Guide Note: The Oedipus Plays include Oedipus Rex, also known as Oedipus The King or Oedipus Tyrannus, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. They tell the story of the tragic downfall of Oedipus and his family. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus learns that he killed his father and married his mother. He flees and blinds himself. In Oedipus at Colonus Oedipus' sons fight for the throne and Oedipus dies. In Antigone Oedipus' daughter Antigone breaks the law to perform burial rites for her brother. Creon's punishment of her leads to the downfall of the family.
Fast Facts:
- Also known as The Theban Plays, Oedipus Cycle, and Oedipus Trilogy
- Written by Sophocles
- Written over 36 years
- Written during the 5th century B.C.
- Written in Ancient Greek
- Inconsistencies particularly about Creon
- Oedipus Rex and Antigone set in Theban
- Oedipus at Colonus set in Colonus
- Greek audience already familiar with the events in the plays
Important Quotations:
- People of Thebes, my countrymen, look on Oedipus. He solved the famous riddle with his brilliance, he rose to power, a man beyond all power. Who could behold his greatness without envy? Now what a black sea of terror has overwhelmed him. Now as we keep our watch and wait the final day, count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last.
- So, you mock my blindness? Let me tell you this. You with your precious eyes, you're blind to the corruption of your life, to the house you live in, those you live with-who are your parents? Do you know? All unknowing you are the scourge of your own flesh and blood, the dead below the earth and the living here above, and the double lash of your mother and your father's curse will whip you from this land one day, their footfall treading you down in terror, darkness shrouding your eyes that now can see the light!
- Fear? What should a man fear? It’s all chance, chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. Better to live at random, best we can.
