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Sophocles

Sophocles was born in the autumn of 495 B.C. a mile northwest of Athens. Ha was the

son of a prosperous merchant, Sophillus and enjoyed all the comforts of a flourishing

Greek empire. He studied all of the arts. Till the age of sixteen, he became famous for his

good looks and elegance. Therefore he was preferred to lead a choir of boys at a

celebration of the victory of Salamis. After the completion of his studies, he was geared

up to participate in the City Dionysia, a festival which was held every year at the Theatre

of Dionysus in which new plays would be performed. In his first competition, Sophocles

received first prize and he defeated well-known Aeschylus in the contest. In his overall

competitions, he won eighteen first prizes.

Not only was he an author, he also performed in his own plays. Sophocles performed in

many of his own plays. In one of his plays namely ‘The Women Washing Clothes’, he

performed a juggling act that mesmerized his audience and it remained the talk of Athens

for several years. On the other hand, he was not much acclaimed by Athenian youth.

Therefore he quit performing in plays.

Sophocles also provided his services as a priest under the supervision of two local heroes,

Alcon and Asclepius for many years. He also served on the Board of Generals, a

committee that administered civil and military affairs in Athens, and for a time he was

director of the Treasury as well.

He was a great innovator and he introduced the third actor for the first time. Moreover he

also put an end to the trilogy form. Unlike Aeschylus, he used one story to tell one

tragedy in one play instead of making a sequel of three plays to tell one tragedy.
He wrote almost 120 plays, but he extant works consists of only seven plays which are

Ajax, The Trachiniae, Electra, Philoctetes, Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus the King and

Antigone.

In the spring festival, the plays were a tradition to celebrate the spring. The author had to

present four plays including three tragedies and one comedy. And it was prevalent to

make plays in sequel, but author was not bound to it. Therefore Sophocles took the

liberty and wrote plays with different stories for one festival. He wrote Oedipus the King,

Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone for different spring festivals competitions which are

also called ‘The Theben Plays’ or the Oedipus cycle. These plays present a sequel series

and they were composed in thirty-six years. The interesting thing is that they were not

written chronologically. The order in which the plays were written is Antigone, Oedipus

the King, and Oedipus at Colonus.

Soon after the composition of Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles passed away at the age of

ninety-one. There are many different stories regarding the cause of his death as well. He

was buried in the family tomb on the way to Deceleia, about a mile from Athens, and

over his tomb the figure of a siren was erected.

About The Play

Oedipus the King is considered to be Sophocles’ best work, perfection of Greek tragedy

and epitome of unconscious irony.

The play starts with an account of the history of the life of Oedipus. It is narrated how he

was thrown away from his home and hw he reaches to Corinth and becomes the son to

the king and then he leaves that kingdom as well when he grows up and becomes the king

of Thebes.
In the first scene, Oedipus talks to his citizens who are troubles because of the pestilence

in the city. His brother-in-law, Creon brings the news from Apollo that there is a bad

blood in city, and if not expelled, the city will keep suffering.

The bad blood is the killer of Laius who is King Oedipus is himself. The irony is the that

Oedipus vows to catch and expel the killer out unknowingly that he is talking about

himself. Tiresias, a blind prophet, is called for help, but at first he refuses to tell anything

to Oedipus. At his insist he tells that Oedipus is the killer of Laius and he has married

with own mother and makes the predictions regarding his future. Oedipus lays blame on

Tiresias of lying and plotting against him accompanied by Creon.

Knowing the allegations, Creon tries to explain his position and refuses to accept the

allegations, but Oedipus does not agree with him at all. Finally Jocasta, Oedipus’ wife,

sends Creon away. She tells him not to believe the oracle. She tells him that oracle

predicted about her son that he would murder his own father and marry his mother. But

they threw the baby on the mountains with ankles bound.

Then Oedipus asks about how Laius’ death. Jocasta explains that Laius was killed by

robbers and there was one survivor who was with Laius when he was attacked. It even

worries Oedipus more and he calls for the survivor.

