What is Oedipus the King Summary?

By leaving his home in Corinth, Oedipus thinks he has escaped a terrible prophecy that says that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus has defeated the riddling Sphinx, saved the seven-gated city of Thebes, and married the queen Jocasta.

Is Oedipus Rex and Oedipus the King the same?

Oedipus Rex, also known by its Greek title, Oedipus Tyrannus (Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, pronounced [oidípoːs týrannos]), or Oedipus the King, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC.

What faithful companion escorted the blind Oedipus during his exile from Thebes?

After Oedipus, king of Thebes, overwhelmed with horror at the discovery that he had killed his father and married his mother, stabbed out his eyes, he eventually left Thebes as a blind wanderer, accompanied by his daughter Antigone (there are differing accounts of when and why he left the city).

What is the main lesson of Oedipus the King?

The moral of Oedipus Rex is that one cannot control one’s own destiny and that pride leads to downfall.

How did Oedipus go blind?

The Chorus does not recognize Oedipus as the king he once was. In fact, he was metaphorically blind to the truth of his birth for much of his life; when Oedipus finally learned the truth, he physically blinded himself by poking out his eyes with the long gold pins from his dead wife’s brooches.

Why did Oedipus sleep with his mother?

He decided to leave Corinth for Delphi, so he could learn of his parentage at the oracle of Apollo. There he was given the news that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. To prevent the oracle from coming true, Oedipus went to Thebes.

Why did Oedipus marry his mother?

David Alberts, Ph. D. 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 avoid the prophecy, Laius orders a shepherd to take Oedipus and abandons him to…

Why does Oedipus choose to blind himself?

Oedipus acknowledges that his hubris has left him blind to the truth and is too ashamed of himself to witness the citizens’ reactions. Overall, Oedipus chooses stab out his eyes as a way of punishing himself for his hubris and ignorance.

How did Oedipus become king of Thebes?

Oedipus, a stranger to Thebes, became king of the city after the murder of king Laius, about fifteen or sixteen years before the start of the play. He was offered the throne because he was successful in saving the city from the Sphinx, an event referred to repeatedly in the text of the play.

When did Nick Bartel write Oedipus the king?

An Abridged and Adapted Version of Sophocles’ Play* by Nick Bartel, 1999 (Intended for use as Readers’ Theater in the Junior – Senior High School Classroom)

Which is better Oedipus the king or a desert realm?

If thou wouldst rule This land, as now thou reignest, better sure To rule a peopled than a desert realm. Nor battlements nor galleys aught avail, If men to man and guards to guard them tail. OEDIPUS Ah! my poor children, known, ah, known too well, The quest that brings you hither and your need.

Where is Oedipus when he emerges from the door?

Oedipus emerges from the palace door. The chorus is on the left. Oedipus: Children, why do you sit here with such sorrow, crying out to the gods? The town is filled with the sounds of hymns and smells of incense! I, whom all men call the Great, came out to learn of this myself. [He turns to the priest.] You’re old and they are young.