28 Facts About Oedipus Rex

1.

Oedipus Rex, known by its Greek title, Oedipus Tyrannus, or Oedipus the King, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC.

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2.

Sophocles' three Theban plays that have survived, and that deal with the story of Oedipus, Oedipus Rex was the second to be written, following Antigone by about a dozen years.

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3.

Oedipus Rex asks the Delphic Oracle who his parents really are.

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4.

Jocasta, wife of first Laius and then Oedipus Rex, enters and attempts to comfort Oedipus Rex, telling him he should take no notice of prophets.

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5.

Oedipus Rex went to Delphi and asked the oracle about his parentage.

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6.

An argument ensued, and Oedipus Rex killed the travelers—including a man who matched Jocasta's description of Laius.

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7.

However, Oedipus Rex holds out hope that he was not Laius' killer, because Laius was said to have been murdered by several robbers.

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8.

Oedipus Rex asks the chorus if anyone knows the identity of the other shepherd, or where he might be now.

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9.

Creon enters, saying that Oedipus Rex shall be taken into the house until oracles can be consulted regarding what is best to be done.

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10.

Oedipus Rex's two daughters, Antigone and Ismene, are sent out and Oedipus Rex laments their having been born to such a cursed family.

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11.

Oedipus Rex begs Creon to watch over them, in hopes that they will live where there is opportunity for them, and to have a better life than their father.

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12.

The Theban Cycle recounted the sequence of tragedies that befell the house of Laius, of which the story of Oedipus Rex is a part.

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13.

Homer briefly summarises the story of Oedipus Rex, including the incest, patricide, and Jocasta's subsequent suicide.

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14.

However, in the Homeric version, Oedipus Rex remains King of Thebes after the revelation and neither blinds himself, nor is sent into exile.

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15.

Since he did not write connected trilogies as Aeschylus did, Oedipus Rex focuses on the titular character while hinting at the larger myth obliquely, which was already known to the audience in Athens at the time.

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16.

Trilogy containing Oedipus Rex took second prize in the City Dionysia at its original performance.

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17.

However, in his Poetics, Aristotle considered Oedipus Rex to be the tragedy which best matched his prescription for how drama should be made.

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18.

Oedipus Rex is widely regarded as one of the greatest plays, stories, and tragedies ever written.

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19.

Oracle delivered to Oedipus Rex is what is often called a "self-fulfilling prophecy, " whereby a prophecy itself sets in motion events that conclude with its own fulfilment.

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20.

Oedipus Rex chooses not to return to Corinth after hearing the oracle, just as he chooses to head toward Thebes, to kill Laius, and to take Jocasta specifically as his wife.

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21.

Oedipus Rex' assumption is incorrect, the Oracle does, in a way, answer his question.

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22.

Exploration of the theme of state control in Oedipus Rex is paralleled by the examination of the conflict between the individual and the state in Antigone.

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23.

Oedipus Rex ignores the word of Tiresias and continues on his journey to find the supposed killer.

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24.

Oedipus Rex, determined to find the one responsible for King Laius' death, announces to his people :.

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25.

Oedipus Rex is unaware that he is the one polluting agent he seeks to punish.

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26.

Clear vision serves as a metaphor for insight and knowledge, yet the clear-eyed Oedipus Rex is blind to the truth about his origins and inadvertent crimes.

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27.

Oedipus Rex refers to Oedipus Rex as a “further modification of the legend, ” one that originates in a “misconceived secondary revision of the material, which has sought to exploit it for theological purposes.

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28.

Composer Igor Stravinsky wrote the opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex, which premiered in 1927 at the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, Paris.

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