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    The Oedipus Rex

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    Bandanaa Shrestha
    The document summarizes the key details of the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. It describes the play's setting in Thebes, its main characters including Oedipus, Jocasta, and Creon, and the central plot point that through a series of revelations, it is discovered that Oedipus unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, bringing a curse upon Thebes.

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    The Oedipus Rex

    Uploaded by

    Bandanaa Shrestha
    20 views43 pages
    The document summarizes the key details of the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. It describes the play's setting in Thebes, its main characters including Oedipus, Jocasta, and Creon, and the central plot point that through a series of revelations, it is discovered that Oedipus unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, bringing a curse upon Thebes.

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    The document summarizes the key details of the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. It describes the play's setting in Thebes, its main characters including Oedipus, Jocasta, and Creon, and the central plot point that through a series of revelations, it is discovered that Oedipus unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, bringing a curse upon Thebes.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    20 views43 pages

    The Oedipus Rex

    Uploaded by

    Bandanaa Shrestha
    The document summarizes the key details of the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. It describes the play's setting in Thebes, its main characters including Oedipus, Jocasta, and Creon, and the central plot point that through a series of revelations, it is discovered that Oedipus unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, bringing a curse upon Thebes.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 43

    The Oedipus Rex

    -Sophocles
    The Physical Structure of Greek Theatre
    - Greek theatre came out of
    the worship of Dionysus

    - Major Theatre festival was


    called City Dionysia

    • Open air space using


    sloped hillside for seating

    • Sight not great but


    acoustics excellent, words
    spoken silently in
    orchestra could be heard
    all the way up.
    • Orchestra – “the dancing space” for the chorus,
    chief performance space, circular.

    • Thymele - An altar (offering place) to Dionysus


    was generally placed in the middle of the
    orchestra

    • Theatron –
    “the seating place”
    semi-circled
    terraced area with benches
    (built with wood
    or stone)
    Aeschylus (523-456 B.C.E.)

    • “The Father of Tragedy”

    • 7 of 80 plays remaining

    • Winner of the Festival of


    Dionysus for 13 times

    • Contributions
    – Introduced chorus
    – Second actor
    Euripides (480-406 B.C.E.)

    • Won festival for 4


    times

    • 18 plays survived

    • Famous for Satire


    Sophocles (496-406 B.C.E.)

    • One of the most


    influential writer of
    Ancient Greece

    • Most probably born in


    496-406 B. C.

    • Father was wealthy and


    influential businessman
    • Served his country as an ambassador, general
    and treasurer

    • He also was a priest, tragic dramatist

    • Dramas of Sophocles were written and produced


    for drama competition held in a festival
    celebrating Dionysus
    • Won the contest 24 times

    • Wrote more than 120 plays

    • Only seven of them have survived

    • His best known plays are: Antigone, Oedipus at


    Colonus, The Oedipus Rex
    Key Facts:

    • Title: The Oedipus Rex


    • Author: Sophocles
    • Type of Work: Tragedy
    • Time and Place Written: Around 430 bc, Athens
    Greece
    • Tone: Tragic
    • Setting: Thebes
    • Protagonist: Oedipus
    Characters
    Oedipus: The King of Thebe
    Jocasta: Queen of Thebe
    Creon: Oedipus’s brother-in-law
    Tiresias: Blind sheer, adviser of the King
    Laius: Former King of Thebe, husband of Jocasta
    Antigone:
    Ismene:
    Shepherd: Two shepherds, one from Thebes and
    next from Corinth
    Polybus and Merope: King and Queen of Corinth
    Oedipus
    • Oedipus meaning ‘Swollen foot’ in Greek language
    • King of Thebes
    • Renowned for his intelligence and ability to solve
    riddles (of Sphinx)
    • Yet blind to the truth about himself
    • Left in the mountain with his feet bound
    • Kills biological father
    • Sleeps with mother
    • Experiences great rise and fall in life
    Jocasta
    • Queen of Thebes, Wife of Laius and Oedipus

    • Gives baby to shepherd in order to leave in the jungle

    • Mother and wife of Oedipus

    • Appears only in the middle of the drama

    • Finds out the riddle of Oedipus’s identity before he


    does

    • Wants to protect him from the knowledge of his


    identity
    Creon
    • Oedipus’s brother-in-law

    • Under suspicion of Oedipus

    • Oedipus blames him for treason

    • Protected by Jocasta in the palace

    • Becomes king at the end

    • Banishes Oedipus from the Thebes


    Teiresias
    • Blind sheer
    • Adviser of the Laius

    • People of Thebes have great faith on him

    • Knows the culprit of Laius’s murder

    • Denies to reveal
    • Oedipus blames him plotting against him
    • In anger reveals that Oedipus himself is the pollution
    of the country
    Chorus
    • Group of dancers (15 people)

