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Oedipus Rex
How the Drama is Structured
•
Exposition: Chorus (citizens of Thebes) supplicating Zeus and Oedipus to remove
the plague from their city. Often begins in the middle of things (in media res).
•
Complication / Rising Action: An exciting force is employed. Here it is the charge
made by Tiresias that Oedipus is the cause of the plague. Complications arise
between Creon and Oedipus.
•
Crisis Action: Oedipus overreaches his good fortune. He insists, against Jocasta’s
urging, that the shepherd be brought to him.
•
Falling Action: A tragic force is employed. Here Oedipus forces truth from the
shepherd and knows the horror of his life. The climax (the point of highest reader
interest) occurs.
•
Catastrophe: Punishment or the death of the central character. Sophocles does not
offer a restoration of balance and order; fate is in control and no man should be
judged happy until after his death.
PROLOGUE
• Characters: Oedipus, Priest, & Creon
• This is the Exposition: Chorus (citizens of
Thebes) supplicating Zeus and Oedipus to
remove the plague from their city. Often
begins in the middle of things (in media res).
• Discussion: Look closely at the conversation
between Creon and Oedipus. How does this
foreshadow the king’s accusation of Creon?
PARADOS
• Parados means “the processional entry.” Here the
chorus enters, singing an ode in two antiphonal
groups of seven each. They are divided into
Strophes and Antistrophes.
• Discussion: Look at how they appeal to their gods
for good news and deliverance. How does this
relate to the motif of inertia (sin breeds sin) and
the need for a god (deus ex machina) to end the
permanent motion of human sin?
EPISODE 1
• Characters: Oedipus, Chorus, & Tiresias
• An episode is a modern day scene. An exciting
force is employed. Here it is the charge made by
Tiresias that Oedipus is the cause of the plague.
• Discussion: Look particularly at the arc of
Oedipus’s emotion in this exchange with Tiresias.
How does he begin smug, confident, arrogant,
even distant at first? How do his rage, hubris,
blindness, and stubbornness emerge by the end
of the scene?
ODE 1
• Discussion: Look at how the chorus alludes to
Tiresias being the voice or eyes of the gods
because he reveals Oedipus’s fate and
Oedipus as being the voice or embodiment of
the city, Thebes. How does the chorus feel
conflicted by favoring one over the other?
EPISODE 2
• Characters: Oedipus, Creon, Chorus, & Jocasta
• Complications arise between Creon and Oedipus.
• Discussion: Look carefully at the conversation between
Oedipus and Creon. What is revealed about the
motivations of both characters through this?
• Also, how does Oedipus’s ambition and pride (I rule –
even if badly, I am Thebes, etc.) cause him to lose the
respect of the Chorus and Creon?
• What role does Jocasta play in this episode between
her brother and her husband? How does her initial
entrance define her character?
ODE 2:
• Here the chorus wrestles with the world they
know as chaos and pray to the gods to restore
order. This stems directly from the arguments
between Creon and Oedipus.
EPISODE 3
• Characters: Jocasta, Messenger, Oedipus, & Chorus
• This is the peripetia: a change of the situation into its
opposite, reversal. The messenger comes to cheer Oedipus
and to rid him of his fear concerning his mother; then, by
showing him who he is, he does the opposite.
• Discussion: This is also the anagnorisis of Jocasta. Read
through the dialogue between the Messenger and Oedipus.
Pay close attention to when Jocasta stops speaking. When
does she know? How can you imagine her face looking as
this information is being spoken about the baby she
abandoned? Then look at her lines to Oedipus. This is the
crisis action.
ODE 3
• Here the chorus notes, in ominous tones,
Thebes’s love of Oedipus, the joy at the
prospect of finding him a countryman, and the
irony in that he was found on Mt. Cithaeron.
This was the land in which lived the Furies.
These creatures were the personified curses
that plagued guilty criminals. Once you were
committed of a crime, you were plagued by
these Furies for the rest of your life until a god
stopped them. Again, sin breeding sin.
EPISODE 4
• Characters: Oedipus, Shepherd (Old Man), &
Messenger
• Falling Action: A tragic force is employed. Here
Oedipus forces truth from the shepherd and
knows the horror of his life. The climax occurs.
