OEDIPUS AND THE SPHINX

There was once a king named Laius (a grandson of Cadmus himself), who ruled over
Thebes with Jocasta, his wife. To them an Oracle had foretold that if a son of theirs lived to
grow up, he would one day kill his father and marry his own mother. The king and queen
decided to escape such a doom, even at a terrible cost. Thus, Laius gave his son, who was
only a baby, to a certain shepherd, with instructions to put him to death.
This was not to be. The herdsman carried the child to a lonely mountain-side, but once
there, his heart failed him. Hardly daring to disobey the king’s command, yet shrinking from
murder, he hung the little creature by his feet to the branches of a tree and left him there to die.
But there happened to come that way with his sheep, a man who served King Polybus of
Corinth. He found the baby dying in the tree, and, touched with pity, took him home to his
master. The king and queen of Corinth were childless, and some power moved them to take
this mysterious child as a gift. They called him Oedipus (Swollen-Foot) because of the wounds
they had found on him, and, knowing nothing of his origins, they raised him as their own son.
So the years went by.
Now, when Oedipus had come to manhood, he went to consult the Oracle at Delphi, as all
great people did, to learn what fortune had in store for him. But for him the Oracle had only a
sentence of doom. According to the Fates, he would live to kill his own father and wed his
mother.
Filled with shock and horror, and determined to conquer fate, Oedipus fled from Corinth, for
he had never dreamed that his parents were other than Polybus and Merope the queen.
Thinking to escape crime, he took the road towards Thebes, so running into the very arms of
his evil destiny.
It happened that an old man with one servant was on his way to Delphi from the city
Thebes. In a narrow road, he met this strange young man, also driving in a chariot, and ordered
him to step aside. Oedipus, who had been raised as royalty, refused to obey; and the old man’s
driver, in great anger, killed one of the young man’s horses. At this insult Oedipus, crazed with
rage, killed them both, and went on his way, not knowing the half of what he had done.
But the prince was to have his day of triumph before the doom. There was a certain
wonderful creature called the Sphinx, which had been a terror to Thebes for many days. In form
half woman and half lion, she laid on a cliff near the highway and asked the same mysterious
question to everyone who tried to pass by. None had ever been able to answer, and none had
ever lived to warn men of the riddle, for the Sphinx grabbed every one as he failed, and threw
him down the abyss, to be crushed to pieces.
This way came Oedipus towards the city Thebes, and the Sphinx came face to face with
him, and asked the riddle that none had been able to guess. “What walks on four feet in the
morning, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?”
Oedipus, hiding his fear of the terrible creature, thought deeply and answered, “Man. As an
infant he crawls on hands and knees, in manhood he walks standing up, but in old age he
requires a cane.”
At this reply the Sphinx roared, jumped head first from the rock into the valley below, and
died. Oedipus had guessed the correct answer. When he came to the city and told the Thebans
that their terror was gone, they welcomed him as a liberator and made him king.

