Oedipus The King

A Group Presentation

The city of Thebes is in need of saving

Oedipus does not know what he can do to save the city

Sends Creon, brother of Oedipus’s wife to Apollo the profits oracle for advise on how to save the city

Lines 1- 335

Laius was killed when traveling to a oracle and

never returned.

Apollo wants the city of Thebes to pay back the killer by first finding who was responsible

This is the first time Oedipus hears of the murder, it was quickly forgotten and not talked about after it happened

Laius’s Murder

Oedipus orders people of Thebes if they have

any information on the murder to speak up, they will be rewarded.

No one has any information for speaks of anything regarding the murder of Laius

Oedipus’s Reaction to The Murder

• Oedipus and Tiresias meet, and they begin to verbally spar,

Oedipus is searching for the name of the men that killed Laius.• Tiresias begins to goad and provoke Oedipus who reacts

angrily towards what has been said. • Oedipus, enraged, accuses Tiresias of planning to destroy

Thebes because he is withholding the knowledge. • Tiresias, “I say you are the murderer that you hunt.” Line 413• Oedipus begins to deny the comment made and attacks

Tiresias for begin a blind old man. • Oedipus, “Blind, lost in the night, endless night that nursed

you! You can’t hurt me or anyone else who sees the light-you can never touch me” Line 425-428

Pages 178-196 Lines 336-720

• Oedipus is convinced that Tiresias and Creon are working

together in an effort to usurp his rule• This begins a short monologue regarding Oedipus’ belief that

he is too powerful for Creon and Tiresias to simply overthrow his rule because of this witch hunt.

• He credits stopping the Sphinx as a credential that shows the might of his power.

• The chorus leader proposes that Oedipus contain himself but Tiresias continues provoking him. (Lines 464-489)

• Class: Open your books to page 183 and read the Tiresias monologue and discuss in your groups what the meaning of lines 480-5. the group with the best answer will receive 3 bonus pts.

Pages 178-196 Lines 336-720 Con’t

• Following the instigation of Oedipus by Tiresias, Creon

enters and tries to be diplomatic regardless of what he has been accused of.

• Upon seeing him, Oedipus becomes even more enraged, Creon aims to get a word in edgewise and it takes a while but he eventually lets him speak.

• Creon explains to Oedipus that although the prophet has some inconsistency with his story and the accusation of Oedipus, Creon maintains that he [Oedipus] killed Laius and that if he wants to hear it directly he can go to the Oracle at Delphi.

• Oedipus retorts that with his desire that Creon be killed.

Pages 178-196 Lines 336-705 Con’t

Oedipus tells Jocasta that Creon sent a prophet to say that he

murdered Laius. Jocasta says that he shouldn’t trust prophets and that they

don’t mean anything. Jocasta says that Laius was murdered at a place where three

roads meet. Oedipus realizes that he may have killed king Laius. Oedipus wants to talk to the servant who witnessed the

murdering of Laius Oedipus admits to everyone that he killed a group of people at

a cross road. A messenger comes from Corinth and informs Oedipus that his

father Polybus is dead.

Pages 197-215 Lines 706-1059

A messenger tells Oedipus is asked to rule at

Corinth, and Jocasta rejoices, thinking that Polybius is dead, not knowing that Oedipus was the one who killed him

The messenger explains that he used to be a shepherd and once found a baby with his ankles pinned together

The messenger explains how he found the child, that it was Laius former servant

Lines 1060-1310

Oedipus realizes he doesn’t know who his real

parents are Jocasta begins to realize and tries to stop him The Shepherd that found baby Oedipus comes forth Oedipus interrogates and tortures the answer out

of him He gets the answer that Jocasta is his mother and

she gave him away to be killed, but the shepherd intervened and saved him, but allowed the prophecy to be true.

Lines 1060-1310

Jocasta hangs herself by a noose. Oedipus takes the pins from her robes and

stabs out his eyes. He then runs out of the palace and rants at his

fate and the infinite darkness that embraces him.

He then asks to be banished from Thebes

Jocasta is dead by Suicide

Creon agrees to exile Oedipus but only if it is

approved by the gods. Oedipus believes he is still wanted alive by the

gods. He then says that his sons are men and can

take care of themselves. Oedipus asks for his daughters to enter.

Creon Enters

Antigone and Ismene enter to weep with their

father. Oedipus reaches out to Creon to take care of

his daughters but Creon backs away. The guards then take away Antigone and

Ismene and Creon tells Oedipus that his power has ended.

Antigone and Ismene

• Oedipus ends up realizing towards the end of

the play that he is not who he actually thinks he is, and this causes him to question everything that was put before him. At many different times during the play Oedipus thinks he knows who he is but in actuality he does not.

Who am I?

Discussion Question

In lines 45-55

If Oedipus never was taught by someone, or giving any extra knowledge how can he know or be sure what he knows is correct, especially when ruling the City of Thebes?

“We taught you nothing, no skill, no extra knowledge, you still triumphed. A god was with you, so they say, and we believed it – you lifted out lives. …. So now again, Oedipus, king, we bend to you your power – we implore you, all of us on you r knees: find us strength, rescue! Perhaps you have heard the voice of a god or something from other men, Oedipus what do you know?.

How do I know what I Know?

Once Oedipus realizes the horrible things that

he has done, and how the prophecies about him had come true, he is horrified. He cuts his eyes out and asks Creon to banish him.

Earlier in the Text many times Oedipus “Knows” that he did not kill Laius. He acts on what he “Knows” even though it is not true. Many times in real life we act on what we think is true when in fact it isn’t.

Once I Know, How do I Act on What I Know?

• Oedipus is forced to look at his life and come to terms

with what he has gone through, from being sent away to be chained to a mountain, to not knowing who his parents are, and as a result killing his father King Laius who was the King of Thebes. A severe character flaw of Oedipus is his unrelenting arrogance and how it blinds him both literally and figuratively from seeing the issues that lie in front of him.

The Unexamined Life is not worth living

1. “Drive the corruption from the land, don’t

harbor it any longer, past all cure, don’t nurse it in your soil – root it out” – Line 110 page 164

What is Apollo telling Oedipus to do?

Discussion Questions

2. What would you do if the curse was put

upon you, would you run or do what Oedipus did?

3. What would you do to avoid or stop the curse from happening?

4. Open your books to page 183 and read the Tiresias monologue and discuss in your groups what the meaning of lines 480-5. the group with the best answer will receive 3 bonus pts.

Discussion Questions con’t