The STORY OF OEDIPUS REX

1.)    Sophocles, brief background.  Greek playwright, 496-406 BCE.  Wrote over 100 plays.  Drama innovations: 4+ actors on stage; painted scenery.

2.)    Greek amphitheaters—design, acoustics, actors’ wigs and platform shoes

3.)    Character names and city names:

a.       Characters: Oedipus Rex, Laius, Jocasta, Etocles, Polynieces, Antigone, Ismene, Creon, Tiresias, Oracle of Delphi, Sphinx, old shepherd

b.      Cities: Thebes and Athens

4.)    “Oedipus complex

Story in 6 sections to use with storyboards:

1.

The Greek king and queen of Thebes, Laius and Jocasta, consulted the oracle of Delphi about the future of their small son (age about 2).  The oracle said that the boy would grow up to murder his father.  The king and queen stranded the child on a mountaintop, with a spike driven through his feet. 

The boy was found by a shepherd who was grazing his goats on the mountain.  He took the child in, cured his wounds, and eventually took him to the childless king and queen of another city (Polybus and Merope).  They adopted the boy, named him Oedipus, and raised him as their own, to inherit their throne.  They never told Oedipus that he was adopted.

2.

When Oedipus becomes a young man, he consults the oracle of Delphi to find out what his future will be as king.  The oracle tells him he will kill his father and marry his mother.  Oedipus thinks this means Polybus and Merope.  He collects money, clothes, a chariot, and runs away, deciding to travel to the great city of Thebes.

Near Thebes he gets into a chariot accident with an older man.  Neither knows who the other is; they don’t identify themselves.  They get into a fight and Oedipus stabs the older man.  There are no witnesses.  He leaves the body behind (he’s royalty, not afraid of prosecution) and proceeds into Thebes.

3.

In Thebes, Oedipus visits Creon, Jocasta’s brother, who is acting as regent since Laius has just been mysteriously murdered.  Creon tells him that the city is plagued by the Sphinx, a monster with the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and the head of a woman.  The Sphinx crouches on a cliff over the main road into the city and asks this riddle:  “What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs at night?”

Anyone who can’t answer the riddle is torn to bits and eaten.  No one has been able to defeat the Sphinx.  Oedipus takes on the challenge, answers the riddle, and the Sphinx hills herself in despair by throwing herself off the cliff.

In the city Oedipus is cheered as a hero, the savior of Thebes.  The people persuade him to marry their widowed queen Jocasta.  Oedipus doesn’t learn any details about the king’s death.  He and Jocasta find each other very attractive and they get married.

4.

About 15+ years go by.  Oedipus and Jocasta have had 4 children: sons Etocles and Polynieces, and daughters Antigone and Ismene.  Eventually there is a famine and Thebes are dying out.  To save them Oedipus consults the oracle of Delphi (even though he doesn’t believe her last prediction came true).  The oracle says the city is cursed because the murder of Laius has gone unpunished all these years.  Oedipus must find the murderer, punish him, and banish him from the city.

5.

An old, blind prophet named Tiresias finally tells Oedipus that Oedipus is Laius’ murderer, that Laius was Oedipus’ father and Jocasta Oedipus’ mother.  Tiresias tells the story of Oedipus abandoned on the mountaintop.  Oedipus doesn’t believe it until Tiresias brings in the extremely old shepherd who confirms that he himself found Oedipus as a child and explains the scars on his feet.

Believing the story at last, Oedipus takes one of Jocasta’s brooches and blinds himself with the pin.  Then he flees the palace and banishes himself from Thebes, wandering in the wilderness.

When Jocasta learns who murdered her first husband, who her present husband is, and that her children are also her grandchildren, she hangs herself out of guilt and shame.

6.

Oedipus wanders in the wilderness for many years, cared for by Antigone and Ismene.  They feel sorry for him, but other people in Thebes blame Oedipus for the tragedy—especially Creon.  When Oedipus falls ill and is near death, Creon tries to force him to return to Thebes.  He wants Oedipus’ dead body to be buried at the city gate, to protect the city in war.  (Dead enemy = powerful magic)

However, Oedipus dislikes and distrusts Creon, and finds protection with King Theseus of Athens.  He promises that if he dies, his body will protect his friend’s city, not Creon’s.  Oedipus does die and his tomb guards Athens.

After Oedipus’ death, the people of Thebes feel cursed: Laius murdered, plague by Sphinx, new hero-king turns out to be queen’s own son, children are incestuous, famine, king blinded and exiled, queen hangs herself; Oedipus’ body protects a different city.

Etocles and Polynieces are the rightful heirs to the throne.  Between the stories of Oedipus Rex and Antigone, there is a war.  Etocles and Polynieces kill each other in battle.  Creon becomes king of Thebes.