Oedipus Rex

Character Summary

• Oedipus, king of Thebes. Husband and son of Jocasta. Means Swollen Feet.
• Jocasta, the determined queen of Thebes. Wife and mother of Oedipus.
• Creon, the brother/uncle to Oedipus and brother to Jocasta
• Tiresias, a blind prophet who tells Oedipus his fate. Has the title of king
• Antigone and Ismene, Oedipus and Jocasta's daughters.

Plot Summary

There is a plague in Thebes. The Oracle says it's a curse for not avenging the Late King Laius' murder. Oedipus then goes on a "Who-Dunnit?!" kind of adventure. Once Oedipus digs around, he hears of a familiar place where he killed a man. Turns out, He killed Laius who was his father and married his mother.

Plot Summary

So Cursed with this information, the newly perturbed Jocasta ran screaming into her palace tearing her hair out and hung herself. Greatly saddened, Oedipus gouges his eyes with Jocasta's dress pins and is exiled from the city with Antigone as company.

Foreshadowing

• Foreshadowing is a hint of what's going to happen.
• Foreshadowing is mostly in literature and movies.
• Tiresias hints towards Oedipus killing his father and marrying his mother.
• "Related as a brother... And of the woman whose womb he came"
• Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother, fulfilling the prophecy.

Dramatic Irony

• A large theme of irony in 'Oedipus Rex' is Sight vs. Blindness.
• Tiresias says that Oedipus can see with his eyes but is blind with his mind
• "...For blind instead of seeing...and poor for wealthy, to a foreign land"
• Oedipus is 'blind' to his fate even though Tiresias plainly says it.
• Creon also says he is blind to the responsibilities of king.

Flashback

• Flashbacks are sudden memories of the past.
• The first flashback is of Oedipus defeating the Sphinx.
• "Coming to our Cadmean town released The toll we paid of a hard sorceress".
• Jocasta has a flashback of Laius' death and gives Oedipus hints.
• Jocasta also has flashbacks of "Her little baby boy" who was Oedipus.

Personification

• Personification is the act of pretending a inanimate object is a person.
• The palace priest acts as if Thebes was a person.
• "Stricken in the budding harvest of her soil Stricken in her pastured herd"
• The city, she is riddled with the plague, people are dying 

Characterization of Oedipus

• Oedipus is caring for his kingdom because of the plague.
• "In your sickness There is not one of you so sick as I".
• Oedipus is a caring father known to be with his children.
• He is determined to find Laius' killer and is headstrong.
• He loves his family even though his fate is sealed.

Resource page

• Oedipus Rex - Dover Thrift Ed.
• All pictures were take from bing

The End