Oedipus Rex Play by Sophocles

Oedipus Rex Play by Sophocles

Oedipus Rex, a tragedy by Sophocles, explores themes of fate, free will, and tragic downfall. The play follows Oedipus, the King of Thebes, who seeks to rid his city of a plague by uncovering the truth behind King Laius's murder. As Oedipus investigates, he discovers his own dark past, leading to devastating consequences. This classic work is essential for students of literature and drama, providing insight into Greek tragedy and its enduring relevance. Ideal for scholars and enthusiasts of ancient Greek plays.

Key Points

  • Explores the themes of fate and free will through Oedipus's tragic journey.
  • Follows Oedipus as he uncovers the truth about his identity and actions.
  • Highlights the role of prophecy and its impact on characters' lives.
  • Examines the consequences of pride and ignorance in leadership.
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Oedipus the King
Sophocles
Translated by David Grene
CHARACTERS
OEDIPUS, King of Thebes
FIRST MESSENGER
JOCASTA, His Wife
SECOND MESSENGER
CREON, His Brother-in-Law
A HERDSMAN
TEIRESIAS, an Old Blind Prophet
A CHORUS OF OLD MEN OF
THEBES
PRIEST
PART I:
Scene: In front of the palace of Oedipus at Thebes. To the
Right of the stage near the altar stands the PRIEST with a
crowd of children.
OEDIPUS emerges from the central door.
OEDIPUS: Children, young sons and daughters of old
Cadmus,
1
why do you sit here with your suppliant crowns?
2
the town is heavy with a mingled burden
of sounds and smells, of groans and hymns and
incense;
5 I did not think it fit that I should hear
of this from messengers but came myself,--
I Oedipus whom all men call the Great.
[He returns to the PRIEST.]
You’re old and they are young; come, speak for them.
What do you fear or want, that you sit here
10 suppliant? Indeed I’m willing to give all
that you may need; I would be very hard
should I not pity suppliants like these.
PRIEST: O ruler of my country, Oedipus,
You see our company around the altar;
15 you see our ages; some of us, like these,
who cannot yet fly far, and some of us
heavy with age; these children are the chosen
among the young, and I the priest of Zeus.
Within the market place sit others crowned
20 with suppliant garlands
3
, at the double shrine
of Pallas
4
and the temple where Ismenus
gives oracles by fire
5
. King, you yourself
have seen our city reeling like a wreck
1
Cadmus n. mythical founder and first king of Thebes, a city in
central Greece where the play takes place
2
suppliant crowns wreaths worn by people who ask favors of
the gods.
3
suppliant garlands branches wound in wool, which were
placed on the altar and left there until the suppliant’s request
was granted.
4
double shrine of Pallas the two temples of Athena.
5
temple where Isemenus gives oracles by fire Temple of
Apollo, located by Ismenus, the Theban river, where the priests
studied patterns in the ashes of sacrificial victims to foretell the
future.
already; it can scarcely lift its prow
25 out of the depths, out of the bloody surf.
A blight is on the fruitful plants of the earth.
A blight is on the cattle in the fields,
a blight is on our women that no children
are born to them; a God that carries fire,
30 a deadly pestilence, is on our town,
strikes us and spears us not, and the house of Cadmus
is emptied of its people while black Death
grows rich in groaning and in lamentation.
6
We have not come as suppliants to this altar
35 because we thought of you as a God,
but rather judging you the first of men
in all the chances of this life and when
we mortals have to do with more that man.
You came and by your coming saved our city,
40 freed us from the tribute which we paid of old
to the Sphinx,
7
cruel singer. This you did
in virtue of no knowledge we could give you,
in virtue of no teaching; it was God
that aided you, men say, and you are held
45 with God’s assistance to have saved our lives.
Now Oedipus, Greatest in all men’s eyes,
here falling at your feet we all entreat you,
find us some strength for rescue.
Perhaps you’ll hear a wise word from some God.
50 perhaps you will learn something from a man
(for I have seen that for the skilled of the practice
the outcome of their counsels live the most).
Noblest of men, go, and raise up our city,
go,-- and give heed. For now this land of ours
55 calls you its savior since you saved it once.
So, let us never speak about your reign
as of a time when first our feet were set
secure on high, but later fell to ruin.
Raise up our city, save it and raise it up.
6
lamentation n. expression of deep sorrow
7
Sphinx winged female monster at Thebes that ate men who
could not answer her riddle: “what is it that walks on four legs
at dawn, two legs at midday, and three legs in the evening, and
has only one voice; when it walks on most feet, is it weakest?”
Creon, appointed ruler of Thebes, offered the kingdom and the
hand of his sister, Jocasta, to anyone who could answer the
riddle. Oedipus saved Thebes by answering correctly, “Man,
who crawls in infancy, walks upright in his prime, and leans on
a cane in old age.” Outraged, the Sphinx destroyed herself, and
Oedipus became King of Thebes
60 Once you have brought us luck with happy omen;
be no less now in fortune.
If you will rule this land, as now you rule it,
better to rule it full of men than empty.
For neither tower nor ship is anything
65 when empty, and none live in it together.
OEDIPUS: I pity you, children. You have come full of
longing,
but I have known the story before you told it
only too well. I know you are all sick,
yet there is not one of you, sick though you are,
70 that is as sick as myself.
Your several sorrows each have single scope
and touch but one of you. My spirit groans
for city and myself and you at once.
You have not roused me like a man from sleep;
75 know that I have given many tears to this,
gone many ways wandering in thoughts,
but as I thought I found only one remedy
and that I took. I sent Menoeceus’ son
Creon, Jocasta’s brother, to Apollo,
80 to his Pythian temple,
8
that he might learn there by what act or word
I could save this city. As I count the days,
it vexes me what ails him; he is gone
far longer than he needed for the journey.
85 But when he comes, than may I prove a villain,
