Oedipus Rex is a play about the tragedy that follows after an oracle comes to King Lauis of Thebes and tells him that the son he has with Jacasta, will kill his father and marry his mother. Everything that happens from then on is about a variety of characters trying to overcome fate. But as you read the play, you can see that this doesn't work,that Lauis and Jocasta are both dead,as the gods decided to turn their son against them.
Through the play,Oedipus tries to avoid the prohecy. He does everything in his power to not fulfill it,to avoid the terrible fate that awaits him.
When the oracle comes to lauis and mentions to him that his son will kill both his parents,Lauis makes a promise to dispose of the newborn child and to save his fate. He then gives the young child to his head shepherd to cast out into the wild,where he will die.
Cadmus Sowing the Dragon's teeth, by Maxfield Parr...
This image was first published in the 1 st (1876&n...
Oedipus slaying the sphinx. Attic red-figured leky...The childs ankles are then pinned together,but the sheherd hasn't the heart to get rid of the child,so he gives the child to another shepherd from a land called Corinth.
Once the shepherd receives the child,he unpins his ankles and names him Oedipus,which comes from "swollen feet",as when they were pinned,they were swollen.He cares for the child until he returns to Corinth,where he then gives the child to his friend,the King of Corinth,who raises the child up until manhood.When he reaches manhood,Oedipus travels around the country side and the incredible happens.
Whilst on his travel he did what he was fated for.He killed his father,King Lauis.He doesn't know whom he killed,or if it had anything to do with the prophecy,as he doesn't know it exists.Thats why he left Corinth,to escape the prohecy.
Oedipus continues to live his life normal,as if nothing ever happened.Then he moves to Thebes,where he marries the widowed queen,Jocasta and lives as king for many years to come.
As the city suffers,a messenger is sent to thebes to report the slaying of king lauis and that the slayer is within the kingdom.Oedipus makes a promise of killing or banishing the killer and until he is found,everyone will suffer.Oedipus then begins to immediately search for the former kings killer.
It is not until a blind man who knows everything and is not able to lie is sent to oedipus,that he then begins to learn the truth about his past.It is this old man who first accuuses oedipus of killing his father and from there on this wicked story begins to unfold.Oedipus doesn't believe his birth is responsible for all this suffering.
Oedipus starts going crazy,with all this bad news he has heard about his birth,that he has just discovered he killed his father and married and fatherd the children of his very own mother. That his children Polynice,Antigone, Ismene and Eteocles are not only his children,but his sibilings.
When he finds Jocasta has committed suicide by hanging from the rafters,he cannot accept or take in these fates anymore: "He oierced his eyeballs time and time again,till bloody tears ran down his beard-not drops but in full spate a whole cascade descending in drenching catarcts of scarlet rain" After oedipus blinds himself,Creon banishes him from the city of thebes,in order to relieve the citizens from all the pain and suffering thta he has caused.
The ending of the play is very sad,but by reading this,it is proved that no matter how hard yuo try,you can never tamper with fate.That by Lauis casting oedipus away to another shepherd,they were unknowingly giving in to the fate that was meant for oedipus.All through this story,know matter what lauis or jocasta did,they could never keep oedipus from coming into their lives.Nothing could stop oedipus from going to the "place where three roads meet" and killing his father,or after this, marrying his mother.That this prophecy or curse that was thrown on oedipus was meant to be.
Oedipus complex: Oedipus explains the riddle of th...
Oedipus At Colonus
Deutsch: Theaterfotografie van Albert Greiner sr. ...
Oedipus Separating from Jocasta