• Discussion: Read through the dialogue between
the Shepherd and Oedipus. When is
zanagnorisis? If it is early in this scene, why does
Oedipus continue to pursue a truth that he
already recognizes? What does that reveal about
him?
ODE 4
• Appalled at the truth, the chorus sees in
Oedipus the fate of all men. He seemed to be
the ideal man, but he has been reduced to the
lowest station a man may hold.
• Discussion: Read the ode closely. The chorus
notes that Oedipus could have escaped fate if
he had been stillborn. Moreover, the chorus
now suffers because Oedipus suffers. Oedipus
becomes symbolic of all humanity.
EXODOS
• Characters: 2nd Messenger, Chorus, Creon, Oedipus,
Antigone, & Ismene
• This is the Catastrophe: Punishment or the death of the
central character. Sophocles does not offer a
restoration of balance and order; fate is in control and
no man should be judged happy until after his death.
• Discussion: How does the image of the two girls with
their father strike you? Would it feel different if it were
his sons? Read carefully the final words from the
chorus. What moral do we as audience members take
from the play? Where is our catharsis?
More Questions to Help with the Plot
• How is the murder of Laius discovered? Why
wasn’t it acted on before?
• How do the steps taken to discover the
murderer involve Oedipus? Trace them from
the proclamation, the curse, the sending for
Tiresias, the quarrel with Tiresias, with Creon.
• “Oedipus” means “swollen foot.” Explain the
significance.
• Early in the play, why does Oedipus believe
Creon is using Tiresias to accuse him of being
the murderer of Laius?
• Explain the connection between Jocasta, the
Shepherd, the Corinthian Messenger, and
Oedipus.
• Does Jocasta blame anyone for what
happened? Why does she kill herself? Why
does Jocasta disregard the prophecies of the
oracle as faulty? If she is aware or unaware of
her actions, then what does she fear?
• What steps are taken to quiet Oedipus’ guilty feelings
and fears? Trace them through the quarrels, the
behavior of Jocasta with Oedipus, the arrival of the
Messenger, the confrontation with the shepherd.
• Why is Oedipus sure of his guilt? When does he know?
• Do you see the oracle as a good or bad “force” in the
play? Does it bring pain on purpose? If it is viewed as a
symbol of Fate, do you believe that it makes fair or just
decisions? How does it limit man?
• The Greeks, long before Newton determined
one of the Laws of Gravity, held firmly to the
belief that with every action there is an equal
and opposite reaction. How do we see this
balance in Oedipus Rex and how is it both
petrifying and comforting to Man today?
• Consider the biblical verse: “Blessed is the
man who perseveres under trial because
when he has stood the test, he will receive the
crown of life that God has promised to those
who love him” (James 1:12 NIV). How does
temptation of those with power reveal true
character? Furthermore, what does Sophocles
imply about God (or, in his case, gods) if He
willingly places us under trial and temptation?
• Why does Oedipus blind himself instead of
killing himself? Does he think that suffering
would be worse than death? Moreover,
Oedipus is the jury and defendant in his own
trial. Do you think he gave himself a just trial
and sentence?
• If Oedipus’ act of self-mutilation is prophesied
by Fate, then is his choice to not follow
Jocasta’s suicide with his own truly an act of
free will? And if his self-mutilation is not an
act of free will, can he be blamed for any of
his sins?
• Aristotle claims that a tragic hero must be in a
high social position and must possess a tragic
flaw – something in his character or a failure
in his judgment that brings disaster. But if
Oedipus only is pursuing Truth for the good of
the city of Thebes, could he really be
considered a tragic hero?
• Oedipus prides himself on being intelligent, a
solver of riddles, and the riddle her is faced
with is his own nature, which he must
discover. How does his discovery both destroy
and create him? Furthermore, how do you see
truth in the play of the following statement:
The man - who will know who he is - is
doomed.
• At what specific moment do you feel Jocasta
realizes the identity of Oedipus and the
fruition of the oracle’s prophesy? Why doesn’t
Oedipus realize the truth when she does?
• To what extent does ambition blind Oedipus to spiritual
truth? To what extent did the people of Thebes feed
him that ambition? Look at the argument between
Creon and Oedipus specifically:
• O: You are a born traitor.
• C: And you don’t understand anything.
• O: Whether I do or not – I am in power here.
• C: Not if you rule badly.
• O: Listen to him, Thebes, my city.
• C: My city, too, not yours alone.