University of Anbar Instructor: Sara Kudhair Satam

College of Education and Humanities

English Dept.

An Introduction to Literature / Drama

Oedipus The King:

Oedipus the King is the play written by the Greek author, Sophocles
in 420 BC. Also well- known as Oedipus Tyrannos or Oedipus the Rex. The
play is a trilogy of Oedipus which was written in three plays: Oedipus the
King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. These three plays describe the
Oedipus tale beginning from his appointment as the king of Thebes after
answering the riddles of the Sphinx until the fall of Oedipus and later the
tragedies of his children suffer.

Genre: Tragedy

Tone: Tragic, Sympathetic

Setting: Thebes, Greece. Doomed city, in front of the palace.

Writing Style: Free Verse - Iambic Pentameter & Rhyming Couplets.

Characters: Oedipus king of Thebes, Jocasta the queen, wife of Oedipus, A

Priest of Zeus, Creon brother of Jocasta, A CHORUS of Theban citizens
and their leader, Tiresias a blind prophet, , A Messenger from Corinth A
shepherd, Antigone and Ismene daughters of Oedipus and Jocasta.

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Themes :

 Fate VS. Free Will

In the play, it is described that what Oedipus faces in his life is

about either fate or free will. Oedipus has to face the prophecy which is the
God‟s will or Oedipus can stand far away from the prophecy.
Facing the prophecy that says that Oedipus will kill his father and
marry his mother, he set out from his fostered father, Polybos, and
went to his own father, Laius, whom he killed later then he marries
Jocasta, Laius‟ wife or his own mother. When Oedipus left his parents
(foster parents) because of the prophecy, it is his will to stay away from the
prophecy. But his will drags him into his real fate.
Sophocles wants to show that humans cannot defeat
Gods‟ will.

The play shows that Oedipus is willing to free himself

from the prophecy. But what he did is that he walked away from a fate of
his own to another real fate that was prophesized as that is what his fate is
just as Teiresias says:

TEIRESIAS: It is not your fate [370]

to fall because of me. It‟s up to Apollo
to make that happen. He will be enough.

As also Oedipus says to curse himself about the Gods‟ will. He blames
Apollo for the prophecy but he does not blame himself for what he did to
his eyes to gouge them.

 Determination/Stubbornness:

Determination is also Oedipus‟ character. His stubbornness to reveal

the riddles of Laius‟ death and his keeping on his words makes him a
determined man though it comes to an unfortunate fate and unhappy life for

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he is exiled because of his determination. Once Oedipus figures that he is
the one who murdered Laius, he keeps his promise to be exiled

 Wisdom/Knowledge:

Besides the theme about fate and free will, Sophocles also wants to
show wisdom and knowledge. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is a
seeker of knowledge and truth. He struggles to uncover Laius‟s murder
and his own identity, despite numerous warnings that he should leave the
truth alone. His pursuit of knowledge and truth, however, results in ruin as
Oedipus uncovers his destiny, which he was better off not knowing. The
wisdom and knowledge is shown in the dialogue between Oedipus and
Teiresias, the blind prophet.

Teiresias shows Oedipus the truth wisdom. Although

he is a blind man, but he can see clearer even more than Oedipus can.
Teiresias also show that Oedipus does not have knowledge even to know the
family he comes from.

Although Oedipus had the ability to look past the information he was
discovering through his investigation, he insisted to know the truth about the
Laius‟ murderer and that truth itself brought him his unfortunate ending.

Oedipus actually begins to understand by drawing comparison between

what happened to Laius and to him in the past. He begins to conclude that
all the characteristics of the murderer and the murdering lead to him. Instead
of ignoring such realization, he continuous to seek the truth.. This suggests
that knowledge is futile and limited in its ability to bring happiness to those
who seek it, yet it also highlights the noble aspects of Oedipus personality
as an individual as his knowledge of the consequences he would face by
finding out the truth did not deter him from still doing so.

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Exposition:

The writer has found that the most exposition happened when the priest
explained about the worst condition of Thebes because of
the plague which suffers the city. This scene introduces the main character
and also the setting in this story which is Oedipus as a King and take place
in front of Oedipus‟ palace. One by one characters appear such as, Creon,
Jocasta, Teireisias, Herdsman, and first and second messengers appears then
he leads to Rising action.

Rising Action:

The rising action of Oedipus the King story happened when the first
messenger entered the stage and told Oedipus that the truth,
when Oedipus find out about the Herdsman and asks him who has given the
first messenger a baby at that time. meanwhile, Teireisas refused to let
Oedipus know more about the truth and by that time Oedipus lost his
temper. After, the Herdsman enters and that leads to the climax of the story.

Climax:

Oedipus finally finds out the truth from the Herdsman that he is the son
of the fallen King, Laius and Oedipus felt that it is too late to turn back. Not
only that the information he got was too late, but he also realized that he
married His own mother already and had 2 children. Knowing that Oedipus
has finally realized that, the second messenger appears and brings bad news
which leads to the Falling action.

Falling Action:

When the second messenger finally enters the stage to explain that
Jocasta has committed to suicide. Everybody is shocked, especially Creon
who was the person which the second messenger talked to. Not only that,
second messenger also let Creon and everybody in the palace know that
Oedipus has blinded himself. Not long after that, the blind Oedipus enters

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and he Confesses to everyone that he has married his mother and killed his
father, He also asks Creon to take his throne which also leads to the
Resolution of Oedipus the King story written by Sophocles.