if I shall not do all the God commands.
PRIEST: Thanks for your gracious words. Your servants
here signal that Creon is this moment coming.
OEDIPUS: His face is bright. O holy Lord Apollo,
90 grant that his news too may be bright for us
and bring us safety.
PRIEST: It is happy news,
I think, for else his head would not be crowned
with sprigs of fruitful laurel.
9
OEDIPUS: We will know soon,
96 he’s within hail. Lord Creon, my good brother,
what is the word you bring us from the God?
[ CREON enters.]
CREON: A good word, --for things hard to bear
themselves if in the final issue all is well
100 I count complete good fortune.
OEDIPUS: What do you mean?
What have you said so far
8
Pythian temple shrine of Apollo at Delphi, below Mount
Parnassus in central Greece
9
sprigs of fruitful laurel Laurel symbolized triumph; a crown of
laurel signified good news.
leaves me uncertain whether to trust or fear.
CREON: If you will hear my news before these others
105 I am ready to speak, or else to go within.
OEDIPUS: Speak it to all;
the grief I bear, I bear it more for these
than for my own hear.
CREON: I will tell you, then,
110 what I heard from the God.
King Phoebus
10
in plain words commanded us
to drive out a pollution from our land,
pollution grown ingrained within the land;
drive it out, said the God, not cherish it,
115 till it’s past cure.
OEDIPUS: What is the rite
of purification? How shall it be done?
CREON: By banishing a man, or expiation
11
of blood by blood, since it is murder guilt
120 which holds our city in this destroying storm.
OESIPUS: Who is this man whose fate the God
pronounces?
CREON: My lord, before you piloted the state
we had a king called Laius.
OEDIPUS: I know of him by hearsay. I have not seen
him.
CREON: The God commanded clearly: let some one
126 punish with force this dead man’s murderers.
OEDIPUS: Where are they in the world? Where would a
trace of this old crime be found? It would be hard
to guess where.
CREON: The clue is in this land;
131 that which is sought is found;
the unheeded thing escapes:
so said the God.
OEDIPUS: Was it at home,
or in the country that death came upon him,
135 or in another country travelling?
CREON: He went, he said himself, upon an embassy,
12
but never returned when he set out from home.
OEDIPUS: Was there no messenger, no fellow traveler
who knew what happened? Such a one might tell
10
King Phoebus Apollo, god of the sun.
11
expiation n. The act of making amends for wrongdoing.
12
embassy n. important mission or errand
140 something of use.
CREON: They were all killed save one. He fled in terror
and he could tell us nothing in clear terms
of what he knew, nothing, but one thing only.
OEDIPUS: What was it?
145 If we could even find a slim beginning
in which to hope, we might discover much.
CREON: This man said the robbers they encountered
were many and the hands that did the murder
were many; it was no man’s single power.
OEDIPUS: How could a robber date a deed like this
151 Were he not helped with money from the city,
Money and treachery?
CREON: That indeed was thought.
But Laius was dead and in our trouble
There was none to help.
OEDIPUS: What trouble was so great to hinder you
157 inquiring out the murder of your king?
CREON: The riddling Sphinx induced us to neglect
mysterious crimes and rather seek solution
160 of troubles at our feet.
OEDIPUS: I will bring this to light again. King Phoebus
fittingly took this care about the dead,
and you to fittingly.
And justly you will see in me an ally,
165 a champion of my country and the God.
For when I drive pollution from the land
I will not serve a distant friend’s advantage,
but act in my own interest. Whoever
he was that killed the king may readily
170 wish to dispatch me with his murderous hand;
so helping the dead king I help myself.
Come, children, take your suppliant boughs and go;
up from the altars now. Call the assembly
and let it meet upon the understanding
175 that I’ll do everything. God will decide
whether we prosper or remain in sorrow.
PRIEST: Rise, children—it was this we came to seek,
which of himself the king now offers us.
May Phoebus who gave us the oracle
180 come to our rescue and stay the plague.
[Exit all but the CHORUS.]
CHORUS:
Strophe
What is the sweet spoken word of God from the shrine of
Pytho rich in gold
that has come to glorious Thebes?
I am stretched on the rack of doubt, and terror and
trembling hold
my heart, O Delian Healer,
13
and I worship full of fears
185 for what doom you will bring to pass, new or renewed
in the revolving years.
Speak to me, immortal voice,
child of golden Hope.
Antistrophe
First I call on you, Athene, deathless daughter of Zeus,
and Artemis, Earth Upholder,
190 who sits in the midst of the market place in the throne
which men call Fame,
and Phoebus, the Far Shooter, three averters of Fate,
come to us now, if ever before, when ruin rushed upon the
state,
you drove destruction’s flame away out
of our land.
Strophe
195 Our sorrows defy number;
all the ship’s timbers are rotten;
taking of thought is no spear for the driving away of the
plague
There are no growing children in this famous land;
there are no women bearing the pangs of childbirth.
200 You may see them one with another, like birds swift
on the wing,
quicker than fire unmastered,
speeding away to the coast of the Western God.
14
Antistrophe
In the unnumbered death
of its people the city dies;
205 those children that are born lie dead on the naked
earth
unpitied, spreading contagion of death; and gray-haired
mothers and wives
everywhere stand at the altar’s edge, suppliant, moaning;
the hymn to the healing God
15
rings out but with it the
wailing voices are blended.
From these our sufferings grant us, O golden Daughter of
Zeus,
16
210 glad-faced deliverance.
Strophe
There is no clash of brazen
17
shields but our fight is with
the War God,
18
13
Delian Healer Born on the island of Delos, Apollo’s title was
“healer”; he caused and averted plagues.
14
Western God Since the sun sets in the west, this is the god of
night, or Death.
15
healing God Apollo.
16
golden Daughter of Zeus Athena.
17
brazen adj. of brass or like brass in color
18
War God Ares
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FAQs of Oedipus Rex Play by Sophocles

