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| Character | Oedipus | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | Young Adult (20-35), Adult (36-50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Descriptive, Depressed, Lamenting, Frustrated, Insecure, Afraid, Reminiscing life story/Telling a story | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Period | Any | |
| Genre | Tragedy, Drama | |
| Description | Oedipus confesses to Jocasta that he is afraid he might have killed the king | |
| Location | 2/3 of the play | |
Summary
In the background story of Oedipus the King, King Laius, Oedipus' father, learns from an oracle that he will die by the hand of his son. As a consequence, Laius orders his wife Jocasta to kill their infant son. A servant saves the baby and abandons him in the fields where he is found by shepherds who later bring him to Corinth where he is adopted by King Polybus and raised as his own child. One day Oedipus learns from an oracle that he will be responsible for his father's death and that he will marry his own mother. Thinking that his father is King Polybus, he leaves Corinth and heads towards Thebes, the city where he was actually born. By chance he meets his real father and in a quarrel, he kills him. Later he also solves the riddle of the Sphinx, liberating the city of Thebes of her curse. As a reward he becomes king and is offered the hand of Jocasta, his real mother. The prophecy has been fulfilled.
The play starts with a plague, sent by Apollo, hitting the city of Thebes. An oracle says that the plague has been sent by the gods because the murderer of the city's previous king, Laius, has never been caught. Oedipus doesn't know the person that he killed was Laius and therefore he is the cause of the plague.
Oedipus asks a blind prophet, Tiresias, to help him find the murderer. Tiresias knows the truth but refuses to speak, angering Oedipus. He then reluctantly tells him that he is the murderer but Oedipus does not believe him. Jocasta, to appease Oedipus, tells him not to believe in prophets and tells him about the oracle they received years before and never came true and Laius was killed by bandits at a crossroad.
Oedipus, however, begins suspecting that he might be the murderer after all. He is worried and when Jocasta asks him to tell her what is worrying him, Oedipus tells her his entire story and how he thinks the prophecy might have come true.
The play starts with a plague, sent by Apollo, hitting the city of Thebes. An oracle says that the plague has been sent by the gods because the murderer of the city's previous king, Laius, has never been caught. Oedipus doesn't know the person that he killed was Laius and therefore he is the cause of the plague.
Oedipus asks a blind prophet, Tiresias, to help him find the murderer. Tiresias knows the truth but refuses to speak, angering Oedipus. He then reluctantly tells him that he is the murderer but Oedipus does not believe him. Jocasta, to appease Oedipus, tells him not to believe in prophets and tells him about the oracle they received years before and never came true and Laius was killed by bandits at a crossroad.
Oedipus, however, begins suspecting that he might be the murderer after all. He is worried and when Jocasta asks him to tell her what is worrying him, Oedipus tells her his entire story and how he thinks the prophecy might have come true.
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
|---|
| OEDIPUS And thou shalt not be frustrate of thy wish. Now my imaginings have gone so far. Who has a higher claim that thou to hear My tale of dire adventures? Listen then. My sire was Polybus of Corinth, and My mother Merope, a Dorian; And I was held the foremost citizen, Till a strange thing befell me, strange indeed, Yet scarce deserving all the heat it stirred. A roisterer at some banquet, flown with wine, Shouted "Thou art not true son of thy sire." It irked me, but I stomached for the nonce The insult; on the morrow I sought out My mother and my sire and questioned them. They were indignant at the random slur Cast on my parentage and did their best To comfort me, but still the venomed barb Rankled, for still the scandal spread and grew. So privily without their leave I went To Delphi, and Apollo sent me back Baulked of the knowledge that I came to seek. But other grievous things he prophesied, Woes, lamentations, mourning, portents dire; To wit I should defile my mother's bed And raise up seed too loathsome to behold, And slay the father from whose loins I sprang. Then, lady,--thou shalt hear the very truth-- As I drew near the triple-branching roads, A herald met me and a man who sat In a car drawn by colts--as in thy tale-- The man in front and the old man himself Threatened to thrust me rudely from the path, Then jostled by the charioteer in wrath I struck him, and the old man, seeing this, Watched till I passed and from his car brought down Full on my head the double-pointed goad. Yet was I quits with him and more; one stroke Of my good staff sufficed to fling him clean Out of the chariot seat and laid him prone. And so I slew them every one. But if Betwixt this stranger there was aught in common With Laius, who more miserable than I, What mortal could you find more god-abhorred? Wretch whom no sojourner, no citizen May harbor or address, whom all are bound To harry from their homes. And this same curse Was laid on me, and laid by none but me. Yea with these hands all gory I pollute The bed of him I slew. Say, am I vile? Am I not utterly unclean, a wretch Doomed to be banished, and in banishment Forgo the sight of all my dearest ones, And never tread again my native earth; Or else to wed my mother and slay my sire, Polybus, who begat me and upreared? If one should say, this is the handiwork Of some inhuman power, who could blame His judgment? But, ye pure and awful gods, Forbid, forbid that I should see that day! May I be blotted out from living men Ere such a plague spot set on me its brand! |