    • Reacts to the events onstage

    • Can be instruction to audience on how to interpret


    events

    • Dance on the Orchestra

    • Choragus, leader of the chorus, plays active role in


    the drama.
    First and Second Messenger
    First Messenger:
    • Shepherd from Corinth
    • Informs that Polybus has died and people want
    Oedipus to rule Corinth
    • Reveals that Polybus and Merope are not Oedipus’s
    biological parents

    Shepherd from Thebes:


    • Shepherd from Thebes
    • Handovers baby to shepherd from Corinth
    • Reveals that the baby was of Jocasta
    Summary
    • Oedipus steps out of the palace of Thebes

    • Greeted by the procession of the Priests

    • Citizens carry branches of trees wrapped in wools as


    gifts to god

    • Oedipus asks why they have gathered


    • Priest replies, citizens are there to request Oedipus
    to save the Thebes:
    O mighty power, we turn to you:
    Find us our safety, find us a remedy,
    Whether by counsel of the gods or of men.

    • Oedipus responds that he has sent Kreon to Delphic


    oracle

    • Kreon arrives and asks King if he wants to hear the


    oracle in private

    • Oedipus insists all the citizens hear


    KREON: Then I will tell you what I heard at Delphi.
    In plain words
    The god commands us to expel from the land of Thebes
    An old defilement we are sheltering.
    It is a deathly thing, beyond cure;
    We must not let it feed upon us longer.

    OEDIPUS : What defilement? How shall we rid ourselves of it?

    KREON: By exile or death, blood for blood. It was murder that brought the
    plague-wind on the city

    OEDIPUS: Murder of whom? Surely the god has named him?

    KREON: My lord: Laius once ruled this land,


    Before you came to govern us.
    • The murderer of Laius who ruled Thebes before Oedipus, is in
    Thebes. He must be driven out in order for the plague to end.

    • Creon tells Oedipus that the king was killed on the way to Delphi
    to consult an oracle

    • Only one of them survived

    • Oedipus asks if anyone knows the murderer

    • The leader of the chorus suggests Oedipus to consult with


    Tiresias, a blind prophet

    CHORAGOS: But there is one man who may detect the


    criminal.
    This is Teiresias, this is the holy prophet
    In whom, alone of all men, truth was born.
    • Teiresias arrives
    • Oedipus requests him to reveal the murderer
    • Tiresias answers that he wishes not to reveal the truth

    OEDIPUS: What! You know something, and will not tell


    us?
    You would betray us all and wreck the State?

    • Oedipus insists Teiresias tell what he knows

    TEIRESIAS: Whether I speak or not, it is bound to


    come.
    OEDIPUS: Then, If it is bound to come, you are bound to
    tell me
    TEIRESIAS: No, I will not go on. Rage as you please.
    OEDIPUS: Rage? Why not!
    And I’ll tell you what I think:
    You planned it, you had it done, you all but
    Killed him with your own hands: If you had eyes,
    I would say the crime was yours, and yours alone.

    TEIRESIAS: So ? I Charge you, then, …


    You yourself are the pollution of this country.

    • Provoked by insult and anger of Oedipus, Teiresias


    tells that Oedipus himself is the murderer
    • Oedipus mocks Tiresias’s blindness

    • Also accuses that Teiresias and Kreon are conspiring to


    overthrow him

    • In anger Tiresias reveals that Oedipus is blind even


    having eyes that the king even does not know who his
    parents are

    TEIRESIAS: ... Listen to me. You mock my blindness, do


    you?
    But I say that you, with both your eyes, are blind:
    You can not see the wretchedness of your life,
    Nor in whose house you live, no, nor with whom.
    Who are your father and mother? Can you tell me?
    • Furious Oedipus asks him who his parents are
    TEIRESIAS: …And I tell you again.
    But it will soon be shown that he is a Theban,…
    … That man is in Thebes. To your mind he is foreign-
    born,
    To the children with whom he lives now he will be
    Brother and father – the very same; to her
    Who bore him, son and husband – the very same.

