and then Fer gives the tern to my boyfriend !

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Contents 1 Author's Notes/Introduction 2 Summary 3 Themes, Motifs, and Such 3.1 Light and Darkness 3.2 Sight & Truth 3.3 Fate 4 Quotes

Author's Notes/IntroductionEdit

Oedipus in Short… Courtesy of rinkworks.com
Prophecy. Laios and Iocaste, your son will kill his father and marry his mother.
Laios and Iocaste. Let's kill it.
Prophecy. Oedipus, you will kill your father and marry your mother.
(Oedipus runs away and fulfills the prophecy.)
Everyone. Woe are us. (die)
THE END

SummaryEdit

Oedipus talks about the “blight” of Thebes. Creon returns from the Oracle and says that they need to purge the city of “pollution,” the unpunished crime of Laius’ murder. Oedipus swears to hunt down and exile the murderer, even if he is the murderer.

Enter Teiresias, the blind prophet. After a while, he tells Oedipus that Oedipus is the murderer. Oedipus throws a hissy fit and calls Teiresias names, poking fun at T for being blind. O then blames Creon for conspiring to take over the crown.

Enter Jocasta. She talks about 1) curse that Laius’ son will kill him 2) how they dealt with the son (piercing his ankles and leaving him on a “pathless hillside”), and 3) mentions Laius was killed at “place where three roads meet.” Oedipus thinks, oh shit – that sounds familiar.

Oedipus gets worried and asks for the shepherd who left him at the hillside. He then explains 1) a drunkard told him he was a bastard (at Corinth) 2) he went to an oracle to find out if this was true 3) he left Corinth because the oracle told him he’d kill his dad and marry his mom.

Then there are a couple of strophes and antistrophes about pride.

Meanwhile, a random Messenger shows up and informs Oedipus that his adopted dad, Polybus, is dead. Oedipus jumps up and down in joy. Oedipus believes he defeated the curse since he did not kill Polybus. The messenger didn’t understand why Oedipus was so happy, especially since Polybus (Corinthian king) was not Oed’s real dad. Oed thought, F.

The Messenger revealed that he was the Shepherd who found Baby Oed and gave Baby Oed to he king. Jocasta’s freaking out (“God keep you from the knowledge of who you are!”). Oed thinks this is because Jo’s afraid to find out about Oed’s “low birth.” DENIAL! They summon the Herdsman, the guy Laius hired to leave Baby Oed at the hillside. Herdsman reveals that the child he left (that the Messenger found) was indeed the child of Laius and Jocasta. Some strophes and antistrophes about fate and misery. The Second Messenger then laments about Jocasta’s suicide and Oedipus poking his eyes out with his mother/wife’s brooch.

Enter Creon, banishing Oedipus. Oedipus gives no care what happens to his sons but worries about his daughters (Antigone & Ismene). Creon says he’ll take care of them. They exit. The Chorus ends with “Count no mortal happy till he has passed the final limit of his life secure from pain.”

Themes, Motifs, and SuchEdit

Light and DarknessEdit

• Oedipus mocks Teiresias by calling him blind
  • “Your life is one long night so that you cannot hurt meor any other who sees the light” – Oed to Teiresias
• “You have your eyes but see not where you are in sin, nor where you live, nor whom you live with” – Teiresias to Oed
• “Great light of comfort” – Oed’s response to Polybus (his adopted dad)’s death

Sight & TruthEdit

• Oedipus has sight when he is blind to the truth. He loses sight when the truth is revealed to him. He is always surrounded in darkness in the play.
• Teiresias is blind but knows the truth

FateEdit

2 attempts were made to escape the fate that Oed will Kill Dad and Marry Mom

1. Laius bound Oed’s foot and lay him on the hillside
2. Oed leaves Corinth (he though his Corinthian parents were his real parents) and ends up fulfilling the prophesy

We could say Oed’s not curious enough

• He does not fully pursue who his real parents are (satisfied with Oracle’s ambiguous answer and leaves Corinth)
• He doesn’t say anything when Jocasta tell him the story of Laius binding their kid’s feet. * * How many people have pierced feet? Oedipus chooses to ignore this coincidence. Sure he mentions that he might be Laius’ murderer, but he says nothing that his feet are pierced.
• Other incidence where his cripple is mentioned: 1) Teiresias mentions “A deadly footed double striking curse,” 2) Oedipus means Swollen Foot, and 3) the fact that he is crippled (we can assume he knows he is crippled)
• Also, both Jocasta and Oedipus speak of a curse where the cursed kills his father and marry his mother. How many people does that happen to? However, they ignore that coincidence too.
• Above examples show theme of voluntary ignorance and the motif of swollen foot

QuotesEdit

• “…but no one saw the killer” – Oed, before Teiresias enters, he says killer instead of killers (plural), hinting that Oed may already suspect himself to be the murderer since he’s only been told that Laius was killed by a group of people. In Greek, grammar would make the singularity of that word more obvious to the audience, a strong hint that Oed might already suspect himself to be the killer.
• “Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man that’s wise!” – Tereisias. Ironic because Oedipus is wise – he solved the Sphinx’s riddle (it says so on the cover!)
• “…and in his form not unlike you [Oed]” – Jocasta talking about the appearance of Laius
• “Light of the sun, let me look upon you no more after today!” – Oed
• “As to your mother’s marriage bed—don’t fear it…Many a man has lain with his own mother. But he to whom such things are nothing bears his life most easily” – Jocasta, encourages ignorance
• “O Oedipus, unhappy Oedipus! That is all I can call you, and the last thing that I shall ever call you!” – Jocasta. This foreshadows her death, being last thing she says before she shuts up for some pages, leaves, and hangs herself.
• “Curse on the man who took the cruel bonds from off my legs… He stole me from death… Had I died then I would not be so burdensome to friends.” – Oed, similar to the speeches the Chorus makes in Colonus (“Not to be born is best of all…”)
• “Drive me from here with all the speed you can to where I may not hear a human voice” – Oed, deafness in addition to blindness
• “Count no mortal happy…” – Chorus (see plot summary), similar to what Solon told Croesus