Oedipus Rex (Dramatic Reading)

Oedipus the King (often known by the Latin title Oedipus Rex) is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed c. 429 BC. It was the second of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone. Over the centuries, it has come to be regarded by many as the Greek tragedy par excellence.

By : Sophocles (497 BCE - 406 BCE)

01 - Part 1



02 - Part 2


Oedipus, King of Thebes, sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to ask advice of the oracle at Delphi, concerning a plague ravaging Thebes. Creon returns to report that the plague is the result of religious pollution, since the murderer of their former king, Laius, has never been caught. Oedipus vows to find the murderer and curses him for causing the plague.

Oedipus summons the blind prophet Tiresias for help. When Tiresias arrives he claims to know the answers to Oedipus's questions, but refuses to speak, instead telling him to abandon his search. Oedipus is enraged by Tiresias' refusal, and verbally accuses him of complicity in Laius' murder. Outraged, Tiresias tells the king that Oedipus himself is the murderer ("You yourself are the criminal you seek"). Oedipus cannot see how this could be, and concludes that the prophet must have been paid off by Creon in an attempt to undermine him. The two argue vehemently, as Oedipus mocks Tiresias' lack of sight, and Tiresias retorts that Oedipus himself is blind. Eventually Tiresias leaves, muttering darkly that when the murderer is discovered he shall be a native citizen of Thebes, brother and father to his own children, and son and husband to his own mother.

Creon arrives to face Oedipus's accusations. The King demands that Creon be executed; however, the chorus persuades him to let Creon live. Jocasta, wife of first Laius and then Oedipus, enters and attempts to comfort Oedipus, telling him he should take no notice of prophets. As proof, she recounts an incident in which she and Laius received an oracle which never came true. The prophecy stated that Laius would be killed by his own son; however, Jocasta reassures Oedipus by her statement that Laius was killed by bandits at a crossroads on the way to Delphi.

The mention of this crossroads causes Oedipus to pause and ask for more details. He asks Jocasta what Laius looked like, and Oedipus suddenly becomes worried that Tiresias's accusations were true. Oedipus then sends for the one surviving witness of the attack to be brought to the palace from the fields where he now works as a shepherd.

Jocasta, confused, asks Oedipus what the matter is, and he tells her. Many years ago, at a banquet in Corinth, a man drunkenly accused Oedipus of not being his father's son. Oedipus went to Delphi and asked the oracle about his parentage. Instead of answers he was given a prophecy that he would one day murder his father and sleep with his mother. Upon hearing this he resolved to leave Corinth and never return. While traveling he came to the very crossroads where Laius was killed, and encountered a carriage which attempted to drive him off the road. An argument ensued and Oedipus killed the travelers, including a man who matches Jocasta's description of Laius. Oedipus has hope, however, because the story is that Laius was murdered by several robbers. If the shepherd confirms that Laius was attacked by many men, then Oedipus is in the clear.

A man arrives from Corinth with the message that Oedipus's father has died. Oedipus, to the surprise of the messenger, is made ecstatic by this news, for it proves one half of the prophecy false, for now he can never kill his father. However, he still fears that he may somehow commit incest with his mother. The messenger, eager to ease Oedipus's mind, tells him not to worry, because Merope was not in fact his real mother.

It emerges that this messenger was formerly a shepherd on Mount Cithaeron, and that he was given a baby, which the childless Polybus then adopted. The baby, he says, was given to him by another shepherd from the Laius household, who had been told to get rid of the child. Oedipus asks the chorus if anyone knows who this man was, or where he might be now. They respond that he is the "same shepherd" who was witness to the murder of Laius, and whom Oedipus had already sent for. Jocasta, who has by now realized the truth, desperately begs Oedipus to stop asking questions, but he refuses and Jocasta runs into the palace.

When the shepherd arrives Oedipus questions him, but he begs to be allowed to leave without answering further. However, Oedipus presses him, finally threatening him with torture or execution. It emerges that the child he gave away was Laius's own son, and that Jocasta had given the baby to the shepherd to secretly be exposed upon the mountainside. This was done in fear of the prophecy that Jocasta said had never come true: that the child would kill his father.