    • Teiresias answers in riddle that the murderer of


    Laios will turn out to be both brother and father to
    his children, both son and husband to his mother
    • Oedipus in anger accuses Kreon of trying to
    overthrow him

    • Oedipus says that he wants Kreon murdered

    • Oedipus’s wife Jocasta arrrives and convinces


    neither to kill nor to banish Kreon

    • However, he is convinced that Kreon is guilty

    • Jocasta tells that all prophesies are wrong


    • As a proof she says,
    JOCASTE: Here is my proof:
    An oracle was reported to Laios once
    That his doom would be death at the hands of
    his own son –
    His son, born of his flesh and of mine!

    Now, you remember the story: Laios was killed


    By marauding strangers where three highways
    meet;
    But his child had not been three days in this
    world
    Before the king had pierced the baby’s ankles
    And left him to die on a lonely mountainside.
    • Her narrative of murder sounds familiar to him

    • Oedipus tells her that he may be the one who killed


    him

    • In Corinth, at the banquet, he heard that he was not


    the son of king and queen

    • Went to Delphi

    • Oracle-he would murder his father and sleep with


    mother
    • Hearing this Oedipus fled home never to return

    • On the way to Thebe, harassed by a group of traveler

    • Killed people at three-way crossroad where Laios


    was killed

    • Oedipus calls the shepherd who survived the attack

    • A messenger enters, looking for Oedipus

    • His father Polybus is dead


    • Corinth wants him to rule

    • Oedupus arrives and hears

    • Enjoys with Jocasta – that half of the prophesy


    proved wrong

    • However, Oedipus still fears with half of the


    prophesy –
    JOCASTA: From now on never think of those things
    again.
    OEDIPUS: And yet – must I not fear my mother’s bed?
    JOCASTA: Why should anyone in this world be afraid,
    Since fate rules us and nothing can be foreseen?
    A man should live only for the present day.
    Have no more fears of sleeping with your mother:
    How many men, in dreams, have lain with their
    mothers!
    No reasonable men is troubled by such things.
    OEDIPUS: That is true; only –
    If only my mother were not still alive!
    • Messenger reveals that Polybus and Merope are
    not his natural father mother

    • He found him in a mountain near Thebes

    • The baby had its ankles pinned together

    • Shepherd of Laius left him there

    • He wants to hear from Shepherd who he was


    • Jocasta begs him to abandon the search

    JOCASTA: Listen to me, I beg you: do not do this thing!


    OEDIPUS: I will not listen; the truth must be made
    known.
    JOCASTA: Everything that I say is for your own good!
    OEDIPUS: My own good
    Snaps my patience, then; I want none of it.
    JOCASTA: You are fatally wrong! May you never learn
    who you are!
    OEDIPUS: Go, one of you, and bring the shepherd here.
    • Jocasta runs back into the palace

    • Shepherd, witness of Laius’s murder, enters the


    stage

    • Messenger identifies him as the one who gave him


    the child

    • But the shepherd refuses to talk

    • Oedipus asks him who gave him the child


    • He answers, the baby came from the home of Laius

    • Jocasta gave him the child because of prophecy

    • Oedipus screams and runs into the palace

    • Second messenger enters the stage and informs


    that, Jocasta committed suicide
    • Oedipus got into the room in fury asking for sword
    and cursing Jocasta

    • Seeing this Oedipus embraced dead body and


    sobbed

    • He could not bear to see the world so he pinned his


    eyes

    • As messenger finishes the story, Oedipus arrives


    the stage with bleeding eyes

    • Kreon enters
    • Oedipus requests Kreon to banish him

    • Kreon forgives Oedipus for past accusation

    • Kreon agrees to exile him from Thebes

    • Oedipus requests Kreon to look after his two daughters

    • Antigone and Ismene, come forth crying

    • He asks Kreon to promise that he will look after them

    • Kreon orders guards to take Antigone and Ismene away from


    Oedipus

    • Kreon tells Oedipus that his power has ended


    Themes

    • Fate (Destiny) Vs Free Will

    • Hubris

    • Oedipal Complex
    Symbols

    • Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and


    colors used to represent abstract ideas or
    concepts

    • Oedipus’s Swollen Foot

    • The Three-way Crossroads


    Oedipus’s Swollen Foot

    • Oedipus was handed over to shepherd to leave in


    the mountains with his ankles pinned together so
    that animal would eat him up

    • Injury leaves Oedipus with vivid scar for rest of his


    life

    • It symbolizes the way in which fate has marked


    him – “Kill his father and sleep with his mother”
    The Three-way Crossroads

    • Place where king Laius was killed

    • A place where choice has to be made,

    • moments where decisions will have important


    consequences
    Any Queries ???

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