Oedipus Rex Summary Report
Oedipus Rex Summary Report
Laius and Jocasta were King and Queen of the Great City of Thebes. After they bore a child they took him to an oracle to see what was to become of him. But the oracle said, “You will slay your father and marry your mother.” Fearing the oracle, Laius and Jocasta delivered Oedipus, their infant son, to a servant, with orders that he be killed. The servant took the baby into the wilderness, but could not bring himself to carry out the command. Instead, he turned the child over to a Corinthian herdsman, who in turn passed the little boy on to Polybus, King of Corinth, who adopted him as his own son. Oedipus was thus raised to believe that he was the natural son of Polybus. Pride being his downfall and fate nipping at his heel Oedipus was oblivious to the irony that surrounded himself in Sophocles play Oedipus Rex .
Oedipus's life began to unravel the day he overheard an oracle repeat to him the unthinkable prophecy that he would someday kill his father and marry his mother. Supposing that Polybus was his real father, Oedipus determined to leave Corinth so as not to remain anywhere near Polybus, left Corinth and traveled to Thebes. In his travels, Oedipus came to a place where three roads meet. There he became caught up in a violent argument with a band of travelers. He managed to kill all but one of his attackers, but remained oblivious to the tragic irony of this triumph. Among the men he had slain was Laius, his true father.
Later, the prophecies completed their awful and ironic cycle of fulfillment when Oedipus undertook a mission to save Thebes, [still acknowledged as his native city] from some female monster called the Sphinx. Of all the unlucky heroes to make the attempt, Oedipus alone was able to answer the riddle that was put in front of many mockingly along the Theban roadside by the winged lion-woman. "What goes first on four legs, then on two, and then on three?" The Sphinx had ravenously devoured all those brave and foolhardy souls who gave her wrong answers, but Oedipus, with the simple answer, "Man," gained the power to finally destroy her. The grateful people of the city quickly claimed him as King, and in time, he met, fell in love with, and married his own mother, Jocasta....