Oedipus Rex (Sophocles)
Short summary
Ancient Thebes. A terrible plague devastated the city, and the citizens begged their king for help. The oracle declared that the plague would end only when the murderer of the previous king, Laius, was found and punished.
Oedipus
vowed to find the killer and cursed him with exile or death. He summoned the blind prophet Teiresias, who reluctantly revealed that Oedipus himself was the murderer. Enraged, Oedipus accused Teiresias and his brother-in-law Creon of conspiracy.
Queen Jocasta tried to calm Oedipus by telling him that prophecies were unreliable. She mentioned that an oracle had predicted her first husband Laius would be killed by their son, but Laius was murdered by robbers at a crossroads, and their infant son had been left to die on a mountain.
This story disturbed Oedipus, who remembered killing a man at a crossroads years ago. A messenger arrived from Corinth announcing that Oedipus's supposed father Polybus had died. The messenger revealed that Oedipus was not Polybus's biological son but had been found as an infant with pierced ankles on Mount Cithaeron.
A herdsman confirmed that he had given the infant to the messenger, having received the child from Jocasta with orders to kill him. The horrifying truth emerged: Oedipus had killed his father Laius and married his mother Jocasta. Realizing the terrible prophecy had been fulfilled, Oedipus cried out:
Ah me! ah me! all brought to pass, all true!
O light, may I behold thee nevermore!
I stand a wretch, in birth, in wedlock cursed,
A parricide, incestuously, triply cursed.
Jocasta hanged herself, and Oedipus blinded himself with her brooches, unable to bear the sight of his crimes.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The plague in Thebes and Apollos oracle
A terrible plague descended upon Thebes. Crops withered in the fields, livestock perished, and women died in childbirth. The citizens gathered at the palace with olive branches wrapped in wool, seeking help from their king. An elderly priest spoke for the suppliants, reminding the ruler how he had once saved the city from the Sphinx by solving her riddle.
Oedipus assured them he had not been idle. He had already sent his brother-in-law to Delphi to consult Apollo's oracle. Just then, the messenger returned with news: the god commanded that Thebes must expel the murderer of the previous king to end the plague.
Oedipuss curse upon the murderer
Creon explained that the former king had been killed by robbers on his way to Delphi, but the investigation was abandoned when the Sphinx arrived. Oedipus vowed to solve this ancient crime. He summoned all Thebans and proclaimed that whoever knew the murderer must come forward. He promised the killer himself would face only exile if he confessed voluntarily.
Then Oedipus pronounced a terrible curse upon the unknown assassin:
I lay my ban
On the assassin whosoe’er he be.
Let no man in this land... harbour or speak to him...
And on the murderer this curse I lay
...Wretch, may he pine in utter wretchedness!
He declared that no one should shelter or speak to the killer, and that the murderer should waste away in misery. The elders of Thebes suggested consulting the blind prophet, who might shed light on the mystery.
Teiresias accuses Oedipus of being the killer
A boy led the aged seer into the palace. Oedipus begged him to use his prophetic powers to identify Laius's murderer and save the city. But the prophet refused to speak, saying it would be better if he went home. When Oedipus pressed him, insisting that silence would be treasonous, the old man grew angry.
Enraged by the prophet's obstinacy, Oedipus accused him of complicity in the murder itself. This provocation finally broke Teiresias's silence. He declared:
I charge thee to abide
By thine own proclamation; from this day
Speak not to these or me. Thou art the man,
Thou the accursed polluter of this land.
Oedipus reacted with fury, calling the seer a fraud and charlatan. He accused Teiresias of being blind not only in sight but in understanding. The prophet responded with dark hints about Oedipus's true parentage and destiny. He warned that the king lived in shameful intimacy with his nearest kin, unknowing. Teiresias prophesied that Oedipus would soon discover he was both son and husband to his wife, both son and murderer to his father. The seer predicted that Oedipus, who now saw clearly, would soon be blind, and would leave Thebes as a beggar, feeling his way with a staff. After delivering these terrible words, Teiresias departed, leaving Oedipus shaken but defiant.
The chorus sang of their confusion, uncertain whether to believe the prophet's accusations against their beloved king who had saved them from the Sphinx.
Oedipus suspects Creon of conspiracy
Creon arrived at the palace, having heard that Oedipus accused him of plotting against the throne. He protested his innocence, asking why he would seek the burdens of kingship when he already enjoyed power and influence without responsibility. Oedipus remained unconvinced, believing that Creon had bribed Teiresias to make false accusations. The king declared that Creon deserved death for his treachery. Creon defended himself calmly, pointing out that Oedipus could verify his report of the oracle by sending to Delphi. He argued that a true friend would not betray trust for ambition. The elders urged Oedipus to reconsider, praising Creon's loyalty and wisdom. They reminded the king that hasty judgment based on anger was dangerous.
The queen emerged from the palace, disturbed by the quarrel between her husband and brother. She urged them to stop their public dispute while the city suffered. The elders begged Oedipus to show mercy to Creon, who had sworn an oath of innocence. Reluctantly, Oedipus agreed to spare Creon's life but banished him from his presence. Creon departed, declaring that Oedipus misjudged him. The queen asked what had caused such bitter conflict between the two men she loved most.
Jocastas story of Laiuss murder
Oedipus explained that Teiresias had accused him of murdering Laius. Jocasta tried to comfort her husband by proving that prophecies were unreliable. She told him that an oracle had once predicted Laius would die at the hands of his own son. To prevent this, they had given their three-day-old infant to a servant, who pierced the baby's ankles and left him on a mountainside to die. Yet Laius had been killed by robbers at a place where three roads met, far from their abandoned child.