In the meanwhile, Oedipus tells Jocasta about his life in Corinth that a man told him that

he was an adopted son to the king of Corinth. When he further inquired, a Delphic oracle

told him that he was to kill his father and sleep with his mother. Therefore he left Corinth

so he could avoid the predictions. On his journey to another town, he came to a place

where three roads meet. He has a quarrel with them and killed all, but left one alive.
At this time, a man from Corinth enters and asks Oedipus to come back to Corinth and

because his father has died. Oedipus refuses since he does not want the other prediction

to come true. He also explains the reason of not coming back. The Corinthian person tells

that Merope and Polybus were not Oedipus' real parents and he gave Oedipus to them. He

tells Oedipus that he was given to him by a Theben shepherd. When the survivor from

Laius' killing enters, the Corinthian recognises him as the man who gave the baby to him.

The survivor admits that Jocasta gave him the baby to kill, but he had pity in the baby

and gave it to Corinthian shepherd.

Knowing that all the prophecies have been fulfilled, Jocasta kills herself. Seeing the dead

body of Jocasta, Oedipus blinds himself. He hands over the kingship and his children to

Creon and asks Creon to send him out of Thebes.

Major Themes In Oedipus the King


Oedipus the king is a tragic and ironic play. In the play we find themes related to many

aspects of human life and society. One major theme which influences the play is the role

of fate and free will of humans. Sophocles has tried to show that human free will cannot

overpower the gods and nature. A reason to do so is that in fifth century B.C. Athens, the

powers of the gods and prophets came under attack. Therefore the play conveys the

message that one has to face what fate has decided for him; no matter whatever he does

to avoid it. As we can see very clearly that Oedipus is always trying to escape from his

fate but finally meets what was prophesized for him. He is sent away from Thebes as a

baby and but saved and raised as a prince in Corinth. When he finds out, he would kill his

own father and marry his mother, he leaves Corinth. But he is not at all aware that he is

not escaping but approaching to his destiny. He fulfils one prophesy on his way to Thebes
by killing his own father unknowingly. Finally he enters Thebes and kills solves the

Sphinx’s riddle and remove the calamity of the city. Since there in no king now in

Thebes, he is crowned the king and fulfils the other prophesy when he marries the queen

Jocasta who is his own mother. And he becomes the father and brother to his own

children. This is how Oedipus tries to escape but gets closer to his fate. It is very evident

here that human free will is in fact not free at all, restricted to the boundaries mentioned

by divine powers. It is not human who can alter the fate and challenge to it, but gods who

have the authority to do so. All the efforts made by Oedipus to change his fate go in vain

and he does not see the truth which stares him in the face all the time.

Another theme observed in the play is the willingness to overlook the truth. When Jocasta

reveals the story of Laius’s killing that he was killed by robbers and there was only

survivor. Oedipus is also well aware and conscious that he had been in he same situation

while he was traveling and killed group of people leaving only one man. Oedipus calls

for the servant to verify the truth, though he develops doubts strongly. Jocasta pretends as

though the survivor’s story is undeniable and she tries to stop Oedipus to seek the truth

further believing her. At that point she also tells him abut prophecy that her son would

kill his father and marry his mother making him believe that nothing like the prophecy

came true. She tells him how they tried to get rid of the child when he was born with feet

tied together. But Oedipus does not think of his own swollen feet. Here they try to

pretend and delay to get to the truth so that they can escape from prophesies while Jocasta

keeps insisting him not to go further in investigation and considers all the predications to

be false. She becomes affirmed in her statement when a Corinthian brings news of the

death of Polybus. She scorns the oracles considering them meaningless and false.
Other themes include sight and blindness. Oedipus is absolutely blinded to the truth about

his incestuous sin, but when he blinds himself literally is able to see the truth vividly.

Besides Teiresias is a blind man, but he can see what others cannot. It is indeed ironic that

this blind man is gifted of understanding the truth of the situation than the able-bodied

Oedipus.

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