Oedipus the King Overview

1. Sophocles
Oedipus The
King
Muhammad Zameer Nawaz

2. Outline
• Review of the previous Lecture
• Sophocles- Life and Career
• Mythical origins of the story
• Oedipus the King
– Plot summary
– Major Characters
– Themes

3. Review
• Greek drama developed from ancient rituals honoring Dionysus.
The celebrations became a yearly occurrence held in Athens.
• Tragedies are serious plays about religious or mythic questions.
• Satyr plays are humorous plays about religious or mythic
questions.

4. Sophocles- A life
• Born in 496 B.C. and died in 406
• held several important positions in Athenian political life.
– Treasurer, a general, advisers, a priest, a hero
• First competed at the City Dionysia in 468 B.C. and last entered the
competition in 406, shortly before his death.
– wrote 123 plays, unfortunately, only seven have survived
– won more than twenty victories
• Most of the plays cannot be securely dated,
– So commenting on the development of Sophocles' style/contemporary
events is difficult

5. Plays as separate works
• Sophocles seems to have abandoned the trilogy form and,
instead, entered plays that were only loosely, connected to one
another.
– A common mistaken assumption is that Oedipus the King,
Antigone, and Oedipus at Colonus were presented at one
time as a unified trilogy.
– In fact, these plays were written a good many years apart.
• Because he did not write unified trilogies, we are on firmer
ground discussing Sophocles’ plays as self-contained works
than we were with Aeschylus

6. Sophocles and Greek Drama
• Sophocles was concerned with the individual’s need to find
his/her place in the world within the existing moral/cosmic
order.
– Moral lessons against too much pride and religious
indifference.

7. Contribution
• According to Aristotle, Sophocles was responsible for two
very important innovations.
– He introduced the third actor,
– Increased chorus members
– special focus on the central character;
– and development of the characteristics of the tragic hero
• Sophocles surprised Athenians by winning first prize for
tragedy at the festival of Dionysus, beating Aeschylus ,the
leading playwright of the time

8. The Basic Story behind Oedipus
the King
• Laius and Jocasta, King and Queen of Thebes, learn that a son
who will be born to them will kill Laius and marry Jocasta.
• Therefore, when the infant Oedipus is born, they “expose”
him.
• The infant is rescued and brought up by foster parents.
• When Oedipus grows up, he comes to Thebes, ignorant of his
true parentage.
• On the way there, he meets and kills his father, Laius.
• When he arrives at Thebes, he outwits the monstrous Sphinx,
who has been terrorizing the town.

9. Cont…..
• As a reward, he is granted the hand of the Queen of Thebes in
marriage.
• Oedipus rules for some time in ignorance of what he has done,
and he and Jocasta have four children.
• When the truth is finally discovered, Jocasta kills herself.
• Versions differed on Oedipus’s reaction.
• The most familiar version is the one that Sophocles follows:
that Oedipus blinded himself and went into exile from Thebes.

10. Writers as Innovators
• Greek tragedy has two conceptual components—the material
itself and the ideas generated by the onstage action. Writers of
tragedy took their material from legend and myth—sources
that lent themselves to variations in the retelling.
• Homer, Sophocles, and Euripides all took up the Oedipus
story, but differed in their treatment of Oedipus’s blinding. In
Sophocles, the blinding is self-inflicted and generates complex
and varying interpretations; in Euripides, Laius’s men inflict
the blinding; and in Homer no blinding occurs.
• Playwrights could assume their audiences were familiar with
the old legends; their task was to present the material in
original ways

11. Sophocles’version
• Sophocles rounds out this basic story by adding several
details.
– Jocasta gives the infant Oedipus to a trusted slave, a
shepherd, and asks him to expose the child. Instead,
Oedipus is adopted by the King and Queen of Corinth,
Polybus and Merope.
– When Oedipus was a young man, a guest at a banquet
taunted him by saying he was not Polybus’s son.
– Oedipus decided to go to Delphi to ask the oracle about his
parentage.
– The oracle foretold that he would kill his father and marry
his mother.

12. • Oedipus decided to avoid Corinth forever and turned instead
toward Thebes.
• On his way there, he killed an old man at a crossroads.
• Oedipus arrives in Thebes and overcomes the Sphinx. As it
happens, the Theban king, Laius, has recently been killed.
• The one eyewitness to Laius’s murder said that Laius had been
killed by a band of robbers.
• Oedipus is given Jocasta’s hand in marriage.
• All these details are brought out in the play in bits and pieces,
in fragmented, non-chronological order, as Oedipus slowly
pieces together the truth.