Conflict:

The play is about the seeking of Laius‟ murderer. It was prophesized

that the king will be murdered by his own son, and the son will marry his
own mother. The conflict begins when a blind prophet, Teiresias as the
servant of Apollo, tells Oedipus that he is the murderer of Laius and his
wife, Jocasta, is his own mother. Not believing the prophet but still
suspicious about what Teresias said, Oedipus gathers as many evidence and
witnesses as possible. Finally Oedipus finds out that Laius‟ murderer is no
other than himself, and Jocasta is in favt his own mother.

Symbols:

In Oedipus the King there are found several symbols which are reflected
through the metaphors and the characters‟ characteristics. The metaphor in
the dialogue helps the writer to analyze the symbols in the drama script.
According to Cricka & Grushka (2009), “Symbols, as metaphor, stand for
something other than their literal form and can express
abstract qualities such as truth, strength, wisdom and courage.” Meanwhile,
the character‟s characteristics can also support the analysis of
symbols. Kennedy and Dana Gioia (2010, p. 224) explained that symbols
can be divided into two: symbolic characters and symbolic acts. “In some
novels and stories, symbolic characters make brief cameo appearances.
Such characters are often not well-rounded and fully known, but are seen
fleetingly and remain slightly mysterious.” (Kennedy and Gioia, 2010, p.
224) Sometimes, a symbolic character is when the character only appears
one time or two times, but the appearance influences the story from the
beginning until the end. In general, symbolic characters are when the
character has two roles, a main character and a symbol that makes the
meaning of the story. Understanding the characteristics in a drama or novel
is important. Based on goodyer (2008) the function of characteristics is to
explore human nature and to entertain, to bring an audience in, and allow

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them to get the chance to experience foreign situations and characters, and
thereby learn something about themselves and others.

In “Oedipus the King” drama, there are 12 symbolic characters which

are (1) Oedipus as determined person (2) Oedipus as Loyal Leader (3)
Oedipus as brave (4) Jocasta is the person who fears of truth (5) Joscasta
as irresponsible (6) Creon as responsible (7) Creon as honest (8) Teireisias
as savvy (9) Priest as people’s voice (10) Chorus as the people (11)
Second messengers as loyal servant (12) Herdsman as brave man. It can be
concluded that from those twelve symbolic characters presented in the
drama “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles, most of the symbols refer to the
goodness characterization.

1. Vision and Blindness:

Words like "see," "sight," "vision," "eyes," and "blind." Since this motif
is symbolic of the pursuit of "knowledge," can be found throughout the
play, along with terms like "oracle," "truth," "prophecy," and "Apollo,"
since he's the god that represents all these ideas.

2. The Scars on Oedipus’ Feet:

When Oedipus was three days old, his parents received a prophecy
saying that he would kill his father one day. So, they pierced and bound his
feet and sent him off to be abandoned on a mountainside. Oedipus survived
the incident, but was left with scars on his feet. In fact, his name in Greek
translates to "swollen foot".

Oedipus' scarred feet are more than a little symbolic. They highlight the
fact that he has been marked for suffering from the moment of his birth.
This expounds upon Sophocles' idea that humans have no power in face of
the gods. For some mysterious reason, Oedipus has always been damned,
and there's not much he can do about it.

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 The scars also highlight the irony of Oedipus' ignorance. Although his
name blatantly points attention to his scarred feet (which are the keys to
discovering his identity), Oedipus doesn‟t realize his true identity until it‟s
too late.

3. Crossroads:

Killing his father at a place where three roads meet is symbolic,

representing a traditional symbol of choice in literature. Of course, Oedipus'
fate has been predetermined from birth. For their own mysterious reasons
the gods have decided that it's necessary for Oedipus to have a tragic life.
Oedipus does make a fateful choice at the crossroads, but it is one that he
was predestined to make. Perhaps the highly religious Sophocles is trying to
show how all the seemingly free choices we make in life are really
programmed into us by higher powers.

Oedipus Complex:

Freud describes the source of this complex in his

Introductory Lectures: "You all know the Greek legend of King Oedipus,
who was destined by fate to kill his father and take his mother to wife, who
did everything possible to escape the oracle's decree and punished himself
by blinding when he learned that he had none the less unwittingly
committed both these crimes.” According to Freud, Sophocles' play,
Oedipus, illustrates a stage in each individual the child desires the mother
because of its intimate connection through birth and infancy and resents
(even secretly desires the murder) of the father. Such primal desires are, of
course, quickly repressed but, even among the mentally sane, they will arise
again in dreams or in literature.

Another critic claims that Freud's Oedipal Complex doesn't apply to

Oedipus: I certainly do not see how it could apply to Oedipus at all. He did

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not forget or suppress the memory of killing his father because he had not
killed his "father." He killed a group of strangers on the road that made him
angry. One of those strangers happened to be his birth father. Oedipus
would have had to have killed the King of Corinth, his adopted father, for
Freud's theory to apply. Oedipus obviously loved the parents that had raised
him or he never would have been so appalled at the prophecy that he left his
home to ensure it did not come to pass. Freud's theory would not have
applied to his marriage to Jocasta either. He married a complete stranger,
not the woman who raised him. Again Freud's theory would only have
worked if he had married the mother who had raised him.
King Laius and Queen Jocasta were the real villains in this story. Had they
kept their infant son and raised him, the dire prediction would most likely
not have come true.

Writing Style:

 Iambic Pentameter is made up of two words, where pentameter is

a combination of „pent,‟ which means five, and „meter,‟ which
means to measure. Iambic, on the other hand, is a metrical foot in
poetry in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed
syllable. It means iambic pentameter is a beat or foot that uses 10
syllables in each line. Simply, it is a rhythmic pattern comprising
five iambs in each line, like five heartbeats.

 Rhyming Couplet consists of two lines of the same length that

rhyme and complete one thought. There is no limit to the length of
the lines. Rhyming words are words that sound the same when
spoken, they don't necessarily have to be spelt the same.