Jocasta rejoices - surely this is proof that the prophecy Oedipus heard is worthless. Oedipus finds out from a messenger that Polybus, king of Corinth, Oedipus' father, has died of old age. Again, Jocasta advises him not to worry about prophecies. Fear of the prophecy drove him from his home in Corinth and brought him ultimately to Thebes. As a young man, he learned from an oracle that he was fated to kill his father and marry his mother. To learn the truth, Oedipus sends for the only living witness to the murder, a shepherd.Īnother worry haunts Oedipus. Oedipus becomes distressed by Jocasta's remarks because just before he came to Thebes he killed a man who resembled Laius at a crossroads. According to Jocasta, the prophecy did not come true because the baby died, abandoned, and Laius himself was killed by a band of robbers at a crossroads. Oedipus attempts to gain advice from Jocasta, the queen she encourages him to ignore prophecies, explaining that a prophet once told her that Laius, her husband, would die at the hands of their son.
Oedipus mocks and rejects the prophet angrily, ordering him to leave, but not before Tiresias hints darkly of an incestuous marriage and a future of blindness, infamy, and wandering. Summoned by the king, the blind prophet Tiresias at first refuses to speak, but finally accuses Oedipus himself of killing Laius. At once, Oedipus sets about to solve the murder. The discovery and punishment of the murderer will end the plague.
On his return, Creon announces that the oracle instructs them to find the murderer of Laius, the king who ruled Thebes before Oedipus. Oedipus has already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle to learn what to do. Throughout this mythic story of patricide and incest, Sophocles emphasizes the irony of a man determined to track down, expose, and punish an assassin, who turns out to be himself.Īs the play opens, the citizens of Thebes beg their king, Oedipus, to lift the plague that threatens to destroy the city. Oedipus the King unfolds as a murder mystery, a political thriller, and a psychological whodunit.
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