Summary of Oedipus Rex

 Once upon a time there was a young man named Oedipus who believed that he was the only and well-beloved son of his parents King paulibus and Queen Merapi of Corinth he loved them as they loved him when a young drunkard taunted him saying that he was not the true son of King paulibus he was both furious and hurt likely he put the most obvious interpretation on the top and thought the drunk was calling Merapi an adulteress in Oedipus a bastard he told the king and queen what he had heard they expressed outrage said it was a lie and told him not to worry but something in their faces in their voices trouble venomous he believed that there was something they weren't telling him he did impress them perhaps he didn't want to hurt their feelings any further perhaps he was simply convinced that they wouldn't tell him the truth instead he went on a solitary and secret journey to Apollo's Oracle in Delphi and there he asked about his parentage the Oracle never lied but it was often cryptic enough to be a dangerous guide of Conda so approved for Oedipus the Oracle did not reassure him that he was paulibus son nor did it confirm his suspicions that he was not instead it told him that he was due to a dreadful fate he would kill his father marry his mother and produce children of incest children terrible to behold the prophecy dismayed Oedipus and he resolved to escape it at all costs he left paulibus and Mary left the kingdom that was to have been his that he loved and resolved to live in perpetual exile rather than returning evil to the parents who had given him so much good despite these noble intentions or maybe because of them resentment burned in him when he came to a crossroads not far from Delphi and found a chariot surrounded by attendants coming the other way he didn't yield the room the chariot driver shoved enamines an Oedipus shoved back seeing beth the old man who rode in the carriage struck out hard with a goat catching Oedipus a painful blow on the head Oedipus was furious and returned the blow with interest the old men fell sprawling from his seat clearly dead at this the driver and the attendants set on Oedipus and he struck back to keep himself from being killed and revenge for the old man's death he was angry and he was young and strong and maybe the gods hand was on him he killed them all he went on his way that way took him to the city of Thebes a proud and long prosperous City which was then in a state of grief and fear their king Lyons was newly dead leaving no son to inherit his kingdom and worse than that as it seemed then they were besieged by a man-eating monster whom no one had been able to kill or drive away the Sphinx had the face of a woman the wings of a great bird and the body and claws of a lie but she was larger and stronger than any mortal line her voice like her face was human more nearly so this allowed her to play cat luck with her victims rather than killing them at once she would hold them almost gently in her grey paws and promised to let them go if they could answer her riddle no one had succeeded in guessing the right answer they may have been somewhat distracted by the bloodstains on her shining fur and the human bones strewn outside the city gates the remains of others would try it and fail to answer the monster had not come within the city gates but she prowled outside them Swift and silent so that no one dared to come or go the city was in danger of starving their Regent Priam the brother of widowed Queen Jocasta had promised the throne of Thebes to anyone who could rid the city of the Sphinx Oedipus undertook the challenge he had been trained to rule but had lost the kingdom that should have been his because of his love and fear for his parents and where else would the chance to rule present itself to a solitary wanderer and he feared dying less than he feared living to fulfill the terrible prophecy he went out to seek the Sphinx and she found him and crooned her riddle to him as she had too many dead men could he tell her she asked the name of the animal that went on four legs at morning two legs at midday and on three in the evening Oedipus was quick minded as well as strong and maybe that God's hand was on him again he answered that the animal was man who crawls in infancy walks in the prime of life and leans on a staff in old age that was the right answer to the riddle this speaks his great claws flashed but this time they were turned not on Oedipus but on herself Oedipus watched until her Bonnie lay still in the dust and then he walked back to tell the people of Thebes that they were saved they cheered they thanked the gods for him and they rejoiced greatly as they took him for their king the widowed Queen Jocasta who was still beautiful though no longer young