Everything is at last revealed, and Oedipus curses himself and fate before leaving the stage. The chorus laments how even a great man can be felled by fate, and following this, a servant exits the palace to speak of what has happened inside. When Jocasta enters the house, she runs to the palace bedroom and hangs herself there. Shortly afterward, Oedipus enters in a fury, calling on his servants to bring him a sword so that he might cut out his mother's womb. He then rages through the house, until he comes upon Jocasta's body. Giving a cry, Oedipus takes her down and removes the long gold pins that held her dress together, before plunging them into his own eyes in despair.

A blind Oedipus now exits the palace and begs to be exiled as soon as possible. Creon enters, saying that Oedipus shall be taken into the house until oracles can be consulted regarding what is best to be done. Oedipus's two daughters (and half-sisters), Antigone and Ismene, are sent out, and Oedipus laments their having been born to such a cursed family. He asks Creon to watch over them and Creon agrees, before sending Oedipus back into the palace.

On an empty stage the chorus repeats the common Greek maxim, that no man should be considered fortunate until he is dead.

Comments

Random Post

  • Quidditch | Chương 11 | Harry Potter và Hòn đá Phù thủy | Tập 1
    09.10.2023 - 0 Comments
    Harry chuẩn bị thi đấu trận Quidditch đầu tiên trong đời. Trong thời gian này, cậu đã khám phá ra rằng: dường…
  • Spiders
    17.06.2021 - 0 Comments
    The mental capacity of spiders; web architecture; spiders that live under water, even though they need air to…
  • The Mary Frances Story Book
    22.04.2021 - 0 Comments
    The Mary Frances Story Book is different from the other Mary Frances Books. They are part lessons and part…
  • Sự tích cá Voi có cổ họng bé - Sự tích các loài Vật - Phần 1
    09.10.2023 - 0 Comments
    Thời xưa, các con vật khác hẳn ngày nay, nhưng do con người hoặc phép thuật của các vị thần nên chúng đã bị…
  • Stories of the Royal Humane Society
    11.03.2021 - 0 Comments
    Established in 1774, the ‘Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned’ published information on…
  • Le avventure di Pinocchio
    10.11.2018 - 0 Comments
    Le avventure di Pinocchio. Storia di un burattino è il titolo del romanzo ottocentesco che ha come…
  • The Vicar of Wakefield
    27.03.2020 - 0 Comments
    The Vicar of Wakefield was Oliver Goldsmith's only novel. It was thought to have been sold to the publisher…
  • The Dunwich Horror
    14.02.2021 - 0 Comments
    Horror stalks the earth. There are many dimensions that coexist with our universe and, unfortunately, overlap…
  • Bay, A Book of Poems
    25.06.2020 - 0 Comments
    The superb skill and dexterity of D.H. Lawrence, a writer who profoundly influenced the literature of the…
  • Con quạ gian ác và chích chòe - truyện cổ tích ngụ ngôn
    23.10.2023 - 0 Comments
    Ngày xưa, có một con chích chòe kết bạn cùng một con quạ. Một hôm, hai con rủ nhau đi kiếm mồi, chúng bay mãi…
  • A Christmas When The West Was Young
    11.12.2019 - 0 Comments
    Babies, new life, a bitter winter blizzard, death circling. How will it all end? By : Cyrus Townsend…
  • God's Troubadour, The Story of St. Francis of Assisi
    01.03.2020 - 0 Comments
    Francis, a young Italian boy, is a merchant's son who is enthralled by the troubadour songs and tales of…
  • Master and Man
    05.04.2020 - 0 Comments
    In this short story, a land owner named Vasily Andreyevich Brekhunov takes one of his peasants, Nikita, for…
  • Minnebrieven
    22.12.2019 - 0 Comments
    Minnebrieven is een boek van Multatuli, voor het eerst gepubliceerd in 1861. Het bevat onder meer brieven…
  • The Voyage of the Beagle
    02.03.2020 - 0 Comments
    The book, also known as Darwin's Journal of Researches, is a vivid and exciting travel memoir as well as a…
  • L'Assommoir
    08.04.2020 - 0 Comments
    L'Assommoir is the seventh novel in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart. Usually…