Oedipus Rex Plot Summary

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Title: Oedipus Rex Author: Sophocles Date of Publication: 5th Century BC Genre: Tragedy Narrative structure: The story is in poem form. Plot Summary: 1. Oedipus, the king of Thebes approaches a group of citizens represented by a priest. They tell him of their unhappiness with the plague that has been struck on the city. Oedipus tells them as their ruler he is also troubled and has already taken steps to try to fix this problem by sending Creon to Apollo’s shrine to see what the gods recommended they do. Creon returns to tell Oedipus that the god, Apollo, said there was bad blood in Thebes and until that has been removed the plague will remain in Thebes. 2. The bad blood is the person that killed Laius, the former king. When Oedipus asks why this case was not investigated the people respond that they were too busy trying to solve the sphinx’s riddle. Oedipus vows that no matter what the cost is, he will get to the bottom of it, both because it harmed Thebes and Laius was noble and loyal. Oedipus calls upon Teiresias, the blind prophet, and forces him to reveal what he knows of the murder. Teiresias reluctantly tells Oedipus that he killed his father and sleeps with his mother. Oedipus accuses him of lying on Creons behalf so Creon could kill Oedipus and take the throne. 3. Creon enters and says that Oedipus is not making any sense, he did not discuss this with Teiresias because he already owned a third of Thebes and chose not to rule it this showed he didn’t want power. Jocasta enters and stops the arguing. When Creon leaves Jocasta asks Oedipus what happened he explained the whole thing. She tells him not to believe a word that the oracle said because one he predicted that her son would kill his father and marry his mother and this had never happened. She had a son with Laius but after learning of this prophecy he had the childs feet bound and thrown in

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