OEDIPUS THE KING 0R OEDIPUS REX summary - Englishveda

OEDIPUS THE KING:  0R OEDIPUS REX: OR OEDIPUS TYRANNUS:

-Sophocles:

INTRODUCTION:

Oedipus the king is a beautiful play written by Sophocles. This play comes under the category of tragedy play.  The protagonist of this play is Oedipus who was the king of Thebes. He was married to Jocasta, mother of Oedipus. Further in the story Oedipus self-blinded himself.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sophocles is considered to be the most reputed ancient Greek playwright. He was born at Colonus near Athens in the year 496 B.C. His father Sophilius, owned an arms factory in Athens. Sophocles was highly educated person. Historian have the view that he composed 123 drama but unfortunately only 7 drama are available.

1.      Oedipus the king/Oedipus Rex/Oedipus Tyrannus

2.      Antigone

3.      Oedipus at Colonus

4.      Electra

5.      The Trachiniae

6.      Ajax

7.      Philectoter

Aeschylus is known as the father of tragedy. Many scholars hold his view that Aeschylus was the mentor of Sophocles. His plays involved themes such as relation between man and god in other word we can say that in his play there is always a divine angle. He had a long life and died in the year 406 B.C.

CHARACTERS OF PLAY:

1.      Oedipus: Oedipus was the king of Thebes. He was married to Jocasta, Queen of Thebes and mother of Oedipus. In the beginning of the play he is totally unaware of the fact that he had killed his father and married his mother. Soon he get to know about the real fact and realised that he the real reason of the plague in Thebes.

2.      Jocasta: Jocasta is the wife and mother of Oedipus and Queen of Thebes. Earlier she was married to King Laius but after the assassination of King Laius she married Oedipus. The reason of marring Oedipus was because he solved the riddle of Sphinx and was made king of Thebes.

3.      Creon: Creon was the important member of the royal family. He was the brother of Jocasta. He was a trusted adviser to the king. He had so much believed in God Apollo. He was sent to God Apollo by the king Oedipus to know the real reason of the plague in Thebes. And was obligated to be the conspirator of the assassin of king Laius by Oedipus.

4.      Tiresias: He was a blind fortune teller and was well aware of the truth of Oedipus parentage. He always took help of a small boy in order to walk properly. when he was asked about the assassin of king Laius by Oedipus he strategically revealed about the killer. At this he was blamed by Oedipus that he is too a part of conspiracy.

5.      Messenger: The messenger played a very important role in Oedipus life. He had come from Corinth to convey the message of his father death. And tells him that people of Corinth want him to be the king. He too revealed that Polybus and Merope are not his real parents and tells about the whole story of him. 

SUMMARY OF THE PLAY (OEDIPUS THE KING):

Oedipus the king is a masterpiece of Sophocles. This is a beautiful play. This play fall under the category of tragedy, which highlights the role of charm and faith. This play also shows a big disaster and such disaster is beyond human imagination.

The play begins with Oedipus, the King of Thebes addressing the people of Thebes. The kingdom was in a big problem due a plague. They have come to ask for the help from Oedipus and want him do something to rescue them from the pandemic. Oedipus sent Creon to God Apollo for asking the real cause of the plague. Further Oedipus was informed that this calamity is caused because of the killer of king Laius as the killer is still not arrested and punished. Tiresias was called by Oedipus to know about the killer of King Laius. He strategically tells that the killer is right here and was rounding his words and was not clear. Then Oedipus blamed that Creon and Tiresias are involved in this conspiracy. He discussed the matter with the people of his court. He expressed the probability that Jocasta slayed king in a fit of rag. At this Jocasta says that she had lost her son due a prophecy, therefore she utters- “And I will no more torn mine eyes, this ay nor that for all their prophecy”.

Laius, king of Thebes and Jocasta, Queen of Thebes had a son. God Apollo warned then that his son would kill him and marry his own mother. At this they decided that they would kill him in order to escape prophecy. They handed the child to shepherd and instructed him to leave the child in the forest. The Shepherd felt pity for the child and he handed the child to the messenger. The child was brought to Corinth by the messenger and he handed the child to the king of Corinth, Polybus and Queen Merope. The royal couple had no child so they adopted the child. The child was named Oedipus. He grew young and handsome. He was brave and very intelligent. He was always taunted for his parentage. 

One day Oedipus met Oracle of Delphi and asked about his parentage. Oracle did not tell about the real parentage but he tells him that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He loves his parents so he decided to leave Corinth in order to make prophecy wrong. While journey to unknown place he met a man, he was non other than king Laius but he was unaware about the fact. They had a dual fight and king Laius was killed. The first prophecy of Oracle became true. He headed towards Thebes and met a monster named Sphinx. This monster use to ask a riddle to each and every visitor, and who could not answer he would kill that person. But when Sphinx asked Oedipus, he successfully gave the answer and he killed Sphinx. The people of Thebes wanted him to became the king of Thebes after the death of Laius as he killed Sphinx and saved them. Later he married Jocasta and had two sons named Polynices and Eteocles. They had two daughters also named Antigone and Ismene.

When they were having discussion about the assassin of King Laius, after some time, the messenger from Corinth arrived to inform Oedipus about the death of his father, king Polybus. At this event he relates this incident with the prophecy that- “he would kill his father and marry his own mother” and says how he fled to avoid the killing of his father. At this the messenger revealed that he was adopted child of king Polybus and Queen Merope. Jocasta tell Oedipus that this is the same kind of prophecy made for his son. After saying this Jocasta realised everything and stops Oedipus for further investigating. But Oedipus did not listen to her and digs into the matter. Very soon he arrived at the conclusion that he the son of dead king and Jocasta. He was very shocked that he murdered his father and married his mother. Knowing this Jocasta in guilt killed herself and Oedipus self-blinded himself and left the king position.