welcomed him as her Lord and husband she also proved to be still fertile she bore him two sons Pauline Isis and the Tia clays and two daughters Antigone and Ismene the children grew strong and fair and the city loved their Lord and it seemed to enemies that he had overcome his fate by his devotion courage and skill turning the curse into a blessing Bowen polyneices and eteocles were on the brink of manhood another terror paralyzed the city one that could not be destroyed by sword skill or word skill the growing crops in the fields were struck with Milton yielding no food to the farmers pregnant women miscarry or gave birth to dead children then death began to stalk the living as well overnight healthy men and women developed high fevers and burned their lives away in incurable pay the city more sacrifices were offered that all the altars of the gods and fervent prayers were raised and the people also sent a delegation to their king and Savior to beg that he might save them again Oedipus told them that he would do all he could but the first need was for knowledge and to that end he sent his brother-in-law Korean to seek help from Apollo's Oracle while he was still speaking them Korean returned and there was light in his eyes and hope in his face Apollo had told him that the plague on thieves could indeed be cured and the curse lifted if only thieves would purge itself a blood camp what blood guilt Oedipus asked the guilt of the murder of their old king lines which had never been avenged Creon said Oedipus said via Billy that regicide was hateful to all the gods and surely must be punished furthermore he added the man who had killed one King might kill another and in simple self-preservation he was bound to seek out and punish a king kill but why hadn't someone done that long ago Prien observed that they had been distracted first by the terror of the Sphinx and then by joy at their deliverance Oedipus summoned to all the people to the palace when they had assembled he called down horrible curses on the murderer of lines and on anyone who concealed knowledge of that murderer or gave him shelter or any kind of comfort then he asked Creon if a powell had told them anything about where to look for the murder yes Creon said the Oracle declared the murderer to be within the city anibus then asked what was known of Liza's death where had it happened and how he was told that liest died when he was on a journey with only a few attendants one of whom who had escaped the robbers and brought word back to the city Oedipus observed that it seemed a cold trim and hard to follow but there was still hope as well as dispatching correa on to the Oracle he had sent to the Prophet to resuits who might be able to tell them where to look Theresa's came a blind old man leaning heavily on a staff for weenie heard Oedipus's voice and Oedipus's question he shuddered and said that he should not have come what was the good of knowing when the knowledge could be of no help he would say nothing Antipas rebuked him for faintheartednessand pointed out that they stood in desperate need of wisdom Theresa's replied that speaking his wisdom could only do harm both to him and to the one who urged him to answer so he would go home without further explanations maturity and long years of good fortune had not altogether ass waged Oedipus's fierce temper he reviled Theresa's as a coward as a traitor as a heartless man and finally said that Theresa's had probably instigated Lyons's death himself though as a blind man he probably wasn't capable of actually striking a death blow Theresa's old and wise as he was at a temper of his own he spat back that it was Oedipus himself would defile the land and brought the play this answer pleased Oedipus even less than Theresa's silence had done he accused Theresa plotting with Correa to overthrow him and give the throne back to Creon and he threatened begged but dire punishments he added more maquis words about Teresa's blindness tarisha's retorted that Oedipus had eyes but could not see himself or anything else clearly that the threat to Oedipus and to the kingdom came not from crea but from Oedipus himself and that soon enough Oedipus himself would be poor and blind Oedipus still spoke scornfully but perhaps doubt touched his heart he let the old man go home unharmed Bowen Creon heard while he was accused he lost his temper began by protesting his innocence and loyalty and ended by telling Oedipus that he was a fool and no good rule and that the city was Koreans as well asOedipus's these words were not calculated to allay Oedipus his suspicions the two men were shouting at each other in some feared that the words would pass to blows when Queen Jocasta hurried out from the palace to see what her husband and her brother were quarreling