An oracle
Once came to Laius... declaring he was doomed
To perish by the hand of his own son...
So then Apollo brought it not to pass
The child should be his father’s murderer
Jocasta's story, meant to reassure, had the opposite effect. Oedipus grew pale and asked urgent questions about Laius's appearance, the time and place of his death, and how many men accompanied him. She described her former husband as tall with silver-streaked hair, not unlike Oedipus himself. The murder had occurred just before Oedipus arrived in Thebes, at the junction where roads from Delphi and Daulis converged. Laius had traveled with only five attendants, and just one servant survived to bring news of the attack.
Oedipus demanded to see this surviving witness immediately. Jocasta explained that after Oedipus became king, the man had begged to be sent to distant pastures, far from the city. She had granted his request, for he was a faithful servant. Oedipus insisted the man be summoned at once.
Oedipuss confession: the man at the crossroads
Oedipus revealed his own terrible suspicion. He had been raised in Corinth as the son of King Polybus and Queen Merope. Once, a drunken man at a feast claimed Oedipus was not his father's true son. Disturbed by this accusation, Oedipus consulted the Delphic oracle, which gave him a horrifying prophecy: he would kill his father and marry his mother. Fleeing Corinth to escape this fate, Oedipus traveled toward Thebes. At a place where three roads met, he encountered an old man in a chariot with several attendants. When they tried to force him from the path, Oedipus struck back in anger. The old man hit him with a goad, and Oedipus retaliated by killing him and all his companions—or so he thought.
O woe is me! Mehtinks unwittingly
I laid but now a dread curse on myself.
...’Tis a dread presentiment
That in the end the seer will prove not blind.
Oedipus realized he might have murdered Laius and brought the plague upon Thebes through his own curse. His only hope lay with the surviving witness, who had reported that robbers, not a single man, killed the king. If the herdsman confirmed this detail, Oedipus would be innocent. Jocasta assured him that the servant had definitely spoken of multiple attackers, and the whole city had heard his testimony. She urged Oedipus not to worry about prophecies, which she considered worthless.
News from Corinth and questions of parentage
A messenger arrived from Corinth with news that King Polybus had died of natural causes. Jocasta rejoiced, seeing this as proof that oracles were false—Oedipus had not killed his father after all. But Oedipus remained troubled, fearing he might still fulfill the prophecy by marrying his mother Merope. The messenger, hoping to ease the king's mind, revealed a startling secret: Polybus and Merope were not Oedipus's biological parents. The messenger himself had received the infant Oedipus from a shepherd on Mount Cithaeron and given him to the childless royal couple of Corinth.
The messenger described how he had found the baby with his ankles pinned together, which explained Oedipus's name—meaning "swollen foot." He had received the child from another shepherd, one of Laius's servants. Oedipus demanded to know who this shepherd was. The chorus recognized him as the same man who had witnessed Laius's death—the very herdsman Oedipus had already summoned.
Jocasta suddenly understood the full horror of the truth. She begged Oedipus to stop his investigation:
Oh, as thou carest for thy life, give o’er
This quest. Enough the anguish I endure.
...Ah mayst thou ne’er discover who thou art!
But Oedipus refused to abandon his search for the truth, even if it revealed him to be of humble birth. Jocasta fled into the palace with a final cry of despair, and Oedipus dismissed her fears as aristocratic pride.
The herdsman reveals Oedipuss true identity
The old herdsman arrived, reluctant and fearful. The Corinthian messenger identified him as the shepherd who had given him the infant. Under intense questioning and threats from Oedipus, the herdsman finally admitted the truth. The baby had come from Laius's household—it was the king's own son. Jocasta herself had given the child to the herdsman with orders to kill it, hoping to prevent the oracle's prophecy that the boy would murder his father.
The herdsman had pitied the infant and given him to the Corinthian shepherd instead, thinking the child would be taken far away and raised safely in another land. Now the terrible truth stood revealed: Oedipus was the son of Laius and Jocasta. He had indeed killed his father at the crossroads and married his own mother. The prophecy had been fulfilled despite all attempts to prevent it. Oedipus cried out in anguish, realizing he was cursed in his birth, cursed in his marriage, and cursed in his act of murder. He rushed into the palace.
Tragedy unfolds: suicide, blinding, and exile
A messenger emerged from the palace with devastating news. Jocasta had hanged herself in her bedchamber, crying out for Laius and lamenting the monstrous double brood she had borne—children by her husband, and children by her son. When Oedipus found her body, he tore the golden brooches from her robes and used them to blind himself, striking his eyes repeatedly.
I tore the golden brooches that upheld
Her queenly robes, upraised them high and smote
Full on his eye-balls... 'No more shall ye behold such sights of woe, Deeds I have suffered and myself have wrought...'
Oedipus emerged from the palace, blood streaming from his ruined eyes. He lamented his fate and called himself the most cursed of men. He declared he could not bear to see his father in the underworld or face his children, knowing the shameful circumstances of their birth. Creon returned and treated the broken king with compassion. Oedipus begged to be exiled from Thebes immediately, but Creon insisted they must first consult the oracle. Oedipus's young daughters were brought to him, and he wept over them, knowing the stigma they would bear. He entrusted them to Creon's care. The chorus reflected on Oedipus's fall:
Look ye, countrymen and Thebans, this is Oedipus the great...
Now, in what a sea of troubles sunk and overwhelmed he lies!
Therefore wait to see life’s ending ere thou count one mortal blest.