OEDIPUS THE KING

As the play opens, the citizens of Thebes beg their king, Oedipus, to lift the plague that
threatens to destroy the city. Oedipus has already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle to
learn what to do.
On his return, Creon announces that the oracle instructs them to find the murderer of Laius,
the king who ruled Thebes before Oedipus. The discovery and punishment of the murderer will
end the plague. At once, Oedipus sets about to solve the murder.
Summoned by the king, the blind prophet Tiresias at first refuses to speak, but finally accuses
Oedipus himself of killing Laius. Oedipus mocks and rejects the prophet angrily, ordering him to
leave, but not before Tiresias hints darkly of an incestuous marriage and a future of blindness,
infamy, and wandering.
Oedipus attempts to gain advice from Jocasta, the queen; she encourages him to ignore
prophecies, explaining that a prophet once told her that Laius, her husband, would die at the
hands of their son. According to Jocasta, the prophecy did not come true because the baby died,
abandoned, and Laius himself was killed by a band of robbers at a crossroads.
Oedipus becomes distressed by Jocasta's remarks because just before he came to Thebes
he killed a man who resembled Laius at a crossroads. To learn the truth, Oedipus sends for the
only living witness to the murder, a shepherd.
Another worry haunts Oedipus. As a young man, he learned from an oracle that he was fated
to kill his father and marry his mother. Fear of the prophecy drove him from his home in Corinth
and brought him ultimately to Thebes. Again, Jocasta advises him not to worry about prophecies.
Oedipus finds out from a messenger that Polybus, king of Corinth, Oedipus' father, has
died of old age. Jocasta rejoices — surely this is proof that the prophecy Oedipus heard is
worthless. Still, Oedipus worries about fulfilling the prophecy with his mother, Merope, a concern
Jocasta dismisses.
Overhearing, the messenger offers what he believes will be cheering news. Polybus and
Merope are not Oedipus' real parents. In fact, the messenger himself gave Oedipus to the royal
couple when a shepherd offered him an abandoned baby from the house of Laius.
Oedipus becomes determined to track down the shepherd and learn the truth of his birth.
Suddenly terrified, Jocasta begs him to stop, and then runs off to the palace, wild with grief.
Confident that the worst he can hear is a tale of his lowly birth, Oedipus eagerly awaits the
shepherd. At first the shepherd refuses to speak, but under threat of death he tells what he
knows — Oedipus is actually the son of Laius and Jocasta.
And so, despite his precautions, the prophecy that Oedipus dreaded has actually come
true. Realizing that he has killed his father and married his mother, Oedipus is agonized by his
fate.
Rushing into the palace, Oedipus finds that the queen has killed herself. Tortured,
frenzied, Oedipus takes the pins from her gown and rakes out his eyes, so that he can no longer
look upon the misery he has caused. Now blinded and disgraced, Oedipus begs Creon to kill
him, but as the play concludes, he quietly submits to Creon's leadership, and humbly awaits the
oracle that will determine whether he will stay in Thebes or be cast out forever.

Introduction to Greek Drama:

Drama, as a genre in literature, evolves with time – from religious festivals in honor of Dionysus,
the god of wine and the changing seasons. Tragedy was the favorite type of Greek drama and at
the heart of all tragedies lay a character's hubris.
The Six Elements of Tragedy
Oedipus the King is a Greek tragedy that exemplifies the six elements of a tragedy:
• Anagnorisis: The moment when the hero makes an important discovery.
• Catharsis: The audience's feelings of pity and fear.
• Hamartia: The hero's flaw that leads to his tragic downfall.
• Hubris: A hero's extreme pride and disrespect for the natural order of the world.
• Nemesis: The unavoidable fate of the hero, usually caused by his own hubris.
• Peripeteia: The hero's experience of a reversal of fate or fortune.
Literary Elements in Oedipus the King
*Dramatic Irony: Oedipus the King is a classic example of dramatic irony because the entire
focus of the play is on Oedipus unknowingly condemning himself by demanding to know the truth
about the murderer of the former king. The entire action of the play is built on the dramatic irony
that the murderer that Oedipus seeks is himself.
*Imagery: As a literary device, imagery consists of descriptive language that can function as a
way for the reader to better imagine the world of the piece of literature and also add symbolism to
the work. Imagery draws on the five senses, namely the details of taste, touch, sight, smell, and
sound. Imagery can also pertain to details about movement or a sense of a body in motion
(kinesthetic imagery) or the emotions or sensations of a person, such as fear or hunger (organic
imagery or subjective imagery). Using imagery helps the reader develop a more fully realized
understanding of the imaginary world that the author has created. Sophocles use of light and
darkness in Oedipus the King acts as an aid in the character development. Sight and blindness
are also used as allusions to light and darkness, albeit not with exactly the same meanings.
Theme: Sight vs. blindness is a huge theme in Oedipus the King. Naturally, the symbol that
appears in the plot to support this theme is eyes, both those that have vision and those that are
blind. This theme and its accompanying symbol are introduced when Tiresias, a blind prophet, is
trying to explain to Oedipus that Oedipus himself is actually the man who killed King Laius.
Oedipus refuses to believe Tiresias or see the evidence right in front of him to confirm it; instead
he tries to blame the murder on everyone else. Thus, Oedipus is 'blind' to the truth.

TASK 1
Conflict and Plot
Track major plot points while reading in order to complete the plot mountain at the end of the story.
Summarize Oedipus the King using a Plot Diagram. Include a brief description for each point on
the plot diagram (introduction, rising action, climax, falling action and conclusion). Identify the key
points that are important to that specific point in the story.
TASK 2
The story of Oedipus inspired psychologist, Sigmund Freud's theory of the "Oedipus Complex." Do you
think there is truth to the idea that between ages three and five, a son loves his mother and hates his father?