when she heard that the dispute had arisen from a prophecy she chided them both for foolishness prophesies she said were meaningless she thought because her own first husband lioness had heard a prophecy that terrified him and it had come to nothing the prophecy said that his own son would kill him he couldn't bring himself to stay out of her bed even for fear of them but when their son was born he took the infant pierced his ankles and tied them together with a leather cord and gave him to a shepherd who was instructed to leave him in some wild and desolate place where the child would die of hunger or cold or be eaten by wild beasts and never returned to do his father honk plainly it worked the child naturally was never seen or heard of again and last lived to be old and they got himself killed by strangers at a place where three roads mental Oedipus started in battle and Jocasta looked at him in

puzzlement a place where three roads met he asked was she sure of that the place might that be it was near Delphi she said Oedipus his face grew paler when he asked when did it happen not long Jocasta son before Oedipus arrived to save them from the Sphinx how did she know where it had happened he pressed the servant who had survived the attack told her all about it she said he was a trustworthy man though no longer a servant very early in Oedipus's reign he had begged her permission to leave the city and become a shepherd in a remote area and she had granted it edifice tents and sweating urged that the man be called promptly and he told you Caston and the listening people about the old man in the chariot he had killed in a dispute over the right-of-way she shook her head no it couldn't be the same man she said this servant said liest was killed by strangers plural while they waited for the servant returned another messenger tired in travel-stained hurried to the palace and sought audience with the king he bore urgent news he said from Corinth King Polybus had died in the widowed Queen Merapi implored her dear son to come home and Turay Oedipus wept for Polly mrs. death but he said also that at least he was glad to have escaped the prophecy which said he would destroy his bomb still while Merapi lived there must be some danger of that other shameful prophecy coming true what other prophecy the messenger asked Oedipus explained he was offended at first when the messenger laughed had Oedipus really exiled himself from home all these years and fear of that the messenger asked it had been quite unnecessary for Oedipus was no blood kin to either Polly miss or Merapi being a foundling the messenger himself to have received the child who was later named Oedipus in trust from another servant and had taken him to the childless royal couple who pitied him for his

abandonment and is injured feet and who vowed to raise him as their own son who was that other sermon Oedipus asked the messenger described it and someone in the watching crowd said that sounded like the same man who had brought word of Liza's death Jocasta interrupted telling Oedipus to inquire no further her words were calm but her looks were wild and her voice unsteady Oedipus thought she was afraid that he was local and she'd feel ashamed by being his console he reproached her for her finicky prime she hissed that he didn't understand anything and she hoped he never would and she ran into the house the messenge probably meaning to be reassuring said there was no need to search for the servant who brought him the child there the man was now that shepherd who was coming toward them led by one of the king's own servants the messenger smiled but the Shepherd looked weary and when the messengers started to ask him about the foundling child the Shepherd's shouted at him to be quiet Oedipus was angry now with the cold anger of fear he told the Shepherd that he intended to have the whole story when the Shepherd tried to refuse Oedipus threatened and with torture when he pleaded his old age an abyss called servants to twist his arms behind his back and hold him steady in case more forceful means of persuasion were required the Shepherd spoke them bitterly but truthful telling Oedipus that he had the child from Jocasta sewn hands saying that he should be left to die rather than living to endanger his father but the Shepherd pitied the tongue and thought it best to take him far away and put him with kind working people where he'd have a chance to live but would never bring danger to his father's house and the kind working person he selected was the message who he had just learned had brought the child to Polybus and Merapi for foster Oedipus stared at the old man in horror finally understanding all things come

