Oedipus Rex Background

1. TODAY, WE BEGIN A NEW UNIT CENTERING AROUND A
PLAY CALLED OEDIPUS REX, WHICH TRANSLATES
FROM THE ANCIENT GREEK AS OEDIPUS THE KING.
THE PLAY IS RATHER SHORT, BUT THE LANGUAGE IS
DIFFICULT BECAUSE IT WAS WRITTEN A LONG, LONG
TIME AGO (ABOUT 450 BCE).
Oedipus Rex

2. OBJECTIVES:
● To gain an introductory knowledge of Greek Drama,
especially Greek tragedy
● To understand the concept of the Tragic Hero

3. A SPECIAL NOTE:
● please understand that this play and this unit are
foundational, which means that we will constantly be
referring to the ideas that come up, and to the main
events of this play. You must understand the ideas
and events in this unit. If you are ever confused,
please contact me and I will gladly help. As you
know, my two emails are:…
● So here we go…

4. Oedipus Rex is a
tragedy.

5. SUPPOSE THAT A FORTUNE-TELLER, WHO HAS NEVER
BEEN WRONG, PREDICTS THAT YOU WILL MURDER
YOUR FATHER. WHAT DO YOU DO? THINK ABOUT THAT
FOR A MINUTE….
Let’s begin like this:

6. ● Do you accept it, walk into pop’s bedroom, and
knock him over the head with an axe?
● Or do you defy the fortune-teller, and the gods he
supposedly listens to, and run away to a distant
country where you could never possibly see your
father again?
● The latter solution is the one that Oedipus comes up
with.

7. The story begins with two prophecies…
● Both prophecies were made by The Oracle at
Delphi. The Oracle was a woman, granted
supernatural knowledge by the god, Apollo (or
Phoebus, as he is often referred to in the play).
● Her first prophecy was to the king of Thebes, named
Laius. She predicted that his son would murder him,
and marry his wife. You can imagine how he reacted.
He had the child strangled and buried far from the
city.

8. The second prophecy…
● The Oracle’s second prophecy was made to Oedipus
when he was a young man, and it was the one
suggested above: that he would murder his father.
He reacted by never returning home from the Oracle.
His parents were the king and queen of Corinth, and
he could expect to inherit their throne, but he gave
all that up in order to run away from the prophecy.

9. Understanding the Places
● Corinth and Thebes are the two important cities. By
modern standards, they are near each other, but to
the ancient Greeks, they were a dangerous journey
apart. This website has a brief description of each:
● http://www.areopagus.net/grkmap.htm

10. After he runs away…
● Oedipus, the young man (let’s say, eighteen), travels
the world, seeking some fortune. One day, he comes
to a narrow place in the road at the same time as a
proud, rich man in a horse-drawn carriage. The two
men insult each other, each wanting to pass the
narrow place first, until eventually they come to
blows. Oedipus kills the older man and all of his
guards, thus establishing himself as a warrior of
heroic status.

11. The Sphinx
Shortly after the encounter with the old man on the
road, Oedipus arrives at the gates of Thebes. There,
he finds the city is in terrible danger. A monster,
called a sphinx, has forbidden all traffic into or out of
the city until someone can answer its riddle. The city
is starving because no one can answer the riddle
correctly.

12. The sphinx’s riddle
went like this:
“What walks on
four legs in the
morning, two legs
in the afternoon,
and three legs at
night?”

13. What do you think was the answer?

14. Oedipus Becomes the Hero of Thebes
● Oedipus answered the Sphinx correctly: “a man,” he
said. “A man walks on four legs until he learns to
walk, then two legs as an adult, and uses a cane as
his third leg in old age.”
● The Sphinx lifted the siege and Thebes was saved. As
luck would have it, the town had recently lost its
king, and they asked Oedipus to fill the position. He
agreed, and sealed the deal by marrying old King
Laius’ wife, Jocasta. Jocasta was older than him, but
still beautiful, and she bore him four children…

15. And that brings you up to speed…
Our play begins many years later. Oedipus has ruled
Thebes well, and the city has become prosperous.
Even though he wasn’t raised there, he has come to
love the city, and the city has come to love him. He
has never contacted his parents, the rulers of
Corinth, for fear that he will come into conflict with
them (don’t forget his original prophecy). But he has
reason to be proud: not only is he a fine king, but he
has outsmarted the gods themselves who decreed
that he should murder his parents.

16. A few things to understand…
● This is an old play. The Greeks didn’t do theater
quite the way we do today. They wore huge masks,
for one thing. Check out Oedipus’ costume in the
next slide…

17. Here, we see Oedipus,
the king, with a
tremendous crown
befitting his greatness,
and a beard, showing
his experience and
wisdom. We also see
his people (the Chorus)
begging him to listen to
them. Behind him, to
the right, is the blind
prophet, Teiresias,
telling him what he
does NOT want to
hear…

18. The Chorus
● In Greek plays, an important character was always
The Chorus. The Chorus represents the common
man, in this case, the people of Thebes, who love
their king. You may find their lines the most
confusing because they are sung. Generally, you
need only get the gist of what the chorus means –
that is, you only need to understand the basic idea of
their words

19. Teiresias
A very important
character will be
Teiresias. He is a
prophet, and he has
never been wrong. He’s
also blind, which is
common in these types
of stories; the idea
being that he has
sacrificed sight in the
corporeal world for
insight into the spiritual
world.

20. Jocasta (or Iocasta)
● Jocasta is Oedipus’ wife. She will provide one of the
first clues into the mystery Oedipus must solve

21. Creon
● Creon is Oedipus’ brother-in-law (Jocasta’s brother).
He and Oedipus sometimes have a rocky
relationship. Oedipus doesn’t really think much of
the way Creon handled Thebes before Oedipus
showed up (when King Laius disappeared, Creon ran
the city for a while, and he did it essentially under
martial law, which means that the military was in
charge…) heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyv

22. The Crisis
● The basic problem in the play is that Thebes has a
new crisis. Once again, the city is starving, and even
the great King Oedipus can’t solve it. The famine
seems to be of supernatural origin, and so Oedipus
sends to The Oracle to find out what the solution is.
● The report back: Thebes must discover the murderer
of the old King Laius before the famine will be
resolved.
● Oedipus is determined to save his city again.

23. Where to find the play…
● Go to the following website and commence reading
the play. Your first assignment is to read through
line 285.
● http://www.enotes.com/oedipus-rex-text/oedipus-
rex?start=1