What is the main conflict in Oedipus Rex?
The main conflict in Oedipus Rex revolves around Oedipus's quest to uncover the truth about King Laius's murder, which is linked to a plague afflicting Thebes. As he investigates, Oedipus learns that he himself is the murderer he seeks, leading to a tragic revelation about his identity and fate. This conflict drives the narrative, showcasing themes of fate versus free will and the consequences of human actions.
Who are the key characters in Oedipus Rex?
Key characters in Oedipus Rex include Oedipus, the tragic hero and King of Thebes; Jocasta, his wife and mother; Creon, Jocasta's brother and Oedipus's brother-in-law; and Teiresias, the blind prophet. Each character plays a crucial role in the unfolding tragedy, with Oedipus's determination to find the truth leading to his downfall. Jocasta's attempts to protect Oedipus from the prophecy and Creon's political maneuvering further complicate the narrative.
What themes are explored in Oedipus Rex?
Oedipus Rex explores several profound themes, including fate versus free will, the nature of truth, and the consequences of pride. The play illustrates how Oedipus's attempts to escape his fate ultimately lead him to fulfill it, highlighting the inescapable nature of destiny. Additionally, the theme of knowledge versus ignorance is central, as Oedipus's quest for truth results in devastating self-discovery.
What is the significance of the oracle in Oedipus Rex?
The oracle plays a pivotal role in Oedipus Rex, as it foretells Oedipus's tragic fate of killing his father and marrying his mother. This prophecy drives the plot and influences the characters' actions throughout the play. Oedipus's attempts to defy the oracle's prediction ultimately lead to his downfall, emphasizing the theme of fate's inevitability and the limitations of human agency.

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