true he said hollowly I married the woman I should not have married I killed the man I should not have killed he ran into the palace then to confront Jocasta his mother and his wife with his new the knowledge he found her death she had understood the truth earlier than he and had hanged herself he stared bleakly at that sight and then before the servants could restrain him he blinded himself when he stumbled back outside his people shuddered at the sight of him he begged them to take care of his daughters and for his own part either to kill him or to drive him out of the city like arrestees he felt the curse closing in on himself but hopes still too lifted from his native land McCrea led him back into the palace still wailing bitterly for his parents and his children and himself so it was when Oedipus is grief and guilt were fresh but as he stayed in the palace where Creon ruled and the plague abated Animus consoled himself with a thought that none of his actions were really his fault the God had foretold them all and doubtless, he'd had no chance of escaping his fate besides he hadn't understood that the man he was killing was his father or that the woman he was marrying was his mother he began to think that he still did deserve room honor and gratitude in Thebes Creon seeing this decided that Oedipus was no longer a useful object lesson in showing Oedipus's sons unfitness to rule in Korean ordered that the blind man should be driven out of the city Oedipus's Sons didn't protest fearing to be banished with him Oedipus his former subjects might pity him but none of them were willing to share his exile or his curse you would have stumbled in strange places blind and alone until he starved if his daughters had not come to his aid and Teagan the elder just come to the age when she might be called a woman not a child left Thebes with him led him supported begged for him fed intended him is meaning the younger girl went to Delphi at her father's bidding to ask Apollo if there was any way for him to find mercy the God's answer was riddling and strange but it gave Oedipus some hope his meaning went back to Thebes to pray for her father and sister attend to any new developments that might make their homecoming possible and send them word of what she heard Oedipus and Antigone wandered for a long time asking for little and generally getting less some people scorned their poverty and his blindness and some held that any unfortunate men must be accursed and the curse might infect anyone foolish enough to offer help but others remember that Zeus was said to protect suppliants who asked help in his name come between one thing in another Antigone was able to secure enough food to keep them both alive still after years of wandering no one would have taken her for a nobly born woman of marriageable age or seen in him the strong hero of Thebes their bodies were lean and hard their clothes racks their faces Haggard so mater stood when they approached Athens which Oedipus began to believe was the place where Apollo had hinted he might find rest at last Oedipus was exhausted before they reached the city gates Antigone settled him on a convenient Rock by the road and started off to ask if anyone would take in a blind beggar but before she was out of hearing a passerby called to her father that he was sitting in a dangerous and holy place and not to get out of there at once Oedipus had other ideas if he was on holy ground he said he was clearly a suppliant under the protection of the gods of that place which gods were those anyway they were the humanity's the

stranger told the mercies though in other places they might have other names perhaps Oedipus had heard the tale of eros teased it anyway it seemed he knew something of the Furies and of the unwisdom of speaking of them by that name he said that Apollo's Oracle had told him to seek those goddesses out and promised he would find protection their shrine the stranger hurried back to the city bearing news of enemies and the elders of countenance the settlement nearest the shrine came out to meet him they were firmer than the stranger event and telling him to remove himself from hallowed ground at once but they promised him that they would not then drive him away from their gates so Oedipus came out and sat in a place that was not Godman and the elders asked him politely but firmly to explain who he was and where he had come from he tried to decline answering and for cause when they insisted and he answered they told him to leave at once and take his curse with him and Teagan he pleaded with them for her sake and for his and for the love of the Gods the elders tried to

argue that the love of the gods prompted them to drive notorious sinners away but both Antigone and Oedipus answered firmly that the gods enjoined the protection of siblings and told the elders to call on Theseus the king of Athens under whose sway colonists came to judge their case the elders spoke doubtfully and then agreed to send a messenger to Theseus while they waited for him someone else arrived unlooked-for his meaning Antigone's younger sister travel-stained and on a sweating horse she wept on seeing them it said that it had been hard to track them why hadn't her brothers helped her at this asked his meanie said sadly that they were preoccupied with their own affairs polyneices and eteocles were men not boys now and each had decided that he had the right and the need to rule Thebes as their father had done Atia Cleese was willing to ally himself with Correa the two of them together had prevailed and Polynices had been driven out of the city in disgrace Paulo diocese hadn't wasted time in lamenting going to Argos he had married the archive chief to his daughter and then encouraged the young men of the city to attack Thebes with him at their head and he had found sympathetic hearing war was brewing and his meanie didn't know what course the pity of the gods might take what pity oedipus asked his mini said that Apollo had spoken again saying that Oedipus and his helpless old age would confer safety success and victory in war to those who took him in this word had not come to his median prime all Thebes knew of it and she expected a delegation was already on its way to bring him back they would take him home Oedipus asked they would bury him in his native ground well no not that she said they meant to keep him somewhere outside the city as he was still in exile and a man disgraced but they meant to keep him close enough to keep them safe and bless them if the second Oracle proved right and to ward off the curse which it was said Oedipus his death would bring on themes if he died far off in exile Oedipus's anger had not burnt out in his long years of wandering he said he hoped that curse would strike both his sons would not helped or pitied him in his suffering the elders of colonists had heard his Metis tale they began to look more favorably on their guests they sent his Meany to make offerings to the amenities in atonement for her father's involuntary trespass while Antigone and Oedipus waited for Theseus Theseus came promptly and spoke kindly he - he told Oedipus had been a homeless stranger and while he was king today he was still immortal and knew he could count on the morrow no more than Oedipus