13. Lines Events
1-85
The priest, talking with Oedipus, tells him Thebes is under a curse and the city
needs his help again.
86-150
Creon learns from Apollo that the curse on Thebes resulted from King Laius'
murder. The city must banish the murderer to lift the curse.
151-215 The Chorus calls on various Olympians to aid Thebes.
216-275
Oedipus asks the Thebans to help him find and expel Laius' murderer. He avidly
begins an all-out manhunt.
276-379
The blind priest Tiresias has information about the plague, which he refuses to
divulge. After much prodding from Oedipus, Tiresias claims that Oedipus is the
source of the curse.
380-461
Oedipus alleges that Creon and Tiresias are conspiring against him. Tiresias tells
Oedipus to learn the truth about his parents and then forecasts Oedipus' downfall.
462-531 Creon, talking with the Chorus, denies the charges of collusion with Tiresias.
532-633
Oedipus threatens to execute or deport Creon. Creon maintains his innocence and
advises Oedipus to consult Apollo.
634-678
Oedipus' wife, Jocasta, and the Chorus defend Creon and convince Oedipus not to
kill or banish him.
679-725
Oedipus explains Tiresais' prophecy to Jocasta; Jocasta counters that not all of
Apollo's vision come true and cites King Laius as an example.
726-770
Jocasta recounts Laius' murder. Oedipus has the first suspicions that he may have
killed Laius.
771-863
Oedipus tells about the group of travellers he murdered. Oedipus demands to see
the lone survivor of the group to confirm if he indeed killed Laius.

14. 864-910 Chorus calls on the gods for help.
911-974
A messenger tells Oedipus that the King of Corinth is dead and that Oedipus is to assume
the throne. Oedipus refuses to return, for fear of fulfilling Apollo's prophecy that Oedipus
would sleep with his mother.
975-1076
Messenger tells Oedipus that he is not, in fact, the son of Polybus (the dead King of
Corinth): A herdsman rescued Oedipus, after he was exposed as an infant, and turned
the baby Oedipus over to the messenger himself. Jocasta becomes convinced that
Oedipus murdered Laius.
1077-1185
Oedipus brings in the herdsman who rescued him as a child. Oedipus squeezes the
information out of the herdsman and realizes that he is the son of Laius and Jocasta,
killed his father (Laius) and slept with his mother (Jocasta).
1186-1297 Long lament by the Chorus. A second messenger reports Jocasta's suicide.
1298-1422
Oedipus blinds himself. Oedipus claims he will suffer more by blinding himself than by
suidice.
1423-1475 Oedipus asks Creon to banish him from Thebes and administer rites to Jocasta.
1476-1515 Oedipus laments for his daughters, Antigone and Ismene.
1516-1530 Conclusion. Chorus indicates that Oedipus will continue to live after the tragedy's ending.

15. OEDIPUS REX-Prologue
• The city of Thebes is ravaged by plague
• Citizens beg King Oedipus for help
• Oedipus sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle of Apollo
at Delphi.
• Creon returns and announces that the plague will end when the
Thebans punish the murderer of the their previous king, Laius.
• Oedipus tries to take the role of savior and vows to do
everything in his power to apprehend the murderer and save his
people
• Oedipus does not realize that his vow will relentlessly lead him
to an encounter with himself, his past, and his darkest secrets!!!

16. Starring.....
• Oedipus - native of Thebes; subject of a terrible prophecy that has him
killing his father and marrying his mother; sent away, but returns
triumphant
• Jocasta - Queen of Thebes; marries Oedipus after the death of her
husband, the King
• Creon - Jocasta's brother
• Oracle at Delphi - predicts Oedipus’ fate
• Antigone & Ismene - Oedipus’ daughters
• Chorus - Theban citizens; comment on events as they unfold
• Messengers:
• Teiresias:
– blind prophet and servant of Apollo
– reveals the reasons for the devastation and plague in Thebes

17. .
• Oedipus Rex – the first part of a three part play – was
actually written second
• The tale of King Oedipus would have been very familiar to
Sophocles’ audiences.
• Because of this, he was able to focus his play on the
discovery of deeds committed before the actual beginning
of the play.
• All violence takes place off stage, and what the audience
actually sees is the reactions of those who must live with
the truth or die. All action takes place in a single location
and involves a small number of characters who interact
with Oedipus who, as the central figure, remains on stage
for most of the play.

18. The Chorus should be considered as
a single voice, a single “character” in
this play with a single conscience.
This conscience is representative of the Theban people, the
nameless, faceless mob of onlookers who comment on
events as they unfold before them. At times they interact
with the other characters; other times they simply provide
commentary in the same was a narrator would do.

19. The play consists almost
entirely of dramatic dialogue.
As you read, you will encounter long, powerful
monologues as well as short, angry banter between
characters. But in this work what is left unsaid is
often more powerful than what is stated outright.
Practically every line contains a double meaning,
chock full of irony that serves to heighten the
drama of the play. Even the Chorus only
gradually comes to grips with the events that have
taken place in their beloved Thebes.

21. Unity of Time
• Oedipus uncovers his birth, his past, and his crimes, within the
span of a single day.
• What has happened in the last half century is very skillfully
uncovered during the course of the day's investigation and
happenings
• It is a belief of the classical dramatists that the course of too
long a period would seem artificial and hence an obstacle in
the life-likeness of a drama.

22. Unity of Place
• All actions take place in Thebes
• The play is indeed made up of four scenes added with a
prologue and an epilogue, but all these scenes take place only
within the compound of the palace

23. Themes
1. The quest for identity
2. The nature of innocence and guilt
3. Blindness and sight (all forms)
4. Fate versus Free Will
5. The Abuse of power

24. Thank You