PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Oedipus Rex is the first of the Theban plays. Written in play form by Sophocles, it was already a well known Greek legend.
Oedipus: Son and Murderer of Laius, son and husband to Jocasta, King of Thebes.
Jocasta: Former wife of Laius, Mother and wife of Oedipus, Queen of Thebes.
Creon: Brother of Jocasta, half brother and uncle of Oedipus.
Tiresias: Blind prophet and seer.
Antigone and Ismene: Daughters and sisters of Oedipus.
The plot of Oedipus Rex is very tangled. At the start of the story, the senators of Thebes are going to Oedipus for help dealing with a plague that is killing the people.
After a while they get news that the plague is because of the murderer of the former king had not been punished. This causes a string of events that get worse and worse until arguments break out and things were said that turn the story on its head.
Tiresias the seer tells Oedipus that he is in fact the murderer of the old king. His wife realizes what this means and retreats to her chambers, but Oedipus does not yet understand. After some discussion and new evidence is brought in, Oedipus finally comes to the realization that he killed his father and married his mother.
They go to see Jocasta who had understood earlier. When they get there they find her dead body, for after understanding what happened, she took her own life feeling it was the best option. Upon seeing this Oedipus grabs a pin from her clothing and gouges his eyes out.
The end of the book/play is about how everyone is going to deal with Oedipus and his family. Oedipus is banished from the land, true to his own word, but he and his family are not harmed.
One major theme in Oedipus Rex is blindness vs. sight. Is it better to be blissfully ignorant, or know the terrible truth? Knowing the truth, though horrible, means that there is hope for correction, where as with ignorance, there is no retribution. Ignorance may be bliss, but it is in no way innocence.
One very famous concept taken from Oedipus Rex, is the Oedipus complex. In the Oedipus complex, a child falls in love with one parent and shuns the other. A strange thing indeed.