therefore he wished to be kind to other mortal exiles Oedipus thanked him and asked Theseus to let him stay and rest at colonists until he died and to bury him there and also to stop any theevans from carrying him off unwillingly Theseus agreed to all this and set off for Athens to bring a guard of able-bodied men to help with the last part of the request but other armed men came before the Athenian guard could return Creon was at their head Creon spoke softly saying how he pitied Oedipus is wretchedness and Antigone singleness and vulnerability to predatory men and promising to take them back with him edifis said Korean had showed no care for his sufferings and dangers when he exiled him and told Korea on all his meanies message being blind he didn't see some of crayons guard departing at that work Antipas refused flatly to be taken back to but not into thieves Korean scolded and when that failed he told him II was not really offering it up as a choice and APIs observed that was hardly wise to forcibly carry off an old men under heavens protection Creon said that would hardly be necessary his guards had already taken his meeting and would forthwith take Antigone and Oedipus could wander without a guide or prop and die alone or he could come with Creon like a good old beggar the elders tried to intervene them but Koreans me were young and full armed and they took Antigone away struggling and crying out for help but Creon made the mistake of lingering a little way behind them to glow which allowed the old men that hinder his going until Decius returned

Theseus was furious when he learned of Creon's deeds Creon tried to explain that he was merely trying to take a wretch and curse

bringer off the hands of the virtuous Athenians but Theseus was not impressed he sent his soldiers galloping after his meeting and Antigone he followed more slowly with Creon in an armed guard leaving Oedipus in the old men who were his new hosts to worry together Theseus and the soldiers returned bringing the girls with them unharmed and also bringing a visitor far less welcome to Oedipus his son polyneices the eldest the exile whom they had found kneeling as a suppliant in Poseidon's temple asking in the gods name for an audience with his father Pauline Isis like Creon before him spoke of his compassion for his father and sisters and then spoke feelingly of his own exon and the wrongs he bore he urged that if only Oedipus would come with him he would surely take a successful revenge for all their sakes against Creon and the Thebans Oedipus turned his head away and would not answer until polyneices Antigone and his hosts urge him to give an answer to the son who was begging now as he himself had begged not long ago in have pity on a son who might appear on filio remembering Oedipus and his own father thus urged Oedipus gave an answer worse than silence would have been a depe said bitterly that Pauline Isis like Creon had no sense of justice or mercy but only of self-interest that he had first abandoned his father then sought to use he and Oedipus cursed polyneices to his face wishing shameful death on him and Atia

Kleiza like pollen Diocese might have been as selfish as crea but he was somewhat less arrogant he took his father's word as fine and as a sign of his doom turning to go he asked Antigone to see that he was honorably buried after his father's curse killed Antigone wept and told him to avoid the need for burial by calling off his war against his own brother and his people but polyneices refused and saying that he did that he'd be called a coward but if they knew about the curse Antigone urged they weren't going to hear about it hollenius is set walking away as he went the sky

darkened and the thunder rolled out overhead Oedipus felt his death coming on he embraced his daughters for the last time and blessed them then he asked

Theseus to take him away and to bury him in a secret place which the guts would reveal while his grave was kept secret he said the god's protection would rest on Athens for his sake

Theseus went with him and came back grave and wandering he said that Oedipus no blind had led him unerringly to a place that was holy indeed and had died there suddenly and painlessly he was buried in sacred ground in the city would mourn for his sake and his daughters of course would receive welcome and every care antigone stopped weeping long enough to thank him and to refuse a resting place she had work to do she said she had to return to Thebes and do what could be done to stop her brothers from killing each other she went away still weeping

in his meanie follower but the elders of colonists praised the gods who had led Oedipus to them and blessed them for his sake.