laius was King Pelops' charge....

The answer already given is excellent, but I will take this in another direction: Oedipus Rex has a special place in our society particularly because it has given us, via Sigmund Freud, the term...

Oedipus is a strong ruler who earns the kingship of Thebes after he solves the riddle of the Sphinx who plagued the city, causing the Sphinx to commit suicide. This showed Oedipus' intelligence and...

In this Athenian tragedy by Sophocles, Oedipus chooses to blind himself after it is revealed that he has, as foretold by a prophecy, killed his father and slept with his mother. Oedipus cannot bare...

On the surface, the problem afflicting Thebes is a plague. But, when Oedipus sends Creon to discover the source of the plague, he learns it springs from a moral problem: the murderer of Laius, the...

There are many morals one could derive from Oedipus Rex in order to describe its purpose, but the most important one is related to its didactic function of teaching the audience the dangers of...

Oedipus's good qualities include his desire for justice and his will to save the people of Thebes from the plague that is devastating them. He is a strong and responsible leader who wants to...

The chorus in Greek plays served several purposes. This group of around twelve men in masks sometimes played small roles, sang and danced, and served as a group of citizens. In the case of the...

In his great tragedy, Oedipus Rex, Sophocles employs the dramatic techniques of foreshadowing, symbolism and irony. In form, he also employs the Chorus for various purposes. Foreshadowing While...

A foil is a character who contrasts the protagonist to highlight the main character's qualities and traits. In Sophocles's classic play Oedipus the King, Creon serves as Oedipus's foil. Creon is...

King Oedipus displays his pride by believing that he can triumph over his fate and establish his own destiny despite the gods' ultimate design. Oedipus is unaware of his background and does not...

The oracle tells Oedipus that he will murder his father and marry his mother. A horrified Oedipus decides to leave home for good so that this prophecy could not come true. What the oracle did not...

The final speech of the Chorus looks back to reinforce one of the lessons of the play -- that the future is beyond human knowledge:Ye men of Thebes, behold this Œdipus, .... And, lo! in what...

One type of sight that Oedipus steadfastly refuses to employ throughout Sophocles's Oedipus Rex is introspection. Oedipus refuses to look inside himself for answers to the questions affecting...

The shepherd did the one thing that enabled the dire prophecy of the Delphic oracle to eventually come true. When Oedipus was born, the oracle had predicted that he would grow up to kill his...

Like many great kings, Oedipus has many good qualities. First, he learns of the prophecy that he is to grow up and kill his father and marry his mother. Not knowing that he is adopted, Oedipus...

It is Apollo, the son of Zeus and God of Light, who initially delivers the prophecy, at Oedipus' birth, that Oedipus will murder his father and marry his mother. This prophecy has faded into...

This quote, spoken by Jocasta to her husband/son Oedipus, occurs late in the play, in Part II. The quote that you included reads: Fear? What should a man fear? Is all chance, chance rules our...

The last lines are a lesson and a warning about fate, spoken by the chorus. In modern American terms, they might be paraphrased as "It isn't over til it's over," a sentiment that says a football...