1. Oedipus Rex
by Sophocles

2. Background Information
Written by Sophocles and first performed in 429 B.C.
Athenian tragedy
The Greek city of Athens had religious festivals in which playwrights (people who wrote plays) competed to write the best play
These plays celebrated Dionysius, Greek god of wine
Plays were a central part of Athenian culture; spectacle; religious experience
tragedy: play meant to release audience members’ emotions; often includes main character’s fall

5. Background Information Continued…
Sophocles did NOT write the story! He turned the story, which was famous at the time, into a successful play.
Homer mentions the story in The Odyssey, when Odysseus is in the Underworld.
Considered by many drama scholars to be a tragedy par excellence (the best example)
Sets standard for drama and tragedy
Best example of a tragic hero: a virtuous hero in a drama who rises and ultimately falls because of external powers (fate, gods, etc.), his own error in judgment AND/OR a fatal flaw in his personality

6. Greek Tragedies and Tragic Hero
Aristotle argues in “Poetics” that tragedies follow a pattern:
The audience grows attached to a hero.
The audience is afraid that something will happen to the hero.
The audience pities the hero after he falls or suffers.
The audience goes through catharsis; emotions are released and audience members rethink their own beliefs or assumptions about life.
Tragedies in classic literature and pop culture:
Macbeth, Othello, Anakin Skywalker, Tupac Shakur

9. Basic Plot Info to Understand Oedipus Rex
Oedipus, who is the King of Thebes, is born from Laius and Jocasta
Laius and Jocasta get rid of Oedipus when he is a baby because they hear a prophecy that he will grow up to kill Laius
Oedipus is adopted by Polybus, the childless king of Corinth
Oedipus does not know that he is adopted
Oedipus hears rumors he isn’t Polybus and Merope’s biological son, so he asks the Delphic Oracle
The Oracle tells him that he will “Mate with [his] own mother, and shed/With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own sire“
Oedipus runs away because he thinks he will kill Polybus and marry Merope
Oedipus runs into King Laius on the road, and he kills him
Oedipus releases Thebes from a curse after answering the Sphinx’s riddle
As a reward for answering the riddle, Oedipus becomes king of Thebes and marries Jocasta, his mom (He has no idea that Jocasta is his mother. Yikes!).