Oedipus the King Analysis

Sophocles certainly wasn't shy about the motif of sight vs. blindness. If you've got way too much time on your hands, go through the play and highlight words like "see," "sight," "vision," "eyes,"...

Oedipus the King is set in that doomed city-state called Thebes. Though most Greek playwrights were Athenian, their plays are hardly ever set in their home town—in fact, they weren't allowed to d...

It’s important to know Sophocles didn’t make the whole Oedipus story up. The Oedipus myth had been around, so Sophocles’s audience would have been familiar with the tragic ending before the p...

Here's the thing: the writing style of Oedipus the King totally depends upon whose translation you're reading. Since the play is really old, there have been many translations of Sophocles' original...

Well, the title is rather self-explanatory. Those Greeks didn’t beat around the bush. Oedipus is the protagonist and hero of this play... and he's a king.

Oedipus is aware that there is a curse on Thebes and has Creon gather insight into how to lift it These are the circumstances at the beginning of the play. At first, it seems like this is just anot...

Oedipus is busy ruling Thebes as normal. He is aware that there is a curse on the city and hopes to lift it. Oedipus is fully confident that he can lift whatever curse the city is under. He begi...

Oedipus, aware that there is a curse on Thebes, sends Creon for additional information. Oedipus is informed that to lift the curse: he must find and prosecute Laius’s murderer. He promises to fix...

The fact that Oedipus marries, sleeps with, and has four children with his mother gives rise to terms such as the Oedipus Complex... and is probably the best known element of the Oedipus trilogy. H...